All About Cousins

This past weekend was CRAZY!! And our theme for the weekend was cousins!!

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It started Friday night...Paul and I both rushed home, grabbed the boys and ALL of our bags, and headed to Arlington to watch my cousin Zach play in the state 4A championship!! He plays for Midway, which also happens to be my high school, so it's always a little extra special to go to his games! They were playing Lake Travis, who has won the state title the past 4 years...yes 4...and although we thought Midway could pull it out, LT snagged its' 5th straight title...crazy!

Even though they lost, it was a fun night...

I love this picture...both boys were entranced by the big screen!

Zach is #11

Lane after a bag full of M&Ms! Oh and a reindeer on his cheek from his school Christmas party!!

Cutie pie

Zach got pulled up on Varsity for the playoffs...and he got to go in!!

After the game, around 11:00 or so, we, along with my Aunt Angie, headed out to East Texas for my other cousin, Amanda's graduation from SFA!!! We got to Henderson around 2:45ish, spent the night, then woke up around 5:45 to make it to Nacogdoches by 9:30! Don't ask why graduation had to be so early!!

Getting her diploma...she got her degree in Elementary Education....adding to the list of teachers in the family!

Me, Kelly, and Bree

Levi wasn't feeling so great and he slept through most of it

I love going back to Nac...so many memories of our five years there!!

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After graduation, the whole gang headed to eat lunch. Daddy and Lane!

The newly SFA graduate!!!

The whole gang!!

Our best attempt at a family shot!

Zack and Amanda being goofy!

And they are getting married this March!!!

Congrats to both Amanda and Zach...we love you both!!!

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Sunday was a rest and relax day....Paul and I were both worn out! And today little brother decided to get sick...so I'm at home with him. We have one and a half more days till Christmas break....and I am sooo ready for it....I have been so busy, I can't seem to get my feet on the ground. But we sure do have one excited little boy who can't wait!!

A Night of Favorite Things

This past Saturday night I hosted a Favorite Things Party with some of my Favorite girls! I originally saw the idea on none other than Pinterest and knew it looked like lots of fun!

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The idea is simple: each guest chooses their Favorite item in whatever price range you set and they bring five of them. Then each person will choose five names and those people receive their gift. So everyone leaves with five Favorite things!

Here's the invite!

Some bags to hold your gifts

Gift table ( I forgot to take a  pic with all the gifts on it, darn)

Raye Anne and Carie

Our two mommas-to-be....Jamie and Dawn

Raye Anne, Me, Carie

Drawing names

Favorite thing #1: Cute Scarfs

Favorite thing #2: OPI nail polish , DS illuminate

Favorite thing #3: Very Sexy Body Mist

Favorite thing #4: Black Raspberry Vanilla Scentsy bars

Favorite thing #5: Fun Jalapeno Corers

Favorite thing #6: Sheer Freesia Body Mist

Favorite thing #7: Super cute Picture Frame blocks

Everyone also brought their Favorite appetizer or dessert...I'm not sure how I missed a picture of the food table but I did!

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We had a great time and we were already talking about having our next Favorite Things Party...maybe in the summer!!

Seeing Santa

This morning we headed to Sundance Square to see Santa!! Lane was super excited. And I have to include this little tid-bit for my memories sake...on the way there Lane randomly said that he wanted a puppy for Christmas!?!? Um...What?? Where did that come from!! We told him that Santa doesn't do live animals, ha!!

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Anyway we got there right at 10:45 and had a short wait in the cold. Both boys did awesome! No tears where shed by Levi, not shocking, and he even gave us a smile!!

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After I told Lane that he could not ask Santa for a puppy, he asked for a Nascar track and asked for toys for Levi.

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Although I wasn't overly impressed with Santa himself...the set-up was very cute, and we only had to pay $7 for a pic...score!!!

Braving the cold

Levi did alot of checking out Santa!

"Who is this man?"

And there's my favorite of Levi!!

 

After seeing Santa we had a nice lunch downtown, and grabbed a very good cupcake from a new cupcake shop, The Cupcakery, before heading back home.

24 Nights of Christmas Books

Other than the open-the-flap-grab-some chocloate advent calendars you can find at Michaels' or Target, I've never really done an advent for Christmas. So when I came across a super cute idea for one on Pinterest, I knew I wanted to do it this year!

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The idea is to wrap 24 books, I choose all Christmas books, and each night Lane will get to unwrap one and we will read it before bedtime. I loved this particular one because Lane loves books right now, and hey it's better than alot of candy right!

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So last Thursday night I put all the books under his litle tree, ready to go! He was pretty excited seeing them all! Once I explained what we were doing and how he couldn't open them all right then, he was excited. Every day he asks when he can open a book!

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It's been busy around here so these pics are from tonight...Bernard wanted to join us and listen to the story too!

He picked one and is ready to open!

Cutie Pie

Next year Lane will have to share the unwrapping with Levi!! Hmmm, we'll see how well that works out!!

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On a sidenote, while driving home today, Lane informed me that when Santa comes to his house, he will wake up and show him his toys!! So cute!

Levi Austin: 7 Months

Sweet Levi, you are 7 Months!!!

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Not much has changed from last month....

you are still my happy little boy!!

This was in the middle of his excited face!

Two main things have recently occurred that I want to remember...

1. You just started crawling!! Almost exactly when your big bro did!!

If you follow him as far as walking...you will be walking in 2 1/2 months!! Crazy!!

2. Your first tooth finally broke through!!

(If you click on the pic, you can see it nice and clear!)

Happy 7 Months big boy!!

Is it too soon to start birthday planning!?!?!

North Pole Breakfast

This past Sunday we had our first ever North Pole Breakfast !!!

 The idea came from Pinterest of course!!

We welcomed Bernard, our Elf, to our house for the Christmas season!

He arrived bright and early, bringing breakfast....

leaving letters to the boys....

and we enjoyed "snow covered donuts"!!

He also brought Lane some x-mas socks to keep his little toes nice and warm!!

then daddy read the Elf on the Shelf book while Lane ate!!

Levi didn't really have a clue, he did however get his fun plate for next year!

Lane was SUPER excited to see him!!

The Elf on the Shelf is such a fun tradition!! And now Lane is at the perfect age to really play along!! We had such a fun morning and love our new little family Christmas tradition!!