Thanksgiving and Santa!

We had a lovely Thanksgiving at home this year. Juan did the turkey again and it was as equally delicious as his first turkey last year. He is becoming quite the chef. We had a couple friends over and had a great time chatting and stuffing ourselves. And now the holidays officially begin!

 I did a photo shoot with the girls in the morning.

 The girls are acting out Slippery Fish here. It is a song we learned at music group and Maya manages to get a few actions in too! So fun.

 One happy, one sad.

 Juan and his turkey.

 Maya's first Thanksgiving! She is just the cutest.

 Our Family Thanksgiving 2012

We had the best day together on Friday. In the morning we went and saw Finding Nemo at the budget theaters. Then in the evening we headed out to Georgetown to see their lighting of the town square, and to see Santa! Last year we were unsuccessful with Santa, Amelia would not go near him and never let me pass her off to sit in his lap. I was very disappointed. So this year we prepped her. She was excited to tell him what she wanted for Christmas. And she was also old enough to be bribed this year, she got chocolate chips when we got home for smiling at the camera, haha.

 I love the Texas Santa costume. Makes sense, he doesn't need a coat and hat when it's 75 degrees outside!

 Maya was arching her back and very nervous at first. But here is proof that she was easily distracted and warmed up to him. 

And my favorite shot. Amelia is just so beautiful. And both looking at the camera, that never happens!

 So excited for these next few weeks! Many more holiday activities to come from us.

7 Years!

Juan and I have been married 7 years today. You know I love trips down memory lane, so please enjoy these vintage pics of the two of us:

 We're 16 years old here. With Julaine. This is one of my all time favorites. It just reminds me of the good times we had as best friends. I like to joke and say he always liked me and I was a "mean girl" to him. And all that is true, except somewhere in there we also became close friends and we had the best times together, and he was someone I could count on and confide in.

 We're 17 here, right after we started dating.

 

 I'm 20, he's 21. We were engaged.

 

 And these are the 2 pictures I used to carry around throughout his mission. Isn't he good looking? The couch pose is now hilarious, but I love it. Oh, young love.

For our 7 year anniversary, we celebrated with a Zipline Adventure! Neither of us had ever been before and we both are up for trying new things! In reality I just had to remember all the times I've yelled at the crying girls on the Bachelor for being so afraid, and tried not to be a hypocrite. After the first line, it was really just FUN and it was fun to be scared.

 We got the Bride and Groom helmets since it was our anniversary!

 It was just beautiful over at Lake Travis in Austin.

 And if you can see, that is Juan and I coming in side by side. Juan asked the guide if there was any way we could zip while holding hands (as a cheesy joke). She said maybe if we had go-go gadget arms, haha.

It was such a fun date and I'm so glad I didn't have to dress up to go out to dinner. I am so not a dressy person. We ate at Longhorn Steakhouse and it was delicious.

Maya is 10 Months! plus more

First up, we braved the cold and went downtown to watch them light the big Christmas Tree. They did an hour-long program before they actually lit the tree, which was a bit of a nightmare with a crying 10 month old in the stroller, and a restless 2 year old on foot in a HUGE crowd. And wait, did I say we braved the cold? That's a lie, it was 75 degrees and wonderful- the only plus side to the hour wait.

 Fake snow.

 I managed to rock Maya to sleep.

 Mr Santa.

 In the end, I found it all worth it. They set off fireworks and we did a countdown to the Lighting and Amelia was SO into it and excited.

 Plus I got to watch Juan have a conniption every time they started a new song (and further delayed the Lighting). Juan's not appreciative of the children's choir, Scrooge.

 And our Miss Maya is 10 months old!

 So many changes this month. She has the walker down by now, and is very fast on it.

 She has mastered picking up toys off the floor while standing and straightening back up without falling.

 She can sit back up after being in crawling position which has made for a lot more sitting still playtime.

 She has graduated from baby food and eats everything we eat now, most of the time a bigger serving than Amelia. And she loves to feed herself, always trying to be like big sis.

 I definitely see her cousin Judson in a lot of these pics. Right Crystal? From his baby pictures?

 She is still bald on top but for real has almost a little curl forming in the back, a good amount of hair.

She is gorgeous and always happy and a good sport with Amelia wrestling, poking, grabbing at her all the time. She loves her sister and cracks up at almost everything she does. She is mama's little girl and is getting to be more of a snuggler every day. We just love her so much.

And lastly, a couple weeks ago we went to a Murder Mystery party for my friend Kasee's birthday. I turned out to be the murderer! And it was so much fun. I played the part of miss Drama Queen. Juan was lawyer extraordinaire, and everyone just had the best time. Thank you Kasee for throwing such an awesome party!

 

Happy November!

I thought for sure I'd be ready to decorate for Christmas on November 1, but our Halloween was so much fun and the girls enjoyed it so much, it's nice to have a tiny break before Christmas. I have my Thanksgiving wall hanging up, and we are picking a gratitude activity out of it each day. And then maybe next week we'll decorate for Christmas :) I really can't wait!

Since my last post was before Halloween, here are some pictures from the day of:

 Amelia and Lexi at the cute Fall Festival we went to.

 There were games and lots of candy.

 Amelia, Lexi, Blake, Maya.

 Maya and me, and Amelia just done with pictures, haha!

 Our apartment complex did a cute scavenger hunt for the kids. (And this is the picture that decided the mustache had to go! I love you Juan.)

 Amelia got her first try at a pinata!

 Trick or Treating!

 Amelia had an entourage of adults with her, our 2 couple friends without kids came along. 

 She had so much fun going to a dozen or so houses.

This is Amelia at the park. They have a little store window and she loves to take my orders and get food for me.

 Maya walking along with the stroller, she is getting sick of hitting a wall in our apartments within 5 seconds. She needed wide open spaces!

And Amelia's first big braid. Doesn't she look so grown up?