Christmas with the Deans

After we returned home from celebrating Jennifer's wedding, we parked it at my folks' house for a few days. The K's were in town, so we tried to get in as much face time with them as possible!!!

Caroline and her favorite person on earth!

Coop and Papa!
Little Man

The K's

Sweet grandmother

Allison and her Pioneer Woman loot

All of the people I love most

10 & a half months...

Cooper-

Sorry this is so late, but Boy, you and your sister keep me busy!! Between the follow up to Christmas and getting back into the swing of things, I haven't had the chance to sit down and think about your last month or two. Man it has been fun! Christmas was a blast. Of course the boxes were a hit, and we spent the majority of the time fishing wrapping paper out of the slobbery abyss that is your mouth. You hated Santa, but loved what he brought for you.

As for this month, you've finally given up on the army crawling and moved to your knees. You are getting two new teeth, which will bring you to a whopping grand total of 8 chompers. You like to put the ball in the basket that Nana and Papa got you for Christmas. Hopefully you got your Papa's skills in that area. You've gotten to where you sit and stand in your bed and holler at us when you're awake. Thankfully, you will entertain yourself for a little while to let us sleep more. What a prince! Another round of ear infections and fevers have come through in the past month. What's new...

You are such a joy to your Mommy. Geez, I could cuddle and sugar you up all day! Why else did God make that big bald head and those round cheeks? Your sister likes you most of the time. We'll see how she feels this time next month. You are quickly settling into your role as annoying little brother. She thinks you're pretty sugary too. So does Daddy. And Nana. And Papa. And Allie and Anthony.

Cookie Day with Nana

Cookie Exchange

The first week of December, Mom was kind enough to hostess a cookie exchange for Caroline's friends, their mothers and some of their grandmothers. It was a blast and we ate a ton! We made photo ornaments.
Thanks Mom for hosting. Maybe Laura and I will grow up enough to put it together like we said we would!!

YEEEHAWW

Yesterday was our yearly excursion to the great Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. We decided to opt out of the rodeo this year because there is no way Coop would sit through it.

The only pic of me, as usual

Papa took Coop in to see the animals. Caroline screamed and climbed Chris to get away from them. Boy vs. girls...

She will however ride the horse. Is it an order/control thing? She is my daughter...

Coop watching Caroline on the horse

I get this exact shot every year

Her first roller coaster. She screamed and laughed the entire time!

She said it made her stomach feel "tickley"

She loves feris wheels

Cooper giving the goat some love

The goat giving Coop some love

Cooper and Chris practicing for future hunting trips. Chris asked how much it was and I said it would cost him one wife

Coop in the his boots

Mr. and Mrs. McDermott

Right before New Years, we packed the family up and headed down to Glen Rose, to watch my cousin Jennifer get married. It was snowing (for the second time in one week- WHAT?), so the drive was really delightful. Thank you 4 wheel drive. We met in Granbury to partake in some home cooking at Babes before heading into Glen Rose. Allison and Anthony caught up with us there! We were so glad they were back in Texas for a few days!
When we got to the cabin that night, the cooking mania began in preparation for the wedding. Many the ladies in my family can tear up a kitchen!!
Mom and Grandmother

We started the Big Day off with breakfast in townAnthony and Coop share a common preference in footwear

The Family

You know we'd have cake!

NYE

We continued our tradition of heading down to Glen Rose for New Years Eve. It is becoming one of our favorite events of the year! No kids, no fuss. We eat and play and eat.
We started the evening by playing Rock Band. This phenomenon in our household deserves a post all to itself. Just know that there was lots of singing and laughing. It was a jam session!
After we peeled ourselves away from the game, we went and played volleyball and basketball for the next few hours. I am not great at either, but I enjoy any competition, even when I have no talent to back up my big talk!
There was quite a bit of debate on the volleyball rules...

A few games of Knockout

Red arms after a few hours of volleyball

Carrie was nice enough to drive us back to the lodge in her vehicle, even if three of us had to sit in car seats!

More time on the Wii

The guys stayed up until 4 playing and doing who knows what! It was a really great opportunity to catch up and have some adult time!

There were also Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls...

Thanks to Emily and Liana- I stole their pictures...

Wow...

I debated for a while what to name this post. None of them could fully encompass what this experience was and some were words that a lady should not say, so I settled on wow. Instead of rehashing the yuckiness that was this experience (drunkards, cigarette smoke, the Aggies choking, etc.), I have decided to celebrate the bright spots of the day.

Anything with the G's is a blast! We are really racking up the memories with these two!

A flyover- always cool
The Aggie Band- always wins halftime!

This is a very bad picture of Archie Manning on the screen. That same week I'd had a dream that he and his three sons had received a standing ovation when they came down the aisle to join the church.

This girlfriend was twirling 4 flaming batons!