The Christmas Rush

Our holiday schedule was a little crazy this year, but we all had a fun time (until Ethan had to go back to day care today, which didn't make him very happy). Here's where we were:

Dec. 22nd--Finish all shopping, wrapping, baking, that we haven't been able to do for the last two weeks because Mommy and Ethan have been sick.

Dec. 23rd--Continue wrapping, packing, etc. Watch TCU beat Boise State in the Pointsettia bowl!! GO FROGS! Open presents at home so we don't have to cart them with us. (This was a long process as Ethan just wanted to play with each one, and not open anymore. Yay! for fun presents, but not so good on the time line. We were up LATE.)

Dec. 24th, Christmas Eve--PACK and try to get on the road to Houston. We finally made it out the door around 3:00. We arrived in Houston in time for dinner with Brad, Nicole, the girls, and MeMe and Pop. Ethan was thrilled to see everyone.

Dec. 25th, Christmas Day--After sleeping in (we'd had a late couple of nights) we made it over to Brad and Nicole's house for some presents and lunch. The kids played and played. We went back to MeMe and Pop's house for naps (Rick and E slept for 3+ hours). Then the rest of the family (and Nicole's parents) joined us for a lovely Christmas turkey at MeMe and Pop's. The kids love playing with the balls on the pool table, so that was the activity of choice (even taking precedence over more presents). Merry Christmas!

Dec. 26th--We took a little shopping trip with Pop to buy Ethan some much needed new shoes. After a quick bite to eat, it was on the road again, heading to Columbus, Texas. Rick's aunt's family owns a ranch there and they invited us there for the weekend. There were quite a few of us: Rick, Ethan, and me; Brad, Nicole, Avery, and Madi; MeMe and Pop; Greg, Gina, Forrest, Logan, and Preston (Rick's uncle and his family); Steve and Jenger (Rick's other uncle and wife), and Jenger's mom; Jill (Rick's cousin), and David and Robin (Rick's cousin and wife). It was a crowd, but the house was beautiful with plenty of room for all. We had fantastic hosts and everyone contributed to a meal or two. Ethan had a blast playing with all the cousins out under the big oak trees, playing football and just running around. We toasted marshmallows over the fire at night and watched the cattle stroll by in the morning. It was a terrific weekend.

Dec. 28th--After lunch we headed back home. Phew!

Below are a few pictures from our escapades. If you would like to see more please go to: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0ActWrJm5aOWLlI and enjoy the full slideshow of pictures from this great season. We hope you all had as nice a Christmas as we did.