what a holiday season

our christmas this year was definitely merry. and jolly. it's easy to feel that way though because we were able to spend time with many of my siblings and their spouses in texas. and i consider them to be some of my favorite people to be with.

to save a little money we decided to drive the 16 hour drive with two kids instead of flying. driving really wasn't too bad. we listened to books on cd, munched on snacks, made plenty of nursing and bathroom stops and watched movies on the portable dvd player. all of these things helped to pass the time away quickly. plus, as we drove further and further south the snow slowly began to disappear. in my book, that makes for a great drive.

the first half of the trip was perfect weather. blue skies, warm sun, small amount of wind and no heavy coats! we took full advantage and went to the park to run around, played in the leaves and went to the science museum where we explored outside for a bit.







we were jumping in the leaves back in september in wisconsin. i love texas. these are my cute nieces ginny and lily.

grandma with the grandkids at the museum.

katelyn loves to hold hands with anyone who is willing. luckily her cousin sam was always willing.

katelyn is trying to decide if she wants to listen or not. the dirty water is tempting, i know.

tyler being his fun, goofy self. he was a good man and took charge of our buddy boy while at the museum.

the group at the science museum.

we also found a bounce house place to let the play at. this place wore every single one of them out. they had tons of fun. plus, we practically had the whole place to ourselves. and tyler, being the good sport that he is, followed the kids everywhere and into all of the bounce houses. seriously, an awesome guy.

katelyn taking a quick peek from her bounce house.

lily and sam.

grandma and audrey.

little lily after sliding down.

then much to our surprise and probably to every person in texas, it snowed on christmas eve! those who were longing for a white christmas (probably all of our non-texan spouses) received a christmas miracle.

christmas was wonderful. we had a great time together as a whole big family. some of the families planned on heading home on christmas eve, but ended up spending the night with all of us because of the snow. texas really isn't prepared for that kind of weather, so the roads are not safe to drive on.

katelyn on christmas morning. she was good about waiting her turn to open presents.

we let all of the kids decorate their own gingerbread houses on christmas morning. katelyn was very proud of her house.

one of my favorite parts of the trip was getting to see all of the nieces and nephews again. they are all very kind, well behaved children. katelyn loved spending time with them. i hope they can see each other a lot in the years to come.

ginny, katelyn, abigail, lily, sam and audrey.

sam, abigail and katelyn.

and two of the newer babies in the family. tanner and jacob. they are only ten days apart.

we had such a great time. thanks mom and dad for hosting and running around trying to make sure everyone was comfortable and happy.