Going...going...GONE!!!

This is the gingerbread house Sadie and I made right after Thanksgiving. Jack helped by eating the leftover candy. The first day I kept finding Jack sneaking more and more candy off the house. We had a chat and I told them both they could eat it after Christmas was all over. I didn't think they would remember, but they did.

It was one of those days that they were both home and driving me crazy!! I stuck the house outside and let them just "go to town." Chase came inside from the garage and we both noticed how quiet it was in the house. Best 30 minutes of the day!!!

We'll just try to ignore and forget how much sugar they ate that day!!

Looks like the remnants of a house destroyed by a bunch of rodents.

Etheringtons in Texas!!

Hooray!!! I love it when my family comes to visit!! They arrived the day after Christmas which was heavenly considering school was still out and the kids needed to be entertained. This can be pretty hard when you're 9 1/2 months pregnant, so I was happy to have some help. We've kept the leaves on the lawn because not only my kids have had fun raking and jumping in them, but they have been attracting the neighborhood kids too.

Grandpa had the fun idea of making a huge pile of leaves and then having Sadie swing through them. He always pretended to be mad when she "messed up" his beautiful pile of leaves and it made her laugh all the harder. They spent a lot of time playing outside.

They came at the perfect time. It rained all day the day before (Christmas day) and once they arrived the temps shot up to the 70's and it was beautiful all week. We were able to go on walks, hit the parks, and even eat outside. I love Texas!!

Aunt Jane is semi-obsessed with turtles. I knew the perfect place to take her so she could get her fix before heading back to Utah. The university has a little turtle pond down town. I was right to assume that Jane would be in heaven watching those little turtles.

I loved watching my pasty white family soak up the sun rays. The inversion is so bad in Utah it's rare you ever see the sun during the winter. I was glad Texas was able to give them a little suntan at the end of December!!

Grandpa kept asking where we could go to climb some trees (a big kid really). Texas has some awesome material to work with when it comes to scaling up a tree. I drove us all to the Circle C park and we (not me) climbed any tree we could find.

I couldn't get enough of the amazing weather. While the kids played in the leaves, I just bathed in the sun with a nice cool breeze to keep from sweating.

Any and every visitor who comes to Austin has to experience the best view possible of the city, that being on the water...in a canoe. Not super comfortable with this huge belly of mine, but fun to show my family how beautiful Austin really is.

One night we stopped at the "Clark Griswald" house just down the street from us. This guy spends $7000 a year putting these lights up and it takes two weeks for him to put it all together. It's pretty amazing what this guy does every year just for the enjoyment of others. Love the Texas peeps here!!

Mimi brought Sadie and Jack a lot of new books; one being 100 dresses that she read to her every night. They finished it right before they had to go back to SLC. Sadie LOVES reading with Mimi. She continues to be the best "book lady" ever!!

Thanks for coming guys. I can't wait to see you again when the baby is born in January. Sadie and Jack can't wait either!!

Christmas 2011

Christmas was so fun this year!! I have to admit I had a hard time sleeping because I was so excited to see the kid's faces in the morning. I just LOVE giving gifts!! I had a lot of fun surprises waiting for everyone. We were worried that the kids would come down to get us (our bedroom is downstairs) and see everything before we could see their initial reactions. So we stuck Henry the Elf at the top of the stairs and recorded him to say, "Merry Christmas. Don't go downstairs until your mom and dad come up to get you." We told them to simply talk into Jack's monitor and we would come up with a quick breakfast before we could all go downstairs. They were sooooo excited!! I brought up an english muffin for Sadie and some oatmeal for Jack (we knew they couldn't wait through a gourmet breakfast) and then headed downstairs.

We knew the "show stopper" gift was going to be Sadie's pony. She asked Santa for a pony and he brought her the next best thing. You can sit on it and it moves at the touch of a button. You can clearly see how pleased she is.

I was really excited to give Chase his Mexican Coke. Apparently it tastes better than American Coke. He's had a bottle everyday. His sugar induced gut will thank me later.

With a new snow white dress it was necessary to ride "side saddle." A princess would never dream of sitting any other way!!

