Christmas!

Christmas came and went too fast as usual. It seems so cliche' but Christmas really is the Hernandez family's favorite time of the year. We had our usual festivities of eating Christmas Eve lunch at Nana and Papa's with our extended family, then we headed to Mondo's sister's for some delicious food and family time, then back to Nana and Papa's to go to sleep and wait for Santa!

Our Christmas tree at home. Just makes me think...blessed.

My favorite part of Christmas Eve...snacks galore!

What's on this table? More snacks!

It was a beautiful day outside so the kids were able to go outside and play. You never know what weather Texas will bring in December.

My little family. :-)

Someone was happy about his present!

Yep, lots of people crammed into one room opening lots of presents. A little chaos, a lot of love.

Some more Beanie Boos to add to their collection.

Ethan found a love for Nana's meatballs. He ate a BUNCH.

On to Mondo's sisters! Home made Mexican food?...yes please!

Mondo's mom with all of the grandcritters.

Present time!

One of Mondo's aunts gave us older girls a little present. I got a blue butterfly necklace...and could hardly hold back the tears. Why? Because if you remember my Aunt Lou loved butterflies and her favorite color was blue! How crazy is it that I received that present?! They were all in unmarked boxes and she just passed them out. Crazy.

Back to Nana's to scatter some reindeer food. It's really hard to get a good pic when it's dark and he's moving!

Ethan's Santa presents plus presents from us.

Caleb's Santa presents plus presents from us.

You can't tell but they're opening Build-a-bears from us. They saw a Thor one and a Captain America one a few months earlier and BEGGED for them. Well, momma remembered so that's what they got for Christmas. Needless to say...they were super excited!

Ethan was all decked out in his new Under Armour gear...and a new DS!

My sister got me a giant box peanut butter Twix...my favorite!

Christmas breakfast!!!

Silly critters chowing down on breakfast.

They couldn't wait to go outside and test their new stuff!

Christmas Activities

December is always a busy time filled with Christmas activities.  This post is filled with several different things we did throughout the month...

Supper with Santa at church. My boys fill Santa's lap! Ethan didn't want to take the pic but of course I made him. ;-)

There was pony riding outside and a petting zoo. Caleb loved it!

The Grinch made a visit. Yep, our preacher wins the award for coolest preacher. He LOVES the Grinch!

I borrowed Ethan's ugly xmas sweater to wear to the boy's class parties.

Of course the parties happened at the exact same time so I spent one hour at Caleb's then spent the last hour at Ethan's.

They had pizza and the had crafts/activities in each 2nd grade room.

Caleb's crazy class. Love his teacher!

I'm blessed that I'm able to be off during the week to go to all of their parties! :-)

For Ethan's party I just stayed on his classroom. We did an activity where they had to link arms and keep a balloon in the air. A lot harder than it looked! And they got all crazy and sweaty.

I'm glad he still gets excited for me to come to his parties.

We go to Bass Pro every year to see Santa. We wait forever but it's worth it. He's the best Santa! And of course the boys love walking around the store and looking at everything. Here they are telling Santa what they want.

They barely fit on Santa's lap. :-(

Riding the Christmas carousal.

He really wanted this shark pillow.

Caleb getting eaten by a shark.

Great Santa pic!

This was from the Christmas sing-a-long at school. Caleb gets more animated every year. Love it!

Ethan was excited to sing the 5th grade song 12 days of Christmas but it's all about fast food. So funny!

Work Xmas party

With a last minute schedule change, I was able to go to our Christmas party for work! Every year the neonatologists from the Baylor system put together a huge party for all of the Baylor NICU's. We had dinner, dancing, and photos!  It was cool to have all of the neonatologists, NNP's and nurses from the Baylor system all together.

Some of our work crew.

And of course Mondo is always up for a good time so he was happy to come with us! I love that he's a social butterfly and can make friends everywhere.

Another photo op with our girls...

It's hard to see because it was dark in there, but that is a bunch of our neonatologists breaking it down on the dance floor. ;-)

I'm glad I had this hot date next to me all night. :-)

Family Literacy Night

The kid's school tried out a new thing this year called Family Literacy Night. It was a fun night of pizza, activities, and watching Polar Express. We had a great time and hope they do it again next year!

Since Ethan is on Student Council he helped serve pizza. He loves being able to help out at school functions.

There were different activities in every room. This room was making a snowman out of marshmallows and candy.

Ethan felt a little old doing it but participated anyway. ;-)

Making reindeer food.

Decorating cookies.

Story time.

Making hot cocoa.

Ethan did enjoy the hot cocoa time...he loves that stuff!

A little Christmas Bingo...

Decorating a Christmas card.