Auld Lang Syne

We started the 2010 year as a busy family of 3 and ended the year quietly at our home as a family of 4! After all of the month's festivities we decided to keep our New Years Eve party quiet and early! Olivia went to bed as usual, still fighting off the same ear infection that plagued her first Thanksgiving, and Ben and I rang in the New Year with Isabelle at about 8:00pm. We danced, sang, played Wii Rockband, let off a few child friendly fireworks and counted down from 20 to 1 before we cheered HAPPY 2011!!! She didn't know the difference and we figured it was midnight somewhere!

After Isabelle was sound asleep, Ben and I were not far behind her not even attempting to make it to midnight to watch Dick Clark's Annual New Years Show from NYC. We were all too tired from the busy and wonderful 2010 year and slept the night away...dreaming of the exciting 2011 year ahead!

I wish it could be Christmas all year long

It's too bad that Christmas is only approximately a month long! We could easily fill 3 or 4 months with all of the festivities that this season brings and we most definitely could get used to all of the peace, love and joy we all feel throughout the holidays!

We began the month with Isabelle cleaning out her playroom and filling a bag with toys she was willing to donate to those less fortunate. We wanted to make sure she understood the real meaning of the season and took advantage of the opportunity to make some room for the gifts she would receive at the end of the month. Isabelle was excited to think of other little kids enjoying some of her toys and gave away a few items that we wouldn't have suggested, but in the spirit of giving, we let her fill her bag with whatever she chose.

Of course one of the most anticipated moments of the holiday was all of the decorating. Both girls loved getting out each decoration and I think I only had to glue 3 or 4 back together over the month. Isabelle was thrilled to decorate the small tree with colored lights and all of her special ornaments for the playroom and Olivia decorated and undecorated the bottom of our large Christmas tree at least a thousand times. She especially loved the colorful bells that were hung just at her level to grab, taste and shake!

Aunt Alee made the girls the most amazing Advent calendar and we had so much fun every morning seeing what the "elves" had left the previous evening. They left a message each night with activties for us to do that day. Some examples of the fun were singing Christmas carols, doing holiday puzzles, baking Christmas cookies and so on. Isabelle literally woke up at 5:00am many mornings too excited to sleep any longer and had to run down and check the advent immediately. (By the end of the 25 days Ben and I were almost happy to pack up the calendar for the next 11 months!)

One of Isabelle's favorite traditions is driving around and seeing all of the decorations in everyone's yards so more nights than not, we got in our PJ's early and spent the last few minutes before bed ooh-ing and aww-ing at all of the lights and giant inflatables in the neighborhood. Olivia loved all of the excitement too as you would expect and especially loved sitting inside the truck but out of her carseat! Isabelle was desperate for Ben to put MANY colorful lights on every inch of our home, but being the negotiators that they both are, they agreed upon a small Rudolph inflatable that sat right on our front porch! Ben was off the hook and Jelly was so proud of her Rudolph. She was sure that all of the neighborhood kids loved to see it every day as they passed by!

Aunt Tara came to celebrate with us just in time for Christmas Eve and we spent the afternoon shopping and eating at the Cheesecake Factory before coming home and reading the Christmas story in Luke, in costume of course. Somehow Jelly had received a phone call from Santa Claus himself and he had requested a grilled cheese sandwich instead of cookies so before Isabelle climbed into bed she made him a sandwich and left the jolly old elf a letter.

Christmas morning didn't begin until 7:30am thankfully and the girls were thrilled by what they found. Belle loved her new Rosebud bike and Walking Pup and Olivia loved her new interactive table and mostly all of the paper and packaging. Santa found Tara, Ben and me too and we all had a fun morning opening gifts and feasting on Christmas nachos! When we finally were dressed for the day we left for the theatre and loved Tangled even though a few of us missed some of the film as Olivia was not nearly as interested. After a yummy dinner we rocked out with some Cosby Rockband before hitting our pillows happy and exhausted.

