Christmas Recap!

We are now a day away from the new year and I have now had a chance to go through some of our pictures from this Christmas. We went to Louisiana (Wee-siana as Pierce says it :) for the holiday to visit friends and family. We left of Friday and stopped in Lafayette to visit the Blakeman's. Once we arrived, Curtis went to their hunting camp with Shannon while Pierce and I stayed with Haley and Ava. As always, we had a great time visiting and I definitely think it is a good way to start off a trip back home.

Then it was on to Mimi's house where we all enjoyed hanging out with Mimi, Lesley and Henry. Pierce could hardly wait for Henry to arrive on Saturday afternoon and the two boys were very cute together. Then on Sunday, I was very excited that we were all able to get out of the house in time to make it to early church at Rayne in New Orleans. It was truly great to be back at our favorite church and enjoy time in New Orleans with Mocha and Al. We all enjoyed a ride on the street car and the view from Al's 2st floor office on Poydras Street. The view of the Crescent City and the river was very cool from up there- both boys really loved it!

We had a nice Christmas Eve with Lesley and Henry, then headed to the Bougeious' for a party before we set out treats for Santa. Christmas was pretty magical this year for Pierce. I think this is the first year he really got it all and he was excited about everything. He was so excited to see if Santa had eaten his treat that he flew right by all the presents and stocking on Christmas morning. Everything was "just what he wanted" so we were pretty psyched.

We left for New Roads on Christmas morning and enjoyed the day with that side of the family. I came back to Austin on Wednesday morning but C and P stayed for a few more days. Pierce had fun going to the hunting camp, hanging out with his Mama Elaine, riding the 4 wheeler and generally being spoiled by everyone. So overall, we had a great Christmas!

We all hope you all had a magical Christmas and hope that 2008 brings everyone many blessings!

It's only Tuesday?

It is a little crazy to say this but this week has been so crazy and it's only Tuesday :( Hopefully things will settle at work tomorrow, Curtis will be back in town from his conference and I will start the day off right by treating myself to a peppermint mocha (1/2 the syrup) while listening to Christmas tunes on the way into work. For starters, that should make my week go in the right direction towards Christmas.

Being a single parent for a few days sure is rough stuff. No tag teaming and too much to mention for just one! Pierce and I have had fun with me getting off of work a bit early. We have been busy preparing for Christmas- wrapping presents, making a Gingerbread house and lining up Pierce's presents that he is so patiently waiting to unwrap.

And hooray! I finally got all of my Christmas cards out today. Most will probably not arrive until after Christmas but I think everyone will still enjoy receiving them with the picture of our marvelous little P.

Love to you all-

A couple of photos from the weekend. Pierce loved playing with Ava when we visited the Blakeman's in Lafayette and here is a shot of Pierce pausing to smile for the camera in Mocha's backyard.

LARE :(

I am finally making an appearance after a grueling few weeks of studying for my final section of the LARE exam... Grading and Drainage. I can't say that I feel great about the test this time, which is such a bummer but atleast it is over for now... for at least 3 months until I get my test results and find out if I need to take it again :( Pierce and I went back to Louisiana for the long weekend to study a bit, visit friends and take the test in Baton Rouge. Besides the testing part, we had a very fun time. Friday we made it to Lafayette, where we stayed with our close friends, the Blakemans. Haley and I studied while Shannon hung out with Ava and Pierce.

Then Saturday afternoon, we left for Mimi's in Baton Rouge. We were then in NOLA for 8:45 church at Rayne and then spent the day with Mocha doing our favorite Uptown New Orleans things. Plus, we even spend a good amount of time with our dear neighbor, Ms. Ann. Monday, Pierce, Mimi and I met Pierce's Mama Elaine at the new Mike the Tigers cage before I spent the rest of the day studying. As always, Pierce really enjoyed his time in New Roads while I was studying and testing on Tuesday.

Now, we are back in Austin. It is so nice to reflect on all the fun we had over the weekend and the Christmas season that is here instead of being pitifully depressed when the thought crosses my mind that I might have to take that dreaded test AGAIN!!!

Love to you all-

Thank goodness for Thanksgiving!

