A Gorgeous Day at the Park

I took the kids to Landa Park on Monday...what an absolutely perfect afternoon. It was sunny and warm and the kids had a great time down by the river feeding ducks and geese and catching minnows. Aahhh! the bliss of a beautiful January day.

Just Hanging Around the House

Some of My Favorites

I made a 2008 review in photos for my mom and Allen's parents. This collage is from that collection. Just a few favorite photos from 2008 - ones not included in other pages from the review.

CHOO CHOO!

Most of you who know Oliver (my 4-year-old) know of his long standing love of trains. This Christmas I learned of a train museum in New Braunfels. We went today to check it out. It's a pretty small museum but Oliver really enjoyed himself.

We checked out the model trains, the restored engine and caboose, and had the bonus of watching three real trains rush by on the tracks outside.

We ended our field trip with swinging by the park for some picnic and play time. It was a beautiful way to spend a beautiful afternoon.

New Years Eve Party!

We had a wonderful New Years Eve celebration. My sister-in-law (or sister-outlaw as Katrina says) brought her fiance and 5 children to come play. We haven't seen our Missouri cousins for about 1 1/2 years. It was so fun to get together again! They had to brave the 13 hour drive in December. We just got to clean the house and wait. (Note: It did not stay clean for long, 11 kids will do that.)

The kids spent hours crafting party hats, posters, and noisemakers. They dance-danced the night away and played Katrina's new Harry Potter Scene-it game. We made pizzas and put out plenty of fruits and veggies to go with the chips and party food.

As midnight approached everyone tuned into watch the ball drop, unfortunately not one clock in my house is right so we were a minute or two past midnight before we realized it. The kids ran outside to blast noisemakers, crack confetti eggs, blow bubbles, twirl glowsticks and make a LOT of noise. Usually New Years Eve in our neighborhood is VERY loud. Everyone celebrates with fireworks and music. This year it was SOOOO quiet, except for our house...seriously...I couldn't hear anyone else. I turned to Christina and wondered if maybe we were a day off instead of a minute off. (Fireworks were banned this year.)

Just FYI for anyone who wants to know - 1 dozen confetti eggs doesn't seem like much but we had confetti tracked EVERYWHERE! I can't complain though as I was the one who sent them to Christina and kids for Christmas, of course that was to get them out of my house - I had no idea that she would actually bring them back...

So thanks to Christina and Nathanael for bringing the kids! It made our New Year!

Port Aransas Beach Trip #2

These were from day 2 of our weekend. The water was nice and warm, it was only when we got out that we got a bit chilly. Consequently the kids and Allen spent most of the day in the deep waves. We discovered another way to be warm - bury ourselves in the soft, deep sand. No one wanted to go home. Next time we plan to stay longer if possible.

A travel tip: it was so nice to have a house to go to after spending all day on the beach. One with a nice hot shower and protection from the blowing sand and damp wind. A functioning kitchen and soft beds were a plus as well. We sure felt spoiled!

Port Aransas Beach Trip #1

In October we headed south to enjoy a weekend in Port Aransas, Texas. We stayed in a neat little beach house, just blocks from the coastline. We got to the beach right around sunset and stayed for quite awhile. It was a bit cooler than on a summer evening but the lack of crowds and joy of being there more than made up for it.
Since we no longer own a vehicle that holds our entire family we had to improvise a bit to make the trip happen. I drove the minivan with the kids and Allen took my motorcycle down - we switched for the way home. It was my first long drive on the motorcycle (3 hours), the weather was perfect and I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Parade Time!

This is from the annual Seguin Christmas parade. The girls have joined with some of their Girl Scout friends to go on the float. The boys and I sipped hot cocoa to keep warm, it was actually a pretty cold night. Amelia stayed home with Dad so she could stay warm.

Bowling for Birthdays!

Backing up a bit...
Gabriel turned 13 this Halloween! Yep, officially a teenager.
We celebrated by going bowling, one of the kids favorite things.
Check out the reaction to the strike on lane 10. (You will have to zoom in to see.)

Christmas Day!

Christmas day was highly anticipated. Yes, we got the tree back up - on Christmas eve. We began the day with "jingle-belling" around the house and ended by spending lots of good, quality family time together.