Ho! Ho! Ho!

There are a few traditions that are paramount to the holiday season and must be done every year: decorate the house and put up the Christmas tree (keeping the cussing to a minimum while wondering how in the hell you managed to get the tree straight with all the lights on like last year), tune your radio to the Christmas station and get "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" stuck in your head for at least three weeks, bake Christmas cookies (hopefully not eating more than you give away), and of course...the obligatory trip to the mall with a picture on Santa's lap.


I've always had these grand delusions of dressing Presley in the perfect Christmas outfit, strolling her through the mall, watching the huge smile on her face as we round the corner to see Santa sitting in his gigantic chair, gently placing her on his lap as she turns to give him a big hug. In this dream she softly whispers "I love you, Santa" and my heart melts as I remember just how wonderful it is to believe and be caught up in this magical holiday season. After the perfect picture is taken, the one with a huge smile on her face, we blow Santa a kiss and tell him that we can't wait to leave him cookies on Christmas Eve.

I think this is every mother's dream. Unfortunately that's all it is...a dream. It comes from the same part of the brain that tells us childbirth is painless, we can control our child when they start to cry in a public place, and my house will always be clean...even with a baby/toddler.


Well, today we set out to check off one of our holiday traditions. On this very day, so many children were happily doing the exact same thing.


Any guesses on what happened with Presley???
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.You guessed it!!! Dream squashed!

But she is so darn cute, even screaming as she is terrified sitting with Santa.
One screaming baby on Santa's lap...yes. A Christmas memory I will cherish forever...you bet!!!

Thanksgiving 2010

Sweet girl in her brand new bunny boots.

Nikki, Shirley, and Amy...all in pink!


These are the place cards I made for everyone at the table. They're mini apple pies in 4 oz. jelly jars. A yummy little treat to let everyone know how thankful we were to have them with us on Thanksgiving.

Turkey cupcake place cards for all the kids

Our dinner menu for the evening.

The product of all our hard work for the day.

Ready to eat!

Everyone minus Darrel, who was taking the picture for us.

Blaine and Larry

Presley holding Mommy and Daddy's hand.

The dessert table: lemon and strawberry cake balls, cherry cream cheese pie, pecan bourbon pie, chocolate pecan bourbon pie, caramel apple cheesecake, pumpkin cheesecake, and vanilla ice cream. We were definitely not short on sweets.

Mimi and Presley

Gymnastics

Every Friday, we take Presley to gymnastics class at Capital Gymnastics. For one hour each week, they have a toddler class where the kids are allowed to run around and play/explore all the gymnastics equipment with an instructor there to help. Presley loves it and has a blast running around the gym. On a funny side note, about 25% of all the moms in the class are Russian. I guess they start training really early!!!

Presley found the hula hoop and automatically knew to put it around her waist!

She LOVES the trampoline!!!

Presley working on her balance while walking on the skinny mat.

Presley didn't quite know what to think about the foam pit. But she was especially confused when this little boy, with no boundary issues, came over to talk to her. Back it up son, you're a bit too close to my kid!

My little future gymnastic gold medalist!

Daddy Goes to Swim Class

Blaine took the week off and came with us to all of Presley's weekly activities. Thursdays are swim class days, so Blaine decided to take the class with Pres. It was so much fun to see them in the pool together and they both did a great job!

At the beginning of the class all the kids and parents sing "The Kids in the Pool" (to the tune of "The Wheels on the Bus). This picture was of "The kids in the pool go in and out, in and out, in and out, the kids in the pool go in and out, all through the pool". It was super cute watching Blaine sing the song with everyone.

Under the waterfall. It looks like she would hate this, but she loves this part.

This is her absolute favorite part of the class...jumping into the pool. She would do this all day if we let her.

We end each class with a "Dolphin Dip", where Ms. Bonnie lets them swim underwater back to us. It's only for a second, but Presley always does such a great job. This is her coming up from underwater. She's such a great little swimmer!

The Itsy Bitsy Spider Climbed Up The Water Spout...

Our sweet little baby girl celebrated her second Halloween last week! She was the Itsy Bitsy Spider and the cutest little bug I've ever seen!!!

Her favorite part was handing out candy to all the trick-or-treaters. She did such a great job and insisted on giving everyone 2 or 3 pieces. We had everyone from 3 year old little girls to 16 year old teen-age boys telling us how cute she was.

"I'll give you a kiss if you give me a bag of M&Ms"

After bath time, we got in our skeleton pajamas and came back outside to help Daddy finish handing out candy.

Taking a little break on the front porch after a very long night.

Someone forgot to tell her that you have to take the wrappers off before you eat them.

Sorting through her loot...well, what was left of it after Mommy and Daddy took their cut.
Happy Halloween!

Downtown Family Portraits

We finally got around to having our family portrait taken. We had them all taken in downtown Austin, and absolutely love the way they turned out. Most of the pictures are taken outside some of our favorite bars along 4th street. Of course, we haven't been to any of them in about 25 months, but we thought they would make fun backgrounds for the pictures.

This also gave us a reason to buy Presley her very first pair of boots...I think they are super cute paired with her red tutu! Hope everyone enjoys the pics below.