Ballard Bunch

Christmas Morning!! Snuggies and Pillow Pets from SANTA!!! I love getting the "just woke up, but so excited" picture Then, onto Gran's for breakfast and presents Purple vuvuzela for Poppa! Ironman mittens knitted by my sister. Yes, I'm serious! After Gran's, we head over to Jason's Nanny's house to see the whole Braudaway crew. Walker and Lucy with Aric, Aunt Debbie and Papa After Nanny's, we head downtown to meet the Snelson side for Walker's favorite part of the day. He absolutely adores all my cool boy cousins. They are SO sweet to him, and he just loves hanging with the big boys. One of my boy cousins drew Walker's name, and for his present, he is taking him to a TCU basketball game, just the two of them. How cool is that?? Walker is SO EXCITED! Lucy opening her sparkly presents. She totally worked it, and modeled her new furry vest for all to see.

We did things a little differently this year, not intentionally, our work/school schedule demanded it. Jason was off, for the first time, the week following Christmas. That meant he had to work Christmas Eve, so we had to shift some of our Christmas from Eve to the 26th. Also, my preschool was open the week preceding Christmas, so my first day of Winter Break was Christmas Eve, the 24th. It was really strange working right up to Christmas Eve, but we got everything done and it was great stretching it out for 3 days! We still had breakfast and decorated cookies with Peepaw and GG, and I personally loved the addition of a Mama's Pizza lunch to Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve evening is with the Ballards, and it was fun to celebrate the twins' first Christmas! Lucy and Aizlyn We were officially brought into the world of American Girl this year! Lucy with her new baby, Carly Beth Christmas Eve jim jammers Nana and Papa with their 4 grandchildren :)

I kept hearing about these great lights downtown and the Chesapeake building. I finally figured out where they were and told Jason about it. We went out one night to see Narnia and ended up finding the lights. These are so cool! These trees are completely covered- it's all the way around the property of the building, and we walked the whole thing. I hope they do this again next year, it was really amazing. Sydney took this picture and I just love it! I'm actually in a picture- WITH my kids :) We had Wright family Christmas the weekend before Christmas. It had been a while! My cousin's family moved before Christmas last year, so we didn't all get together for Christmas last year. The kids had so much fun together! They are within 2 years from the oldest to the youngest, so they were running around and laughing and playing- it was a blast! Lucy loved holding Cookie Cate and Lucy K'nex! Walker loves these blocks :) Lucy decided she wanted her hair cut, so we got it don...

We had one crazy Tuesday in December that happened to be Lucy's ballet Parent's Day and Walker's Holiday Showcase. Once again, we have great family that jumped right in and made the day great. I invited Lucy's aunts and grandma's to her ballet showcase and everyone to Walker's holiday concert. We had time in between ballet and the concert to change clothes and eat dinner. What a crazy evening, but it was great to see the kids' showcase their activities and the family get to see it all! Lucy's audience At the bar- her favorite part of class Jack in the box dance And...bow Walker's Holiday concert Looking for us :) Caitlin graduated from COLLEGE!!! We are so proud! And, another Horned Frog alum in the family. Gotta love that :) With Andy Dalton, #14 TCU Quarterback CONGRATS, Aunt Caitlin!!!

There are always a few things we do in early December to really get Christmas going. I love that we have traditions early int he month to get the spirit flowing. We go over to my mom's to decorate her tree and watch Christmas movies, we go to my Granny's Christmas party at her nursing home, we eat Christmas lunch at the Fort Worth Club and we decorate our own house and tree. The kids are getting good at decorating the tree and are a huge help! We are also adding traditions, which is always fun. The kids have gone shopping with my dad and stepmom for the past 2 years for a special gift from them to Jason and I. The kids love picking out their own gifts and my dad said they were really with it this year and knew exactly what we would like. They also decorate our presents, which is my favorite part! Fort Worth Club Decorating our tree and filling in our advent calendar Talking with Santa at Granny's party Gran's house: The ornaments are laid out on the table Love this pic...