Before January is Over...

I've been so busy catching up on Texas pictures, that January is nearly over already! Well, not much has happened back in Idaho other than a couple of weeks of unseasonably warm temps, which caused most of the snow to melt away, and a household bout of the flu.  But, we did have some fun regardless. 

We had one more little gift exchange for some presents that didn't travel with us.  And finally the month-long gift giving was finished!

Other than that, the kids are getting along pretty well for the most part.  Except H is going through a huge "No!" phase and occasionally biting when O is steering her away from a momentary obsession.  (Don't all kids do this on their new trampolines?)

Owen loves to request these ridiculous monstrosities when they are available at the grocery store.  They both had a great time pretending to steer while I was seriously trying not to clear off the aisles mid-turn.

O's favorite winter place is the mall.  Yes, he's too young to be a mall rat, but mostly he just likes the coin-operated vehicles.  I never put coins in, and he never knew any better and still had a blast, until the other day when a nice little girl decided to share her quarters with my kids in the ice cream truck.  You should have seen the look on O's face when it started to move and play music!  Of course, after she left, he promptly asked me if I had any quarters!  Guess that simple little activity has just changed forever.  :(

Finally, we did get some more sledding in (before the snow was gone) with Daddy's assistance this time!

Texas, Part 5 (Austin and Bryan)

Once family cleared out, we took the kids to the Bryan Children's Museum just for something different.  Because of the holidays, we almost had the place to ourselves. Here's our 'cool dude' in transit:

See any familiar grapes?

Hadley enjoyed the vacuum tube that would seemingly magically toss out a ball.

They also had a nice collection of service vehicles, which was Owen's favorite part.

And they got a kick out of chess pieces that were nearly their size!  (Daddy has been teaching Owen how to play chess at home.)  There were many other parts to the museum, but those were the kids' faves.

The next day, we left the kids with the grandparents for a day trip to Austin.  We met up with our good buddy Juan and pretended like we were just a couple of hipsters living it up on the up-and-coming east side of downtown.

The city was a little quiet, since it was during the holiday break, but there were still plenty of people outside at the end of December. We walked down to the river where we saw some crew boats practicing, families playing, and joggers jogging.

We stopped in at a local brewpub where we caught this view of downtown, horse trolleys, and the metro rail all in the same frame.  So much activity in the big city! :)

And we couldn't visit Austin without trying out some of the local food truck fare.  The East Side King was especially tasty and sought-after since I'm a Top Chef fan.  (Austin's Paul Qui won a couple of season's back and started this series of food trucks.  We also spied him through the window of his new restaurant, Qui, while we were walking around.)

Texas, Part 4 (Christmas)

On to Christmas...  Would you believe me if I told you that I didn't realize these PJs matched until the kids were standing next to each other?  Or am I just that good?  :)

First, were the stockings.  The kids were so patient; I think they even ate breakfast before opening stockings while everyone else was waking up.

Then, we went from this...

to this pretty quickly!

I think Owen's favorites were the put-it-together SUV and the Curious George collection, which he pretty much flipped through cover to cover in the midst of gift opening.

Hadley got a tutu that she enjoyed wearing around the rest of the morning, and Owen got some Longhorn swag.

What a fun Christmas with family!  Speaking of family, I just got the full family photos we took Christmas night:

Merry Christmas to all!!

Texas, Part 3 (Ranch Family)

We arrived at the ranch late on Christmas Eve's Eve, and family started arriving the next day.  Most had never met Hadley before, so it was a lot of fun to share the kids with them at long last!

There were cousins to meet/remeet.  Hannah and Katie have both turned out to be polite, fun, beautiful young ladies.  They enjoyed watching their younger cousins, and O and H loved hanging out with them! Plus, they brought some new electronics for the kids to check out.

My kids loved "helping" Katie arrange the new presents under the tree!

More fun with Uncle Ken, Aunt Chantelle, and Uncle Michael.  Hadley was pretty unsure about Uncle Ken.  Not sure why.  She was so stoic, while he was trying to impress her; it was pretty amusing for the rest of us.  :)

Semi-formal cousin shots:

Hadley found plenty of new things to explore at Granna's house.  Hello, childproofing!  

And don't forget about quality time with Granna and Grandad.

The younger generation helping Granna with her iPad.

We even got in one night with the full family playing cards.  The game was 31; the winner was Chantelle!

This rocking chair turned out to be H's nemesis.  She would crawl up into the chair, but in so doing, the pillow slid down into her sitting space, so she would scream and throw the pillow out.  But then she'd decide she wanted the pillow, so she would climb back down and repeat over and over.  It was a love-hate relationship.

The big windows were another favorite since she could peek in at people inside the house. Top is playing with Aunt Chantelle and bottom waving to Grandad.

I loved this shot of the men doing the child-watching.  :)

Owen was talking about the ranch must-do of shelling roasted peanuts on the porch before we even left Idaho.  So glad that he remembered that tradition and was excited to partake!  He could even shell most of his own, though the technique left much to be perfected.

And lastly, me and my brothers before we all went to our separate states again.  Is it just me or did I get shorted on the tall genes?  Pun intended! :)  

Well, that's plenty of pictures for now.  Guess I'll have to do another post just for Christmas next...