Hanging on by a thread . . .

In cleaning up Wednesday morning, I decided to send the dirty linens down to the laundry room using the "express" route. Too bad this blanket caught on the chandelier.

Seriously, what are the odds?

Thankfully, Dave hadn't yet left for work, so he rescued the blanket.

Gavin Opening Gifts

No words . . . just a lot of pictures.

(I uploaded all of these days ago. The laptop battery died before I could hit "publish." I'm just not remembering to post. Sorry.

10 Month Pictures

He's starting to look like such a little guy. Not so much a baby anymore....Mama isn't too happy about that little fact.

A Winter of White

Evidently mother nature forgot that it isn't supposed to snow in Dallas on a regular basis. Just in December we have had snow three times. Luckily it hasn't had any real impact on getting to and from work or any traveling. It is nice for a change to look out the window and see snow on the trees and ground. We had better enjoy it while it lasts, because a snowy Texas winter is something that won't be around for too long.

My New Chair

Thanks for the new chair and bib Grandma! I love them! I like them so much that I ate two containers of food, three scoops of cereal, and some puffs for dinner. I was soooo full!!!

We Forgot!

So, in all the hustle and bustle of Christmas, we totally forgot to post Gavin's pictures with Santa. We had intended to go see a second Santa since the first visit did not go very well. But, things got hectic and we didn't quite make it to see Santa a second time.

The first (and only) visit to Santa was at Bass Pro. I was really impressed with Santa's workshop there last year. So we decided to give them a shot on our maiden Santa Claus visit. We had a short wait, and then it was showtime. Miranda took Gavin up to Santa and set him on Santa's lap. Then Gavin looked around to see where he was and saw that bearded scary man who was holding him. Tears and crying ensued.

He quieted down after a few seconds. Just enough time for us to get a half way diecent picture. He doesn't look exactly happy, but at least it isn't full on crying.

Something tells me that Gavin will love seeing Santa at Bass Pro in the future. They have remote control trucks, a shooting gallery, video games, crafts, and tons of other things for the kids to do while waiting for Santa.

Gavin's First Christmas

As you've already seen, Gavin's first Christmas was a white one. I wonder when we'll ever have another white Christmas. Since Gavin had us up in the middle of the night, we slept in until 7:30. When we got up, sure enough, Santa had been to visit.
After inspecting the gifts Santa left, it was time to let Gavin open his gifts. He tore of small pieces of paper, inspected each one, put each in his mouth, had it taken away, so he had to tear off another piece. We did eventually get all of his gifts unwrapped.

Then it was time to play some more.

Mason got a package of fowl.
After opening gifts, Dave went outside to check on the smoker. We smoked ribs Wednesday. The weather was so nasty Thursday, that the smoker sat out ashes, fat, and all in the snow. Our plan was to smoke two turkey breasts. The frozen ash caused us to go to plan B. Roast one on Friday; smoke one on Saturday.

Our friend Jimmy came over to celebrate with us.

Around 4, the adults opened their gifts. Then, we headed out into the snow for a few pictures before it all disappeared.

Gavin and I pose with the neighbors' snow baby.

Later, it was time for a few pictures in front of the tree.