The Dark Knight Before Christmas

We let the boys open one gift Christmas Eve and they were thrilled to find they had both gotten new Batman PJs!!

Scotty's were the old school style Batman ...

...But Jack's PJs were more of the Dark Knight style, very cool. So cool that he had to put them right on- he had almost all of his clothes off before we knew it!

Scott wasn't far behind!

We may have to change this kid's first name to Dark.

Jack is midsentence here, "I'm the Big Batman and Scotty's the little Batman, right Dad?"

Taste of Texas

Here are some shots of us on Christmas Eve at Taste of Texas. I wish I had gotten some more pictures of the decor in this resturant because they really go all out for Christmas.

After lunch, we thought we'd hop in Santa's Sleigh for some group shots!

Merry Christmas

Here are what alot of you are getting for Christmas, sorry to ruin the surprise if you haven't gotten it yet! But we took these group shots this week before we left for Houston and decided that they were good enough to give as gifts to family and friends so we hope you like!

I just thought this one was funny and very representative of the boys' natural state: Jack being a ham and Scott enjoing the show.

One Giant Leap For Scott...

One minor heart attack for mom and dad.
So our little Scott Monkey here decided to maneuver himself out of his crib this weekend by jumping out of it and face planting himself onto the arm of the couch in his room. We thought he was asleep in his room when we heard a THUD and then a blood curdling scream from his room. After the crying subsided, we noticed the facial injury you see here and by studying the shape of it, we have been able to reconstruct exactly how he must have climbed, jumped and finally fallen. Poor Lil Guy. But hey, lessons learned all around: Scott is a slightly more cautious climber as a result and we lowered the mattress in his crib in order to make climbing out a near impossibility. We'll see how long that lasts.

A little toe sucking to ease the facial pain.

Can You Hear Me Now?

9 months old and already Cell Phone Ready.
Here's Scott operating Kyle's Instinct phone on instinct. *~Hehe~*

Sunday School's Biggest Fan

Jack and I have been going to the Lutheran Church here in our neighborhood lately and Jack absolutely loves it! He did so well in his Sunday School class the first time he went, his teacher said she never would have guessed that he had never been in a classroom setting before. He even sits through Big Church with me after Sunday School. And as you can see here, if Sunday School is promised, Jack will let me not only pick out his clothes, but also do his hair! He has just recently become interested in Church and I must say that his timing is impeccable. This year is the first that we think Jack has actually grasped the idea of what Santa Clause is all about and now with all the Sunday School, he has a really good handle on how Jesus ties into all this Christmas stuff as well. His sunday school teacher asked him what was happening this week, assuming he would mention Christmas and that would be her lead into today's lesson, but Jack responded with a booming, "Jesus's Birthday!!!" instead. She told me, "I thought maybe he should just teach the class!" My Mom would be so proud ;).

Practice Christmas

In preparation for Jack's 4th Christmas and Scott's 1st, we thought the 3 1/2 year old and 9 month old could use a bit of a dry run. So we got the two biggest gifts that Grandpa Bill and Grandma Shauna sent and let the two of them tear into them! Jack got a new race car track and two new race cars and Scott got a Horsey! Thanks Grandpa and Grandma, great gifts!! So we had a long talk with the boys about Thank You's and Self Control and Sharing and all the good Christmas Lessons.... They were both super thrilled and handled the practice Christmas very well so we have high hopes for the real thing at Nonna's house this week!

Jack: "Whoa! This is soooo big!!"

Kyle was demonstrating to Scott exactly how you are supposed to bounce up and down on this new Horsey. Scott just kept pointing and laughing at him, but eventually he figured it out on his own, haha.

