Girls Weekend

I went with a group of friends for a girls weekend to Fredericksburg. Tara was kind enough to drive one of the cars. It should take 4 hours to get there but it might have taken us a little longer...six girls in one car = bathroom breaks, decision on where to eat, a stop at a cute store along the way in some small town.

A quick pic of Tara while she is driving.

Suzanne helping navigate.
Sarah and Mary in the middle passing snacks back and forth for us.
Angela and Me voted least likely to get car sick in the back?

Welcome to Abend Haus
The group getting ready to go to dinner.
Eating fish tacos at Bejas.

Drinks at Silver Creek.

Mary making a quick stop on our walk home to ride a horse.

It was Mary's birthday so we got her a cookie cake. It was the perfect treat after our fun night out.
The next day we enjoyed shopping, eating, relaxing and watching a movie.

We hated to leave but were ready to see our kids and our husbands were ready to see us!

All Aboard

This is the girls favorite activity to play with Daddy...the Daddy train which comes with full sound effects. You can normally find them riding the train on their way to the bathroom to brush their teeth after they get their pjs on before bedtime. Looks like Lily has to hold on a little tighter than the other two.

Carter: "Don't forget about me." The girls: "Yikes!"

I'm not exactly sure if the train will fit all four kids but I'm sure they will try. Carter doesn't want to be left out of anything these days. He is right in the middle of it with his sisters.
Thank you Daddy for being so fun. We love you!

Cotton Bowl

We went to our friends, the Clouatres, to watch part of the Cotton Bowl. They are huge Ole Miss fans. But with all 4 Hall kids there I am not sure how much of the first half of the game they actually watched. Elizabeth was so sweet to make jello for the girls. She was showing them how you use the cookie cutters to make shapes with it.

They LOVED it!
Our friends and former neighbors - Maria and Reece
Aubrey lovin' the jello. Lily and Emery can't get enough cheese.
Daddy and Carter enjoying the game together.

New Year's Eve

We took the kids over to our friends, the Erickson's, for New Year's Eve. The kids stayed up and played for a little while before we put them to bed and enjoyed some adult time with another amazing fireworks display. Thanks Aaron!

Jay Erickson playing his favorite Cars game.
The Halls and Ericksons All the kiddos

Carter's First Birthday

Good Morning Birthday Boy!

It is hard for me to believe that when Aubrey turned one I thought she was so "big" but they are actually still babies (or maybe I just want him to stay my baby a little longer :-)

His sisters wanted to be the first ones to wish him a Happy Birthday.
He loves this riding John Deere truck that he got from the Chenoweths. We are finally getting some boy toys around here.
One of the benefits of working for a welding supply company is that we always have helium available which means balloons for ANY occasion. I have tried to tie balloons to each of their chairs on their birthdays as a special treat. I quickly learned this morning that it will not be necessary to continue that tradition for Carter. He was extremely afraid of them and didn't stop crying until we took them off. Who knew?Another birthday tradition is chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast. We have pancakes often but the treat is the chocolate chips of course!
Carter's birthday was our normal Wednesday routine of gymnastics for the girls in the morning, lunch and nap. We did celebrate again at dinner with chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes.
Singing Happy Birthday! Daddy is on the watch for any grabbing of the burning candle.

This is the best part of the first birthday celebration...eating the cake. There are a number of pictures of the event but each facial expression is more precious than the last. Yes, that is the entire cupcake he is trying to shove into his mouth.
He lost his clothes somewhere in the cake eating process so he opened his presents in only a diaper. Oh well!

"What is in here?"A very creative way of trying to find out what is in the box.
"These are my cars."
Carter - We love your big blue eyes, your enormous smile, your bear hugs, your deep laugh, your motivation and determination. -Love, Daddy, Mommy, Aubrey, Lily and Emery

Wendi's Baby Shower

While my friend Wendi was in town over the holidays from Doha, we decided to throw a shower for her and her baby girl, Georgia, due to arrive in April.

The decor

We tried to make it a fairly simple evening since everyone is so busy this time of year so we picked up a variety of dishes from Pei Wei for dinner.
We also decided to be very casual so everyone came in their comfy Christmas pjs.

Jenise, Tracy, Shannon

Jenn, Me, Wendi, Katie
The group gathered on the couch before opening gifts.
We each brought goodies for Wendi and Georgia and put them together in this adorable bag.

Katie made this precious bow hanger.

Wendi has two boys so this is her first girl. We are trying to get her into the "girl thing."

Wendi gave us each a pair of earrings as hostess gifts. She took the time to pick earrings that matched each of our personalities and I think she did a great job.

Shannon hosted the party at her house AND she gave each of us one of these wines. So cute and creative.