Birthdays of Winter 2014

Birthday season for our family starts immediately after the New Year. In San Antonio, Noah has the first birthday of the year.

For his 7th birthday, he really wanted to do something fun, so we went to a place called Thin Air and jumped ourselves crazy! Jared met us there after he finished the dreaded MCAT. It was definitely a fun and memorable experience. I, being quite pregnant, did not participate in the jumping, but it was almost as enjoyable to watch.

Sub-par pictures and who knows where Isaac is, but you get the idea of the fun.

Jared celebrated his 37th ("I'm thirty-seven, I'm not OLD!") in February. As a homeschooler, Noah was the only one who got to accompany us on our birthday date to 54th Street for lunch.

These kiddos were all in one place at dinner that night, so I snapped a picture with my phone. Don't know where the Birthday Boy was, though! (It's all probably lost on the computer).

 In March, Jared made the coolest thing EVER for my birthday. He had to stay up quite late to do it (I was asleep)...unfortunately, this caused some brain malfunctioning and he added on a year to my age, haha!

And, as you can guess, he spoiled me like crazy. As you also guess, there was another birth right after this. More on that later!

What to DO??

I hope you've enjoyed all SIX parts of my 15 month-old recounting of our Christmas Break. After we lost all non-apple pictures older than 12 months, I was glad I was almost caught up on the blog at least that much. Then I looked at Facebook and realized there were many other pictures to choose from. But I've said my peace (piece?) and I'm ready to move on. Unfortunately, there are HUGE gaps where there should be pictures--losing precious photos of my little ones and their milestones/antics/artwork/adventures makes me want to cry. I can't even remember much without a picture to remind me.

That being said, I shall strive to play my part of Family Recorder to the best of my ability. I just want you to know...it's sadly incomplete. But when have I ever captured as many moments on film as I'd like to have done? I'm too busy LIVING those moments! The Great Video in the Sky will tell all. Kinda scary.

To cheer you up--because I know you're as sorrowful as I am--here is a rare shot of Snow White stuck in the woods with her prince to rescue her. Noah is so great at playing along with Ellie's games!

Christmas Break 2014 Pt 6

So...since the last blog post I have lost a bunch of pictures due to a wee bit of a computer crash (boo!), but it could've been a lot worse (yay!). We'll take what we can get, but I'm sure there will be some gaps, so...sorry.

ON to the year-old (and older!) blogging!

Even though gifts were officially forbidden, Trace had quite a few presents to pass out. She also arranged a fun White Elephant party to take place. It was hilarious, fun, and touching--these cousins are so sweet to each other!

Ellie is thrilled that Aunt Trace brought the gift she'd given Ellie 9 months previously (we accidentally left it in Alabama)--Tinker Bell! She also loves her new present from Trace--Wedding Bear.

Mom is the sweetest present receiver you'll ever find. She is so grateful and she makes every giver feel so special!

Everyone else enjoyed their gifts, even the silly ones.

Cousins! These kids hadn't all seen each other at once before!

L-R: Laurel, Traci, Mom, Bobbie, & Whitney (newest member of the family and we LOVE her!)

Christmas Break 2014 Pt 5

I promise we are almost done with Christmas Break and 2014! It was just too unforgettable to skip over. And who knows when we'll all be together like that again?

Hot Tub Time

Noah and Ellie's favorite feature about the hot tub at the condo was the handicap-accessible chair.

 Sea World

Lunch time at Sea World...about the only time we were all together for more than 5 minutes!

Much to the delight of his nephew and niece, Danny spent much of the day with Noah & Ellie.

Drying off after the Atlantis (center pic) and...the carousel at the Bay of Play

Christmas Break 2014 Pt 4

Playground

If there's anything more fun than having my family in town, it's getting to outright play together at a random playground. If there's anything more fortunate than being able to do that, it's having Jared around with the camera to capture some of the fun.

Somehow, we missed capturing Danny and Isaac, who were very active at the playground in their own sneaky shenanigans.

Uncle "Fun" Dave

Grandchild #1--such a great role model for his cousins!

