December in Southlake

Aaron's brother Alan and his family live in Southlake.  Aaron's youngest brother and his wife live not too far from there as well.  So, with them being gracious...and brave enough, let us all come together to celebrate two wonderful events in December.  We were able to enjoy a birthday celebration for Vicki (Aaron's mom, a.k.a. Mamaw).  Then, we were also blessed enough to share Christmas exchanges with each other.  We know as our families get bigger and more active, this will become harder and harder to do on a regular basis, so soaked in our time spend together!

Sticking with Tradition

Ever since we moved to Buda in the middle of my sophomore year of high school we have attended the BUDAFEST. It's a great community event that has live entertainment from bands to local dance studios, lots of arts and craft booths, a parade, yummy food, Santa, and local main-street antique shopping. My first years were spend riding in the parade as a cheerleader and running the Santa booth (cheerleader sponsored then). Now we go because it's just a great family experience.

For two years now the kids have ridden in the parade with my parents in their T-bird to advertise their church. They LOVE this. This year the float right behind them was the H-E-B Buddy float and Skylyn spent the whole parade turned around yelling hello to "Buddy".

The booths were extra great this year. There were a lot of them and they all had some high quality items, so walking away without a purchase this year was impossible. Everything was so unique and beautiful. The kids also got their faces painted and made a sand-art character.

It might surprise you that Aaron REALLY wants to attend every year and let me explain why. The library clears out all it's older books and overstock on donations. You stuff all the books and movies you can fit into a grocery bag for only $5. He always gets AT LEAST two overflowing bags of books and movies he wants and I always get AT LEAST one overflowing bag of kid's books. This is where we get our kid's library of books for our house. Aaron doesn't like to miss out on a good deal so we are usually the first people at the Budafest so that Aaron can be the first person into the library.

After Budafest and a good nap, we helped Mimi and Papaw puts some lights up in their bushes and on their house. The kids had a great time playing outside in the yard.

And now last but definitely not least. My mom, Mimi, gets everyone a new Hallmark ornament every year and gives them to us at Thanksgiving to hang on our trees. Here is what we received this year!

Putting Up the Tree

We always like to put our Christmas Tree up during Thanksgiving Break.  This year was fun because it was once again one of out "last firsts".  This was the last year we will have a first of one of our kids understanding the concept of this tradition.  Skylyn was on top of everything going on.  She got right in there at unwrapping the ornaments, sorting them into each person's pile and definitely the excitement of hanging them.

The first ornament that ever goes one is Aaron's and my first ornament ever.  It's a "first year" Precious Moments ornament to fit the them of our wedding cake topper.  The kid's fist ornaments are their porcelian baby booties that have their names and birth dates and birth statistics written on them.  After that it's just fun hanging all of your own personal ornaments with everyone around to reminisce about them all again.  The fire was going and some great Christmas music was playing.  It was a great memory.

My favorite memory this year was that Skylyn insisted on kissing almost every ornament that she hung.  Now that is what I call decorating with love!

Dennington Family Photo Shoot

During the Thanksgiving weekend, since we were all together, the whole Dennington family was able to get a family photo shoot squeezed in.  Albert and Vicki (aka Poppy and Mamaw) won a photo shoot and 20 prints on CD from an auction for the Central Texas Children's Home.  It's funny because my parents attended the same auction and saw that they were both bidding on this same item.  My mom new that Albert and Vicki really wanted to get new family photos (since the last one we had was when Aaris was 7 months old), so she conceded.  Another funny thing is that the photographer ended up being a good friend from our class at church. 

The day ended up being beautiful and all the kids were in great spirits, so the pictures turned out wonderful.

(One more fun memory is that we received a call as soon as we were done that Aaron's grandparents, Ma and Pa (Albert's parents), and Aaron's Uncle Virgil and Aunt Anita were passing through town and wanted to grab dinner together.  Love surprises with special people like that!)

Thanksgiving 2010

We got to have Thanksgiving at Aaron's parent's this year.  Even though we live 15 minutes from them, we packed our luggage and moved into a room just like everyone else.  This way we could spend every last minute possible with the ones we love. 

The special guests of this Thanksgiving this year were our two newest members: Aunt Melani and cousin Reef!

One evening I decided to occupy the kids with a Thanksgiving craft - a yummy edible craft.  We made Turkey Candy Cookies.  Sugar cookies covered with white icing.  Then we make feathers with candy corn and a face with Hershey kisses and some white icing for eyes and red icing for the gobbler.  The hardest part was not eating all of the parts before the cookies could be made. (received this idea from our terrific neighbor Marilane)

Finally, we all enjoyed a beautiful pontoon boat ride cruising Town Lake.  At the end of the ride we got dropped off at the docks for a delicious lunch at Cain and Ables. 

Poppy - 60!!!!

On November 3, 2010, Aaron's dad, Poppy turned 60 years old.  For his birthday Vicki surprised him with a house concert.  One of Alberts passions is life is music.  He especially loves live music.  This is a passion Albert passed onto his kids.  They all love playing music (piano and trumpet and guitar), singing music, and listening to music...especially live.  So, this was the perfect gift.  The food was delicious becuase it was potluck, the company was unmatchable because God has blessed the Denningtons with the cream of the crop of friends and family, and the music was beautiful. 

Albert's parents, Ma and Pa (Murl and Carrell Dennington), Albert's sister Diane, Aaron's brother, Alan and his beautiful family (wife Kristina, and kids Cosette and Reef), and our family were so thankful to be witnesses to Alberts big day.

Our gift to Albert was a real coloring book made from actual pictures of Albert with all of us. 



Forth and Final

Well, it's hard to believe that Aaris has been watching and admiring her UT Cheerleader friend, Lauren for 4 years.  Lauren first befriended Aaris back in 2008 right before her open heart surgery at a UT Longhorn basketball game.  Lauren came to see Aaris in the hospital and since then they have been sweet friends.  We go to a basketball game every year (usually the one we can get $5 tickets for) to watch Lauren in action and get caught up.  We will miss watching our precious friend on the sideline cheering, but we know that we will always keep in touch because of the precious bond the two of them have formed.