Lil' Nolan Ryan takes a break...

Baseball season has ended.

The kids have an awards ceremony tonight at Chuck E. Cheese's. We didn't go to the last 2 games because it was too cold and too early. Christian didn't really seem too interested anyway. Something happened to the team and all the kids decided they didn't want to play anymore. Christian still loves baseball, but I think he was feeding off of the other kids.

Gaylord Texan Ice! Exhibit

We took my mom and her husband, Mike, to the Gaylord Texan for brunch and then we all went to the Ice! exhibit. Wow... their Riverwalk Cafe has the best breakfast bar ever! Even their orange juice is amazing.

This year was perfect to take Christian because he LOVES the Grinch, and that was this year's theme. Super cute sculptures and super cold! I think it was 9 degrees in there. I almost didn't wear the hungosaurus germ-infested parka that they passed out, but am glad I risked it.

Christian got to tell Santa that he wants "tandy (candy), a puter like Mama's (he meant a computer, I hope), lots of little skateboards, and cars."

XTO Christmas Party

Last Friday, we had our huge XTO Christmas party at the Omni. After the sale, we may not have another one of these. I wonder if Exxon is as great of a company as XTO? So many questions about this change...
Ryan and I started out at a co-workers downtown condo in The Tower. What an awesome view! We could only stay for a little while because we left our house later than we intended. I had to finish an exam first. Soooo glad those are over with!
XTO gave each person $10K worth of play money, so Candice and I took on Blackjack. It was my first time ever to attempt gambling, besides a few slot machines in LA. Ryan and Ricky eventually took over, but they were super serious about it. Ricky kept winning! Ryan kept losing and getting mad. I thought it was funny!
We missed the open bar... by "we" I mean Ryan. But, the food was awesome. We had free-range chicken (they kept emphasizing the free-range part), beef tenderloin, wild rice, an awesome mashed potato bar, steamed green beans, steamed asparagus, red and white wine, all types of salads, and way too much dessert.

This ice sculpture was huge! At one point, it was surrounded by fancy hor d'oeuvres.

This is Ryan concentrating on not making his classic twisted pic face.

This is Ryan not concentrating.

Candice captured this while the photographer was taking our pic.

I tried to do the same for her, but his flash threw my flash off.

Another bad flash pic by yours truley.

I kinda forgot about the belly while posing for this pic. Not too flattering.

My friend, Miley.

Miley, Suzy, and Val all glammed up.

Thanksgiving in Palestine, TX

We sort of have a tradition of going to my dad's farm in Palestine over our Thanksgiving break. We all love hanging out at the farm and its one of the only times that we can spend more than a day or two out there.

We went and saw "Blindside" while we were out there at their little 6 room theater. It was such a good movie!!! I will definitely buy it once it comes out on dvd.... that is if we ever get around to buying a new dvd player. I might have to steal Christian's from his room.

Christian likes to drink my "toffee". Surprisingly, he likes to drink Ryan's black "toffee", too.

The boys decided to pull this tree down. The girls wondered why they insisted on doing it by hand. The boys felt the need to conquer. The girls took pictures.

After they got it down, they brought it over to burn it. The girls wondered if it was safe to burn the whole thing. The boys ignored the girls and played pyro. So, the girls took pictures.

Achievement.

There weren't any other kids around, so Christian improvised. One of our dogs, Bam, has the most gentle disposition. He is so tolerant! Christian sees this as weakness and takes advantage. Somewhere deep down I know Bam loves the attention! (he is half bulldog half pug)

I knew that Kodak moment was going to have a rough ending.

Bam spent the rest of the night avoiding Christian and guarding us from the evil stray cats.

Christian was busy riding his four-wheeler and let Bam rest.

The next morning, my dad shot a deer. Poor Christian couldn't figure out why Pops gave him a boo-boo. It was kind of sad at first, but then afterwards Christian wanted everyone to get a deer.

Someone volunteered the girls to go up the road to the "neighbors" and take care of their animals while they were on vacation. We fed the chickens, rabbits, dog, and their millions of cats.

We are sooo not cat people, and these guys were everywhere! I think there are 11 in this pic alone. Christian found a kitten and carried it around with him the whole time.

We all had a good time, but needed to get back to civilization and a real bathroom.