We have since removed the safety seat you see here, Scott's a Pro.
He don't need no stinkin safety seat!Jack's new racetrack is so cool, a week later and it is still our centerpeice in the living room.Scott could not manage to keep his limbs off of the track. Kyle said it must be his way of including himself, aw."What, Jack? Get your car off my foot, Gosh!"Ride 'em Cowboy!Jack had to man handle Scott a bit, we could not keep him off the track! Everytime we turned around, he had another body part draped across the track. It was pretty funny.Scott did not appreciate Jack getting physical with him. Haha!Hope y'all enjoyed the Practice Christmas shots, the boys are beside themselves in anticipation of the real thing this Wednesday. We can't wait to see most of y'all in Houston this week and we will be thinking of all of y'all who are celebrating elsewhere everyday and wishing you were in Houston with us! Thanks so much to all of you for the gifts and cards you have sent, we miss you and we hope to see you all sooner than later! We love you all and hope you have a Wonderful Holiday Season!!

Some SERIOUS Crazy Faces!

I know, this is the strangest picture of Scott ever! But it's the best we have of his new teeth! He was miserable for about a week and a half straight and then this past weekend, all these new teeth popped out! You can't even see them all here, but there are 6 total, which means he got 3 teeth all at once!

Oh Jack.

Like Caged Animals

Scotty is becoming very capable these days, he gets around just about as fast as Jack does and holds his own against his big bro.

But he is still such a sweet little boy, aw.

Story Time

After finishing the dishes, I peeked in on Kyle's story time with the boys and here's Jack's reaction the instant he saw the camera. Pig Nose Face, pretty amazing.

Murphy's Law

After almost 4 straight months of nothing but healthy kids, of course Scott got two ear infections right when we happened to be in between insurance carriers. We were able to get in on the very last day of coverage on one policy and got some antibiotics for Scotty and got back for our check up on the very first day of coverage on the new policy. But Scott was given a clean bill of health and they even threw in some vaccinations just for good measure!

Here's Scott right before his shots,

"Huh?! I have to get SHOTS??"

"Mom, is it too late to call the whole thing off? How 'bout we just bolt?"
Oh yeah, and check out Scott's skills! Jack asked Santa to give Scott "walking yegs" (walking legs) for Christmas and so we're ALL being extra good for Scott, hoping Santa delivers! He is soooo close, he actually stood all by himself three times while we were waiting for the Doc!!

Just Another Day at the Park

Bubble Boys

Jack in the Box!

The Christmas Presents are arriving steadily and Jack is having so much fun with all the boxes! Hopefully he'll like his gifts even more than he has these boxes!

Enjoying some of this beautiful Austin "Winter".

This season has convinced us that Austin is not capable of a true winter but instead offers a series of Cold Fronts which stick around for a day or two and then its right back to the Mid 70s. I don't think we'll ever leave this place.

Nana's House

At the last minute, it was decided that we were doing Thanksgiving Day at Nana's house in Corpus which she is in the process of moving out of. We had planned on doing dinner at her new condo but it turned out that we all had a really great time enjoying Nana's house for the last time. She was in this house for just about 50 years so there are alot of memories here and we were glad to get one last Thanksgiving out of it!

Scott had so much fun playing with the "Big Kids"!

Lily Kate, in her own little world.

This was our last night in Corpus, after dinner the kids found this little platform outside the restaurant by the water and they put on a little show, haha! Check out their moves!
That is soooo the Kyle Dance! Must be in their genes.
Group Shot! Lily Kate is going to be a great big sis, she couldn't take her eyes off Scott. She loves the babies, so get ready Charlotte!

Spoiled

We were totally spoiled for Thanksgiving. Here's a shot I took while sitting in the hot tub at the hotel in Corpus over looking the indoor pool which leads out to the sun deck and beach. We have got to come back here this summer!

The boys warmed up first in the hot tub...

The hot tub was like a giant bath tub to Scott and he could not stop smiling the whole time he was in it.

The four of us headed out to the beach and even though we were very lucky to have close to 80 degree weather for Thanksgiving, it was still too cold for me at the beach.

But the boys had a blast in the.... surf.
Can we call it the surf if there are no waves?? Gotta love the Gulf, haha!