SeaWorld Christmas

Our original plan to go to SeaWorld the day after Christmas was derailed by my trampoline efforts on Christmas day. Momma's body is not the flexible bod it once was with the agility to twist and turn on a trampoline. Thankfully, my back has healed and I can walk straight again. Thus, we headed to San Antonio today to enjoy one last visit to see Shamu in 2009. Our season passes expire and I'm hopeful that we can go to another park next year and maybe revisit SeaWorld in 2011.
Campbell was tall enough to ride the Shamu Express, and ride the Shamu Express we did. I rode it three times. Once with each child. I think Campbell will be our roller coaster rider. She said, "that was so fun. It was really fast!"


They had all their Christmas lights and decorations up. The shows also had a Christmas theme which was a nice change from the regular shows we have seen. The Shamu Miracles show had awesome music. I really enjoyed it! Campbell, Conleigh and I went and saw a Sesame Street Christmas show while Daddy & Alex rode the log ride. Even though Alex had ridden it before, he got a little nervous and said he told me he closed his eyes when they went down the big hill.
Thanks to Facebook we knew that our friends the Mesarovics would also be at SeaWorld. We caught up with them and had a great time. Marko & Alex, good buddies It was a great way to end the year. See you soon Shamuuuu!

Yowza!

Home Sweet Home

We are home from a relaxing visit to Grandma & Grandpa Hardin's lake house. We drove up on Sunday afternoon and returned home today. Alex got his fill of Wii playing with Uncle Kyle, Daddy and Grandpa.
We exhanged Christmas gifts and everyone was thrilled with their presents. Alex got a Wii game, Indiana Jones - part II. Campbell came away with a Three Muskateers barbie and a matching dress up dress. Conleigh got some walkie talkies that were played with the whole time. I received a beautiful necklace. Larry & Kathryn are good at picking out jewelry...I'm so fortunate. Hmmm...I can't recall what Peter received. I'll have to check on that.

In this picture, the girls are bundled up to go play outside and Grandpa is talking on the walkie talkie with Alex. I just loved his smile.

This picture is Grandpa with the kids holding Winnie the Pooh book that Great-Grandma & Grandpa sent from California. They used to read this book to Grandpa when he was a little boy.

Grandma made some cookies and let the kids help roll and cut.

We went to see the Princess & the Frog at the Seven Points theatre while Daddy & Kyle saw Sherlock Holmes. I think it is an old chinese restaurant turned into a theatre. I did appreciate the inexpensive pricing though.

Campbell was a big fan of Lucy dog. Peter is even more determined to get a dog now that the kids are getting comfortable with them.

I got to sleep in which is my favorite thing to do. I must give a little shout out to Uncle Kyle who has endless energy to play with the kids. They all seem to love hide and seek. I think the feeling of admiration is a mutual one between the children and him.

Christmas Wrap (up)

We enjoyed a very blessed Christmas Day. The children had been told they could come into our room at 7:00am. I think it was 6:56 when Conleigh came in. Peter told her to go play in Alex's room. What? It's Christmas Daddy!

As imagined, the excitement was contagious. There was one package that Santa barely got down the chimney since the box was still leaning on the bricks of the fireplace.

Sometimes, I think if there were only stockings, the kids would be thrilled. They got a bunch of loot in those stockings including candy to last through the year.
After stockings, they opened the big present leaning on the bricks. Santa left a trampoline! They were so excited! Peter was excited to set it up (enter sarcasm here).
Other favorite presents were a vanity set and Fur Real kitty from Santa for Campbell, and Bendaroos and a Playmobile Pet clinic for Conleigh. Alex recieved the Batcave Imanginext from Santa and has been playing with it constantly. He also got a cool remote control car that lights up. It's wheels turn crazy and we have all had fun with it. Granny set us up with some cute clothes and a couple of toys for each child. She also gave me some plant stands, a cookbook and jewelry. I gave Peter some shirts, a tool that he wanted along with some batteries to keep it goin', and a John Grisham book. Granny gave him the Jillian Michaels (from the Biggest Loser) Wii game.
After opening presents, we ate a yummy Christmas morning breakfast of egg/sausage casserole.

