Breaths of Heaven: Chili, Turkeys, and Beef with Horns

Oh man...I finally got a chance to update this thing..I have pretty much given up on doing this more than once a month...sorry!

Well we took our first LONG trip as a family. We went to Fort Worth for my dad's annual chili cook-off. The girls did well on the way up, but were off schedule so we had some adjusting to do once we got there. My dad and step-mom were waiting with much needed drinks ;) Soon after my sister Jamie and her husband, Russell arrived...Have I mentioned that I will be an Aunt again in May 2012? Yes! Jamie and Russell are expecting a baby around May 5th!! We are super excited for them and can not wait to meet Kai and Jaxyn's new cousin! Holidays just got a lot better!! They are waiting to find out what they are having so it is killing us all (Michael and I are thinking we may finally get a boy in the family :) Jamie has had some minor difficulties during this pregnancy so please keep her and the baby's health in your prayers (Also Russell b/c he has had a lot on his plate with juggling all of this plus work and school...kudos to him, Ya'll are both doing a great job!).
On Saturday we watched as the people as they started to arrive with their cookers and got their chili going. Michael's parents were able to join us since they live in Flower Mound and we were so happy to get to see them again! The day was filled with lots of laughs and food! Each team is judged on their chili and presentation, so many went the extra mile and wore costumes and decorated their table. There was also a dip contest which Michael and I both judged along with the chili. We were only judges this year, but next year Michael said he wants to play with the big dogs hehe. The girls finally got to meet more family members along with my step-mom's (Barbara) mom(we call her Grandmother). She is also a twin and loved getting to meet them and spend some time with them.

judging

Grandmother and Kai

Russell cooking away

Pops brewing his version

dips

so cute! its a Turkey

Grandma Lou and Kai

dad announcing the winners

Grandpa Alan and Jax

My fave....Clark Giswald from Christmas Vacation

Awww they won the toilet bowl...I thought their chili was good

Winners!

Thanksgiving!!

We traveled to Cat Spring for Thanksgiving and spent Thanksgiving day with My mom and step-dad, Bobby. Unfortunately my sister was admitted into the hospital due to a kidney infection that caused her mucho pain so her and Russell were unable to attend Thanksgiving and had to spend it at the hospital :( My step-sister and her two little ones did make an appearance and adored the girls! They were so great. They read to them and entertained them with toys (I asked Alison if she would let me take them home with me ;) We had a great time eating, eating, and eating some more.

Jax on the left and Kai on the right

Erin and Ava playing with the girls :)

After eating I headed to College Station for the big game, alone. Jamie was suppose to go with me to meet up with Dad and Barbara, but was unable to b/c of her hospital visit. Therefore, I had to find another candidate for the extra ticket. My friend Heather, who went to A&M was more than happy to take the other ticket and said that she was not happy with the circumstances of getting the ticket, but was happy she would get to sit in the stands (after the game she probably felt differently :/ ). The game started off well and it was exciting, but it just wasn't meant to be...a combination of bad mistakes, bad calls, and bad luck took the Aggies to a 27-25 loss to t.u.. The last time the two rivalry teams will play each other for a long time. I wish the results would have been different, but I was happy to be there and felt very grateful that after a loss like that I still had my wonderful family to come home to. During half time t.u.'s band did this...which I thought was pretty neat ;)

The announcer came on before and said that t.u. will miss A&M and "thanks for all of the memories" ready or not, SEC here we come!!

Saturday we loaded up and went to the Motl Thanksgiving in Bellville Texas. Again, the girls were able to meet a lot of family members and loved all of the attention! We had a blast eating some more and playing games with all of the cousins! Thanks for letting us and our million baby items invade your house Aunt Yvonne and Uncle Joe.

Class of 2001 Reunion!!

So I blinked and it had been 10 years since I was in high school...stuff your grasps please! Saturday after the Motl Thanksgiving we headed to Columbus to attend the 10 year reunion. Mom watched the girls and Michael and I were free to have a little fun. Well some things never change and the next morning I woke up thinking I was back in high school after the night we had. Needless to say it was soooo much fun and it was sooo great seeing a lot of faces I hadn't seen in years...10 to be exact! We have come to the conclusion that we want to have a reunion every year....Is this against the rules?

Okay my school is small but not this small...there were some people missing

love these girls..Stacy, Charlotte, and me

Eric and I

Nicole and I

Kairyn and Jaxyn

4 month pictures..Kai on the left and Jax on the right

We got our 4 month old shots :/ they did great, but mom and dad hate these! So at four months they are smiling and laughing, tracking, and holding their heads up for a long time, but still not rolling over. The doctor gave us the go ahead to start practicing with a spoon b/c he said their head control was really good. So we mixed some cereal with formula and put them in their little chairs and introduced the spoon. It was pretty funny watching them look at us like we were crazy. See they have been getting cereal in a bottle for awhile now so they were really wondering as to why they had to sit up like this and eat it off of this long thing. They are doing really good with this and are up to about 3-4 tbsp 3x a day. One more week of this cereal and then they get to experience veggies...something tells me this will also be funny.

De (my neighbor) and I have decided that we are going to make our own baby food to save money. Another friend of mine does it and she said that its super easy and saves her a lot of money. More on that when it actually happens lol. Jaxyn started hitting the toys on her play yard first and Kai figured out raspberries first so we think Jax will be our athlete and Kai our social butterfly. They have since both been hitting toys and playing with their tongues.

Their personalities are really starting to show and it is sooo fun! Michael and I have a blast with them and are still trying to figure out what we ever did without them around. I think we still both stop and ask ourselves if we really have 4 month old TWINS or if this is all just a really great dream. We thank God everyday that this is all very real!