Christmas in Beaumont

All the Hayes kids were able to get together this year for Christmas at my parents' house.  We keep filling up the house more and more (with kids and the necessary grub), but we still haven't quite outgrown it.  Look at the ridiculous amount of fruit we had lying around, and please note the ginormous basket-

The reason we can all fit in one house is mainly because all of Matt's family stays in ONE room.  Kind of amazing.  It was so great to have everyone there, and luckily, no one got sick... until the last day.  It's kind of inevitable it seems, but at least it didn't get passed around to everyone while we were there.  Mom actually allowed us to help with some of the dinners this time, so each family took a night to cook (although Mom really couldn't help herself and had to pitch in here and there).  Jeff brought his smoker down as well as his cream can cooker.  He smoked a delicious prime rib, and all 12 pounds of it were pretty much gone after one meal.  The cream can cooker was new to me, and it also produced some good tastin' veggies and sausage. Well done, Jeff. You win.

The Palmers went for more of a feed-a-huge-crowd meal-- ham and corn chowder.  Simple but still a hit!  So were our aprons.  James looks thrilled!
 

 

This is where James really shines.  He's such a good helper when it comes to clean up!!!

  

There were lots of fun times behind the table with these 2.  The dogs loved them.

On Christmas Eve we did some of our usual traditions.  We acted out the Nativity, Santa came, and we opened up our Christmas jammies.  Hazel loved being the donkey and loved that her jammies were red.

 

 We're missing Miles because he was already in bed.  My favorite part of this picture is Isaac in his jammies 2 sizes too small.  

Hazel was pretty disinterested in the whole Christmas morning thing, but that was fine with us.  She had a great time watching everyone else!  The gum in the stocking was a big hit for her.  

Here are some more random photos from the week-

Emily and I went to see Shellie, who wasn't feeling well.  Her pregnancy has been really hard on her unfortunately.  The exciting thing is that she's due only a few weeks after I am, and she's having a boy too!

The week of Christmas flew by too quickly, but we managed to have all the fun we could!

It's the Holiday Season

I love Christmas time!  Who doesn't?  Hazel and I have been decorating and listening to Christmas music constantly since Thanksgiving.  This is Hazel's 3rd Christmas, and she can understand a bit more this year, so we tried to do more Christmas-y things and attempted to teach her the real Christmas story.  What I think she got out of all of it was this - Lots of lights, Santa Claus, baby Jesus, soft sheep, donkey costume, Christmas trees, red train, and "Jingle Bells".  I still don't know where she learned "Jingle Bells" because it's not like it played that frequently on Pandora.  It's pretty funny though to hear her sing it with her own additions and omissions -- one time she stayed up during her nap time and just belted it out for about a half hour.  Awesome. 
Some of our holiday festivities included:

James's holiday party

A Favorite Things Party with friends

Our church Christmas party (no go for Santa's lap, just Daddy's)

Nativity play time

The North Pole Express in Grapevine with the Dunnings

 

 Hazel loved riding on the RED train with her cousins and drinking hot chocolate afterward.  Santa even gave her a bell!  Later that week, we watched parts of The Polar Express (some parts are slow for a 2 year old).  We also drove through a neighborhood with tons of lights, and Hazel really enjoyed that, especially with her window down.  

Now on to Beaumont...

Oh BOY!

Hazel is going to be a big sister come April 19th-ish!  We're so excited!  I kind of thought it was a boy, and my second ultrasound at 13 weeks proved that to be true.  I've been extremely hungry this whole pregnancy (like can't-make-it-through-the-night hungry), and I started feeling him move around really early.  He's an active, hungry lil boy!  I'm also growing faster this time around, so we'll see just how far this belly can stretch!  I'm so excited to meet him, but we're not in a hurry.  I've been trying to talk to Hazel about having a little brother, but I'm not so sure she understands what I'm saying.  That, or she's ignoring me.  She refuses to say baby brother is in my tummy; he's in hers.  She doesn't mind babies as long as I'm not the one holding them.  So, this should be interesting.  Hazel's so good with her little dolls and "friends" (stuffed animals) though, so I know that with time, she'll enjoy being a big sister.    

Here's how I told James the news --  I put paper over the circle part of one of his t-shirts and wrote "Baby Daddy" on it. 

