Shoes 2

Remember my post from the summer telling how much Holden loved shoes? Just wanted to let you know he's still enjoying them. Shoes really make this kid happy!

Christmas

Christmas morning was truly magical at our house this year. Here are some highlights.

Did Santa come to our house?

Holden ran right to his new bike.

He was in absolute heaven. He hopped right on, and said, "Bike.....new one.....Santa."

We had to photograph the opening of Holden's Jay, Jay the Jet Plane Set on the other camera, but here is the set opened and set up on his table.

Nana Judy and Papa Jim got Houston his very own present.
Coloring!
Nana Judy made Holden a blanket. He absolutely loved it!

He immediately hugged it to his chest!

He still refers to it as "Blanket....Nana Judy!"

After our great morning, we headed up to Aunt Kim's to spend Christmas Day with Papa Gene, Nana Nancy, the Harris Family, and the Brower Family.

Christmas Eve

The day started out a little rough, Trey got called at 8:30 a.m. to fly to Colorado and back. We had plans to go to Michelle and Scott's for dinner, so that meant Holden and I had to busy ourselves for the day. We went to see Santa at the UTC Mall (see post below). Holden came home and napped, and then we got ready to go to the Conley's. Holden loves playing at "Gavin's house", so many fun toys and bikes. Trey made it there by about 7:00 p.m. - perfect timing for dinner. Michelle made an AMAZING Christmas dinner! I mean, honestly, quite impressive, and even more delicious! After dinner, the kids got to decorate Christmas cookies for Santa, and make reindeer food. Shortly after that, we came home to get tucked in bed, so that Santa would come.

Michelle cooking up her magic!

The marching band.

Holden and Morgan racing around.

Dad arrives!

Gavin showing Holden his cool new ride. (Holden was too scared to get on.)

The beautiful dinner table.

Part of the band reunites after dinner.

Gavin gets ready for bed.

Cookie making....

Oh, so proud!

Santa is going to love them!

Holden sure does!

Santa Picture 2007

Is there any question about how Holden felt about seeing Santa this year? Mommy had to sit with him because there was NO WAY he was going to sit on the jolly ol' guys lap by himself!

My New Love

Jim Shore! I first saw Jim's work in Cynthia's Hallmark at UTC Mall in October of this year. I immediately fell in love, but wouldn't let myself purchase any pieces. I thought of my mom too. One of the first Santa figures I saw was of this Santa with a big red skirt with birdhouses around the base. I thought about buying it as a Christmas present for her, but then decided these are something you really have to love to appreciate. His intricate designs delight me to my core, but I can appreciate that not everyone will love these. When my mom was visiting this past week, we were shopping at UTC and I told her I wanted to show her something. I brought her to the Hallmark store, showed her the figures, and she recognized them - had seen them at her Hallmark store. We browsed and fell more and more in love. She ended up buying the Birdhouse Santa that I knew she would love. I still couldn't get myself to buy one the one I loved for myself - it seemed like such a splurge during the Christmas season to buy for myself. I was jealous of Mom's and didn't stop thinking about my Twelve Days of Christmas Santa. Today I went for it. I bought my first Jim Shore Santa, and I LOVE him. So much so, I had to share!

Cute Boy Alert

We're officially on Christmas Break - no school for Mommy, no school for Holden. You all know what that means.....I'm sitting around taking pictures of the boy! Here are some cute ones:

Our Pets

Happy as can be.......



Happy as can be.......

Oh, Christmas Tree....

On Sunday, December 9th we went to the Christmas tree farm at the Del Mar Fairgrounds to pick out our tree. We decorated it that night. Holden loved all the chatchkis that come with Christmas decorating.

Cousins

Tabi, Taylor, Hailey and Samantha stopped by for a quick visit on Saturday, December 8th.

Bahia de los Suenos

We were invited to spend Thanksgiving at Bahia de los Suenos with The Games, Conley and Stubbs families. We arrived on Tuesday, November 20th. On Thursday (Thanksgiving), the Games' hosted a Mexican rodeo at their horse arena. Their daughter, Sarah, rode for her first time in a true Mexican rodeo. Sandy Games cooked a homemade Thanksgiving dinner for over 70 people. An amazing feat, in my opinion!

Holden experienced many "firsts": he went wake-boarding for his first time, went to a Mexican rodeo, went on quads and golf carts, went down water slides, and lots of boat rides. It is truly paradise down there, and we were grateful to have such a wonderful family vacation!

Just off the plane, in the La Paz airport.

The view from our room.

Holden and Gavin playing on the beach.

The Stubbs went fishing every morning. They caught some great fish!



The front view from the house.

Holden enjoyed the laid back lifestyle!

Holden DID NOT like the "cold" water. The water temp. was in the high 70's, but it was colder than anything he'd ever felt.

He actually enjoyed the wake-boarding part for a while.

Everyone on the boat cheered him on. I cried the entire time.

The rodeo.

Sarah is one of the girls riding.

Thanksgiving dinner in the train room.

Do you see the three tracks outside the upstairs railing? The train system is quite amazing!

The boys went on bay cruise.


Hanging at the pool outside of the train room.

Down the waterslide!

I got soaked!

Raul introducing Holden to the caballo.