Annual Christmas Party

On Saturday, December 6, we hosted our annual Christmas Party. Normally our party is total chaos... kids running around, the house busting at the seams with people, food in abundance. This year we parred down the evening to an adults-only dessert party. It was so much more enjoyable since I could actually talk to our guests. The spread included yummy offerings of Apple Cake, Praline Cheesecake, Peppermint Chocolate Cake, Chocolate-Chip Banana Bread Pudding, and Grand Marnier Fruit Dip. We also enjoyed quite a bit of champagne... Tis the Season!

Our Christmas Tree

The Table was heavy with Yummy Desserts

Lauren, Sara, Nicole & Emily

Lauren, Me, Nicole, & Emily

Suzanne, Mark, Wes & Victoria

Jason, Bret, & Justin

Victoria, TJ & Meredith

Visit to Santa

On Saturday, we went to the new Pearland Town Center for a visit with Santa Claus. We enjoyed a pancake breakfast and chance to sit on Santa's lap. I wasn't sure what Audrey would think of Santa. So many kids seem to be scared of the big guy in red. But not Audrey, she seemed to enjoy her chance to meet Santa. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

Smiles for Santa

It was a little cold!

I love this picture... it's like she's really asking for something.

Thanksgiving in Maryland

Sorry for the lapse in blogging. It's been a busy couple of months. We went to Maryland to spend time with the Hinton side of the family for Thanksgiving. Wes's sister and her family came down from Pittsburgh so it was a full house with all the girls! This first picture was one of the few of all the girls together... it was very hard to get them all holding still and looking in the same direction.

Chloe, Noel & Audrey

Audrey really enjoyed her older cousin Noel.
I've never heard her giggle so much as when Noel was entertaining her!

The obligatory family picture in front of the mantle

Audrey really enjoyed pulling her cousin Chloe's hair.

Maybe she was jealous of all that hair!

While we were in Maryland, we got to meet up with Wes's best friend from college Ryan and his wife Erin and their daughter Grace. Grace was born in August and is so cute! It was fun getting to see them and watch the girls interact.

Fathers and Daughters

My New Hat

Our nanny's big sister is a fashion merchandising major and is an excellent knitter. She made Audrey a cute apple hat. Here's Audrey modelling the newest fashion accessory.

Happy Halloween

We dressed Audrey up as a ballerina for Halloween. I wasn't even going to dress her up but Aunt Cari couldn't resist buying this adorable costume. The first three pictures are from attending our friend Meredith's Halloween party a couple of weeks ago. And the last two are actually from Halloween. Although we were a little young to trick-or-treat, we sat on our lawn and handed out candy to the neighborhood kids. Hope you enjoy these pictures.

Trip to the Pumpking Patch

We went to the local Episcopal Church to get our pumpkins for the front porch. It was a fun trip and we got some great pictures of Audrey. Hope you enjoy our little pumpkin!

I'll take this one, Mommy!

Let me down, Daddy... there are pumpkins to pick!

Ok, I'll pose for a quick picture.


The cutest pumpkin in the patch

Mom, I can't believe you made me wear this hat!

"Coloring"

Our nanny Gillean has been planning new activities for Audrey. One of the new activities is "coloring" with food. Audrey would rather put her medium in her mouth than truly create art.

The Artist Getting her Paints Ready

The Artist Testing her Medium

The Artist Eating her Medium

Priceless Works of Art


They also tried creating artwork with crayons. Audrey is very consistent; she would rather eat the tools of the trade than use them. Thank goodness crayons are non-toxic!

"Hmm.. the blue one looks yummy.."

"Nope, the green one tastes better."

"Wait, they are for coloring, not eating?"


"Coloring is fun!"

We hope you enjoyed these pictures of our budding artist.

Penn State vs. Michigan

Ahhh... what a wonderful game! We finally beat Michigan after 9 years of losing to them. And not only did we beat them, we killed them. It was the largest margin of victory ever in the series. Wes went to Penn State for the big game and participated in his annual RV Weekend. So Audrey and I stayed in TX and watched the game at Pops and Nana's house. Here's Audrey trying on Pop's hat... maybe it's a little big!

Devoted Fans... Go State, Beat Michigan!

Happy Girl

Here are some recent pictures of Audrey.

As you can see, she is such a happy girl.

Latest Happenings

Life seems to have settled into a pretty good routine after the hurricane adventure. Audrey continues to grow and try new things everyday. She is getting more stable at sitting up on her own which makes trips to the grocery store and dinners out a little easier.

Playing with Daddy

She is also becoming Mommy's helper in the kitchen. She will sit in her highchair and watch me get dinner ready. We "talk" about what I'm making and she holds the spoon.

What a good sous chef!

Another new talent Audrey has developed is holding her own bottle. She is so independent.

We recently took Audrey to the park for the first time. She seemed to enjoy the swing. And we wanted to take her on the slide but it was wet and dirty. We'll try that another time.

Getting a push from Mommy!

Waving Bye-Bye to the park!

Hurricane Ike

We actually faired pretty well in the Hurricane. We followed the advice of the Houston Mayor and did not evacuate but instead "hunkered down" and rode out the storm. Not sure that was the smartest decision, but after the traffic jams caused during Hurricane Rita in 2005, we definitely did not want to get stuck on the road with Audrey. So we boarded up our windows and prepared by stocking up on non-perishable food and water. Here's our house all boarded up before the storm.



We lost power very early at around 8 pm on Friday night. We had already put Audrey to bed in the Packn'Play in our bedroom. So Wes and I hung out listening to the radio until about 11 pm. It was starting to get pretty windy but nothing more than a typical thunderstorm. So we decided to go to bed. Around 1:30 Wes realized that the storm was getting pretty intense and that the board had blown off our bedroom window. So he suggested we get into our "safe room" which was the downstairs powder bathroom. It was a very uncomfortable night on the floor with Audrey on top of me trying to sleep. Here's our "safe room".

We were glad when the storm finally abated and we could survey the damage. We didn't have very much damage, just a little drywall damage from sideways rain. And in fact, we were very fortunate to get our power back at 8 pm on Saturday. All in all, I'm hoping we don't have to experience this anytime in the near future.