December Texas Visit

I guess I can't really call the post "Christmas in Texas" because we actually came back to Tennessee a few days before actual Christmas. Sam had his last test of the semester on the 12th and we started our drive down right after he finished. Stayed the night at Tyson and Valerie's in Biloxi, then got to Houston the next afternoon. Ivy actually did pretty well. She generally does ok when she has snacks and toys to preoccupy her and the laptop or ipad when she gets stressed out. 

For some reason, this trip was way less stressful than our trip for thanksgiving. In November, Ivy was out of sorts when we got there and was pretty cranky for most of the week. I think she was either teething or had a cold or something.. This time around, She was super happy and for the most part, slept pretty well (except for one or two tough nights but that's life). While we were in Houston, we actually still did quite a bit of traveling.. We started in Pearland with Jeff and Mom R., then I went up with my parents to my sister Kelli's for a night, the next day Sam joined us for church and a nice dinner with my family, then we went up to spend some days with Dad R., and finally back to Pearland for the last few days. It was sort of hectic but we are so glad we got to see everyone! I was actually pretty sad to leave. We had a good 8 or 9 days there in Texas but this time around, it did not feel like nearly enough time. Well, here's till next time! Miss all of you, family and friends! Disclaimer: These pics aren't really up to par with what I normally do around holidays. For some reason, I couldn't ever find time to get out my better camera so I'm left with practically all phone pics. Therefore, I didn't get pics of everyone we visited but I just blame it on the fact that we were having too much fun.  :)

Finally in Houston and so happy! 

Visiting Santa at the mall with Mema, Grandpa, and cousins:

I just have to say, (for all you Houston friends for next year) Memorial City Mall was awesome for visiting Santa. They had this system where you type in your phone number and it texts you with your place in line and how much longer you have to wait. So instead of standing in one place for an hour and a half, you can shop and eat until it's your turn! Genius, I tell you. Ivy wasn't too sure about Santa. He was verrry sweet. She was just frozen, haha. BUT she didn't scream. I thought she might. I think she just didn't know what to think of all of it. 

Here are a few pics of our visit to Dad R.'s house. Sam enjoyed some golf with his dad while I went shopping and had fun with Patricia and Jessica. We went to Old Town Spring which was super cute (sry, no pics of that for some reason). Lots of fun shops and little boutiques to check out. In all my years of living in Houston, I had never been before. I'm sure I will go again in the future bc it was pretty fun. Ivy also enjoyed Grandpa's big, warm pool too while we were up there. It was a lot of fun to be able to go swimming in December. Gotta love Houston. :)

After we went back to Pearland, we were able to stop by Tiffany and Matt's new house in Friendswood! So exciting! And so fun to see these little girls growing up.. They didn't quite know what to think of each other at first but quickly became best buds. Such cuties:

Love my BFF! I so wish we had more time together. I always wish that, lol...

Back in Pearland, festivities included cookie decorating, games, and a nice Christmas dinner before people parted ways over the next few days for actual Christmas Eve/day (Some were headed up to Colorado to meet more fam at Dad R.'s cabin and Sam and I were headed back to TN with Mom R. to meet Steve and Sarra).

So fancy!

Ivy with her favorite cousin of the trip, Sydney.. Ivy had so much fun with her! They are gonna be pals forever. :)

Somehow we were lucky enough to stay an extra day than originally planned because of car troubles (nothing to serious and it was all on warranty) but we were able to get back safe and sound for our next round of family in TN. Stay tuned for more pics! 

Family Pics 2012

While down in Houston over Thanksgiving, Jeff was able to take our family pictures for us, with Michelle's assistance, of course. We woke up at the butt crack of dawn in order to get to the park before sunrise and it was worth it! They turned out great. As the sun rose, the lighting just kept getting better and better. It was cool. Jeff is so talented and we are super grateful he could take these for us. And we are grateful for Michelle's help too.. It was warm all week long until this exact morning when it was freezing and so windy! She held the reflector forever in that wind. Such a rockstar. And they both kept bribing Ivy with mini marshmallows, haha. It was awesome... 

Jeff waved the bag of marshmallows to get Ivy to smile and I guess she got desperate because she headed right up the hill after them haha:

Here you can see just how cold this little girl was getting.. She was a trooper. Her little nose was running like crazy but she still smiled and laughed most of the time.. Oh, and note the marshmallow in hand in this pic. hehe:

Thanksgiving 2012

We decided kinda last minute to take a short trip to Houston for Thanksgiving (thanks to Sam's awesome bro Jeff for the flyer miles). So after Sam was done with his last class on Monday, we headed to Nashville where we flew from. We ended up having a couple hours to spare and I'd never been to Nashville so we decided to drive around and do a little sight seeing. We stopped at the famous Parthenon near Vanderbilt University. It was cool to see. It's an exact replica of the one in Greece. Ivy thought it was just nice to get out of the car and run around a little.. 

Ivy thought she could push the columns over all by herself, lol:

After that, we flew to Houston and Ivy did awesome on the flight, thanks to the quiet book, coloring book, magna-doodle, ipad, and many snacks. (We came very prepared and it definitely paid off, lol). Oh and my macbook came in handy for her baby einstein movie when she got tired. She didn't even listen to it, but watching it was enough to calm her down and go right to sleep... awesome. :)

The next day, my mom came and picked me up so I could go spend a couples days up at Kelli's house. Considering Sam was going to be spending much of his time playing frisbee golf with Jeff, I knew I wouldn't be missing much in Pearland, lol.. We had lots of fun at Kelli's baking pies and Ivy was in heaven with a new set of toys to play with. And naturally, we headed to Gringo's for lunch. They just built one right near Kelli's house and it is huge and beautiful. They even had a covered play place outside for kids. It was so fun! 

Then my dad drove us back down to Pearland bc most of Sam's siblings had come to visit.. Then this happened and it was amazing (can we go back now??):

Thursdays festivities included a family Turkey Bowl and Kickball, then dinner in the afternoon:

Michelle got some great shots with their nicer camera:

My hunky quarterback, hee:

Playing with cousins! Jack is only a year older than Ivy. He is so sweet:

Friday was spent shopping with the girls then we all headed to the Reliant Stadium bc Jessie's high school was playing a district football game. She's in the marching band so we wanted to go see her...

Yay Jessie! Ivy loved the music. It was actually perfect because we ended up sitting near the band for the game so it was constant entertainment for her. hehe:

The next morning, Jeff took our family pics for us, then we headed to the airport a couple hours later.. Short visit but so much fun!! I'm glad we were able to spend the holiday with our family!