Christmas Continued

The Christmas celebrations continued as we arrived back in Austin on Christmas Eve. As usual we started the celebration with Christmas Eve mass and then came back home to open some presents. We set out cookies for Santa, went to bed, and low and behold the big fellow brought even more great toys for Klayton. Of course his favorite was the "dig dig" or "back back" or "dump dump" or as we call them the back hoes and john deere toys. He is still really into any kind of construction vehicles. This just so happens to be the toy that Kevin picked out for him and you can tell they were both very excited.By this time Klayton was getting really good at opening his own presents.

We were also very thankful that Kevin's mom got to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning as well. Especially Klayton who is always happy to have "Maw" around.

Santa also brought some new trains and a kitchen for Klayton (yes, I know it's kind of a girl toy but it is really fun for him and we tried to get as manly as we could). Of course we did the cookies for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer and stocking and the whole nine yards. We had lots of fun and I'm not too such how much he understood but we tried.

Then we headed to Hallettsville for the big Christmas with all the Aunts and Uncles. It was another huge gathering despite the fact that we were missing a few. As usual I was really bad about bring my camera but Aunt Barbsie supplied a few pictures for us.

We also snuck in the baptism of our new little godson David James Rakes and still no pictures. This time I tried but no battery in the camera. We are excited to be godparents and even more excited that he is healthy and that we got to spend some time with him. These boys are going to have so much fun together. We tried to get a picture with all the great grandchildren (we are missing a few but you get the idea of the ever growing family) but as usual Klayton was not happy about any picture taking. He woke up a little on the grumpy side.

The holiday are officially over now and we are looking forward to a weekend of cleaning and quiet. Oh I forgot to mention we had another cousin get married last weekend as well. Congrats to Scott and Leanne! It was a wonderful wedding (sorry no pics).

I would love to have some poetic reflections for you about Christmas but blogger has not been nice to me for the last week so if I did have some great reflections they are lost due to anger (OK just impatience) with the computer. Just teasing. It was a great holiday season and we are ready to start planning more travels to visit with family.

The Holidays Part One

Wow! What a busy 3 weeks. Actually we have been so busy that I haven't even officially introduced baby Nathan to the blogger world. I know Carrie sent out a few pictures and even a Christmas card (yes that was pretty impressive with a 2 year old and a 2 day old at home) but I wanted to share a few more pictures. Once again it was wonderful to be with my sister when she delivered Nathan. And to see Austin with the baby brought tears to everyone's eyes. Too sweet. He just kept saying, "Nathan, you're my best friend," or "I think he loves me." But after seeing both Carrie and Melinda go through C-section I have a whole new respect for that procedure and pray that I never have to go through that. Can you say ouch!!!! Anyway here are the snaps.

From Levelland we proceeded on to Conroe for Christmas with Kevin's mom and sister. Little Tyler has grown so much and it was so much fun to hold him and feed him and talk to him and then when he got fussy I got to pass him off like any good aunt right? Klayton didn't particularly dislike the baby he just had absolutely no interest. He would bring you a bottle or burp cloth if you asked but certainly didn't want to play with him or hold him or even touch his little fingers. Oh well!! Klayton did have a great time opening presents. He was pretty excited about the whole process and like any good kid kept saying "more." Of course Mom and Aunt Laura spoiled him rotten and he got some great toys including and awesome work bench that is complete with working flashlight, chop saw, drill, and the whole nine yards. Thanks guys!! We love you!! Some how I made it through the whole weekend without a picture of the 2 boys together. What was I thinking but i'll share a few snaps anyway.

You can tell how excited he was about opening this present.

And then the work bench. Pretty cool stuff.

And here is Grandma with Tyler and Aunt Laura.

Then the next weekend it was back to Levelland for my family Christmas. Melinda, Dave, and DJ flew in on Tues and headed to Levelland with Aunt Marla and then on Friday we headed up to the north with Dad and Jeanette. It was wonderful to have everybody together for Christmas epsecially considering we had 2 new little ones we were a little afraid that wasn't going to happen this year. Klayton and Austin got to play together some more and Richard, Kevin, and Dave... well let's just say they tried to behave. That is not always so easy when all of them are together. We even got to see some snow while we were up there. Of course the wind was blowing so hard none of the snow actually hit the ground but we did pretend we had a white Christmas.

The camera has to be in prime form when the grandsons are together so I'll try to spare you too many pictures but here are the highlights.

The boys made cookies for Santa and did a great job of sharing and waiting their turn.

Aunt Marla with the 2 babies, Nathan and DJ

The whole family. We are growing rapidly.

And of course we had to try to get the boys together.

Don't they look cute

OK, I have to pause for now. Klayton is awake but more pics and a few reflections still to come