The Star of the Show

Caitlin was so excited for her Christmas program at preschool this year. I'd heard a lot of the music as she was constantly singing it.  This year, they did something a little different for the 4 year old classes.  They did a mini-musical.  Caitlin was the "Star"!

Prior to the show, we went to her classroom to see all the things they had been working on.

Caitlin with her teacher Ms. Kara

Family photo!  Evan and Bryce had come straight from a boy scout activity so they were in uniform.

Mema and Papa got to attend since they are here all winter. How lucky!

There is our star!

Caitlin with her friend AJ.  She was the star on the Christmas tree.

So glad Mema and Papa could come.

And here is a video from the play. This is the video of the full show (it's about 9 minutes long).  Below that is a shorter video of just her "starring" role!

(If you can't see the video above, click HERE - FULL VIDEO )

(If you can't see the video above, click HERE - SHORTENED VIDEO)

Christmas!

Christmas Eve is a day of family. And lucky us that everyone was in town for Christmas this year (there were a few people sick throughout the holidays but we still got to spend time with everyone)!  We always make sugar cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve so that was the big task for the day.

Here the kids helped me roll out the dough and cut the cookies to bake. Oma helped too!

After baking, then it was time to decorate!

After that, we went to church for the Christmas Eve Family mass. It's always packed and hectic but what we are really celebrating so important to go.

After mass, we went to Mema and Papa's house for Christmas Eve dinner. Then, it was home and off to bed so Santa could come!

Fortunately, the kids didn't wake up too early but boy were they excited to see all the presents under the tree!

I think Santa outdid himself this year!  The kids had a blast opening their gifts. The highlight was definitely the Ipad Mini that Santa gave to Evan and Caitlin.

After that, we got to try out a few of the gifts since the weather was so nice.

Evan got a skateboard and pads! It's still a learning process...

Caitlin got roller skates! 

Overall, it was a wonderful Christmas made better by spending it with so much family. That evening, we got to go to the Matz house to celebrate Chelsea's birthday too!  Thank you for a year of blessings, your friendships, and your love. We are a very lucky family.  Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a great 2015!

Zilker Trail of Lights

Still playing catch up on the blog! It's been taking forever because I need to upload some videos from our camcorder and just haven't done it. I'm skipping that post for now and will come back to it (it's Caitlin's Christmas concert at school!).

So, onto the Zilker Trail of Lights.  This year, Freescale was a sponsor so we got free VIP tickets which was great!  We got to go in early and stop for some hot chocolate/cookies.  Plus, Mema and Papa and The Matz' joined us!

We are ready to go in!

Caitlin loved the Little Mermaid display

Having fun

Family pictures with Mr.and Mrs. Claus

Standing under the snow with Mema

More fun on the trail

After walking the trail, we went up to the Zilker tree to spin beneath the lights. 

Caitlin spinning with Mema and Papa

Ryan having a good time

Looking up at the tree

Mommy and Caitlin

After that, the kids went on the huge Ferris Wheel (new this year).  

Overall, it was a great time. The weather held out for us and it wasn't too cold. A great Christmas tradition.