When I went to Goodwill to find stuff for Halloween costumes I totally hit the jack pot!! I found a ton of plastic sandbox trucks for Jack. That's where I found Sadie's pony too!! I love buying toys used because kids grow out of them too quickly. Besides, I have a hard time putting a brand new tonka truck in the sand box. Jack and Sadie thoroughly enjoyed the peanut butter cups in their stockings and Jack's "new" bulldozer was great at hauling them around. CC and Pops gave me a new mini camera so Sadie got my old one (that barely works) and she's thrilled about taking her own pictures. Chase got me some new rain boots. My old ones had holes in them so water would seep in. Kind of defeats the purpose. I LOVE my new ones!! Flarp was a big hit with the kids. Sadie was playing with her friend Avery's a few days before and they couldn't stop laughing at the silly sounds it produced. Santa was kind to her this year:-)

I did my best to use less paper this year. I save all my boxes and ribbon every year but even after all that recycling, it still looked like a bomb went off in our living room.

I was so glad Christmas fell on a Sunday. It's always nice to put the presents aside and head to church to feel the real spirit of Christ. Chase and I were pretty involved in the program as we were both performing in at least three musical numbers. We had to be there 45 minutes early and while practicing through some of the songs, the words really got to me and I totally started weeping. There's something to be said about the "heaven's exploding with music everywhere" when Christ was born and singing about Mary and her baby is just too, too much for a 9 month prego lady. I'm glad it was just a practice. I held it together for the real program. I just didn't look at anyone in the audience especially while singing Mary's Lullaby.

My mom sent some adorable new outfits for the kids to wear to church. I think Sadie looks like an English princess and Jack looks like a botanist, ready to go examine some plants. His face is filled with glee because inside that wrapped fist is a melting Reeses peanut butter cup.

When we got home from church we were finally able to relax, get back into our pajamas and make our traditional gourmet breakfast. Sweet rolls, little smokies (cooked in Chase's Coke of course), and spinach/cheese eggs. Jack surprised everyone after eating about ten little smokies!!

After breakfast we cleaned up the Christmas explosion in the living room and got ready for our friends to come over. Jaime brought the ham, Shayna made the rolls, and I whipped up a Southern chocolate custard pie.....YUM!! Chase turned culinary on us and made a whole crock pot of wassail. It was delicious. The kids had a great time being wild and it was fun to wrap up the day celebrating with friends.

Christmas Eve

This year was definitely an unconventional Christmas Eve. We spent most of the day getting ready for Santa by cleaning the house. It was rainy and pretty gloomy outside so the kids had to play indoors which always makes cleaning harder.

We had arranged with some friends to either have dinner together Christmas Eve or Christmas Day and we all decided that the eve of Christmas is too hectic to try to whip dinner together as well. So Chase and I, for the first time, were to have dinner on our own with no Grandma Beth party or Etherington candlelight dinner. It was a little depressing but not as depressing as traveling to Utah for the holidays where it's FREEZING!!

We made plans to head downtown to see the train display and get some Chinese take out for dinner (I wasn't about to cook an entire ham for just the two of us...the kids don't count). Little did we know our plans would be completely shot!! The train display was totally closed down (perhaps we were misinformed:-). The kids were pretty upset because it was the first thing we had done all day that was supposed to be fun (other than Chase calling me while at the grocery store asking for "Mrs. Claus". Talk about pressure!! I tried my best to sound as much like NPR's Diane Rehm as possible). Instead we drove to Amy's ice cream (the only place we could find open) for a little treat.

