Happy Trails

There are so many great Christmas light displays in Austin. The Zilker Trail of Lights is typically too crowded to even attempt, and we actually tried to go to Santa's Ranch (a drive-thru trail of lights in San Marcos), but the cars were backed up (and not moving) for over 2-miles before the entrance! Luckily, there are tons of fun, free, and not at all crowded options all around the city - you just have to know where to look. Our favorite is the Lakeway Trail of Lights, which we visited this year with Grandma Nancy AND Grandma & Grandpa Slane.

Another favorite is just a short road trip away: the Bastrop Riverwalk trail of lights. Old Town Bastrop is such a fun and festive place to enjoy the season. We walked for over an hour!

We've actually spent a lot of time outdoors during Nancy's visit. Just near Bastrop there's a little zoo that we'd never been to, but we headed out yesterday and had a great time. The Capital of Texas Zoo is very small, but really cool in that you can feed just about all the animals! Clark LOVED it - he said hello to the parrots (and they said hello back), happily fed the pigs and goats, and was so well behaved the whole time.

Today we're keeping it low key as the whole family was exhausted after yesterday's adventures. Happy trails to you!

Membership

Austin has always been a family-friendly city with tons to do, but just this month we got our first Aquarium AND a brand new Children's Museum. I was pricing out tickets for Grandma Nancy's visit, and while both are in their grand opening, family memberships were the way to go!

I've never been one to buy annual memberships, but Aurora loved both places and was so excited to hear that we can come back whenever we want. Oh, and Nancy enjoyed herself, too! She is definitely a kid at heart. She'll be here for a few more days so more fun is on the horizon!

Merry Christmas, y'all!

We've had a fun few days filled with friends, family, food, neighbors, concerts, candlelights, cookies, and (of course) PRESENTS!

Santa sure delivered here at the Wadey house... and later tonight Nancy's coming in for a long weekend. Much more to come. I hope your holidays have been merry and bright!

The Weather

It's interview season at work, so I've been making quite a bit of small talk about the weather. Here in Texas it changes day-to-day from unseasonably warm, to freezing, to pouring rain. Last weekend Aurora and Chuck were both feeling a bit under the weather and it was pretty cold, but we headed out anyway for a hike at Wild Basin Preserve with Aurora's girl scout troop. It was great fun!

Sunday wasn't quite as cold, but it was a snow day at the Galleria so it sure looked like winter!

Today it was sunny and 73 - absolutely gorgeous. My team at work took the afternoon off to hit some range balls at Top Golf. I'm no golfer like my dad and brother, but I actually scored pretty well!

It should be cold again next week as we get closer to Christmas, which is just how it should be. Hopefully all the colds and sniffles will be gone and we can just relax by the fire. We have a few outings planned, but most of them are indoors!

Wish List

Aurora wrote her Christmas wish list a couple weeks ago, and it was very sweet. Just one little thing for her, and something nice for each person in the family.

She asked me what I wanted and I said a new oven. My microwave and oven came (used) with our house nearly 8 years ago, and they're breaking. I asked if she'd go shopping with me to buy it, and she said no! She was going to ask Santa for it, so we couldn't buy it. I explained that grown ups get things for Christmas, but sometimes we have to buy them for ourselves. Then she crossed it off the list. My dad installed the new microwave yesterday and the oven is coming next weekend. I can't wait! Regardless, she's had her heart set on a Doc McStuffins tool kit for weeks, and I already have it wrapped and ready to go. Today as we prepared for our visit with Santa, she decided she'd also like to ask for an American Girl doll. Uhm... WHAT!? She said she couldn't just have one present from Santa, and all her friends were asking for American Girl dolls. Luckily, I talked her into waiting for her birthday for the (very expensive) doll, and she stayed true to her original request.

We had a fantastic visit with Santa. After contemplating a 30 minute wait at the Hill Country Galleria, we opted for a new toy store I'd been hearing about called Millie & Mox which includes a printed picture, cookies, and little gifts for the kids. There was no line and it was pretty much the best thing ever. I don't know if a ball is really on Clark's list and I don't think Chuck even knows what a Minecraft creeper is, but I'm guessing they'll get everything they wish for, too.

Tooth Fairy

Yesterday Aurora's wiggly tooth reached the point where it was just barely hanging on, and I told her I was pretty sure that brushing her teeth would make it come out. She liked the sound of that and asked me to take video, so I did - not really knowing if would actually happen.

It happened! Afterwards, she fell asleep right away and as I went downstairs to contemplate how much money a tooth might be worth these days, it hit me... I AM THE TOOTH FAIRY! I mean, that's sort of a big deal. I'd been watching the wiggly tooth and thinking about how big she's getting, how she'd look with one, two, three teeth missing. We listened to "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" a few times, and our dentist appointment is coming up so I've been contemplating caring for big teeth and hoping she won't need braces. But I hadn't given much thought to this whole Tooth Fairy business!!! I'm sure teeth are worth a lot more with inflation, but our Tooth Fairy thinks $2 is about right for a 5 year old who doesn't know much about money. She was VERY happy with that.

