The 2nd part of our Christmas was fun too, except that we did too much driving. Joe and Angie came to town on Tuesday for the Alamo Bowl so we got to spend a little bit of time with them. It was fun, but too short! It’s really hard to get together when we live in different places and our kids are involved in different activities. My dad gave Jody and Mark 2 tickets each for the Reliant Bowl (I can’t remember if that is the name or not) in Houston on the Wednesday so we had to leave while Joe and Angie were still at our house. We had to get on the road by 10 so that was a crazy morning because of course I hadn’t packed a thing or wrapped any of the gifts for my niece and nephews. I was pretty impressed with how fast I got things done though. The worst part was that I had to leave the house a disaster. Also, we realized after we left that we forgot the DVD players! I know that we used to travel all the time without them and I don’t know how our parents handled that. I remember AnnMarie and I arguing the whole trip. She would always cross the line and get on my side! The trip to Houston was only 3 hours so it wasn’t too bad. We had fun at the game even though Baylor lost. I wish the tickets weren’t so expensive because the kids would have loved it. They had fun at Amer’s house with Granny and Grandaddy though. They played Just Dance on the Wii. That is such a fun game. Callie got it for Christmas and now we can’t wait to get it. Jacob is going to buy it with a gift card I think. Even Ryan played, which completely shocked me! Ryan is so much fun. I love this age (11)! He’s funny , smart, sweet, obedient, responsible, and he still listens to what I say! I know that will probably end soon and he will think that I know nothing, but for now I’m enjoying it! The next day, my aunt, uncle, and cousins came to AnnMarie’s house for dinner which was really fun because we hadn’t seen them in forever. We left on New Years Eve morning to go to Jody’s parents house. We thought it was a 3 1/2 hour trip but it was actually 5. Did I mention that we forgot the DVD players???? We played games for the first couple of hours and it was super fun. The rest of the trip was just long. We had fun at Mimi and Pawpaw’s house and the kids got a ton of presents. Mallory spent the night with us and even the babies stayed up until midnight. Pawpaw bought some fireworks and the kids loved doing that! We headed back the next morning. We stopped in Waco to see the Biles. They are one of my favorite families in the whole world! It was really fun to tell Julie all about our adoption. Although this has been a great Christmas break, it has been sad to think about our little girl that is in an orphanage in Ukraine. She doesn’t even know that we want her to be part of our family. When I tuck my kids into bed at night and pray with them, it breaks my heart to imagine our daughter going to bed all alone with nobody to love her. I wish she were here right now! I mentioned before that it is like being pregnant because I’m so excited and she is on my mind constantly, but it’s not quite the same because there is also such a sadness when I think about where she is right now. We can’t wait for her to be here with us.
Ok, much too long for one post so I will top there. Here are some pictures from last week.
Ellie and Brooklyn had a tea party with their baby dolls.
The cousins before we left for Houston.
Ellie and Brooklyn
More presents!
Ellie and Callie
Joni and Jody at the Baylor game.
AnnMarie and Mark at the Baylor game.
More presents at Mimi and Pawpaw’s house! Cole was really worried that the babies were going to get his toys. He kept asking when they were going to sleep. I really need to get him around younger kids more!
Ellie had a real baby to play with! Actually, 2! She had fun giving Mia her bottle and I loved giving Madison her bottle. Madison fell asleep while she was eating so I got to hold her while she slept for a while which is one of my favorite things in the world!
Madison and Mia mostly liked wrapping paper, bows, and tags.
I just thought this was cute!
Mallory got a new MP3 player and Jacob had fun listening to it and watching videos on it.
