It All Started with a Little Skittle...

Brody turned 6 and invited us to his birthday party.  Gabby and I traveled to be part of the celebration. We missed seeing snow by a few hours and had an extra hour of driving due to ice on the roads.  Luckily we made it safely to his home.  We stayed up late catching up while the kids all played together.  The next morning Gabby saw the "snow" that was left and ran out into the 6 degree weather and played on the trampoline for a few minutes before we got ready for the party. Brody and all of the kids really seemed to enjoy his celebration at the trampoline park.  It was great seeing Grandma and Grandpa as well as the rest of the family.  The Brody celebration was a whirlwind.  Gabby and I were in Dallas for less than 24 hours but felt so lucky to be part of watching Brody turn 6!

We arrived late in the evening with no significant events on the way to Dallas.  All of the kids were still awake and so Gabby immediately began playing.  We let them stay up for an hour while we visited with Grandma and Grandpa and then everyone went to bed. The next day was Christmas Eve and a very eventful day.  By 10:00 a.m. Aunt Donna, Uncle Kenneth, Leslie and Michael and their kids, and Megan and Zach were all at the house visiting with us.  The kids basically all became reacquainted and then they enjoyed pizza. It was a short but nice visit. After that they had to leave for church and it was time for us to get ready for church.  We met Aunt Sharon and Uncle Lee at their church and worship the reason for the season, Jesus.  Then we ALL headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house to enjoy a wonderful family dinner and a time of relaxation. Before bedtime Reagan read the...

The gingerbread house Gabby made for Christmsas Gabby and her "sister" posing after decorating the Christmas tree all by themselves Excited to see Uncle Michael and rough house Bonding with Aunt Ellen while getting ready for the slumber party Grandma stealing kisses  Christmas was a whirlwind as always.  We worked it out in such a way that we were able to celebrate with both side of the family.  We had "Christmas Eve" on Thursday (two days early) with my family at my house so that we were able to have the experience with both sides of the family.  Mom, Dad, and Aunt Ellen came in that day and stayed in a hotel. Uncle Jay, Katie, Carly, Lacey, Patrick, and Corbin all stayed at our house so the kids could all be together.  We enjoyed gumbo, visiting, and allowing the kids to play late into the night (all while Michael was at work running Escape Artist). Watching a late night movie on our "Christmas Eve"   BFF...