Nico's preschool Christmas program

Nico's Christmas program definitely had a level of entertainment value. I think every parent there was competing for the best space up front and in the center aisle, so they could take pictures and/or record. We sat back casually laughing. I did get a few shots, just for memory sake, shown below.

His class sang two songs, Up on the Housetop and Joy to the World. I would say he followed along maybe 25% of the time, which far exceeded my hope of him at least standing still.

My second favorite part of the night was the shitty grin he immediately had upon seeing us.

And my favorite part of the night was during the picture slideshow, which featured every child and lasted about 5 min. It was completely silent until Nico's picture was shown a little halfway through, and it was followed by a large amount of kids saying, "Niiiico!" This then started the trend of the kids announcing the name of everyone shown from that point forward. I guess he's a popular guy?!

We didn't stay too long afterwards to mingle, since we were planning on making an appearance at my dad's Freescale Christmas party at his house, followed by the arrival of Dave and Cindy to start our Christmas weekend! Busy night!

Zilker Trail of Lights

It's not Christmas in Austin without the annual Zilker Trail of Lights trip! This is one of my favorite new traditions.

Freescale Day was this past Wednesday, and they had a nice little VIP tent with cookies and hot chocolate midway through the walk. The weather was perfect, and Nico really enjoyed looking at all of the exhibits this year. He was excited to see some of the characters he knows like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Mickey and Minnie, Jiminy Cricket, and Snoopy.

He wasn't as nervous to meet Santa this year but was still pretty hesitant.

Freescale's little village exhibit had an option to hit "naughty" or "nice" button to control the tone of the music being played (major keys for nice vs. minor keys for naughty.) Nico voted that he has been a nice boy this year. We shall see...

Couldn't leave without the light sabor souvenir.

Hockey action from our one and only

It is uncommon for Nico to be able to make his daddy's hockey games due to the nature of their very late schedule. Tonight was the first game Nico has been to in Austin! He was so excited the entire time. Half of the time, he was watching the game closely, and the other half, he had his little hockey stick pretending to be out there. So cute.

He even scored a goal for us.

Post game high fives and knuckles for his fav player.

Just a fun day

Today was another truly fun day all around! I had the first half of the day to MYSELF which included brief shopping for a few cute outfits, a stop at Mangieri's to get a canoli for a snack, and an hour long massage + pedicure at Milk and Honey! I felt like I was on vacation.

I will say that the second half of my day was even more fun, as it was spent with family. :)  We had a nice little evening in downtown Austin, which started off at one of my dad's favorite bars, B.D. Riley's.

Crusin 6th street. In our short walks, he was given a guitar pick by a local band.

We landed at Du Forne for dinner, and it was a cute little place. (We originally had plans to eat at another pizza place, Backspace, but we had no idea it would be packed with a line at 4 pm.) David was in his element with the appetizer mozzarella plate consisting of food imported from Italy. (oooh, aaaah.)

"Hey guys, let's do cheers and prost."

Afterwards, we walked nextdoor to the infamous Driskell for a drink. I felt like we were semi-important people for just being here in such a nice place! Ha.

Nico ate popcorn while we all had a drink. There was a private party going on nearby, and after walking through to go to the bathroom with my dad, Nico was offered a giant cookie by a hot looking girl. Needless to say, a second trip was later made for another cookie. He's living the dream, I tell ya.

We just love the nightlife scene here in Austin. Pretty lights, horse drawn carriages, and live music everywhere. Nico busted out an impromptu "hook em" during our attempted family photos.

Loving this life we have!

Sore loser

Nico has started having more of an interest in board games. Yay for him sitting still and not being crazy ALL of the time!

This picture cracks me up. He just lost in Candyland...

Christmastime is here...

I felt like Christmas was an entire month-long celebration in this house! It was my favorite one so far because of Nico's age and level of excitement about it all. There was a Christmas movie playing every night in this house, Christmas songs regularly sung, talk of why we celebrate Christmas, and threats talk of Santa and his nice/naughty list. Kittybo the elf came to visit again this year too. We went to many events that all added to the magic of this time of year. I can honestly say that this may be more fun being a toddler's mom at Christmastime than being the child.

We decorated the house AND the front yard this year. Points for us. This consisted of multiple trips to Home Depot, Walmart, and At Home (and never getting out under $40-50!)

Nico was a good helper.




Not bad for our first attempt Will have to add on every year! (Just nod yes, David.)




We picked Nico's 2 favorite characters. He was pumped every night when the sun started going down, since he knew that meant he could inflate these guys.




He loved putting ornaments on the tree. He likes to have jobs and takes them seriously. We let him have free reign on the bottom third with the cheap bulbs, and our nice ornaments were put up top. He sang Santa Claus is Coming to Town, to himself, while putting these ones up.

Here is the finished product and my favorite part of the Christmas decor. It's always so fun (I'll speak for myself, not David) to reminisce on all of the different ornaments since they all have special meaning. I'm turning into my mom.

Only the best wrapping paper for this guy. Santa and mommy/daddy may have gone overboard this year.



There were a lot of kid-centered, Christmasy events around Austin that I made sure we did this year! In Bee Cave, they had a snow day, and Elsa from the Frozen movie came to visit. We were there about 2 1/2 hours, and it was a fight to tell Nico we had to eventually leave. At one point, we were there so long, that we had to walk over to Dick's to get him some gloves since his hands were getting so cold. He got a kick out of making little snowmen the whole time. We came with his buddy, Greyson.

 

Later that day, after naptime, we went to the Dripping Springs Christmas festival to walk around. We ran into Santa, and Nico gave him a high five and knuckles. He told him that he wanted cars, trucks, and boats for Christmas. Greyson and Nico ran around all over Mercer Street, and we stopped in a cute little shop for some frozen yogurt.

(While we had our Christmas festival day, David was partying it up with his BFFs, Todd and Scott, at the new Baylor stadium! Partially jealous...)

On one of the weekdays, my mom took Nico to the library for a storytime of the Polar Express, and he was able to color and play with trains. When the reader started off the story, she asked if anyone knew who lived in the North Pole. Nico was the first to answer (go figure) and proudly announced, SAAAANTA.

 

 

 



Like father, like son

I was walking behind them, up the stairs, and this was my view. Is there something wrong with me that my first thought was that I just HAD to get a picture of this?!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving in this household is all about family, food, and football!

David cooked another deep fried turkey this year, and we had my parents over. It felt like such a small get together without having Ryan or David's parents. We had all the usual menu items, and it was an awesome meal.

There's nothin' like my mom's pumpkin pie! Why do we only have this once a year?!!

This marks the 2nd year in a row that we have gone to the Texas game. New family tradition?

We tailgated for a little over an hour before the game.

I'm giving David grief for something. Who knows what this time!



This kid was soooo pumped to go into the game. He insisted on holding onto his ticket the entire walk. It was so enjoyable just watching him and the light in his eyes today.

 

Not a bad seat in the house. Weather turned out being pretty nice too.

The eyes of Texas are upon you...

He really enjoyed some of the chants, particularly yelling "Fight" after the other side of the stadium yelled "Texas." He was a good fan and really watched a lot of the game!

Popcorn kept him entertained as the boredom crept in around halftime.

 

We left in the 3rd quarter. Texas wasn't looking too good against #5 TCU, but more importantly, we had a great time hanging out together. Nico had a blast at his FIRST of many Texas football games!