My Sister's Engagement!

On Christmas Eve, my sister's boyfriend of two years (Andy) walked her by a Tiffany & Co. window. Inside one of the display cases was a note that said "Alli, Will You Marry Me"? Then he got on one knee (in the rain) and gave her the ring! The Tiffany employees captured the moment from inside the store. She was shocked and SO happy! My parents knew it was coming...he asked their permission a month earlier. After the proposal, he took her to dinner where his parents and my family (minus me) celebrated! She called me Christmas Eve night to tell me. I am so excited for them and we welcome Andy to the family. Now we have a wedding to plan!!!

Christmas 2011

We had a busy, fun, wonderful Christmas! We were able to spend time with both of our families and friends and the girls are old enough now to really enjoy and understand Christmas! My family came to our house the weekend before Christmas to celebrate.

Waiting for Grandmom, Pop-Pop and Aunt Alli and Uncle Joe to arrive.

They came with lots of presents! We all piled into my parents Yukon (without car seats) and looked at the Interlochen lights. We made some memories with that little trip!

Claire and Aubrey were so excited when they saw everything...and we had so much fun watching them! A side note: We did donate a bunch of their old toys and explained the imporatnce of sharing toys with kids who don't have any...

We had a Christmas party with friends the week before Christmas! Santa made an appearance!

I was supposed to run a 5k in Dallas but Claire barfed in the car on the way so we had to turn around and go home. She continued to be sick right up until we left for the ranch to celebrate Christmas with Brad's family.
The girls love spending time with their cousin Daniel!!!

Santa and Yo Gabba Gabba

We went to the Gaylord again this year to sit on Santa's lap and see the ICE exhibit! This is the forth year in a row that we've gone and this time my friend Mere and her daughter Mallory joined us! Claire and Mal get along SO well, they had a blast together.

They were nice enough to include Aubrey at times too!

We explored the hotel and all the decorations before going to the Shrek themed ICE exhibit. I have no pictures inside because it was 3 degrees in there, my fingers were frozen and I was carrying Aubrey the whole time while she cried and shivered. Claire went down the ice slide all by herself...fearless as usual!

Then we waited in line to see Santa. The girls did great and I got an awesome picture...Claire was smiling at the camera and Aubrey and Santa are looking at each other! Claire asked for a Snow White doll and "stylish stuff"...whatever that is.

We made a gingerbread house whne we got home...not as easy as it looks...

On saturday Brad and I took Claire and aubrey to the Yo Gabba Gabba concert. On paper it was a good idea, in reality...not so much. Before the show started...

Then the show started and it was too loud for Aubrey. She started crying and screaming "NO!" She was terrified. She hated it. So I took her out to the lobby for the first half of the show.

Brad and I switched the second half and I went in with Claire. Shortly after it started she wanted to go home. So we left. FAIL.

Thanksgiving

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. I have so much to be thankful for that I don't know where to begin. I count my blessings every night and we all enjoyed being with family! Before we left for Houston to spend the holiday at my parents house, we "ran" a 5k. It was the Prairie Lights race where you get a sneak peak at all of the Christmas lights. It was cold and raining, but the girls had fun...I am in the middle of training for a 5k so we ran some of it but I plan to run a 5k in Dec.

The usual 4 hour drive became 5 due to holiday traffic but we made it to Houston! My sister and her boyfriend were there, my brother drove down from Dallas too and my cousin Ashley who is currently stationed at a base in San Antonio for the Navy took a bus and spent Thanksgiving with us! Claire and Alli doing a puzzle...Claire can do 100-150 piece puzzles now.

Claire helped my Mom make dinner.It was amazing and we were all stuffed.

I gave Claire some sparkling cider and the bubbles made her make this face after each sip.

Aubrey waiting for the turkey to be ready.

This is the first year we are doing the Elf on the Shelf. The girls love looking for him every morning and I can't tell you how many times I have already said "The elf is watching, you better be good".

It has been so long since I've been to my sister's loft downtown so we took the girls for a visit. She has so much style, I am not sure how we are sisters...

My brother had to go home early but the rest of us went out to dinner!

I took about 40 pictures of the girls in these cute Christmas dresses in the hopes of getting that perfect Christmas card picture. FAIL.