 

1st ultrasound pic-

 

Only belly pic thus far - (halfway I think)

20 week ultrasound - very flexible

 

3D shot at 20 weeks- I didn't have one of these last time, and it was pretty neat to see how well developed he is by just halfway.  Amazing.

Nat and Ang have already started passing down the boy stuff, and it's getting me really excited!  Love him so much already.

Thanksgiving in Austin

Angie and Dane are always making trips to see everyone else in the family, so we decided we'd gather in Austin for Thanksgiving this year.  Matt and his family stayed in Dallas with Kylene's family and Jeff was working, but everyone else made it.  Mom found a house to rent on the lake so we'd have enough room for everyone.  It was a super cool house and had beautiful surroundings; the only problem was my allergies!  They must be worse while pregnant.  Luckily, the sinus pressure didn't last longer than a day, so I could still enjoy the family and taste of delicious food!  My mom and dad packed his truck bed FULL of food for just a few days.  Needless to say, Angie went back home with a fully stocked refrigerator and pantry.  From the looks of our Thanksgiving day spread, you wouldn't have guessed it was a destination Thanksgiving.
It was also fun to have part of Dane's family with us for the weekend.  His parents were able to come in for the week during a brief break in her cancer treatments and his brother Cade and sister Chelsea and family were there as well.  We were so grateful Tani felt well enough to travel.  She's a fighter!  Our days were filled with hiking, puzzles, eating, and playing games.  We only left the house once to go to a park and out to eat.  I love those kind of vacations. 

 

I had to get a picture of this-- men in the kitchen!

  

Mom brought stuff for a centerpiece.  =)

 I think we did 5 puzzles.

 Hazel and Ty were quite the duo.  They were always a blur in pictures.

Lots of deer running around.

 

 Ang couldn't wait to give Nat her Christmas present - she had a football and an old BYU tshirt signed by Ty Detmer. 

 

Cute little Indian cousins.

 MUCH to be grateful for.

Other October

Here are some other highlights from October besides our anniversary and Hazel's birthday.

My mom did lots of activities with Hazel and the cousins while James and I were in San Francisco.  The poor girl was probably bored when I got home!

When we got home from vacation, we went to another pumpkin patch with friends.

We carved pumpkins with our friends the Nylanders and Formans.  I just watched really and provided the pumpkin pie for dessert.  Hazel loved Daddy's Mickey Mouse pumpkin.

And we celebrated Shayla's 25th birthday at Cheesecake Factory - yum.  Happy Birthday, Yayla!

Halloween

I knew my mom had quite the collection of wigs, so I figured I'd borrow one for Halloween and have Hazel be one of her favorite people -- Dora the Explorer.  I knew it was a risky choice because what 2 year old wants to wear a wig for longer than 2 seconds?  It was a free costume since we had all the required items, so I decided to just go with it.  At the last minute, I decided to be her sidekick, Boots, so my costume wasn't all that stellar.  I think Hazel appreciated it though.  There's no way you can get away with not dressing up as a Hayes.  It's in our blood to go all out.  After all, we grew up with a theater mom who had a costume room in the house and a double garage full of decorations.  I think Mom enjoys the fact that we like to be theatrical sometimes, but occasionally I think she regrets ever getting us into it.  I mean, look how comfortable my siblings are in their get-ups (see below).  No shame at all.  I'm a little embarrassed about how tame I look.    

 And then there's the next generation.  Here are all the babies of the families-
For Halloween, we went to our church's Trunk or Treat, which is the best way to do it for little kids, in my opinion.  Hazel got the hang of it after a few trunks.  I even snuck on her wig for a second and got Shayla to snap a picture.  Unfortunately, her friend Jones wasn't too sure about Hazel's new do. 

Without her wig, she's the whitest Dora there ever was (and I even tried to put dark makeup on her).

Here are Hazel and Papa Palmer hanging out at Trunk or Treat- 

The best part of Trunk or Treat was all the candy.  Hazel spent a half hour sucking on a Tootsie Roll pop, so I conveniently lost the rest (in my cupboard for naptime!).  Thanks for all your hard work, Hazel.  =)  I won't be able to fool her for very many more years.  James was going to be The Map from Dora, but he couldn't make it back in time for the party, so next year I'm expecting a doubly good costume.