stockings

It's Christmas morning finally! Mallory was very keen on the countdown. We wanted to take a video of her coming down the stairs to see her stocking, but she was too excited and beat us to it. Max was also coming down with a cold, so he mostly cried in the background. Other than that, we all had a very exciting day. We played with our presents and then made a fancy dinner that night. Mallory even got to drink out of a real princess glass. (a stout wine glass). Thanks for the beautiful handmade stockings, Grandma Clark!

This happened a few days after Christmas. She was patiently waiting for daddy to finish the dishes so he could put a movie on for her and I guess a day with no nap caught up to her. When is this girl going to learn to tell us "I'm tired?" Is that so hard?

Winter at the beach

Grandma Brenda visited last week, yea! We had a lot of fun at the beach one day. It was windy, but not rainy which was a plus.


Jason caught this picture in the middle of max's word for "See?" He was proudly showing his stick to daddy.


The audio on this was mostly wind, so I substituted a song instead. It sort of fits.
When we had to leave it took a lot of wrestling and ultimately a sucker to wrench the stick out of Max's little hand.

Mallory's tree

Mallory's first Christmas tree is actually the $5 find from our first year of marriage. It's a little nostalgic, and Mallory thinks it's the coolest thing she's ever seen. Can I get an Aaaaaawwww!!

Dad and Josh, this one's for you. It's a caterpillar I found exploring our garage floor while I was cleaning the cars. It's a good thing I coaxed him in the bottle with a pencil, because after researching a little bit, apparently he's a puss caterpillar. Texans call them asps because those cute little fuzzies on their back inject venom covered spines into your skin if you try to pet them. It's supposed to hurt all the way to your lymph nodes. Cuddly little critters.
I stuck him in a bottle with some holly leaves. He promptly chewed one to the base and then snuggled down and made himself a cocoon. Pretty cool.

eye surgery

Jason took this yesterday, the day of my Lasik surgery. He thought I looked cool with my sunglasses. The truth is, it hurt and felt really weird even though I am smiling. I love the terms that the medical world uses like "pressure." It's never pain; pressure is the new euphamism. "You'll feel a little pressure here." If you're a woman, you know what that means. But today my vision is as good as I expected, so it was worth it.
Dad, with your eye phobia this surgery is not for you! It's a good thing you have good eyes.

This is my first piano recital. We decided to have it in my home which turned out to be a little tight, but very convenient. Hosting a recital made me feel all grown up. It was a little strange, but exciting.

Sorry, there are no pictures of the kids this week.