While sitting there with our ice cream we were hit with the fact that it might be hard to find a place open on Christmas Eve for dinner. Austin was practically a ghost town and after driving around and calling any and every restaurant we could think of, we realized that at 6 p.m. we would be lucky to find a grocery store open, let alone a restaurant. Eventually we drove by Panda Express (i.e. vomit inducing Chinese food) and realized they were our last hope. After finding Pei Wei, PF Changs and our favorite Indian restaurant Tarka to be closed it was definitely a last resort option. The food was disgusting (even though at the time Chase and I both reassured each other it was "decent") but we were overjoyed when the kids TOTALLY gobbled it up. Christmas miracle!!
When I was little I used to look forward to the opening of one gift so much it was absolutely unbearable to wait through dinner, dessert, carols at the piano, and some Christmas books. In fact, there's a pretty funny picture of my mom reading to us four kids with this sweet enthusiastic look on her face while the rest of us look as though we are being tortured. Funny enough, I now put my kids through the same agony. I now see that my parents were simply trying to fill our hearts with some Christmas spirit. Now I get it!!
Sadie and Jack made it through the anguish of patience and were finally allowed to open one gift. Sadie chose Pops and CC's gift so Jack did the same. Lets just say that we wished they had picked something a little less exciting because it took us until 10 p.m. to get them to bed that night. Their new toys were just too amazing to put down!!

After we got them in bed Chase and I sat down and watched Love Actually (all the gifts had been previously wrapped a few days before...we like to be prepared:-) It took us about 10 minutes to play Santa and then it was off to bed. Unconventional, but wonderful just being with my little family and my best friend Chase. Merry Christmas!!

Out of Control!!

This whole binky thing with Jack is really starting to get on my nerves. Now that he can get in and out of his crib, he can also access his pacifiers much easier too. No matter where I put them, he always seems to find them and carries not one, but as many as he can find around the house at all times. He is so great at talking that I'm not worried about them impeding his speech. I just think he needs to not be so obsessed with them.

On this particular day I couldn't get them away from him. It was almost easier to just let him have his way because the whining associated with no binky is sometimes too much to bear. I am determined to make them a nap and nighttime only reward. We've always had this rule but Ive been really lazy enforcing it lately.

If we find him with his binky during "off hours" we tell him to take "one last suck" and that usually works. If he has multiple binkies at the time he'll give each one "one last suck" before handing them over. It's pretty cute but not so cute when you see a five year old in a stroller with a pacifier in his mouth. I think three is the limit and even that seems a little old for me. I'll let him get through the birth of this new baby before I take them away for good but it won't be long before the binky fairy comes to our house.

Santa!!!

Our little community in Austin has such a fun holiday party every year. This year we feared it would be cancelled due to rain (glorious rain...we'll never complain again about any kind of moisture around here:-). Thankfully the party went on as planned but indoors instead of outside.
They still had a petting zoo, pony rides and lots of stations to make crafts, get your faces painted and pictures taken. Sadie was more excited to ride the pony than to see Santa but that was to be expected. Jack took some huge strides from last year of screaming his little eyes out on Santa's lap to only having a very concerned look on his face this year. Such a brave little man. We could clearly see that Santa's lap was the THE LAST place he wanted to be sitting at the moment but Sadie made it more exciting for him so he pressed on and endured,
It was a fun little party and we saw a lot of friends from school. Sadie got Rudolph painted on her face and then went out to hold some bunnies, pigs, and goats. Of course the pony ride was the highlight. My favorite memory of the whole day was hearing Jack in his sweet little voice say "hello Piggy...hello" as he greeted his fellow snorter. Jack's tendency to snort while he laughs will always be so endearing to me.
WE saw Santa getting into his car in the parking lot as we too were making our way home. Sadie was so confused as to why Santa wasn't riding around on his sleigh everywhere he went. He also was one of those "skinny" Santas that had to stuff a pillow inside his costume. It won't be long until Sadie starts to figure this whole Santa thing out. She's already made some serious inquiries as to how he gets into our house and how he can possibly fit down a chimney.
We had Henry the Elf come to our home December 1st to "watch us and report back to Santa." Chase placed the three inch elf on the doorstep and raced away after ringing the doorbell. Sadie and Jack were thrilled to have a visitor but Sadie was absolutely perplexed!! She couldn't figure out how an elf so small could ring a doorbell so far off the ground. Chase made the mistake of telling her he used pixie dust to jump to the doorbell. I later found her asking Henry to tell Santa that she too wanted pixie dust for Christmas:-)
I love how magical Christmas is and even though we are essentially lying to our children about where the presents come from, it's so fun to see their faces light up when Henry tells them (he can speak recorded messages) they are on the nice list for the day!! He even showed up a couple of times bearing gifts throughout December. One day he brought Frosty the Snowman and the next time The Grinch who Stole Christmas.
Hopefully we have a few more years before Sadie sees Dad racing through the garage after leaving Henry on the doorstep. Jack is still just along for the ride at this point:-)

iPhone trip through the holidays

Thank goodness for my handy little phone that goes everywhere with me so I can snap these photos along the way. We've had a jolly holiday to say the least. Knowing that we will be spending Christmas here is enough to celebrate. I don't think we'll ever travel somewhere freezing again unless we have to.

