Christmas, New Years, Spreading Cheer at Texas Children's, Gators, and Family Fun Days

Just as the title says.. we had a fun filled Christmas break! I was lucky to be able to take off 2 weeks and Matt only had to work a few days over the break, so we were able to spend a lot of quality time as a family. It was hard to go back to work, I have so much fun when I get to be home with the kids!

Christmas Cookies & Spreading cheer at Texas Children's Hospital

3 days before Christmas, my mom, me & the kids, and my sister in law, and nephew made about 8 dozen Christmas cookies. It was a great day baking in the kitchen and spending family time together. Of course we were making cookies for Santa (and a little for ourselves), but the majority of cookies we took to Texas Children's Hospital to help spread some Christmas cheer. It is very hard living in a hospital, and I can't imagine spending the holidays there, so I asked the Ronald McDonald House if we could drop off cookies. We also took some to the 15th Floor step down rooms, this is where heart families like ours spend months waiting to go home after surgery. I am very thankful we were not spending Christmas there, but know that might not always be the case, so I wanted to teach the kids about the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

We had three wonderful days of Christmas celebrations with family. 2 days before Christmas we went to my cousins house for white elephant gift exchange. Matt and I got the gifts of a fuzzy vibrating pillow and a body art tattoo set.. Both really for Katherine. The kids got lots of fun gifts that night from my aunts & uncles, and cousins. We had a very nice Christmas Eve over at Matt's parents house, where we all got plenty of great gifts and great food. But we had to get home so Santa could come and deliver presents.

For the first time ever, Christmas morning, Matt and I were the first ones awake.. We had to wait on the kids. They loved all the toys Santa brought them and what Matt and I gave them. We are still waiting for one more box for their BIG present, a wooden playset/swingset for the backyard. Wal-Mart lost one of the boxes. After we opened all of our presents, we headed to my brothers for Christmas with my family.. More presents and more food. We are truly blessed to have spent 3 days with family celebrating. Colin was telling everyone it was Jesus Birthday!
Fun Family Days

After all the Christmas festivities calmed down, we were able to enjoy some quality family time. We took the kids bowling for the first time, they LOVED it for about 5 frames, then were not that excited about it. Matt and Katherine had a game of Glow In The Dark putt putt golf, which she loved.. Colin was a little afraid of it. We went to the park one day to feed the ducks and play on the playground. For Christmas we got a Zoo Membership, so one day when it was nice and 70 degrees, we took the kids to the zoo for a few hours.

Gators, Hiking, and Picnic at Brazos Bend State Park

Matt to work a few days, so one day, me & the kids, my parents, sister in law & nephew (my brother also had to work), went to Brazos Bend State park to hike & look for alligators, we spotted about 15 of them. We also grilled hamburgers and had a picnic there. That night all the grandkids spent the night with my parents and Matt and I, my brother and sister in law went out for drinks and appetizers.. Kids free :)
HAPPY NEW YEAR
For New Years Eve was a little low key since we have small children. We had my family over and had lots of food, some drinks, and sparkerlers bigger than the kids, which they loved! The kids ALMOST made it to midnight, they fell asleep at 11:30. So Matt and I rang in the New Year just the two of us. The next morning we got up and met Matt's parents to go to the Houston Texans Football game. We had lots of fun at the game even though they lost.. But they are going to the playoffs for the 1st time.