McAllen

On Friday we flew down to McAllen to be with Brandon's family. Their dog, a german shorthaired pointer, had puppies last week. There are 9 of them, and it is very amazing to see the mom dog take care of her babies... Are they cute, or what? Notice the green one? He came out green. If we took it we would name it Elphaba. Elphie for short. Brandon, Gates, and Uncle Peyton...

DeeDee and Pops got Gates this push/ride toy, and it is official, she loves it!

Dang it, I did not take any good pictures. We had a great time, and enjoyed seeing the southern family members. We even talked about moving there, it was afterall, 92 degrees on Saturday!

Christmas Day!

So Christmas Day we went out to Granbury and spent the day with my parents and my brother, and his wife and their three kids. We had a great day. Christmas is also mom's birthday so we had a birthday lunch and cake, as well!

Charlie and Gates swinging !!

Paper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ribbons!!!!!!!!!1

Brandon has always said that he wants Gates to be a softball player... Most of you know that this is not my plan for my sweet ballerina, anyways check out her swing??????? Brandon's grandmother gave her a ball and bat! (which was nice, and awesome since we all know I wasn't going to buy her one ;)

Christmas Morning

We stayed home Christmas Eve so that Gates could wake up and celebrate Christmas at our house! In this picture Scrabble was telling her that Santa came, and hurry come and see what he brought! Almost there...

a bit overwhelmed...

I love my new table! Thanks Santa!!!!

The Jesse Tree Complete!

We finished our Jesse Tree, and we had so much fun reading about the ornaments and looking forward to Christmas. It will be even more fun when Gates can do the activities. Thanks again DeeDee...

Grandear and Bopop with their grandkids. Raedyn, Gates, Charlie, and Rhylie!

Santa Came

Santa came! I can not wait for Gates to wake up and see that he has been here!
Look, he dropped off something big and special for mom and dad, too!

Merry Christmas

Tonight we went to Carianne and Rodney's house for the Rapp Family Christmas. This is Brandon's mother's family. Yes, Rodney is also on the father's side, this is Brandon's double cousin.... We had a great time catching up, and we enjoyed a fun game of Family Feud. Gates was a little cranky tonight, because she has an ear infection. She did pretty good considering it was past her bedtime, and she was not feeling well. She did not want to be held by anyone besides mom and dad, and I felt sad about that. She should be all better in a couple of days!!


Here is a good shot of GG MeeMaw, Brandon and Gates, Becca and Laura. Gates was borrowing Clayton's little toy, she seemed to enjoy it, although she was a little small yet...

The only shot I got of both the kiddos.... It is hard to catch them both!

OK, is this beautiful or what? Carianne made this stocking for Gates. It is going to hang at MawMaws house, with the ones she made for Clayton and MawMaw and ChaCha. Thanks Carianne, for the special gift!!!

Me, Alison, Becca, Brandon and Gates, Laura, and Susan. Just a sidenote, being around all of Brandon's sisters makes me feel really.... old.