Must be Santa!

I remember going to see Santa as a kid...it was truly magical. Taking my children to see Santa every year is one of my VERY favorite things to do as a Mom. I get butterflies in my stomach every year. I will be so sad when the peanuts get too old to do this.  When we lived in Houston before (our first 7 years of parenting) we always took the kids to see Santa the day before Thanksgiving.  When we lived in Va. we never really found a Santa tradition.  In fact, each year, I think we went a different place.  So, it was nice to resume our old tradition.

There a lot of photos (and some are not even good) but this was the first year Kate was not afraid and maybe one of the last years Will will be enthusiastic so I want to savor every single moment.

Kate and Daddy round the corner and catch a glimpse of the big man in red!

(Dress info at bottom~for those who have asked)

Waiting in line....

Kate was fascinated with Santa's gloves.

Kate did not want to talk to Santa but she posed for the photos with the bibery of one "sparkly gummy."

Will and Harry had a lot of time with Santa talking and sharing their lists.

Kate was far more interested in this chapel decoration than the man in red.

Bye Santa!

Santa gave Will some knuckles...

And Harry some skin.

After Santa and some photos...we went to Dylan's Candy Bar..

We had never been there before.  The kids loved it.  

They were each allowed to choose one thing.

Kate immediately picked up this lollipop!

Please, Daddy?

Harry chose a GIANT Lemon gumball!



Will opted for dark chocolate cookie dough bites.

Yummy!

Here is a scanned copy of the "mall photo." Please excuse the speck on Harry's nose.  It is from the scanner and no matter how many times I cleaned the scanner, it kept scanning.  It would not"retouch" in Iphoto either!

Kate's dress is made by Tra La La. It is available at a lot of on-line boutiques. To see our visit with Santa last year, click HERE.

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Thankful

We had such a lovely and laid back Thanksgiving.  We sat around in our jammies all morning watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on our new TV (it is too high and we'll get it lowered..thanks for all the great suggestions...I am checking them out).  It was quite cozy.  I shared some of my childhood Thanksgiving memories with the boys and they were acutally interested.

Then we headed over to Dave's brother and his new wife's house for dinner. I have hosted my family for Thanksgiving for last four or five years and I did all of the cooking (dave would bake the pies).  While I always loved polishing the silver and setting the table and doing the flowers and cooking, it was so nice this year to just show up somewhere.  Dave made a pumpkin pie and I made my old family recipe of homemade macaroni and cheese.  

I tried to get a photo of the 3 peanuts but Kate would not cooperate!

Will and Harry spent most of the day swimming and playing in the hot tub. I don't think they have ever swam on Thanksgiving before!

They spent the rest of the day hanging out and wrestling with their BIG cousin Jamie.  He is a sophomore in college and they think he is the absolute coolest (he actually is pretty cool).

Miss Kate hung out with the dogs (3 of them).

She also played the piano quite a bit.

With Mom, one of the doggies, playing piano with Michael (I love how she is looking up at him) and stealing Aunt W's dessert.

To distract Kate from the pool...I let her have a little whipped cream.  She loved it!

Watching the Thanksgiving day football...

We all had a lot of fun messing with Uncle Joe during his after turkey nap!  I was laughing too hard to get many photos but the kids put a princess crown on him and various other things.  

We had such a nice day.  I am truly thankful for all the blessings in my life... God, a wonderful and healthy family, a giving and thoughtful husband, really great children and so many caring friends.

Today, we are working on our Christmas tree and decorations.  Let the memories begin!

It is the season of giving, so if you feel inclined, please share your blessings with this family to help bring Mia Hope home.  Their FABULOUS raffle ends in 2 days!  

Flat Screen remorse?

I have never been a fan of a TV over the fireplace.  In fact, they have always really bothered me. We have a fabulous antique German armoire that has always housed our television. However, there was nowhere to put it in this family room. We debated and debated and thought about what to do. I prefer art over the mantle. We have lived here for over month and we were not spending any time in this room. I kind of figured this is a family house and so it was time to come to the 21st century. So, I finally gave in and agreed to the flat screen. Today, we had a company come in and install the TV and speakers (it was wired for surround sound).  It is really hard to get used to.  It is so high...it kind of hurts our necks to watch. So, what do y'all think? Does it just take some getting used to? Please tell me that we will get used to it. Oh I hope we didn't make a mistake.

We are SO behind in technology...we have never owned a flat screen and we have no clue how to work all this stuff....

And you can see we have not painted the wood yet...still thinking about that one.

