Part 4--play time and Papa

These are the princess dresses that Nana made the girls...complete with high heels and veils and jewelry.  They loved them (still do)!

Brian and Jen were staying in a hotel so we went swimming one morning.  Hadley was showing off her skills to everyone.  She is doing so well in the pool...I guess it pays to have a lifeguard/swim lesson teacher/swim team coach as your dad.  :)

The helicopter Andy got for Christmas was so popular with everyone (literally, they flew it all the time) that they went and bought another one at Target and then decided the house was too small to fly it in so went to the church to see "what they could really do" with the high ceilings.  Kids will be kids :)

Then Caroline thought it was be a good idea to buy Hadley some make-up (which she also thought was a good idea) and since we had no where to go, we let her put make-up on everyone.

Lookin' good!

Why more people don't wear blue eye shadow truly is a mystery.  :)

More fun fun fun, Nana had a good idea to let them have a glow-bath!  They thought it was awesome of course and it has never been so hard to get them out of the tub.    

If one thing is true, it's that Hadley loves her Nana and Papa.....or anyone that gives her undivided attention.  She is definitely a daddy's girl, though, so she really likes hanging out with Papa.  Having some oatmeal together.....

doing a United States puzzle (she is a genius ;) yeah right, she needs lots of help with this one but still loves doing it).....

"helping" him take down the Christmas lights.....

and grilling some steaks.....

Joni loves him too.  She got sick the last day we were there and she slept on pretty much everyone.

Only a couple TX posts left!  Love to you all!

Part 3---San Antonio River Walk

Our next big adventure was to the San Antonio River Walk.......something S.A. is famous for...that and the Alamo (which we didn't visit).  We went down early for dinner and stayed until dark so we could all the pretty lights on our river boat tour (some of you might remember that Janet and I did this when the girls and I visited in October....to see daytime pictures of the tour go HERE). 

We went down the day after Christmas and as you can see, we weren't the only ones out and about.  

The gang's all here...Brain (taking the picture), Jen, Janet, Andy, Hadley, Kemper, Joni, me, Caroline, Callahan, and Curran eating some delicious Mexican.

 ....and listening to a Mariachi band (which cost $20 a song mind you).

 Joni didn't appreciate the music.  In her defense, it was pretty loud. 

 But she loved the queso.

The view as we made our way to the boats....

And we're off.

This is an optical illusion building.  It is actually triangular shaped but it looks like a tall flat piece.

More to come soon!  Love to you all!

Part 2--TX Christmas

Next on Nana's list of fun fun things was to put together and decorate a gingerbread house.  They did this exact thing last year and so I hope it becomes a tradition.  Nana and I love decorating and Hadley and Joni love eating all the candy.  It works out.  :)

 The finished product....it looks delicious!

 On Christmas Eve, everyone got dressed up to go to church.  This was the candlelight service and it was special so we put on the fancy dresses.  

For those of you who haven't heard, Andy's parents moved to TX in order for Kemper to fill an interim pastor position while the church puts together a search committee and hires a new permanent pastor.  This is the "children's chat" he has during every service.  The girls are listening intently....  

 sort of.

 Then Andy and him sang "Oh Holy Night" (one of my favorites) and it was awesome.  Andy got his singing talents from his father (both of them ;)) and hopefully he passes some of those along to the girls because they are NOT getting any of that from my direction.

 The Huber Family, minus Ben :(  

 Merry Christmas!!!  The girls were up bright and early, of course, and here are waiting for Nana and Papa and everyone else to wake up to get the show on the road.

 Stockings first.....

 Then presents!  Nana and Papa and Oma and Opa and GGP sure outdid themselves with all the wonderful things the girls received!  These shoes (she immediately put on once opening) are part of an outfit (picture to come) that Nana made!

 This is a Royal Rummy board I made for Kemper.  The finished product is below.  He loved it and we played a few rounds on it while we were there to break it in.

Not sure how many of you saw this picture on Facebook.  This is what happened at JCPenny when we went Christmas shopping.  Joni got out of the stroller for a second, I called her, and then I heard something every mother never wants to hear......CRASH!  I realize it could have been much worse than $100 helicopters (china, bouncy balls, etc) but this picture only shows 1/3 of the pile.  The store people thought it was hilarious and it took 3 of them and Andy 5 minutes to stack them all up again.  

And for Christmas, Andy got.......a helicopter from Janet and Kemper.  Funny funny!  Joni helped him open this one so it was fitting!

It was a good morning....we are truly blessed.

 Then off to church again.  

 And another "children's chat."

 And gecko finding?  Andy found this in the choir loft and the girls thought he was cute.  We let him go outside....I think he just wanted to be in church on Christmas like everyone else.....he knows who is Creator is!  

Then home for a quick lunch and a nap before Christmas dinner.

And this is what happens when Joni wants to help with the rolls.  We left them rising within her reach.  :)

 While the adults made rolls and casseroles and salad and ham for dinner, the kids made birthday cupcakes for Jesus.  

 Joni doing what she does best and eating rather than decorating.  Such a "sweet" girl.

There!  All she needed was a little help from Nana!

 Hadley likes to lick the knife but she isn't too bad at frosting things....

Kemper's brother Brian and his family (who live in Dallas) came down to spend a few days with us after Christmas.  This is Caroline and Callahan helping with the cupcakes.

 Check out that action shot.  That is some major concentration!

 Happy Birthday Jesus!  More to come soon!  Love to you all!