Christmas 2009

We had a wonderful 2nd Christmas as a family of 3 this year! The festivities began when my parents, Papa Jim & GiGi, arrived the weekend before Christmas! We spent lots of time around the house playing with Austin & managed to fit in some last minute shopping as well! My mom brought this chair for Austin (not as a gift)- and he loves it! In fact, Max & Austin often fight over who can sit in it.

Austin climbing into the chair- he enjoys climbing in and out as much as just sitting in it.

Since we were leaving to go to Shane's parents for Christmas, we had Christmas with my parents on Tuesday morning- and what do you know, Santa came then too! We enjoyed watching Austin explore all of his new toys, and managed to open a few gifts ourselves, as well!

The gifts

Checking out what Santa brought him... what a good boy!

Sit & Spin- still needs our help with this one, and actually prefers to stand on it. oh yes.

Funny thing about the Little People Garage- he tries to climb up and slide down the ramp (like he does with his slide outside!)

New truck with legos- thanks to Nana & Jim (my parents' friends)

Opening gifts with GiGi (surprisingly he didn't care much about opening gifts this year- I thought he would love the bows and paper, but nope. He only wanted to play!)

Shooting hoops- thanks again Nana & Jim

One of his two favorite gifts- his wagon from Papa Jim & GiGi (we take daily rides around the house in it.) I cannot wait for nice weather so we can stroll around the neighborhood with it!

On Wednesday we headed to Victoria to spend Christmas with Shane's family! We woke up on Christmas Eve morning and opened gifts with Shane's parents (Papa Gary & Gran), Uncle Mat, Aunt Shanna, and Evie.

My adorable niece, Evie

Stare down competition between Austin & Evie

Austin opening presents with Uncle Mat & Daddy

Sitting in his new outdoor chair from Papa Gary & Gran

His other favorite gift, the tent/tunnel that Papa Gary & Gran got him- he could play in it for hours. Again, the cats are also enjoying this gift- and even Mommy crawls through the tunnel every so often!

On Christmas Eve we had our annual get-together with Shane's extended family! We eat together & open gifts/stockings- lots of fun traditions!

The family

Looking at the ornaments on Paw Paw & Maw Maw's tree

Drinking Gran's famous punch with Papa Gary- he LOVED it! I was scared because it is primarily grape juice... on white carpet!

Austin & Evie with their grandparents

3 generations

Shanna, Mat & Evie

The Lumpkins clan (the best pic we could get... of the adults, that is.)

Just us 3

We headed back home on Christmas day (after a wonderful fajita lunch over at Shane's aunt & uncle's house- YUM!) We had planned to travel to Amarillo with parents to see my mom's family, but decided to stay home and relax for a few days! I missed seeing my family (the first time I can ever remember not attending), but it was the best decision for us this year. Austin's only pleasure is running around- which is just not feasible in a hotel lobby for 3 days. We plan on going next year when it's here in Ft Worth! So we spent several days (just the 3 of us) relaxing, shopping, taking down Christmas decorations, and getting toys organized.

The chaos- for those of you that know me well, you know how much this tortures me.

When my parents came back from Amarillo, we had snow on the ground- so we all took Austin out to play in the snow! He wasn't sure about it, but GiGi continued to take him out to play in it until he liked it a bit more! :)

Jack & Max checking out the snowm (okay, so Jack was.)

Overall another fabulous holiday! Wish we could have spent more time with our families, but isn't that always the case? I'm still so angry at myself for not taking more pictures- especially since I did not get a picture of Austin with my parents. Ugh... guess there's always his birthday!

***MAKE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN PAST THE XMAS CARD POST TO SEE AUSTIN'S 21 MONTHS POST THAT I JUST FINISHED!***