from this week...

On the way to Jessica's wedding, we stopped by the big gas station, Buc ee's.  Dahlia saw this Buc ee backpack and fell in love with it, so Santa had to get it for her.  She puts all of her little treasures in it and wears it around the house.

 Dahlia loves going outside to blow bubbles.  It was warm enough this week to go play outside, without worrying that she would get sick.

thirteen!

As of December the twentieth we officially have a teenager in our house!  Dario is now thirteen, it's crazy how fast the years have flown by.  Hopefully next year he will still pose for his birthday photo and won't have a teenage attitude!

christmas tree farm

On Saturday, we finally went to go pick out a Christmas tree at the local Christmas tree farm.  It seems like every time we go it is a really warm day.  Gotta love Texas weather!  Now that we have a tree up it finally feels like Christmas.  I can't believe it is next week!  Please excuse my blurry photos, my camera wanted to focus on the trees.

thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday, which we got to spend with both sides of our families.  Altogether, we ate three thanksgiving meals!  We spent a couple of days at my parents house.  It has become a tradition to go to park the day after Thanksgiving.  We had a picnic lunch and the kids played on the playground.  We went on a long hike on the beautiful trails in the park, to work off all the food we ate!  I am thankful we were able to spend the holiday with our loved ones and especially thankful that Dahlia's precious donor heart is still beating strong.

cameron and jess say yes!

Recently we attended my youngest sister Jessica's beautiful Hill Country wedding.  All eight of my parent's children were able to come down for the wedding.  It had been a very long time since all eight of us were together.  My parents rented a  huge house, high up in the hills, in the town of Dripping Springs, for everyone to stay at during the wedding weekend.  That part of Texas is so breathtaking.  On Friday night, everyone went out to eat at the Salt Lick, which is a well known barbecue restaurant. The restaurant is located in the country just outside of Austin.  The atmosphere was lovely; lots of large old oaks, twinkling white lights.  The food was delicious!  Saturday was the wedding.  It rained off and on during the day, but cleared up for the wedding.  Before the wedding, everyone enjoyed exploring the secluded property around the house.  A creek ran through the property and the kids had fun playing in it.  Jessica and Cameron's wedding was held at a beautiful venue in the rolling hills, near Austin.  The ceremony was held at a beautiful, Spanish style, open air chapel, high on a hill.  After the ceremony, the reception was held indoors and was beautifully decorated.  The food was catered by a food truck, which was really fun and yummy!  Everyone loved the ice cream bar following dinner, and all of the kids went crazy on the dance floor.  This was such a fun weekend and a magical wedding; everyone was sad when it came to an end.

nine!

This time of year, we have lots of birthdays in our family to celebrate.  On Sunday, Ava turned nine years old.  We celebrated Ava's birthday at Grammy and Grandpa's house.  Ava was really excited that lots of family members, who came into town for Aunt Jessica's wedding, were able to be at her party.  She had a great birthday weekend!

happy halloween!

seven!

On Thursday, we celebrated Laila's birthday.  She is now seven years old!  Laila decided that for her birthday, she wanted to go see a movie.  Ava also came along and we had a fun girls date, afterwards we had cake and opened presents with everyone.  I can't believe Laila is now seven!

pumpkin patch

Monday, after school, we went to the pumpkin patch, one of my favorite fall traditions!  There are so many cute spots to take photos and so many pretty pumpkins.  Dahlia was especially excited to go to the pumpkin patch.  She was become obsessed with pumpkins and Halloween.  I love this time of year!