Christmas & New Years

We had a fabulous Christmas with Matt's family in San Antonio! We stayed with them for 5 days and loved every minute of it. Michael got a ton of toys and clothes. He had a little trouble getting into the whole wrapping paper business. He wanted to eat the paper more than tear it off, but I think by next year, he'll be a pro.


Michael had a blast playing with all of his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins (and the cats, of course). Matt and I especially appreciated all of the willing babysitters!




A few days before Christmas, he developed a funny little elephant walk. He is also starting to stand on his own. The longest he's stayed up is about 20 seconds so far, and he seems to stay up longer when he's distracted by something else and not thinking "Hey, I'm standing!"


Matt had a blast playing with some miniature helicopters with his brothers.


Another highlight of the trip was getting to see Matt Sr. sworn in as an attorney. It was a joyous occasion after a lot of hard work! It was a nice reminder for Matt and I that, in just a few more years, we'll be there too!


What a beautiful family!





From San Antonio, we headed up to my parent's place in Leander. We had a wonderful, relaxing time with them too.


One of Michael's gifts was a lego set. (Initially, I think Dad had a little more fun with it than Michael did.)


One day, Matt went up to the ranch with my dad to help feed to cows. He even got a picture of our cow, #42.


As per tradition, Matt and I got up to see the sun rise New Years morning. (Call us whimps, or just tired parents, but, no, we did not stay up the night before.)


Matt taught Michael how to hold onto a swing and he loved it!


We got back to Houston late last Friday. After being gone for 10 days, I wondered if Michael would remember home. --No problems there! He got back into the swing of things without missing a beat!