Birthday & Christmas

On Madeline's actual birthday (12/23) her and Stephen were feeling a bit better from their sinusitis and bronchitis that we had a fun filled family day to celebrate. First we went out to lunch to In-n-Out (brand new location just opened in Austin - these former Californians couldn't be more happier!). 

The birthday girl enjoyed her strawberry shake, cheeseburger and fries. :)

After lunch we decided to check out Blazer Tag in South Austin. Our whole family signed up for a 20 minute session in the dark tri-level maze where we competed against several other boys and men who had obviously played before and tagged us many times :) we still had fun and definitely will go back again!

For dinner I made Madeline's request, spaghetti and meatballs with Texas garlic toast! Afterwards Madeline wanted to go see Christmas lights so we treated the kids to Santa's Ranch. It's a drive threw light display between San Marcos and New Braunfels about 15 minutes from our home. We went several years back so we were excited to see if they had new displays. 

They had a theme this year "From the beginning..." It started off with light displays of the galaxies in outer space, to dinosaurs, to Egyptian times, to Roman times, to Biblical times, to the birth of Jesus and His Crucifixion and Resurrection...it was really cool! They also had winter displays and military displays to honor our troops. 

The next day on Christmas Eve Stephen worked in the morning while the kids and I stayed home. In the evening we headed to the Children's Mass at one of our local parishes. It was a beautiful service, the small children did a wonderful job reenacting the story of the birth of Jesus.

We saw our friends, the Medina family after Mass. Isn't our Godson, Anthony, getting big!? He turns 1 in a month! Time flies!

When we got home after Mass we had several packages delivered on our doorstep including Madeline's flower girl dress that she will be wearing for my cousin's wedding in Hawaii this coming February. Doesn't she look pretty!?

That evening the kids were eager to get to bed. They believe in the magic of Santa, so it was exciting to see their reactions to the gifts he left!

James stoked about the "red" Ninja Turtle Santa gave him.

The kids got Stephen the World Series BOSOX 2013 baseball cap and a glove and ball Red Sox ornament. He was happy.

Have you ever seen anyone so happy about duct tape!?

To my surprise...Stephen and the kids got me the Dyson Ball vacuum along with a handheld Dyson vac! I told Stephen since I got my new Nikon at Thanksgiving, not to get me anything for Christmas. He didn't listen. ;) I've been wanting a Dyson for years. They also got me a tripod and a lens cap keeper for my camera. I was spoiled. 

For the kids big Christmas gifts we got them each a Kindle Fire HD. No more using mommy's iPad. ;) Um, they love them! These will be great for school work, reading, games (of course), movies, etc. 

Lastly wanted to share about our ornament exchange tradition we have with some of our best-est friends. I love the ornament my best friend Robyn and her husband Jeff sent us. It has the Spence Ohana written all over it! The ornament I sent them (below) was very special and sentimental. Meaning behind the triple tiered pink glittered ornament: it represents this year when the two of them became three! Cats out of the bag, my best friend is expecting a baby girl!!! To personalize the ornament I hot glued some ribbon (with tiny pink baby feet impressions) on the ornament. I asked her to text me this pic of it handing on their tree. This Aunty is super excited to meet this baby girl. And I'm super thrilled Robyn's wish to become a mother has finally come true! She's going to be an awesome mom!

Happy New Years Everyone!