Playing Dress-up

So I've mentioned before that Ella and Ruby will disappear for hours, playing, pretending, and dressing up. Last weekend Bryan and I were in the office working on something early in the morning, and in come the girls with wild bedhead, swim dresses, and fancy shoes. Well, Ella has been posing for the camera for quite a while now, but I think this was Ruby's first attempt. We had the camera sitting in the office with us, so Bryan grabbed it to snap some pictures of the crazy dress-up outfits. And that's when Ruby started to pose! They started out with the one foot forward pose, and then Ruby really started working it for the camera. She went with the deep lunge, as you can see, and then they left for a shoe change. When they returned, Ruby was really working those high heels a she attempted some sort of an animal lean-into-the-wall move. We really had a good laugh! The last picture is just sweet - she knew just how cute she was!

Ruby's First Pigtails

Today was a big day! Ruby's hair has finally reached the length that I could attempt pigtails. And how cute is she??? I can't even look at her, with these darling tiny pigtails, without squeezing and smooching her. She's such a little doll! (Still weighs only 20 pounds, by the way. I'm going to be in a heap of trouble if she hasn't gained a couple more pounds by the time she hits two, in March!) Ruby was getting a lot of attention this morning, though, so Ella soon requested pigtails of her own. Aren't they cute?

Christmas Vacation

On Christmas Day, Bryan's parents flew to San Antonio to spend their vacation with us. We were joined the next day by Bryan's brother Scott and his family from Utah. As they all arrived, Ella and I had a big day out - to lunch and to see The Nutcracker. It was a lot of fun to spend that day with Ella, and I love watching The Nutcracker with her. She had learned about it in her dance class, so knew more about it than I did! And she loved watching it. As you can see in the above picture, however, she was just plain tired out from all the fun over the past few days and she sacked out during the Sugar Plum Fairy's dance. It was quite sweet, actually. Little peanut. I can't wait until Ruby is a little older and we can ALL go together. On the 28th, the whole clan caravaned three hours south of here to Mustang Island, where we met Bryan's sister and her family. We had four fun days to spend all together, and it was a blast. My favorite part was watching the cousins play together. Ella and Mya would lock themselves in Ella's room in our condo with her new Karaoke set, and they would sing and dance and bounce all day long. With matching hairstyles (care of me!). Spencer and Tyler roped A.J. and Daniel into hours of Laser Tag (with Bryan and Scott joining in occasionally), and lots of wrestling and teasing the girls. Good cousin fun! Ruby (poor thing!) was sporting a major cold, but she did manage to have a good time with grandma and the girls. So, we went to the aquarium on our first day down there, since it was pouring rain outside. The kids had a great time looking at all the fish, sharks, and sea turtles. We saw a good dolphin show, the fish feeding time, and also a bird and critter show. Spencer was picked out of the audience to feed an anteater, which he thought was the coolest thing in the world.

The next day was a little rainy as well, so we decided to alter our original itinerary and go to the USS Lexington Aircraft carrier that day instead. It was really awesome to see! That thing was huge! Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the whole thing, or even a good group shot, because we were having Bryan's dad take all the good pictures with his really sweet new camera. I just need to find out how to get those pictures, now! But oh well. Here are a few pictures of the kids sitting in a cockpit. Always a good time.


Finally we got some sun!! The next day was gorgeous and we spent it at the beach. We took a quick trip to the store to get some groceries for our New Years Eve feast that night, and we just had to stop and let the kids run around inside this giant shark. They could have spent another hour there! But the beach was calling...