My friend LouAnn who lives in Houston joined us after breakfast. We hadn't seen each other since I was prego with Alex. I am so glad she came up and spent the day and night with us. I really enjoyed the girl time and catching up. Please come again LouAnn.

We ate Christmas lunch about 2PM. Granny had brought ham and we had green beans, rolls and salad. She also brought pumpkin pie and mincemeat pie. LouAnn and I are pumpkin girls, but Peter & his mom dished on the mincemeat.

The kids loved jumping on the trampoline.
I had mentioned to the kids earlier in the season about how my family went to the movies on Christmas day when I was young. Alex picked right up on that and was definitely going to hold me to seeing a movie on Christmas day. Along with the rest of Austin, we headed to the movies. Movie choice: Alex & the Chipmunks. Granny exercised her granny rights and went and saw It's Complicated instead.

Dinner was casual...really it was find what you can and eat that. We made queso and chilled in front of the television. It was a spectacular Christmas day. Here I am with my biggest blessings ever!

Merry Christmas

Love, The Hardins

Christmas Eve at the Hardins

Christmas Eve church service, check.

Cookies for Santa made and decorated, check.

Traditional tamale dinner made and devoured (Alex discovered he likes tamales tonight. No doubt, he is my son), check.

Smashed gift under the tree, check. Granny tripped and fell on it coming up the steps. Oops. Thankfully, she is okay.

First fire ever made in the fireplace, check.

Happy and excited children, check.


Sweet dreams one and all.

For unto us a Savior is born, who is Christ the Lord.

Christmas Decorations

I wanted to link to some of the other blogs doing tours of Christmas decorations but it didn't happen for me this year. So, I'm doing my own blog entry of our decorations. Here we go...

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care. Our 'front room' has finally come together with furniture. I really like way the rooms look and the Christmas decorations complete them. I have these plates set up that say: Peace, Love, Joy and Hope. Then there is an amarillyis plant next to them. You can see the table in the background. On it, is the cute snowman hat below. We put some crystals on it to be melting snow.


On our buffet, we have a nativity set sitting on some gold material. The square plate says the Hardins on it, and there are three angels sitting on the top left and an ornament holder with one of my favorite big ornaments on the right.

Moving on to the family room. I have Santa hats on the kids photos. Campbell's hat is missing at the moment. There is also the Southern Living at Home Santos Angel on that table.
On some shelves next to the TV, I have our snow globe collection. I'm not collecting them any more, but I do like the ones that we have.
Next is the new music Christmas tree. I love it and found it at Goodwill. It is a San Francisco Company Music box and I'm sure whoever donated it to Goodwill paid a lot more for it than my $2.99. I also have some gold balls decorating a big vase. The other items are gifts from friends and neighbors...trash and pralines. The other goodies have already been gobbled up.
This tray is filled with small, colorful ornaments and then some candles. In looking at this picture, I think one candle is missing. I guess I better look for it.
We have a shelf in the family room that I'm not real keen on, but it is there and I used it for some Christmas decorations. The children love nutcrackers and we have enough to make a display. I also put some greenery that was cut off of our tree, some ribbon, a wreath and a pretty cross ornament that I got from my friend Krissy at an ornament exchange last year. The shelf looks nice but I hope it is gone next Christmas.

Here is our window full of Christmas cards we have received. This was Conleigh's idea and I love it!
The below picture doesn't really show how pretty these ornaments are or how cute the cooking Santa is. Peter's dad and step-mother have given Peter a nice Christmas ornament each year for many years. I chose 4 of the cutest ones and put them on this ornament holder. Conleigh & I chose this Santa just last night on a little shopping field trip. He is cute with frosting in his hand and a gingerbread house on his arm and cookies in his pockets. We couldn't resist.
Finally, our Christmas tree. It has filled up with many ornaments made by the kids this season. I love to sit in the dark and look at the tree. Peace.

That about covers our indoor decorations. I'll try to go out tomorrow and take some pictures of our outside decorations.