January

New Years Eve was uneventful, as usual.  I think I made it to midnight, but I can't remember.  I was too excited for the next day, when Aunt Shanny and Uncle Tom came to visit with Baby Brendan!  Although he is less baby and more toddler now.  We didn't do anything spectacular- just hung out around the house, and had friends over one night for dinner.

We did venture out on the DART to visit downtown Carrollton.
Someone has a huge obsession with trains!

Other pics from January:

Enjoying Christmas presents: cake Pops from Aunt Col and Uncle Bobby

Color your own bag from Grandma

And of course, Rainbow looms.  Ow the rubber bands.  They are everywhere!!!

A friend of ours was taking care of puppies.
Elia was in hog heaven.,  Can we get one mom???

December

It has been so long!  A year ago, if I had taken a peek into my current life, I wouldn't have believed I could do it.  Chris and I both have new jobs, a long commute for me, brand new curriculum, cooking a baby, and to top it off, putting our house up for sale!  Its all going to be worth it though.  We found out in December that we will be welcoming a baby boy into our family.  We are going to name him Charles but are unsure of the middle name.

After we found out it was a boy, we went across
the street and picked out some gifts for our boy.

For Christmas, we spent a little over a week in Napa.  It was so fun, as usual.  I even got to see some college friends.  

We went to my favorite winery.  I mostly talked, and of course drove.  :)

It was a very Frozen Christmas.  We saw the movie with all the girls- cousins and aunties.  There were a lot of Frozen themed toys at Christmas as well.  

Chris and I were spoiled too, so much that we had to send 2 boxes home because all of our loot wouldn't fit in our suitcases!  Since almost all of the grown kids were back home, Grandma rented an RV, and the boys all slept in there.  They set it up with a tv and video games, and it was a very popular spot to visit from the 4 little girls.  

Phoebe kept calling it the IV.  So cute!

We came home to Dallas late Saturday night to a tree with lots of present underneath it!  It was a wonderful Christmas.

Back Home- Santa Presents!

We were very wary when we rolled up to our little house here in Texas at 7:45pm.  The last hour is always the worst- you are so close to home and completely run out of things to entertain ourselves.  The 11 hour trip was immediately forgotten when the girls saw the beautiful presents under the tree.  All the gifts were unwrapped by 8:15- I feel like that should be a record!

Barbie Camper

Barbie convertible

On top of G's list- a magna color!  Which unfortunately was not built correctly by Santa's elves, so we have to send it back to Amazon to get a new one.

There were of course many other presents (legos, hello kitty towels, books, and dressups) but they were all opened so fast I couldnt get pictures!  What a fabulous and Blessed Christmas we have had!

St. Louis: Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

After a lovely brunch at Aunt Shanny's house, a nap and church, we were all ready for the presents to begin!  First up, matching jammies for all the cousins.

Sunday Best

Doesnt everyone just look so happy here? 

The cousins also opened presents from their aunts and uncles. 

Hello Kitty Toe socks- good for the feet or your hands!

Probably the most favorite game- Angry Birds.  Both Gianna and Colin have their game faces on.

I love love love this picture.  Aunt Colleen and Uncle Bobby found Gabby Douglas Corn Flakes.  She was so excited.

After they were finally in bed, the siblings opened presents.  Then we put out the Santa presesnts.  This year instead of hauling EVERYTHING back and forth, we only brought stocking stuffers and a joint present for the girls from Santa.  Matt and Sarah were dog-sitting back in Dallas, so they made sure to put out the larger santa presents for us to come home to.

Annual fireplace and milk and cookies picture. 



Past 3 years!

Chirstmas day was spent opening presesnts, playing with presents, eating yummy food, and Santa even stopped by for a quick visit.

He gave out little presents to the oldest 4.

 

 

G was toooooo excited here

Merry Christmas!

St. Louis: Cousin Love

We left on Saturday to spend 5 days in St. Louis.  Gianna and Elia were so excited to see their cousins Colin and Austin, and of course the 2 babies- Brendan and Anna!

Almost to St. Louis!  I think we were in Mount Vernon, MO here.

G was the baby lover, as always.  She has little scratches all over her face from little babies grabbing at her.

It got cold!  G looks like a McHugh here!

My favorite picture!

My sweet god daughter!

No one could get enough of these 2.

Toms trains.

 

 

Christmas Card Pictures

This is the first year I took less than 30 pictures to get a decent one for the Rowles' Family Christmas Card.  Here are a few gems that didn't make it onto the card.

 

 

Previous crazy card takes: 2010  2011
Elia is becoming quite the ham.  She was a star at her Christmas show for her daycare.

Advent

 

Advent wreaths! Got the idea from here.

 

On sunday nights we burned the candles for a few minutes during dinner.

 

Tree time!



I like this pic of Elia becasue it shows how warm it was the day we got the tree.  Bare foot!

Lights Up

And done!

 

 

St. Nick's Day





Hello Kitty Jelly beans, gold coins, and christmas tree pen and paper.