Super Fun & Cute Drew

Ellie always enjoys a good time at the playground

Pregger mama ME.

My little Monkey Ninja

This KID! He's so handsome, but he's also a SWEETHEART.

Oh, this sweet girl. I haven't seen her have this much fun since she was a toddler!

My Mom. SUCH a fun lady!

Christmas Break 2014 Pt 3

It seems like a fairy tale now, but right after Christmas 2014, we had the prodigious privilege of having most of Laurel's family come visit San Antonio. We all stayed  in some condos in Gruene, a small town just outside of New Braunfels, and we had a wonderful time together.

The first night we went to Cantina del Rio for dinner. With Corky's new bride, Whitney, we were all influenced to take plenty of pictures.

I love my family!!

Making faces seems to be my kids' specialty.

Lots of group gatherings. And the little ones lock each other "in jail."

Playing catch on what was the sunniest day of our time together.

Christmas Break 2014 Pt 2

Christmas Day

There are certain traditions we have as a family. We do lots of Night-Before-Christmas Traditions, but I don't have any pictures of that. But everybody loves to have Christmas Crepes for breakfast!

Strawberry Crepes with Lime filling

My favorite thing about this day is everyone's happy surprises, especially from each others' gifts. But all happy surprises are great memories to record.

"Thank you, _____ (Mom! Isaac! Noah! Gerry! Jared!)"

 And we have to show off something we got to wear in front of the Christmas tree. Is for fun.

Overwhelmed, Ellie could only fake a smile by this point.

New shirts!

Isaac's many faces. Love this kid!

Noah is plotting something; I just know it!

Christmas Break 2014 Pt 1

We always enjoy the good times that come with being out of school! The Christmas break of '14 wasn't fully documented with photos, but here are a few things we did:

Gingerbread Houses

Ellie's sweet preschool teacher sent a lovely gingerbread house kit home with each of her students. I might just be categorized as a "bad mom" for the bare fact that I've never purchased such a product, nor engaged in this specific activity--which is, to many, a necessary winter tradition--with my children. So we did it together. I told myself I'd never do such a project again, especially with kids...but what I tell myself is irrelevant after about a week anyway.

Posing with the Edible Masterpiece...and Isaac by his school-made penguin and birdfeeder.

Six Flags

We finally got Six Flags Passes! Pregnant people can only watch at most amusement parks (I had to hide my belly with my purse on the pedestrian train ride!), so that's what I did. And I snapped a few pictures.

Trains

Planes

Skater-mobiles

Whatever-mobiles

 Shopping

Perhaps it's because I'm blogging over a year after this happened, but I don't remember going shopping on Christmas Eve. Apparently we did. And Ellie really wanted me to get this picture of her with this new, hip, adoptive family she met.

Snow!? In Texas!?

Yep, it's Sea World. You have to wait in line, but it's worth it if you love and miss snow as much as we do. We'll probably be singing a different tune if we ever move out of Texas, but for now...there's Sea World!

My Student

This guy loves homeschooling so much. Can't you tell?? He is a fun kiddo to spend the day with, although he's quite stubborn at times. Never uses a pencil; always a pen. Bathroom breaks are our favorite mandatory activity...not. All of our homeschool activities will be in a separate album, but I thought I'd give a shout out to my Noah. And, of course, Isaac is giving him bunny ears here. I guess that's what he learned in public school. Ha! Joking.

Her First Real Haircut!

It was long overdue, but we are very happy with the results.

Frightening

It's frightening to think that this blog is over a year behind and I don't think I'll ever catch up!


My kids were frightening on Halloween last year.

It was frightening (okay, not really) that we revealed the baby's gender with sprinkles in cookies and codes.

It was frightening to know we were having a GIRL (actually, just exciting...we would've been excited either way)!

It's frightening how fast these kids grow. Isaac's 9th birthday featured a Harry Potter-themed dinner with our good friends, the Souths.

The formal invitation

Potter Party

Birthday morning with a present from Grandma and strawberry crepes