The Great Texas Tour

The Road

The first two days we spent on the road. We were lucky enough to get to leave a day earlier than we had planned for. The greatest part of our trip was Anna-Jane's dvd player. I was very worried about how she would handle the trip this year since she was young enough to sleep through the whole thing last year (which was a blessing since we drove through a blizzard till we got to TX). This year the weather was just fine. Since we left after work, we only made it to Amarillo the first night. We did get lost though. Anna-Jane was at her limit for riding in the car: hungry and tired. So Kyle missed our turn and we went about 30 miles out of the way and were....er.....blessed (?) to get to see Fritch, TX. The next day, we got up in our new time zone made it to Waco by 4. The stop in Waco was a nice pit stop before continuing to Conroe the next day. It gave us a chance to get out of the car, see my family, and drop off Mojo. We left the next day and drove the shorter 3 hour trip to Conroe to meet up with Kyle's dad and sisters.

Conroe

We arrived on that Thursday and met everyone up at the mall. Kyle's sister in law was having her kids' picture taken. Kyle, Anna-Jane, and I got to meet Abigail: the newest member of the family born in August to Tammy (Kyle's oldest sis) and Jason. They have 3 other kiddos: Hannah (7), Joshua (5), and Sarah Elizabeth (almost 3). Tiffany (Kyle's younger sis) arrived in late that night from Chicago. Her hubby James missed Christmas with us this year since he is in his first year of residency as an orthopedic surgeon.

Anna-Jane enjoyed playing with her cousins a lot.

She received a sled for her gift and her cousins enjoyed pulling her around in it.

We visited Mawmaw (Kyle's dad's mother).

Took a family picture

and had a nice time. This year was a little stressful as we had 12 people in close quarters. Joshua had a small puking incident in the middle of everything, but quickly recovered.

Plano

We made it to Plano without incidence. We mostly hung out at the house and played games. I was able to meet up with my good friend Jinohn (could kick myself for not taking a picture), and introduce my sister-in-law, Tammy, to the wonderful world of IKEA. I got a few more things for my newborn shoots (photography props). The women went out to this wonderful tea house called the Chocolate Angel. Kyle's sister, Tiffany, drools for their pimento cheese sandwich so we've made this a yearly thing.

Both places Kyle played "fun uncle Kyle"

Another family pictureHere is Anna-Jane's new gift, the Bitty Baby by American girl:
Ironically, her favorite gift (for all of Christmas) was a kiddie toothbrush. She has carried it everywhere and even slept with it in the car on the way home. She will try to play with it in one hand and grab toys with the other. I need to get some pictures of it....that has been hard though (keep reading).
My gift to my newest niece, Abigail, was a photo shoot. Here is the sweetest new girlie in our family!
Waco

We drove in Christmas Eve and met up at the Northern Christmas (my dad's side). My dad wasn't there when we arrived and I found out he was sick, bummer. So we made it home and he wore a hospital mask around us. Christmas Day, Josh and Robin made it in and we had our traditional Christmas that morning but faster since it was later than usual. My mom's family came over later that day and we enjoyed Christmas lunch and gifts with her. Halfway through the visit, my sister calls from the kitchen to come quickly. Anna-Jane had just thrown up all over her (she has never thrown up...not counting spit up). Poor thing did it throughout the rest of the day. She didn't act like she felt bad, but wasn't 100%. The day after we shopped a little, then on Saturday, my mom tells me she was in the bathroom all night with what Anna-Jane had. My dad is not fully better, Anna-Jane threw up once, and Kyle's not feeling so good. The following day(Sunday), Robin feels sick with a cold type thing. We decided to post-pone the drive until Monday. We drove back yesterday, and today Kyle feels a lot worse.

Here are the pictures we actually did take between being sick.

my new photoshop and flash!!!The family photo

I hope my blog readers had very Merry Christmas and were healthier than we ended up being. I have yet to come down with either the stomach or cold bugs so praying that I will stay that way. We really did have a nice visit with our families and miss them so much especially after spending such a wonderful holiday with them. We love you all!