First Father-Son trip

Ty recently took Colt on their first father-son trip. They drove from Austin with one of Ty's high school buddies and his son to Oklahoma City to visit Ty's best friend from high school and his family. 

It was a weekend of 3 little boys getting to play and the guys getting to catch up. Ty took some pictures with his phone, but apparently forgot to take several pictures (like one of all 3 boys together).

 

He did, however, get a picture of the dog. 

One night, the guys went to an OKC Thunder basketball game. 

On the way back, they were welcomed home with SNOW! They let the boys out of the car to play in it for a bit and stretch their legs, then braved the traffic to finally arrive home. 

 While Ty and Colt were gone, Levi and I enjoyed some 1 on 1 time. 

 I brought out some dinosaurs and Levi was in heaven! 

 I enjoyed playing around with my new camera while Levi played in Colt's room. 

 Photo op of the two left behind kids. 

 We love our little family! Ty is excited to take his next father-son trip. Next time, he's taking Levi with him to a family wedding in Minnesota and I'm looking forward to time to focus just on Colt. 

3 month comparison

 Tatum

Colt

Levi

Obligatory Christmas Post

This Christmas was our first to spend in Abilene since we've had kids. Jennifer did a great job decorating the house and making it festive. The tree was stunning! She decorated it with little picture frames with a picture of each family member. After the tree came down, she hung them on a mural tree that Ashley painted in the guest room. Such a great idea! 

The house was packed. My whole family came, as well as my Aunt Debbie, Uncle Don and their 2 sons. Our boys had SO much fun playing with some older boys. And Stephen and Grant were extremely patient with my kids. 

Here we are during our own family Christmas. The kids mostly got board games and books from us. 

I got some chocolate covered cherries (with a few days to eat them before my sugar fast began on New Years). Ty got some shoes and a pillow ;)

After Christmas, we all got sick. The weird thing was that everyone had different symptoms. But we all came down with something. Fortunately, we are better now! 

 Here's Levi being his silly self by sitting in Tatum's car seat. 

 Over New Year's we celebrated Christmas with Ty's family. Colt and Levi got new golf clubs which they love! 

The boys also enjoyed playing with next year's Christmas ornaments that I got on clearance :)

Miss Priss is growing up too quickly! She's already 2 1/2 months and just moved into her 3-6 month clothes. She's a big girl! Tatum holds her head up really well and continues to be a sweet as sugar. 

We had a very Merry Christmas and enjoyed taking lots of time this winter to share the story of Jesus birth with our kids. We went to the Living Nativity at Colt's preschool again this year and took time each evening to read from the Bible as we completed our Jesse Tree. It's fun to begin new traditions with our young kids! We are so thankful for God's precious GIFT to us in His son, Jesus and for this time to celebrate his birth. 

Austin Zoo escapades

We recently bought the Groupon to the Austin Zoo. I'd always heard that the Austin zoo wasn't really a zoo and was really disappointing. But with young kids, you can't pass up the zoo in your own city unless you want to win "Worst Parent of the Year" honors. Since the year was winding down and I was in the running for this honorable award, I figured we should pack up our own zoo crew and head that way.

The first animals we saw at the zoo were roosters and chickens. "Here we go..." I thought. 

 However, the zoo ended up being a GREAT experience. We saw bears, jaguars, lions, tigers, HUGE turtles, as well as a great feeding/petting zoo with goats, llamas, etc. The really neat part was how close you were to the animals. The lions were literally 3 feet from us, behind a fence of course, but still.... The zoo was also in a really shaded, not paved environment, so you feel a bit better for these caged animal's wellbeing. Also, quite a few of the animals have been rescued.

The day was a great outing... until the boys melted down in hunger and fatigue at the end of the morning (see picture above). There is a train that we chose not to ride due to the tired and hungry boys in our party. Hopefully next time we can take our little conductors on the little train. We look forward to our next zoo outing!