The beach is always a great time. We had a blast down there! Now I mentioned that it was a gorgeous day...but it was still December! So I was still wearing a jacket while watching my kids frolic around in their swimming suits, obviously not bothered by the temperature at all. They dug and ran and had a ball. The boys played some great beach football, then all the kids embarked upon the challenge of building a giant volcano of sand. It ended up being taller than Ruby! Spencer really wanted to be buried, so that I could draw some giant muscles on him, but he got awfully cold under all that sand. Ella made some sand angels, Tyler made all the kids a "bed" on the beach, and we stayed out there for hours and hours (until the giant mosquitoes drove us in). At one point before going in, Catherine and I challenged our husbands to run out into the ocean (remember us in our nice cozy jackets?). The boys joined in, and they all had a nice cold swim!

The resort we were staying at had a huge, really nice pool. Unfortunately it was freezing!! But thankfully there were several toasty hot tubs that we spent some good time in. It felt great! Of course, no hot tubbing would be complete without the challenge of getting into the COLD pool (Feats of Strength). At first no one was taking the bait. But then Bryan jumped in. And then Scott trumped him and swam to the other side. And then Spencer got in. And then Tyler put his whole body and head in. So, we had a bunch of crazy men and boys swimming in a very cold pool on New Years Eve.


And finally, after coming back home, we went to see The Lion King. WOW! It was amazing! We loved it. This was Ella's first musical, and she was mesmerized. So much so that she fell asleep during one of the most exciting parts! Little one. We wore her out with all that vacationing. The boys loved it also, and Bryan and I loved both the show and being there with the kids. It was such a wonderful Christmas break, and we enjoyed being able to spend it together.

Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning. Honestly, just the best morning of the year. We have a rule at our house that there can be no lights on until 7:00. So sure enough, 7:00 hits and we hear footsteps up above (the boys room is right above ours). Then we can hear Ella's voice, and she has heard movement and spotted the boys light, so she has made her way down to wait with them. But there is not a peep from Ruby. Now last year, Ruby was not even a year old and she slept in until well after 8:00 - and we all had to wait. Well, Ruby hasn't slept in past 7:30 since then! But I am not kidding you...I had to wake her up out of a dead sleep at 8:30 again this year! Isn't she terrible?? I told the boys that she does it just to play a trick on them. :)
So FINALLY, we got to head down for the mass opening. We always draw names to see who gets to open their presents first, second, third, and fourth. That way they can all watch each other open all their presents. It works out great. They just open one present each "round," so it's not that hard to wait your turn. But Santa does have to make sure that they each get the same number of presents! The present opening was a grand event, and the kids were all thrilled with what they got. Spencer got the long awaited street hockey nets and sticks, a little electronic soccer game, a street surfing board, and 3 Rampage hockey tickets. Plus the obligatory stuffed animal (they all must get a stuffed animal from Santa each year, we learned the hard way one year when he forgot - or thought they were too old). Next Tyler got a basketball hoop that he was very surprised and happy about, along with a baseball game, a street surfer, bedroom hoop and ball, and 3 Spurs tickets. Ella was very happy about her new baby doll, jewelry making kit, books and coloring stuff, dress-up clothes, and 2 Nutcracker tickets. Ruby also loved her new doll, as well as a toy lawnmower, microphone, some new books, and a toy cupcake set. Then Santa really spoiled us and got our whole family tickets to see the Lion King, which was here in San Antonio for a month. Very, very exciting!! And that was the end of round one!

























We then sat down and had our traditional Christmas Morning breakfast - pecan sticky buns and fresh squeezed orange juice. Mmmmmm...another highlight. After breakfast we went upstairs to open the presents from grandmas and grandpas. They all got some more really fun toys (a Barbie Karaoke set, Laser tag, Sit & Spin, Nerf guns, Barbie accessories, toy piano, marshmallow guns, inflatable boxing gloves, and Six Flags Season Passes for the family). More fun, more playing, more spoiling. You know...Christmas! That was round two.



Round three was where Bryan and I got to open up our presents, which was also pretty fun I must say. At some point during the day I forced the kids to get dressed, but the playing continued throughout the day. Bryan's parents flew in that afternoon, and we all had a great Christmas dinner. It was a fantastic day, followed by an amazing week. But that's a post for a different day!