A couple days after the big day we packed up and all headed to Houston to celebrate a little more with Grammie, Grandpa, Nick and Alee. Tara had bought a ticket from Miami to San Antonio but booked her return ticket out of Houston instead. Isabelle was so excited to get to Grammies and was surprised to find that Santa had left even more presents for her there as well! She was the most excited for her Dog Pillow Pet that she had been concerned about Santa forgetting. We again enjoyed more yummy food, colorful lights and gifts and even made it to a movie as adults. We celebrated Grandpa's birthday too and if you know Jelly, no one puts on a party like she does! It was a quick 72 hour trip but we made the most of our time and are so glad we were able to go.

Again we have been so blessed and have so much to be grateful for. Thank you to all of our family and friends for the wonderful gifts and cards and especially for all of the support you give us throughout the year. We are grateful for the Savior and his birth this time of year and like so many others...we wish it could be Christmas all year long!

Christmas with the Spurs

Since living in San Antonio we have become quite the Spurs fans. They are usually pretty easy to like, winning most of the time and with players who are mostly respectful and love the Alamo City!

We decided it was time to introduce Olivia to a live NBA game so Ben snagged the company tickets and just days before Christmas we cheered as the Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets. Isabelle loved cheering with the Coyote and watching the cheerleaders in holiday costumes and Olivia loved all of the loud noise and clapped as hard as she could along with the crowd...even though she had no idea what she was clapping for. Santa even made a stop at the AT&T Center and once again Belle made a few requests.

We had a fun night with lots of food, good company and another Spurs victory! The night ended great as we changed the girls into their PJ's before we put them in the car and both were asleep before we made it to the freeway. Go Spurs Go!!!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

There is such a wonderful spirit in the air during the holiday season. Everyone is friendly and happy to share and everywhere you go you can feel and see something almost magical! Some of our favorite moments of the 2010 Christmas season were watching Isabelle perform at both her dance class and preschool.

A few of the girls in her dance class were absent on performance day, but the ones that were there put on quite the show for their mom's! They danced a few numbers they had learned over the month including one to Frosty the Snowman, The Nutcracker and my personal favorite I Love You Santa Claus. Isabelle puts on recitals at home constantly so it was fun for her to have a little show to practice and be excited for!

Isabelle's preschool class worked for weeks on a special Christmas program for their parents as well. They played the bells, sang songs, made decorations and so on. We loved seeing Isabelle with all of her school-mates and had fun celebrating with a little dessert party afterwards with all of the other parents. (Isabelle is standing next to Caleb...whom she has made plans with to marry once they are in college!)

On the last day of school before the holiday break, Isabelle's class had a pajama party and she was thrilled when the "Elf" left her some new pj's in the advent calendar to wear! I wish it could be Christmas all year long!

The beginning of the season!

For some reason the holidays always seem to coincide with Ben closing a big deal at work. Just when we are hoping he has some extra time to spend at home, he is around even less than usual and we are left postponing things and shuffling things around. Well this year Ben not only had one deal he was working on closing before year-end, but two deals, which is amazing, at the very same time. He was working from sun up till sun down all the while wishing he was having more fun with his girls!

Since we didn't think we were going to be able to make it up to Dallas to visit Grandma and Grandpa Cosby before Christmas, we invited them down to San Antonio for some holiday cheer! Isabelle loves company and was thrilled to have her grandparents and uncle Joseph at her disposal for a few days. We made a fabulous gingerbread house, danced and sang along to Christmas carols, went to lunch, played Wii, opened early Christmas presents, went to a Christmas party and so on.

One highlight was spending the day at the Seaworld Holiday Celebration! Isabelle loved riding the Mini-Shamu-Coaster, walking through the Candy Cane Forest, watching the Polar Express 3D, and of course enjoying all of the Holiday animal shows. She was particularly amazed at the Sesame Street Christmas Show when Abby Cadabby with the wave of her magic wand made SNOW appear! Sadly, it is the first and only memory of snow Isabelle has! We were also able to visit Santa Claus and make sure he knew just what was on our lists! Isabelle actually sat on his lap twice while Olivia met the jolly old man for the first time!

Olivia enjoyed the extra attention too, showing off all of her new skills and basking in the applause! We had so much fun with Grandma, Grandpa and Joe and as usual were disappointed when it was time to say goodbye! It was nice to have a visit with the Cosbys, despite Ben being only there in spirit rather than in mind! Tis' the season!