Fun with friends

We love that our house backs to the Barton Creek Greenbelt.  The weather has been so nice that we have been taking lots of hikes behind out house.  Our friends the Walkers came to visit us over New Years weekend and we all hiked down to the greenbelt.  It was a little crazy with 2 dogs running crazy and all of the kids, but we had fun.  The kids talked big about swimming, but Derek was the only brave one that jumped in. These are the only pics I have of the weekend.  I didn't get any of Julie and I or any other activities.  But, we had a great time with our friends and we re so glad they came to visit.

Football in the year on NY Day

I love family traditions.  And, I also like the idea of making Christmas meaningful and about being together, celebrating Jesus, and creating memories.
 I had been looking online at Advent calendars.  They were pretty pricey.  So, I decided to make my own.  I headed to Hobby Lobby and gathered supplies to make my own. And as the cost of my project kept climbing, I put all the stuff back, went home and made one with the stuff I had at home.  Not fancy at all, but free and it did the job.

Here are some of our favorite activities.

At 24 Diner

Zilker Tree

Picnic in front of our tree

Ice Skating

Ready to look at light

Party in the car

So tired

 Thanks to Pinterest, I came up with ideas for each day in December. Here is the list of what I had in my Advent calendar.
Decorate our tree 
Go to the Zilker Tree
Go ice skating
Shop for gifts for other children 
Unwrap a book to read 
Unwrap a new game to play as a family
Make a treat and take it to a friend 
Open your special ornament and put in on your tree 
Make a craft with Mom 
Write a letter to Santa 
Go to Starbucks and have pepperment drinks
Go to see the nativity at park Hills
Have a family Christmas movie night with treats 
Choose a special treat 
Shop for a gift for your preschool party 
Wrap Christmas presents
Ride on the Polar Express(drive around and look at lights and have cocoa and popcorn 
Have lunch at a special restaurant with our family 
Wear new jammies to bed 
Go to Johnson City and look at the lights
Make sugar cookies
Go to the light show at Mozarts
Have a picnic in front of the tree
Decorate cookies 
Read the story about the birth of Jesus

Looking forward to doing this again.

Christmas

We  had a very relaxing Christmas this year.  We stayed in Austin for Christmas Eve. We went to dinner and a light show before heading to our church for Christmas Eve service.

On Christmas Eve, the kids set out stuff for Santa and the reindeer.

  We celebrated Christmas morning here at home and had a nice family time together before heading to Houston to celebrate with Derek's family

 We enjoyed time with the Reaves.  The cousins all had fun together and the highlight was the backyard swing.

 My parents came to Austin for a night and we enjoyed spending time with them too.