After Pops and CC left we were a little depressed so we put up our Christmas tree and felt much better. I finally gave in and bought the 9 foot pre-lit tree from Costco. I LOVE IT!! It was the easiest "putting up the tree" I've ever experienced. My Dad was complaining about putting up another tree this year with all the lights and ornaments. It's usually an entire day affair at the Etherington home. I had to tell him all about how easy it was to put up this tree. You take it out of the box, attach the plug and voila!! Easy peasy!! I didn't even have to shape the pine needles like I did on our last tree (may it rest in peace).

Lots of holiday parties are to be had in Texas. My favorite was the Robinson's dessert party. It was fantastic!! Every kind of delicious dessert you can possibly imagine and all so beautifully decorated. I'm glad it's an annual party because my prego belly wouldn't let me eat as much as I wanted to. Until next year!
Macy Robinson is an amazing photographer and has a studio in her home (my life long dream:-). Naturally, she snapped photos of all the couples with Santa hats on. I hope she will eventually make the party an "ugly sweater" one like her brother Matt Sanderson in Virginia because that's all this picture really needs to make it complete:-)

My bunco ladies also had a party. We designated it a "holiday sweater" party (I had to wear my Unique sweater somewhere) so I went to town making my outfit. All the way down to wooden Christmas light earrings, the outfit seemed complete. I did my best being 9 months preggers.
Out of the 12 of us, only 5 really dressed up. We were crying from laughing so hard at the end of these pics. I didn't post the blurry ones where we were laughing so hard you couldn't recognize who was in the photo.
There's something even funnier about a picture when you are "large marge." Maybe that's why those Fat Albert flicks did so well because it's always more fun to watch a chubby person make a fool of himself.

Something else we did as a large group was head out to Burnet to see the live nativity. When I heard where we were going I thought it was on "burnet road" not all the way out in Burnet. What a drive!! The kids might have been a little too young for the long lines, the crowds and the cold weather (cold for Texas that is...around 50 that night:-) By the end they were pretty whiny and ready to leave.
The nativity was really cool. They had live camels, donkeys, and everyone was dressed up like the time of Bethlehem. Maybe we'll try again in a few years when it's not so crowded and the kids are a little older.

We live down the road from the Wildflower Center which is a really cool park run by the University of Texas. Every year they have a "trail of lights" and every night they have different performers. We got to hear the Austin Children's Choir" and they were spectacular!!
We made snowflakes inside, drank hot cider and got some free popcorn!!
We went there in our sweats and pajamas because you can do that in Texas. It's pretty much all that fits me these days.
We saw frosty the snowman (the kids wouldn't go near him) and enjoyed all the beautiful lanterns. Sadie thought it was just like Rapunzel and we sang "And at last I see the light."











There are a lot of fun places to see lights here in Texas. Cedar Park had quite a few last year but we didn't want to drive all the way up there. Instead we headed to Guadalupe street where you can see how some of the Austinites decorate round these parts.
One house was covered in lights with sock monkeys hanging from the trees and they had a projector in the backyard playing Rudolph the red Nose Reindeer.



Jack just couldn't believe how cool it was!!



One house was full of a bunch of male college students who surprisingly decorated better than anyone else on the street. One of them must be an engineer major because he had all sorts of fun gadgets on the front lawn for the kids to play with. The bicycle strobe light was a big hit!!




I just love how gaudy and cluttered these houses look. It's hilarious how over the top these people go. They would do Clark Grizwald proud!



An only in Austin will you find a flying pterodactyl and an enormous steam breathing dragon to celebrate the holiday season. Definitely "keeping it weird" as they say here in the capitol of Texas.












Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!!