Happy 6th Birthday!!!

I can't believe that my baby boy is 6 today! He is growing up too fast and we are so proud of him. He is gentle and kind and such a joy to be around. We are so thankful for Tyler and hope he has a fabulous birthday! A few of our favorite things about Tyler right now:

He knows more about the individual states than either his mom or dad does
He obsesses over sports facts and still loves to watch and play all of them
He is a number's kid like his Pops even questioning Pops about the difference between pi and infinity
He still likes to snuggle with mom and dad as long as his friends aren't around
He is kind to his sister (most of the time)
He loves his dog so much
He is excelling in kindergarten and has made many wonderful new friends

How did he get from our sweet, chubby baby to this sweet and skinny boy?

Bangs!

I know this may not excite anyone but me. However, I am thrilled that Megan finally has enough hair to warrant a bang trim. It's true that she is still a ways away from an actual haircut, but a couple weeks ago, I took the scissors to her bangs. It was so fun!

A Few Ranch Pics

Over the holidays, we made two trips to the ranch - one right after Christmas with all the McHorses and for New Years with just a couple friends.

Megan and Daddy pose.
One of Tyler and Megan's favorite things to do at the ranch is to search for bones. While we were there over Christmas, they found a ton of bones and decided to try to recreate the animal skeletons. Here, Tyler and Matthew are seriously contemplating bone placement.

Christmas Day Pics

We had our traditional meal at the McHorses on Christmas Eve and a worldwind of a day on Christmas. We began early, although not as early as most of our days begin. We woke Megan up at 6:45 to get going. We got Santa gifts, opened our family presents and headed to Mimi and G'daddy's house for more fun with the McHorse cousins. We had breakfast (round 2 for our kids) then exchanged gifts and left by 10 to come back to our house to begin preparing the big Christmas meal. This year for the first time, we hosted my family for the Christmas meal. It was so fun to have everyone here and the meal was a success despite a minor delay in mealtime. More food, gifts and fun followed by the original Star Wars movies which is a tradition in my family. We had such a wonderful and exhausting day surrounded by our loved ones.


Kevin's parents wait in anticipation before we present them with their gift from all of us which is...a sign for the Crazy 8 Ranch. The sign has all eight kids on it - 2 girls and 6 boys differing ages. It was a hit!



Megan poses in her new pink boots.
They were this still for at least 20 seconds, possible no longer than that though.

It's the Coldest Night of the Year...

So let's go spend the evening outside. We promised the kids we would go to the trail of lights on a Sunday night (when we promised it was 70 degrees out). The frigid temperatures, seriously, it was FREEZING and very windy. However, we made it through the trail of lights without complaint! It definitely made the holiday spirit more real and was actually alot of fun in spite of the cold. We do hope it is warmer the next time we go though. We had to put the camera way when were were walking through the trail but did manage to snag a few pics under the Zilker tree, which is still one of my favorite things in Austin.

Our Trip to Bethlehem

This year on a whim, we decided to take advantage of the mild weather and take a trip to Burnet for A Visit to Bethlehem. Unfortunately, between the masses of people and the camera acting up, the only pictures we have are of us waiting in line. We waited over two hours to get into Bethlehem and it was well worth it. It was unbelievable and really felt like we were stepping back in time into Bethlehem. There were sheep, camels, a blacksmith, a leather maker, an inn - everything you would have found in a city in biblical times. It was so realistic we were blown away. The kids really enjoyed it, but I honestly think Kevin and I may have gotten more out of it. We left being so thankful we decided to take the trip. I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes a yearly tradition.

Megan's Christmas Program

Megan had her first Christmas Program this year at school. One of my first posts on our blog was about the same program when Tyler did it. He was none too excited about participating, but did make it to the front of the chapel and we were very proud of him. Megan talked about her program for weeks prior to it and was constantly singing all of the songs. She didn't seem phased by the multitudes of people watching and sang all the songs as she had practiced. It was so much fun to watch and we were so proud of our little performer.



Megan with her dear teacher Ms. Lynne. We have missed her over the break.

Megan with her buddy Sam.

Picture Trouble

We recently got a new computer and I am having difficulty uploading photos. So, I apologize for the delay in holiday posts. I hope to be up and running again very soon and will inundate you with pictures of our December.