We DID go see Santa today though!!!!  I will post those photos after Thanksgiving. When we lived in Houston previously, we always took the kids to see Santa the day before Thanksgiving.  So, we continued our tradition today. It was so much fun!  I also had a nice visit with a fellow blogger friend. I really enjoyed meeting Eloise.  The peanuts were interrupting us like crazy but I could have sat and talked with you for hours. I hope we can do it again soon.

I hope you all have a Thanksgiving filled 

with family, love and gratitude.

Tea anyone?

Thank you Debbie and Li Li for the beautiful tea set. We were so happy to find it when we unpacked!

One of my favorite on-line shops, DillyBop is having a sale.  They make the cutest lounge sets. Kate has two and she wears them all the time but she is getting too tall for them. They are so well made. I am going to order "A walk in the Park" for Kate.

Added~ Kate's dress is from Orient Expressed (last year--it is almost too small for her) and the tea set was a gift but I believe it is from Southern Living at Home.

A Girls Weekend and more

Because our husbands are the best in the world....I was lucky enough to have Denise visit for the weekend.  Dave and Denise secretly planned this as a birthday surprise for me. Denise flew in Thursday night and we went out for a great dinner. I introduced her to a little bit of the local cuisine while we drank some wine and caught up.

Then on Friday, Dave took over kid duty (Denise's husband took care of her five children all weekend! Thank you Jeff). Denise and I shopped and ate and I showed her around Houston a little bit. In the afternoon, we checked into this FABULOUSLY unique boutique hotel.

We were greeted by a dozen valets and champagne upon arrival. We checked in and rushed off to the spa for a massage.  Then we relaxed in the steam room and got ready to go out to dinner. As we wandered through the hotel, we noticed some very provocative art work and photography.  It was very edgy!  We had so many good laughs over the decor and art.  I truly have never stayed anywhere like this before. It was a bit over the top. Denise scored us some more champagne and then we headed out to dinner.

Saturday morning we lounged around the hotel in our PJ's drinking coffee and talking for hours. Then we met a friend of mine for lunch at one of my favorite Houston restaurants, Ousie's. Saturday afternoon was spent shopping some more (I bought a GREAT rug for Dave's office). We wandered around antique stores and bought some hair clippies for Maggie. Saturday night we all (Denise and my family) went to a favorite local Mexican restaurant. Then Denise flew home this morning.  Her visit was exactly what I needed to get out of the little rut I was in! We had so much fun just talking and hanging out.  Denise and I could talk forever.  We have so much in common and I simply adore her.  Thank you Denise for flying in for some fun girl time!  You are a very special friend.  Stay Za Za!  Thank you so much Dave for arranging this to cheer me up.  I love you.

Here is a slide show.  The photos are not very sharp in the slideshow for some reason.

On another note, several people asked me why we moved here (and so quickly).  It is a long story but basically, my husband loves to move (this is our 5th house in 13 years of marriage). Whereas, I like to stay put.  He grew up moving from country to country as his Dad was in the oil business. Dave has both oil and moving in his blood. In fact,  moving to Virginia 4 years ago was completely his idea.  I did not want to go there. However, after designing and building our house from scratch, getting the kids into a great school, meeting friends and finding a good church, I finally felt settled there.  Not surprisingly, Dave was ready to move again.  He would broach the subject all the time and I always changed the subject. We really had no plans of leaving Virginia (at least I didn't). Then, he was suddenly offered a great career opportunity (oil) and it just seemed too good to turn down.  He was not loving his job in Virginia and he really wanted this.  So, I acquiesced. We did not have to move (as a few of you have asked) but my husband was not really happy where we were and I had been happy here before, so I figured it would all work out. This week, I have truly turned a corner. Showing Denise around Houston made me realize all the great things this city has to offer. I am also starting to like our house more and more....

We had a contract on our old house and it fell through this week. The buyers did not get their financing. We were lucky enough to have an immediate back up offer though...so keep your fingers crossed that it goes through! Also, the boys begin at a new school tomorrow.  If you could say a quick prayer that goes well...I would so appreciate it! Harry is doing MUCH better. Thank you for your prayers and encouragement.

I miss her so

As I unpack here and try to make our new house a home, I miss her more and more.

Added...I realize that I am blessed and lucky to have all of the joys (God, family, friends, food shelter etc) that we have.  I get emotionally attached to houses and I sure it is the memories that were created there that I miss the most.  We have not really made any memories in our new home yet.  I know that home is where the heart is...I guess our hearts have not completely moved yet;)