Weekend with Friends

We were so lucky to get to hang out with the Chappells (thanks for visiting guys!) and the Mills this weekend. It was officially half of Suppa Club from W-town. Geez, I miss those guys. Saturday night we went to a hole in the wall Italian restaurant in an old house in Ft Worth (while 2 sitters watched 6 kids) and it was great. We all spent the night at the Mills after having had some wine with din din....on Sunday everyone came to our place and the girls went shopping with 2 of the 6 kiddos. Not Bad! It was a great weekend. Michael has a new look I thought I would share.

Scenes of a wonderful Christmas

A little tree and ornaments just for Julianne! What a fun project Mimi!

Another shot of the holiday cuties and our new niece, Ella Grace

The new Plano - ites

Wow! A wondeful Ready Read Book from Gamma and Gumps - something that will be in use for a long time and a fabulous gift idea - fun and educational!

Jenna mostly ate and slept through her first Christmas, but Jules gave her this lovely Christmas bow to get her in the spirit!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas - and we got it! Maybe this play session in thin pj pants and thin gloves was why we got bronchitis - ummmm, I need to learn how to dress myself and my kids for cold weather - the layering is just annoying in my opinion. Oh well.

Ohhh la la! A bike from Mimi and Papa which Julianne literally rides around in our house - around the circle of the downstairs. When it warms up maybe we can actually ride it outside! Great gift!

Santa brought the 3 requested items for our little Jules: The Swimming Puppy with goggles, the Pink Barbie house, and a ballerina mouse (how on earth did he find that?!?!) Great job Santa! Yes, our child has a lot of toys and yes she plays with them all - after all, it is her job to play.

Jens with her precious belly and in my favorite outfit.

OK, Santa does not get all of the cookies I decorated!!!

Check out the squash that was grown especially for Gamma!!! It was wonderful! The feast of squash, lamb, potatoes, sally lund bread and not to mention breakfast which was a fabulous cranberry ring and crostada (sp?) was all wonderful - really - Gamma cooked for like 24 hours straight (oh and her famous oatmeal cookes were a fave too) - and we very much appreciate the wonderful meals and sharing them with Mimi and Papa too. Thank you!

My cousin Ashley and her family stayed with us for 2 nights before Christmas and Julianne and Parker decorated cookies together and played pretty well. Ash made us some great pizzas, we ordered sushi one night, Jen came over with Ella Grace...

All in all, it was so nice to have so much company and family around.

We hope to have a Christmas Party next year with lots of new friends. I am not used to having to be so aggressive to meet people, but I am determined. I never realized quite how socially needy I must be (in terms of needing people like oxygen)...I guess I have always been spoiled to know people or have my parents around. I hate being alone now - I am SO grateful for our friends that we do have here and I am sorry if I call you too much! We think we found a chuch to plug in to, so that will help!!!

Now we get to look forward to Lauren and Andrew coming this weekend for a Dallas Stars game. Brent and Elizabeth come next weekend and we will hang with the Mills (Goooo Suppa Club (well, half of us!), and Neal, Lisa, Noelle, and Andrew come late Jan. Feb will bring the Lacey clan and Julianne's Birthday so lots to look forward to. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other until it feels like home....

Holidays

Mildred Frances Culpepper Parker Hicks Turns 90!!! AKA Ninny....my grandmother on my mother's side - what a nice celebration! Here are some pics:

Great Grandchildren

Children and spouses. Nice smile LARRY!

Grandchildren and spouses (plus Jenna)

I still need to download pics from Christmas, but we had a wonderful holiday with Gamma and Gumps who were here for 5 days. We really enjoyed making some memories in Plano and in our new home with them. We got to spend actual Christmas day with Mimi, Papa, and Gamma, Gumps which was very special indeed. It was also a WHITE Christmas for us which was a first for our married life (I think it snowed one time in Philly when we used to go there, but never in The Burg or Houston or Atlanta)!!! So, that was really fun - Jules made snow angels, had a snow ball fight, and tried to build a snowman!

My mom planned an amazing 90th birthday party for her mother the day before New Year's. It was very special to have the whole Parker side gathered and Julianne had a blast w/ all of her 2nd cousins. It really was such a lovely event.

Jenns

Julianne has frequently been called Jules by us and has now nicknamed her sister, Jenns. I love it - Jules and Jenns.

Jenns here is what you have been up to lately at 3 months old (I can't believe it!):

*smiling HUGE at anyone who smiles at you
*your eyes are SO expressive and happy
*you are starting to babble and gurgle and try to talk to us
*you love to kick, kick, kick your legs, but you do not like tummy time very much
*you love your bottle and make this relieved sound when it is finally in your mouth
*I don't even know when you have woken up in your swing b/c you don't make a peep - I just check in and when your eyes are open, I find you discovering your hands - mainly trying to eat them
*you are cutting a tooth on the bottom and drooling like a champ
*you are only eating once in the middle of the night - thank you, jens!!!
*you have made this crazy time in our lives as easy as you possibly could have - thank you, jens!!!
*we are madly in love with you