Present and Fun Time!

Monks and Pippa had so many gifts to open! Aikman got some clothes, some books, Lego’s, several cars, a monster truck, a can of flavored popcorn,  and an 18 wheeler to store his cars in. He was in heaven! My Pips got so many clothes, a book, and a teething ring! We had so much fun opening and I have several pics of the whole family opening stuff, but that would make for a billion pics and I would rather post of Monks and Pippa (no offense family). We did draw names though and I am pretty sure everyone was VERY pleased with their gifts. We then ate lunch (and ate all day really) and then played games and just hung out all day! It was a lot of fun to be together and I hope everyone had as much fun as I did! I know Aikman had the best time and that made me so happy.



Look at that stack



Cousins!



Sweet girl touching his face...



Worn out!

Sweet man! We got to watch him while Tio and Tia ran home to get some games. Our first time alone with him! We all debated setting him in Pippa's room and then when they came back and asked where he was say I thought you took him!

Christmas Morning!

Christmas morning Monks woke about 8 and Pippa was already up for some strange reason so I told Devin to let me get Pippa buckled in her chair so that I could get the camera ready for when we went in to get him. We walked in and told him morning and Merry Christmas and Devin said wanna see what Santa brought you and Monks excitedly got out of bed and said Santa! He walked into the living room and saw his bike and yelled my bike! He went to sit on it and get his stocking to go thorough and then we pointed out Pippa’s gift from Santa! She got an interactive bunny that plays peek-a-boo and music and teaches shapes and colors. He immediately went and picked up her bunny and brought it to her and said here you go Pippas, you bunny from Santa. We laughed so hard as he got back on his bike because he told us he liked his bike and loved Santa. Too cute. He had a Pez dispenser with Mater on it, gummy savers (he loves those things), a new Spiderman toothbrush and some other candy. He got on his bike and although he doesn’t quite understand how to pedal, he sure had fun using his feet to push it around. I was so glad Santa brought it for him! Pete and Phil came over shortly after and I had started a breakfast casserole and Devin made us some Orange Julius. (Big Tio introduced them a few years back and they are delicious) We ate and hung out and watched Monks play and then started lunch. Tio and Tia and Adrian had church Sunday morning so they came over about 12:15. Devin had cooked a brisket and oh em gee it was amazing! We also had a loaded hash brown casserole, bacon wrapped jalapenos and were supposed to have homemade beer bread. Yes, supposed to have. I was so upset when I went to make it. I had bought a brand new bag of self rising flour from HEB and as I opened it, a little brown bug was walking on top of the flour. Um, eww. He had roly poly legs and was borderline sinking as he walked since he was in flour. It was like he was on the beach or something nasty little guy. Devin said well just scoop out half the bag and then use the bottom half and I said eww no, what if he had friends in there or laid eggs. I don’t even know if things do that but still. So we had no beer bread. Other than that, everything was amazing. It was so much fun. When they got there we opened presents….



Drinking Orange Julius



When he first woke up...





Walking in living room...



Pips and her bunny

Christmas Eve Part 3

Pete and Phil came over around 5:30 and we watched Jingle All The Way (so not funny lol but all the guys like it) while I finished dinner. We had tamales, beans, rice (yes sadly from a package as only Gramita and my mom make the best real rice), homemade salsa (thanks Pinterest, it truly was the BEST ever), queso, and chicken enchiladas with a sour cream and green chili sauce (no thank you Pinterest, these were horrible!). I was so upset and disappointed with the enchiladas. The sauce you make for them was so flour-y tasting. We followed the recipe so if I ever make them again, I will season the chicken, use corn tortillas, and try a white cheese type sauce. So basically I will just wing it and throw out that recipe and never look back. Lol. Tio and Tia and Sweet Man aka Adrian were on their way back to Abilene from out of town so they were not there yet. We all ate and had movies on in the background and then decided to go look at Christmas lights. We all loaded up and went to several neighborhoods. Monks loves to look at lights. It is so cute for him to point them out and he copies what you say about them. We were out for an hour and a half I would say and then headed home. When we got home, I got Pips ready for bed (she had slept the whole time in the car) and Phil got Aikman in his pajamas and changed his diaper and then we let him open his game! We always play games as a family so we buy one each year and the kids will open it on Christmas Eve and then we will play it together. We bought him this fishing game and it says for ages 3 and up but I thought I bet he will like watching and he can just play how he wants. Boy was I wrong! He was catching more fish than me! He was so good at it and just loved it! Such a big boy. He played with Devin and his uncles and then after a while they played Don’t Tip the Waiter and by that time Tio and Tia and Adrian had arrived! They ate and we talked and then everyone left to go to bed and get ready for Santa’s arrival….



