Andrea's Christmas Letter

Though some of you might want to see our Christmas letter:
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This year has definitely been a roller coaster ride to remember. We have been truly blessed and recognize that the Lord is mindful of our family. We just hit our year mark here and feel like we have come home. We are settling in to our new house and love the joy of real home ownership (at least I do, Marc has all the hard work around here).

For Easter we were able to spend some quality time with my family (except for Melissa who is on a mission in Argentina) and my grandma and grandpa “down on the ranch.” We enjoyed the Houston rodeo, cooking out over an open fire, and listening to Grandpa’s famous stories. We will always remember the fond memories we made with Grandpa before his passing. He is missed.

Marc and I enjoyed our first childless trip together in May (many thanks to my parents—a.k.a. the greatest babysitters around!!). ☺ We spent a glorious week in Maui and have dreamed of it ever since. We went snorkeling, hiking, and even caught a glimpse of whales. It was absolutely relaxing to be able to sleep in and lay out on the warm beach as the waves crashed nearby. We are pretty sure we are making this a new annual tradition…we just have to figure out where our next adventure will be.

After our Hawaii paradise, we headed to Mississippi with the Marc's family for a bit more relaxation and to enjoy a birthday bash for his parents, who turned 60. Although we don’t recommend that particular beach for its beauty (it’s still recovering from past hurricanes), we did have a great time with the family and the kids loved all the time with their cousins!

In October we were privileged to attend Julie’s wedding to Jimmy. She and Jimmy make a wonderful couple and we are so happy to have a new member of the family.

Mackay (4.5) and Beckett (2) have also been very busy this year. They are becoming best of friends and I’ll admit I tear up at least once a week watching them play and grow into wonderful little boys. They are so cute together and get along famously at least 85 percent of the time (as long as Mackay doesn’t try to take Beckett’s “Mater” car!).

Mackay is growing up so fast. I cannot believe he will soon start kindergarten. He continues to be sensitive, considerate and creative. He is so observant and smart and I just can’t wait to see what new things he will learn next. He taught himself to swim this summer and is becoming quite the reader. He loves “little” Legos and is a pro at constructing all kinds of cool cars and flying objects. He has been spending a lot of time lately deciding which girl he is going to marry and asks for suggestions and my opinion (hopefully that will never change); but I think he is willing to wait a few years to make his final decision.

Beckett is our little charmer. He has such a contagious sense of humor. When he gets in trouble, he always tries to turn the situation into a game of “catch me if you can.” He is talking up a storm and comes up with some real doozies (note to self: watch what you say in front of your toddler). He doesn’t sing nearly as much as Mackay, but does sing “Happy Birthday” any time he sees a fire, candle, cake, hat, etc. Beckett seems to love babies and will peer into any baby seat he sees. He is also pretty obsessed with the Cars movie characters, particularly with “Mater.” Other than his love for Mackay, Mater is the one thing he checks on when he wakes up and goes to sleep (and all the time in between). We just love our two little guys to death!!

Marc and I are having fun with home projects and with all of our other hobbies. With the help of his parents, we built a sweet deck and have done a bunch of other stuff to enhance the backyard for the kiddos and to make it a more relaxing place to enjoy our great year-round weather. Marc is enjoying learning the real estate game and riding in this bike-friendly city.

I organized and did my first sprint triathlon in October and think I have found a new favorite form of exercise. I am also very excited to be pregnant with #3 who is due at the end of May (okay, let’s be honest…it will be mid-June!).

We look forward to all of the changes and experiences 2009 will bring. We hope that you will find peace amidst the instability and that you will enjoy happiness and all of the good things that life has to offer.

Hiding Under Pillows

Mackay and Beckett love to hide under the couch pillows and pretend they're in a little house or fort or something. Of course it means we have a hard time keeping our couch looking nice! :) Here are a few pictures I thought were cute.

More Chirsmas Fun on the Ranch

We had a great time visiting Andrea's family over Christmas. It was the fist time that we've had Andrea's sister, Julie, and her new husband there for a Christmas. We're hoping they'll decide to come give Texas a go. It's really not so bad. And at least by living in Texas we know that we can always secede from the Union if things get too out of control with the rest of y'all! :)

These were our costumes so we could role-play the story of Jesus' birth.

Pre-Christmas Fun

We had a great time with my parents and sister, Amy, and her family, who came to visit the weekend before Christmas. Amy's kids and ours get along amazingly well. Mackay and Hannah are the best of friends. I wonder how close they'll be when they're teenagers...

Beckett and Austin seemed to get a long pretty well...sand is always fun.
Is Grandpa under there or is that a dead body??
"Look at me Grandma! I'm cute!"
Sometimes it's just more fun if everyone gets to open the present together!

Who Says it Doesn't Snow Here!?

Yep, crazy as it sounds, we got some snow...less than an inch, but it lasted through the night and part of the morning! I'm just glad we don't have to deal with this sort of weather all winter like the rest of y'all up north!

Shamu's Got Game!

We decided to take advantage of living relatively close to Sea World so we decided to get season passes to it. The boys absolutely love the place. They ran and played and saw lots of cool things. They even experienced a 4-D Polar Express show (the 4th D was the fake snow at the end!). With gas at under $150 a gallon, we might be back again before we know it!