We are here in Austin this Thanksgiving with Mimi in town and we just got back from our neighbor's house. How nice it was to spend the afternoon with them. I am feeling a little lethargic from eating turkey, too much pumpkin cheesecake (mmmmm:) and maybe an extra glass of wine while everyone else is napping. We have had a very relaxing day and enjoyable dinner with lots of good jokes and really fun people. The cool weather rolled in yesterday making it feel like the holidays so that is spectacular and I can say I am genuinely thankful for so many things in our life right now.

But I have to say, though, when think of Thanksgiving, I think we should all be at Aunt Carole's house in Belleville sitting around her enormous table (or atleast it seemed so big when I was little) eating together and then falling asleep on her wrap around couch as we watch tv after too many servings of every dessert you can dream of!

I will post pictures later of our Thanksgiving weekend this year but for now I will post one from our trip to Belleville last year. Thinking of my family! Love to you all this Thanksgiving day ;)

Now P is for Pecans!

Apparently, it is a banner year for pecans here in Texas. Our yard is overflowing with pecans from a neighbors trees and today Pierce decided to start picking them up. It has been a good activity and maybe it is wishful thinking, but I guess I will try to shell them and actually use them in something. That does sound a bit time consuming so we will see :)

A great Halloween

There has definitely been a delay in posting this but I am happy to report that we had a great Halloween here in Austin. Pierce and Curtis joined me at my office for a Halloween party this afternoon . P was a bit shy at first, with so many new people, but then enjoyed visiting with everyone, getting great snacks and playing with a co-workers pet hermit crabs. Afterwards, Pierce and Curtis went to a few houses in the neighborhood while I gave every last piece of candy to the surprising number of children.

P is for Pumpkin!

I was just looking through some photos on my "puter"(as Pierce says it) and found this photo from Pierce's first Halloween. He and I went up to visit Shelly and Jeff in Boston when he was just four months old. How cute was this little pumpkin!

Mocha :)

Monica (aka "Aunt Mocha") came to visit while Curt was out of town this last week and we had a great time. Pierce played hooky from daycare one day, was picked up every other day and was showered by love and presents while his "Aunt Mocha" was in town. Monica had to head back to New Orleans so we are looking forward to our trip down there to visit in the beginning of December.

Halloween... a little early!

Pierce insisted he wanted to be a super hero for Halloween this year. And despite my best efforts to convince him he needed to be a fireman or really anything but a super hero, we ended up letting him choose... and he chose Batman. I have to admit he looks pretty cute in his costume. We have started Halloween early this year as Pierce wants to transform into Batman everyday :)

Weekend Visitors

Last weekend, our house was a hub activity. We had our first visitors while in Austin - Mimi came in on Thursday evening and Shelly, Katherine and Baby Annie flew in from Boston on Friday afternoon. Our house felt quite empty once everyone left on Monday and left us thinking about how fun it would be to live closer to each other but we had a wonderful weekend! It was especially fun to see Annie for the first time and Pierce and Katherine were great playmates all weekend. We hit our favorite Mexican restaurant, the Salt Lick in Driftwood, Barton Springs Pool and the fountain at Town Lake Park.

"Fun" Raiser :)

We just made it back from a "Fun" Raiser at a local market/ park for Pierce's preschool. I arrived a little late after fighting traffic, to find Pierce having a great time. Curtis was a little exhausted from the fun that Pierce was having but it was great. Pierce listened to music, had a fire truck painted on his face and enjoyed hanging out with Graham, a new friend from his class.

Reason #10

Just because I couldn't start with number one! This is a definitely a great reason to visit us here in Austin. Town Lake Park opened just as we moved here. The company I am working for designed this amazing area of the city park that includes a very cool, interactive fountain. Pierce hasn't decided if he wants to be an active participant but I know I want to run through it and scream next time I have the chance:)

LSU/ UT Soccer Game

Last week, Curt, P and I headed over to UT to watch LSU play women's soccer. It turned out to be a great game! LSU tied number 6 UT - a pretty big advancement since the days when I played. We met Angela Accomando, Wendy Guiterez and Meg Bennett (who all played at LSU) there to watch the game.

Finally- A family photo!

Finally, after a professional photographer, a few unwilling participants and several years, we now officially have a family photo worth distribution! Yay!!! Thanks to our friend Ansley. After our wonderful trip over Labor Day to visit our North Carolina friends, we came home with memories of an awesome trip and a photo of Curt, P and me! Please enjoy. I will try to get hard copies out to family asap.