Aikman playing with his cars. He loves driving on this old plastic car mat. Lol.



Eating a "pretty good" cupcake



Opening his game....



Caught a fish....



Look at that big boy!



Sweetness



Playing other game

Christmas Eve Part 2

I want to make it a point to bake with the kids each Christmas. I remember baking with my parents when I was little and decorating cookies and I know Aikman loves any chance to help you with something so nothing could be more perfect! My Pips is still too little of course but I can’t wait until the day when she is old enough to help me with cooking and baking! We will have the best time! We made cherry chip cupcakes with cream cheese icing, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, pecan turtles, puppy chow (something my mom made EVERY year), and peanut butter squares. I still have sugar cookies we never even touched so that can be a New Years task and we can decorate them then. We baked for hours! I am not sure if I have mentioned my new addiction is Pinterest. It’s a website where people pin things they like and they vary from recipes to home décor to activities to do with your kids to sayings to silly things. I absolutely love it! I found over half the recipes we made for Christmas on there. The peanut butter squares I made taste just like Reese’s cups and were so easy. We also make these little pecan turtles where you take a square pretzel and set a rolo on top of it and bake it for 3 minutes and then when you pull them out of the oven, you press half a pecan on top and squish it down some and then I put them in the fridge to set and they taste just like turtles! And a little tip if you make those, buy the Rolo’s at the checkout because they are not wrapped where as if you buy a bag, they are all individually wrapped and you will be peeling off little gold foil forever. Lol. Aikman and I tasted a cupcake when they were done and after a bite he turned to me and said that’s pretty good momma. Pretty good. Crazy boy. Our dessert table looked great!



Yes that bib is Aikman's old one lol



Stirring......



Making turtles.....



Ta-da!! And we ate all of it :)



Christmas Eve Part 1

Christmas Eve morning we woke up to find it was snowing! It was big flakes falling but they weren’t sticking. It did snow for about three hours though. We got everyone ready and then headed to HEB to find the four things they had been out of and to get some flowers for Gigi and Grandpa. We take them flowers every holiday so we decided we would start taking them on Christmas Eve. Some tradition huh? We then went out to each cemetery and it is so sweet yet still breaks my heart for Monks to know where we are going or tell us my grandpa is buried here or I miss Gigi or wave to them as we drive off. I still have a hell of a time with it but I guess it’s sweet he knows them still. After that we grabbed lunch at Wendy’s and headed home. I laughed so hard in the drive thru because as Devin ordered, Aikman repeated him word for word from the backseat. It was hilarious. It was time for naps and then baking! Fun fun! We took lots of pics that morning and sorry to toot my horn but I have one good looking family so toot toot. I just love the pics of the kids and us. They are so stinking cute. Have I ever mentioned I love my kids? Well I do. So much that it makes me cry at times. I have the sweetest babies.



My mom bought him this shirt when he was firstborn. Yes firstborn because she loved it and said he could grow into it. Well Gigi, he grew into it and was so precious. He would say My Gigi get me this shirt.



Look at that face! Goodness. I love him.



So stinking cute.



Precious girl.



Poor Devin was trying to reach to take this pic and I promise we took like ten before someone's
face wasn't cut out. I love how Monks is looking to the side. Lol.



And I got this pic texted to me! How handsome does he look? Like a little old man but in a precious way! I love him!