Brrr...January Fun!

Happy 2014! It took some getting used to but we've adjusted back to school routines and having to wake up in the mornings but we've been having lots of fun in the meantime.

We had a great Saturday out with the O'Driscoll's in Driftwood. It was a glorious day for some BBQ, wine and friends!

Mack, Lisa and Camille

Playground at Salt Lick

The fountain at Duchman Winery 

The next weekend was busy with Allie's friend Eli (and his mom and dad, Amy and Ryan) coming for brunch. 

We had dinner at our friends, the Loziers, but before that Jake's friend from kindergarten, Ryan, came for a playdate. We had a great time at dinner and the kids played so great it was almost (but not really) like being out.  

Sunday was the annual ECP Fundraiser, Family Fun Day! Bubba joined us for the morning fun!

Allie couldn't wait to go in the petting zoo. She liked the bunny the best of all and Bubba did a great job keeping up with her!

Jake and Jacob Riemer took Allie on the bouncy house. She loved it and the boys were so sweet with her.

Allie LOVED the gymnastics course!

Jake won fancy Dracula teeth! 

My favorite picture from the whole day! Love these little monkeys or in this case, little bears!

We ended the day with balloons, fake tattoos, cotton candy and a ride on a (mini) fire-truck! It was definitely a fun day!

We met Hailey and her parents for dinner one night and when those two little ones get together cuteness abounds.

We've had a very cold winter, well, cold for Austin. So far we've had 3 snow or ice days so far without snow or ice. They were so excited to go outside that I couldn't even convince them to take off their pajamas!

 Allie's first hot chocolate. Not surprisingly, she loved it!

Playing in the "snow"

Apparently, the 100th day of school is a big deal and involves collections of 100 things. However, the 100th day celebrations has been postponed for the snow/ice days. Here's Jake's photo of his 100 things.

One of the best things about January is celebrating Alex's birthday! For good or for bad we all ended (for good or bad) being at home for one of the snow days to celebrate. 

We had gone out the weekend before with a few friends to celebrate but we were planning to go out for dinner that night with Bubba and the kids to celebrate but Allie wasn't feeling well so Jake and Daddy had a date at Elevation Burger. We turned his day into a birthday week and celebrated later with Bubba, Jake & Allie and then I got to take him out for another birthday date. 

Happy Birthday to Uncle Phillip too!

A few other random shots from January:

Getting ready for Spring soccer

No clue why we're wearing shades at brunch but we are!

 Out for a sunday ride/scoot 

December Fun!

After an incredibly busy (and fun) October and November, December was thankfully a little more mellow. December gave us a few more days of Hanukkah including these superhero backpacks from Auntie Rachel and Uncle Warren. 

Who doesn't want to hang out in footie pajamas especially when its cold out!

We had a little family photo shoot at the beginning of the month. Not my favorite set of pictures but a few good ones to share.

 

Every year we deal with the inevitable question of  we had help over the unbelievably long winter break the kids had. Thanks to Bubba, most of my office being on vacation, and Alex having a flexible schedule we made it through...barely.

Allie loved coming to my office and doing "work" 

She loved it so much she took some "work" home with her. 

Sadly, it is the end of football season. Jake tried so hard to stay up with daddy to watch the Falcons game but just couldn't make it!

Jake and Alex love setting up epic battles, this one between the superheroes. It's so cute to watch them play together. 

Not to be outdone by big brother, Allie wanted to set up her "guys" too. I give you Peppa World!

With Bubba, Jake, Allie's best friend Hailey and her mom, Mollie, we went to check out the new Austin Aquarium. It wasn't great but it was pretty amazing what one can do with an old furniture store in a strip mall.

Allie & Hailey with the Turtles. Allie felt right at home.

Learning about Jellyfish

You could put your hand in the water and let the fish touch you. No thanks!

Checking out the alligator

Jake was brave enough to let the little sharks take a nibble!

On Christmas Eve we went to run off some energy at the park with Bubba before a happy hour. 

On Christmas we had friends over for a dinner play date. 6 adults, 7 children and lots of wine makes for a Merry Christmas indeed. 

Crazy crew!

We headed up to Plano for New Years with the Viviers. My Oregon Ducks were playing the Texas Longhorns in the Alamo Bowl just South of us in San Antonio. We thought about going to the game but decided to spend time with some of our favorite longhorns. Once we got to Plano we went to Jodi's (Philip's niece and our honorary cousin) to watch the game. 

God-mommy and God-daughters/Talia & Juliet and Brenna & Allie

One more with Talia's godmom (and Juliet's mom), Jodi. 

The Ducks were dominant and it was a great game! We were a family of happy Ducks!

The Dawgs didn't do quite as well in their game but we had a great watching with our friends Jason & Leigh Anne and Christian, former Austin Dawgs who have moved to Dallas.

Happy New Year and very happy, healthy and fun 2014!