Christmas in Marble Falls Dec.20-22, 2007

We arrived Thursday night and hung out be the campfire, threw washers, and enjoyed each other's company...
A Little Brotherly Love - Ryan and Justin!

Paul (Ryan's Dad) in the middle, then Curtis on the left, Justin up above, and Ryan on the right!

Paul Paul and Katie Mae

Our little Rylie loved the campfire!

Daddy and Katie Mae

The Next Day there was a little target shooting contest between the guys, then present time when Rylie woke up from her nap...

What's Christmas without some bow practice???

Katie and Rylie had presents coming at them right and left!

Uncle Curt and Rylie Grace!

Rylie liked her toys, but REALLY liked the cookie tin she found sitting behind me and dug in - one for each hand...Nana (Lisa's Mom) makes some yummy cookies!

Lisa and Katie checkin' out one of her new toys!

One of Katie's presents was this thing that you plug into the TV and point it towards you, you sing into the microphone along with the songs it plays - so, you see yourself as the star of the show on TV. Anyone who knows Katie, knows she loved this. Her favorite song on it is "who let the dogs out"...she dances and gets so loud!

Paul Paul enjoyed this moment, since Rylie is such a Mama's Girl!

And that is Nana behind them!

That night we went through the walk through Christmas Light Show in town...we tried to get pictures with Santa there, but we knew Katie wouldn't have anything to do with him, so we were hoping for Rylie. She was as happy as could be, then when I went to set her in his lap, she turned and saw his face and jumped and screamed, so the lady just handed our money back and we went on our way...I don't know what I did to make them that way!

Aren't the boys cute!

We hopped the roped in area and Rylie fell face first down this hill to get this picture, so you better appreciate it - lol!!

And of course Katie had to get a hold of someone's hair with her ponytail holders and Gigi was nice enough to oblige!

Christmas with Nanny Dec.19 2007

Our first Christmas Celebration to start off the line of Celebrations was with my Dad's side of the Family. We celebrate with Nanny (Ruby, my dad's Mom), Aunt Deborah, and Aunt Martha and their families! This is our little gang here - Mom, Dad and all their Offspring!
Papa (My Dad) with Rylie

Ryan feeding Rylie, her favorite thing in the world to do!

This is Nanny with the Girls!

Savannah (my niece) with Katie Mae

Cheyenne (my niece) and her dad Tony (brother-in-law) -- aren't they cute!!

Rylie and Sierra (another niece)

The Gaylord Texan Ice Show

We went with Mom's Class today on their Field Trip to the Gaylord Texan Ice Show in Grapevine and it was Very Cool! First the Girls posed in a cute little train while we were waiting to go in!

Then Mom's Class posed in the train!

Now, we are headed in...Rylie had to be bundled up tightly!
It is about 9 degrees in the building to keep all the incredible ice sculptures from melting. Let me tell you, they are awesome. You walk through this building full of huge sculptures including a life size nativity scene. Then at the end were huge slides made of ice...and you go down fast!!

We had to wear some "pretty coats" they gave us so we wouldn't freeze to death. Ryan had to carry Katie, b/c she kept tripping over her's!!

On the way home we went to visit Memaw and Pawpa (Ryan's Dad's Parents) in DeSoto. She had her delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, divinity, and rice krispie treats made -- and of course we got a grab bag to go!! We had a really good visit, but I just forgot to take pictures.

Hair Do's

Well, Katie is in to fixing her hair all by herself and anything or anyone who will accept a ponytail holder...

She actually does a pretty good job with ponytails and pigtails. She just got a little carried away with this one.
Holly was so nice to let Katie do her hair, and she is going to be so happy with me that I included it for everyone to see!!

This is Rylie's hair all natural after waking up from a nap!

Rylie Grace's First Birthday Party

We had such a good time at Rylie's party. Thanks to everyone who came and ate fajitas, made smores, and watched all the kiddos play with us. Thanks for all the great presents too - she made a haul!! Rylie had a great time! She was wiped out and slept really well that night! We had her pictures taken last week at a Studio here in Canton - she did really well, until I turned my back to her and took two steps away to get a little bracelet I brought - then we were done taking pictures b/c she wouldn't let me set her down without her crying (hence the middle picture).

Now party time...
Aunt Peggy made the cake - beautiful and tasty as always!


Play Time...

Fajita Time...

Present Time...

Cake Time...

Happy First Birthday Party Rylie!

A Couple of Funny Stories

I'll start with Katie.
The other day, I was sitting in the floor and Katie came to me and laid her head in my lap and said "I love you" then I said "I love you too", then she said "I love God", I responded with "me too", then she said "and I love Sparkly things". I just started laughing, and thought that was about right with her - ranking sparkly things right up there with me and God.

Rylie has been wanting to take off to the kitchen now - any chance she can get and "get into" whatever looks fun. So, we have these glass front drawers with different things in them like beans, noodles...to show color. Of course, they look fun to Rylie and she wants them...bad!
So, I was cooking, and she had been trying to get over there and she had been getting the handle, so I kept saying "No" and moving her away. Well, with her persistence she finally got a handful of little tiny beans. So, I spatted her hand a couple of times and told her "no" and moved her to the edge of the living room and she was crying and crying and crying...with really bad hurt feelings and she finally stood up still crying and looking at me, she took a few steps towards me, then reached in her mouth and handed me one last tiny little bean. It was like she surrendered! It was very funny after it was all over!