Just look at their faces as they watched the Shamu show...awe and amazement...

Musically Inclined

Mackay and Beckett were having a great time playing their ukulele (that we got them in Hawaii) and singing in their microphone. Oh, and they added some sweet dance moves to finish out their number. I guess you could say that we've been watching too much Dancing With the Stars around here!

Too bad we didn't have audio for this video...

Peter Pan & Captain Hook

Andrea did a sweet job making Mackay and Beckett's Halloween costumes. Beckett wavered between wanting to be Peter Pan like Mackay or being Captain Hook. With a little prodding from Andrea, I think he finally settled on being the crazy pirate.

You will note that this is the best they looked the rest of the night. Beckett wanted his hat off and neither one kept his shoe covering on. If you look closely, you will see that Andrea painted in chest hair for Beckett and gave him a "Dad" tattoo. It was pretty sweet! For more details, check out Andrea's new blog!

Books Make Me Fall Asleep Too!

Beckett is such a cute little guy. Sometimes he likes to take a book to bed with him before he naps (yes, he still naps!). I love that he fell asleep with the book still standing up in the air. At least it wasn't upside down, like it was last time!

Wedding in the Family

We enjoyed a nice (short) weekend in Utah for Andrea's sister's wedding. For more details, go to Andrea's entry or see her sister's blog. Here's a picture of Andrea and a few of her siblings (her younger sister is on a mission in Argentina).

Joys of Home Ownership

We are really enjoying life in a real house (as opposed to a condo or apartment!). We're also enjoying transforming our yard (which the previous owner left as little more than weeds!) and adding a few features.

Many thanks to my parents for all of their help building the deck. We couldn't have done it without you! Now if we could only convince them to move down here...

A Book and a Lizard

Falling asleep with a book and a lizard! I thought these two pictures were great!

Beckett and Mackay often like to take a book or two to bed. I love how the book is upside down...as if Beckett were reading it upside down and then fell asleep half way through.


This second picture is of Beckett snuggling up with his favorite lizard!



Ahh, life's little joys...

Beckett's Two!!!

I can't believe Beckett's already the big O-2...yep, two-years old!

We didn't have much of a celebration for his birthday last year--the move didn't help--so this year we decide to throw a shindig at our apartment pool (one of the few benefits to apartment living...a sweet pool!). We had a bunch of Beckett friends over. It was a good time. He even got some cupcakes! And Mackay was a big help when it came time to open presents!

Celebrating Freedom with Family

My sister, Amy, and her family came down from Dallas over the 4th of July holiday. We did our best to show them the many virtues of Austin in hopes that they'll some day move here! We enjoyed time canoeing on Town Lake, playing in the water at Barton Springs, climbing Mount Bonnell to get a great view of the city, and even catching a glimpse of the city's fireworks. It's great to be able to see family more often...one of the many virtues of living here!

Our Fish Mackay

Three days ago, Mackay started swimming underwater using his goggles. And now he LOVES it! It's like he can't get enough of it. Today I took him and Beckett to our pool and got to teach him lots of fun swimming tricks. It won't be long before he's diving into the pool. He's still a bit timid in deeper waters, however. He likes to be able to stand up whenever he wants. Nonetheless, we're very proud of our new little fish.





















Beckett loves the pool tool. Something tells me it won't be long before he's swimming too (especially given his lack of fear!).

Bikes and Family Night

When I was getting ready for work this morning, I told Mackay to think about what he wanted to to after I got home from work and that we'd do whatever he wanted. After thinking about it for a moment, he said, "I'm going to whisper it in your ear" (Andrea and Beckett were in the room). He leaned up to my ear and said, "Ride bikes and do family night." He has a big wheel and a small bike with training wheels that he likes to ride in front of our house and of course he loves family night--especially the singing (which accounts for most of the time in our family nights, followed by a 1-minute lesson). So in case you're wondering what we're doing tonight, it's going to be riding bikes and doing family night. Life's little moments...ah, the good stuff.

Celebrating 4 @ Gulfport

Although the beach at Gulfport was nothing like those we found in Maui, the kids didn't seem to notice. They had a great time playing in the sand, jumping in the pool, and playing at a near by kids museum. After all, everything is better when you can play with your cool cousins!

And although his birthday was not for a few more days, we celebrated Mackay's 4th birthday in style with his many cousins and a pinata before we headed home! These are the days we'll remember...

A Full Life

After going to Maui, we all headed down to Gulfport, Mississippi for a little shindig with my family to celebrate my parents 60th birthdays (they were born a day apart!). My sisters created an amazing book commemorating their entire lives. Check out Amy's blog for all the details. My contribution was this video of their lives...it's 35+ minutes of good times...called A Full Life!

A Full Life from Be Strong on Vimeo.

Maui is SWEET!

Andrea and I took a much deserved vacation to Maui without the kids (many thanks to Andrea's parents for watching them; one of the many benefits of living close to family)! It was a relaxing and short five days hanging out at the beach, snorkeling, hiking, and sleeping in. We still have more things we want to do there, so I guess we'll have to make a point of getting back there sooner rather than later.