Baby snuggles

 We made a long day trip yesterday to meet our newest family member, baby Ryder, on his one month birthday. He is so precious and was so good, letting us pass him around all afternoon. 

Shortly after we arrived, Aunt Karen took the younger crowd for a walk down the street to see the neighbors' kangaroos. I failed to get photos of that. Then the baby holding...

Cecilia and Anastasia also tried on their flower girl outfits for the upcoming wedding and received these cute little silky PJ's from the bride-to-be to wear before while getting hair done. So sweet! They were so excited.

and baby feeding...

We also celebrated Aunt Karen's birthday since it is coming up in just a few days. Cecilia insisted that we light a candle and sing even though we were having pumpkin bread, not cake. ;) It was a long day, but the kids were so good and all agreed it was worth it for some family fun and precious baby time!

Martial Arts

 Since swim has had trouble starting back up, Stephen, Anastasia and Sebastian are trying out Jiu Jitsu. Some sweet neighbors' Dad from around the corner is one of the coaches. The are loving it!

A Beautiful Wedding

 We had the great blessing of being invited to a wedding this weekend for a family we have known since before we were married. Our whole family has not been to a wedding in several years, and this one was especially beautiful. We had such a wonderful time celebrating with them. The mass and reception were more sparsely spaced to follow covid restrictions, and only the immediate family/wedding party went without masks except during some of the dancing, so it was well orchestrated!

The little girls had a chance to dance with the sweet bride.

It was so precious...this little one belonging to some friends was really sleepy but wanted to dance. Mariana offered to dance with her and won her over completely. When she was done dancing, she insisted Mariana hold her and wouldn't let anyone else take her, even her own momma. They had to bribe her with chocolate covered strawberries so they could head home. So sweet. It reminded me of a time when something similar happened to me at a wedding reception, and that sweet girl who clung to me is now in college! (am I that old?!) Mariana certainly has a way with little people. :)

A Big Snow!

 I have lived in central or southern Texas for my entire life and cannot remember ever seeing so much snow! What a blessing. It started just as we were getting out of mass Sunday around noon. Everyone was so thrilled, and Cecilia walked around with her tongue out trying to taste snowflakes.

When we got home, the kids wasted no time eating lunch and then heading out to enjoy the quickly falling snow that was collecting all around us. All of the neighbors were out enjoying it too.

The next day, everything was cancelled since the roads were still somewhat frozen and the snow had not melted. So we enjoyed the snow some more as it slowly melted.

Celebrating Gloria

 She really wants a big party, but that is not possible right now. So depending on what happens we may celebrate her half birthday this summer with a pool party. In the meantime, she chose to get pedicures with one of her sweet friends. Afterwards we went out for snacks and special 0 degrees drinks.

Happy 13th Birthday, Gloria!

 We have another teen in the house now...that makes 3!

She was up early for a Chick Fil A breakfast date with Austin and a nail appointment with Manah. So we did family gifts at lunchtime. She received some great gifts and was happy about that.

She requested breakfast for dinner which we all enjoyed. I usually don't do it because it is so much cooking, most of which can't be done ahead of time. There was bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, jalapeno poppers, pancakes with fruit and whipped cream and hash browns. Then one of her favorite desserts, Amaretto cake.

We are so thankful for our Gloria. She is so responsible, determined and has such a tender spot for little ones. May she be blessed this next year!

Happy 9th Birthday, Anastasia!

We sure had a lot to celebrate Sunday with Epiphany and Anastasia's birthday. Knowing it would be a busy one, I bought one of her favorite breakfast foods, sausage and pancake on a stick. Then we had to squeeze in gifts before all the musicians left for mass.

On the way to mass, we ran by the store to let her pick out some vanilla cupcakes. We played some games, and she did some birthday crafts in the afternoon. For dinner she requested Enchiladas and Chocolate melting cake, which I fulfilled. We had a nice dinner with Pawpaw and Manah. It was wonderful to celebrate our little (but growing bigger!) go-getter. She is quite a girl!

Ringing in 2021

 We went Christmas caroling to a few friends' houses to deliver gifts and say hello. Then we went on to a New Year's Eve party. It was supposed to be outdoors, but it had rained all day and became dreadfully cold. So some of the party was indoors and some was in the garage! The kids all really enjoyed it. Then we started out 2021 with a beautiful mass for which the older girls sang. :)

Later that day, we found out many of our music ministers at the parish had possible exposure to covid and were quarantined. So for Sunday mass we had no instrumentalist and only 4 vocalists including our 2 girls. Austin jumped in and offered to cantor and direct if Allia played piano. So she stepped up, learned the music and played for the whole (livestreamed!) mass (after 2 mini rehearsals here at our house). It was so beautiful, and they received so many compliments and words of praise after mass. I was SO proud of them!