Ringing in the New Year

It's hard to believe tomorrow starts 2011!  We've finally got our Christmas decorations put away and the house back in order (as good as it can be with toddlers exploring everywhere).  I can't wait to see what God has in store for our family this year.  We wish you all a blessed new year!

Another Video

Zachary was making himself laugh yesterday...

Videos :)

We started opening presents on the 23rd because that was the first morning Aaron was home from work.  As you can see, Zachary was fussy and not very interested in opening presents.  I think they both got the hang of it by our last celebration on Sunday.



Here's a video of Katie on her new bike.  She was SO excited!

What a wonderful Christmas!

Bethany & Zachary gave Aaron a photo calendar for work.

Papa & Gigi got the kids "smart trikes" for Christmas.

We had fun teaching them how to open presents.

Cousins on Christmas (Katie & Randal are dressed up).

14 months old!

Papaw & Mamaw Scoma

Christmas night with Sharon's side of the family.

Grandad Hodges enjoying time with the kiddos!

We've been truly blessed to spend Christmas with all of our families.  These are just some of the pictures we took, but you can see more on my Flickr page.

Happy Holidays

My Kiddos

This picture is of my first baby, Rudy.  When we were cleaning out the office to make room for Zachary's stuff, we came across a dog bed we put away and had forgotten about.  Rudy used to tear these beds up, but now he prefers to sleep here instead of in our bed...thank goodness!

I was trying to get a picture of him standing, but he plopped down on the floor instead.

 Yes, they're both walking!  She's getting more confident each day.

Bethany likes to play with a box full of cards.  She'll spend lots of time "sorting" them.

Keeping Busy

My cousin Megan graduated from UNT on Saturday, so we dropped by her house to say congratulations!  The kids weren't in the best mood, which I have to say has been a recent trend.  Bethany's getting another bottom tooth, so maybe that has something to do with the fussiness.  All I know is, I'm REALLY looking forward to Aaron having some time off around Christmas!

We also celebrated the holidays with the Rader side of the family last night.  Here's a picture of Aaron's grandmother, Ella, with her new husband.  The kids got to open presents, but they were more interested in crawling around all the people.  Too bad they didn't sleep in this morning...Zach was up at 6am!

What have we been doing?

Zachary LOVES his Cheerios.

Walking behind these toys is fun!

A favorite activity is looking out the window.

Just relaxing!

I think Bethany enjoys reading.



Zachary's not far behind!

Zach took some steps today.  We're about to have TWO walkers :)

Here's a video of him eating cheerios.

He likes to stuff his face and make a mess!

We're dreaming of a white Christmas

It's so fun to see the differences between Bethany and Zachary.  I can already tell she's going to like playing dress up.  She also likes to "organize" dvds, cards, shape toys, etc.  Bethany's a little too smart sometimes!  Zachary's just a boy (not that he's not smart).  I think he lets her figure things out first, and then he can follow.  That's actually pretty smart, huh?  Then he doesn't have to do the hard work!  So, here are some pictures of us playing dress up.  I hope it snows this year so they can get all bundled up and play outside!

Picture Taking

The Sunday before last we took pictures with Aaron's family at the Gaylord Texan.  Here's my favorite photo of the day.

Then yesterday Aaron and I let the kids nap/play at my parents' house while we did some shopping at Grapevine Mills Mall.  They had fun playing with all of Katie and Randal's toys.

Weekend

I love the weekends, especially since I got to get out of the house with my husband!  His holiday party for work was on Friday night, so my parents watched the kids while we ate yummy mexican food at Joe T. Garcia's.  On Saturday we went to Lake Worth for the opening of a building Aaron helped do the civil engineering part for, and there was a middle school band playing Christmas music there, which Bethany did NOT seem to like.  She didn't cry, but she was holding on pretty tight (I think because it was so loud).

Something else we've been working on is cleaning out and making room for the kids to each have their own bedroom.  Here's a look at how the rooms turned out!

Sick

I took the kids to the doctor on Tuesday, and since then we've been stuck inside.  They both have colds, so we're trying to get over the runny noses and coughing.  While at home, I've been catching up on my movie watching.  We got free movie channels over Thanksgiving weekend, so I recorded anything I thought looked good.  It's mostly chick flicks with actresses like Amy Adams, Meryl Streep, and Rachel McAdams.  Good times!

Bethany taking a siesta.

Time for a diaper change!

Bethany Walking

Here's what happens while I go to Walmart...Bethany takes her first real steps!

Mavericks Game

Last night we got to take Aaron's brother and his girlfriend to the Dallas Mavericks game thanks to some friends from church.  Our seats were 4 rows back on the FLOOR!  It was a lot of fun to see the players up close (and to see how tall they are in person).  The Mavericks beat the Houston Rockets 101 to 91!

The seats weren't actually together, but the guys next to us left at halftime.  So, they gave us their tickets for Anthony and Lindsey to join us for the rest of the game.

Santa Who?

I think they're wondering who is this old man and why are they sitting on his lap.

Eakins Family

Here are some more pictures from my family's Thanksgivings.

We set the timer for this one, and it turned out pretty good!

Turkey Day

We spent Thanksgiving day with my mom's side of the family, and then we drove to Granbury today for more food with my dad's side of the family.  We'll be with Aaron's family on Sunday, which means tomorrow is our day of rest!  Actually, we're in the middle of turning our guest bedroom/office into Zachary's bedroom/office.  Bethany's room will also be their playroom.  I feel like we're always rearranging furniture!  Here are some pictures from the past couple of days. 

The kids had fun playing!

Grandad Hodges and me.

Grandad with his great grandchildren.

"Watching" the parade!

Grandma Billie and Papaw Richard with great grandkids.



Dancing Champs

I'm so glad Jennifer and Derek won this season on Dancing with the Stars!  While we were watching tv last night (probably around 9pm) Bethany woke up screaming like I had never heard her scream before.  We think she had a bad dream because when we got her out of bed she was still throwing her arms and head back!  She calmed down though, and then I put her back to bed.  Poor thing!  Anyway, I'm ready to watch the parade tomorrow and celebrate Thanksgiving with family.

Bring on the Holidays

I put up our Christmas tree on Friday night, so I'm definitely in the holiday spirit!

Our newest Christmas ornament.

Not much else going on around here.  I think Bethany and Zachary will be walking soon, but then again, they like to take their own sweet time!  Hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving...here's TWO reasons we're thankful this year :)