Holiday Parties

It certainly is the season! My folks came over twice over the weekend so Chuck and I could go to our company parties, and they were both a lot of fun. Yesterday I took the kids to a Gingerbread Social and Aurora had a great time decorating cookies with her friends. She's smiling kind of silly because HER TOOTH IS TOTALLY LOOSE! I expect to have news of the tooth fairy any day now.

Clark had a great time, too. He ate too many cookies, found lots of candy on the floor, and tried his hardest to mimic a dad who was standing against the wall with his foot up behind him.

Aurora's getting too big too fast, and Clark has such a cute little personality. Both of the kid's classes will have holiday parties which I probably won't be able to attend, and tomorrow I'm hosting a volunteer holiday party at work. Friday is a birthday party, and then I THINK we're done with parties for awhile - though, we certainly won't be done with fun activities. Much more to come!

Neighbors

While my parents were living here, we had dinner together nearly every night and took lots of walks through the neighborhood. Now that my folks have moved out, dinner is on our own and we've been going out with friends and hanging out with our neighbors. Yesterday Aurora had dinner with her friends down the street while Clark and I went across for a playdate with our neighbor Will. The boys played so well together!

My parents aren't exactly down the street anymore, but they're just 20 minutes away and we have them scheduled to come over a lot in the coming weeks. This morning they helped get Aurora off to the bus for a late start, and this weekend they're babysitting twice so we can go to our company holiday parties. The kids got so used to seeing them everyday that it's really nice to have them back - especially when it means we can go out alone! I hope they're settling in to their new condo and enjoying the area. They'll be back for dinner one night next week, but it won't be at our house - it'll be across the street with Will and his family! We do have great neighbors...

Long weekend

In the past, long weekends often felt too long. By the time Monday rolled around, both Aurora and I were ready to head back to work and school. For some reason, this long Thanksgiving weekend was so nice it got us all excited for the 2-week Christmas break. Aside from doctors appointments and holidays, we found so many fun things to do, including a kid's workshop at Home Depot. Did you know they do this FREE every month?! We'll definitely be doing it again - especially as Clark gets old enough to join in. Grandpa came along and Clark found a friend at the kid's workbench.

Yesterday mom & dad watched Clark so we could take Aurora to see the movie Frozen in 3D. We had frozen yogurt afterwards and have been listening to the soundtrack ever since.

Today we went to one of our favorite parks and the weather was absolutely perfect.

Then we had brunch with some old friends who recently moved to Austin. They have two little girls now and we will most definitely be going to the park and having brunch together more often!

Best weekend ever? Maybe so. Now we're gearing up for a very long, very busy week at work and school. I sure would love more time off, but it's coming soon enough...

All the holidays

On Wednesday Aurora and I had a special Thanksgiving lunch with Clark's class at the Children's Center. The babies made potato stamp placemats and handprint cards. Clark is thankful for me (of course) and I am certainly thankful for him.

We spent Thursday at a friend's house - the same house we've been going to for the past several years - we just brought more people with us this time! My parents came along and everybody had a good time. We brought the mac & cheese and fruit salad, and the food (and company) were excellent. 

Aurora had tons of little girls to play with, and Clark spent the day doing his favorite things: napping, petting a dog, playing with a remote control, and uhm... getting carried around by little girls.

This morning I put away the Thanksgiving decor and made our little Halloween pumpkins into delicious pumpkin bread before shifting gears to celebrate Chanukah (a few days late). We lit our Menorah, listened to Chanukah music, and opened presents from Grandma Nancy.

I feel this pressure to switch gears again and decorate for Christmas this weekend, but it's all happening too fast - the holidays are just too close together this year! I'm not ready to shop or send cards or put up a tree or any of that. I'm just going to wait and decorate for Christmas next weekend. I love the holidays and want to enjoy them all, but I can only have one table setting in place at a time!

Time for your check-up

This probably isn't what you were expecting on Thanksgiving. Don't worry, turkey day festivities are coming soon! School was closed today so I decided to schedule Clark's 15-month well baby visit. He weighted in at just over 21 lbs, so he hasn't gained much weight since he started walking. He's 31" tall and while he's got some pretty impressive sniffles and sneezes going on, he's still never had an ear infection. He did get 4 shots today, which is always a good time.

I scheduled an appointment for Aurora at the same time to follow up from a UTI she had last week. The antibiotics worked! Clark had pink eye around the same time, and both of my parents have had a stomach bug so... that's been fun. What really WAS fun was taking Aurora to the nail salon this morning! I got a pedicure while she had her fingernails painted with pink sparkles and flowers.

There's a lot to be thankful for, and I have to say I'm pretty darn thankful for two (mostly) healthy kids. Even when they're snotty messes, waking up in the middle of the night fussing, they are pretty much the best little kiddos a mama could ask for.