Ginger bread house

This year I decided I would try to make a ginger bread house using one of those pre-made kits. After reading the instructions I decided I was going to do it my own way so that both Kaylie and Elias were happy. After some quick thinking each one of them got to decorate their own piece of the house. Worked like a charm and the end result was two happy kiddos.

I am sure you can tell by the look on her face she didn't like getting her hands dirty.

Christmas Austin

With the crazy weather in Dallas it was very difficult for everyone to get to Chris' house on Christmas morning. Thankfully by mid day everyone had arrived safely. It was actually kind of fun because it made the opening of presents last a lot longer than it would have keeping everyone in the spirit that much longer.

Playing before everyone arrived.

The weather was perfect. Definitely not like the day before.

Helping unload the presents from Jo and Papa's car. She was quit the helper.

She would put the present down and then run back out for something else.

Every year Jason's family does a Christmas themed puzzle. This year Kaylie decided to "help."

She looked helpful until she got bored and started knocking the pieces on the floor.

Grandma Chris filled Kaylie's stocking with lots of goodies. Kaylie loved it all.

This year we got together with Russ, Deanna, and Garrett to take a family picture to give to the great grandparents. They turned out so much better than I expected. Jo and Papa loved it.

He squeezed back here so he could look for squirrels. He loves Grandma Chris' yard. By the time we get home they are so exhausted from running they sleep for days.

A very large bunny pillow pet. It can fold up to use as a stuffed animal or open up to be a pillow. It is so incredibly soft. Kaylie loves to lay on it.

Jennifer and Kaylie

Dress up clothes from Grandma Chris.

About time for a nap. Thought this picture was sweet.

She decided she wanted to put all of her "presents" back under the tree. Cracked us up to watch her find all of her toys to put under it.

Christmas Eve

We got into Leander at about 6 and let me tell you it was cold. This year we changed things up a little and did Christmas Eve at my mom's house so to keep with Jason's tradition my mom was more than happy to have a tamale dinner waiting for him. It was delicious. She had everything you could possibly imagine.

Uncle Ryan and Kaylie

Uncle Michael and Kaylie

Nonna and Kaylie

Since we were doing Christmas at Grandma Chris' we went to her house afterwards. I think this is the sweetest picture. The rocking chair Kaylie is sitting in was Jason's when he was growing up. Chris had it redone just for Kaylie.

Kaylie avoiding going to sleep. She did not fall asleep until we came to bed at midnight.

Trying to avoid us putting her to bed. She just thinks she is being sneaky.

A white Christmas Eve

We ended up leaving for Austin at 3:00 on Christmas Eve. Thankfully the roads were not too bad. It continued to snow and then ice the rest of the day. Considering we still had ice on our driveway several days later I think we would have ended up stranded in Dallas if we hadn't left when we did.

The only thing we really had to deal with was the intense winds. At one point we had to pull over to fix our roof rack after the wind hit us so hard it pushed us up on our shocks. Thankfully, I have a husband that does not stress out in these types of situations. I on the other hand chose to close my eyes and not look.

Christmas Frisco part 1

A tradition Jason and I started the year we got married was to have Christmas at our house before leaving to go to Austin to spend time with our families. That meant we might have it several days before Christmas but it allowed us time to be a family away from the day to day stresses of work. We have since decided to keep this going with Kaylie. Since Jason had to work up until Christmas Eve Santa decided to stop by our house on Christmas Eve morning so Kaylie would have her presents to open before we left. I think he must have known we left him some cookies and milk as well as carrots for his reindeer's. That always seems to work.

This year was awesome. Kaylie didn't completely understand the concept of Santa but when she walked down the stairs and over to the tree all she did was point at all the different things and say "look" over and over again. You couldn't have asked for a better response than that. Since Santa brings his presents unwrapped it is easy to see what he brought. This year his big gift was a play kitchen. I am guessing by the gift Kaylie was definitely a good girl this year. He also brought her many accessories for it as well. She got a toaster and a mixer. He brought her a few other things which of course she loved as well. One of which was a dog that growls when you pull on his rope. He immediately was taken to her kitchen to have breakfast.

After playing with the presents Santa brought and opening stockings we took a break for breakfast. It was so nice to sit down as a family and enjoy the beautiful snow flakes coming down outside. This is the first white Christmas I can remember. Having grown up in Illinois I am sure it happened but this is the first I remember. We enjoyed every minute of it.

After breakfast we opened the presents we had bought. I must have been a very good girl this year because I was blessed with an absolutely amazing new camera. This post is all from my old camera and the rest are with my new one. I am still learning so don't be too surprised if you can't tell the difference. That is what a class or two is for.

Overall, we had a great time. Even the dogs loved what they got. It has been awhile since they got any new toys so they were happy. Combine a new toy or two with the snow outside and they were two happy little puppy dogs.

Coming down the stairs yelling for her daddy.

I loved her Dora jammies. I refused to put them on her until the night before.

We have all the presents for all of our family members under here. These are not all for us.

Her favorite thing to do was turn on the Christmas lights. It was a little hard for her to get to this time.

First toy she saw from Santa. She loved it.

Feeding a piece of toast from her new toaster.

It took her a second to realize what was in front of her but once she did she had to open every draw/cabinet to show us what was inside. She was very excited about her knife.

She knew what to do with everything. The burner makes a sizzling sound so she took out the fake eggs and made us breakfast.

The microwave and oven also makes noise. By the end of the morning she had cooked Meow Meow in both. I don't think he appreciated that very much.

Immediately after this picture was taken her puppy ended up in the sink.

One of the things Jason found for her was this incredibly soft pink back pack that holds a dog in it. She loved it. She wanted to wear it everywhere.

She did not want to let us open our own stockings or our own presents. It was a good teaching moment.

Right after we gave the dogs their gifts they switched. Shiner is in love with Bailey's fox. So in love with it he had found where it had been hidden pre Christmas and came out running around the house with it. This is a dog that is too smart for his own good!

Taking a break for breakfast before opening the family presents. We weren't sure but we thought Kaylie might give up unloading the dishwasher to play with her kitchen. After a few seconds she realized what she was missing out on and ran to help daddy.

I think she made this face because daddy was opening up a dolly for her to play with.