Dallas

This year, like last year, we packed up the car and headed to Dallas for the McGraw family Christmas--with one more in tow! We had alot of fun! On Thursday, we headed to the new lake house--it's fabulous! Once we got into town, we had to head over to see cousin Maggie--she's a blog stalker! He loves the Coleman clan. Then it was off to Aunt Kathy's to catch up with the rest of the gang. We ate Dickie's BBQ (the Fowlers own one in Wylie) and drank Merlot til out teeth were purple! The girls all stayed up til about 1:30...which was fine since we had nothing going on on Friday--just shopping.

Then, we had a BIG day on Friday! Actually, a big night too! Jackson slept through the entire night!! For really, the first time ever! 10:30pm-8:30am with no formula involved! On top of that--he got his first tooth on Thursday!! And his second on Friday!! We relaxed for most of the day and then attended the 2nd annual Christmas party at the Muskrats--a family from Plano. It was alot of fun--the husband plays the piano and the wife has an amazing voice and everyone gathers in the living room and sings Christmas carols and the occasional Brown Eye Girl and Mustang Sally! Jackson has alot of fun singing too--although his was more of a monotone hum.

Saturday was a big day for all the grandkids--it is a tradition in the McGraw family that ALL of the grandkids get their picture taken with Santa--no matter how old you are! This year, we added 3 members to the family, bringing the total to 17!! Aunt Kathy and Great Grandma Peg made all the great grandkids Santa hats with their names on them--they were super cute! After Santa, we we off to Aunt Peggy's for dinner, drinking, and gift opening!! Jackson got some great stuff from Grandma Patty: a Guess jog suit outfit, a Curious George tin lunch box (it's so cute!), glow in the dark jammies, a crawling toy, etc. From the aunts, he got LOTS of books! (Aunt Peggy is a pre-school teacher and LOVES books!) I am so excited about them! We read them all in the car on the way home. Aunt Kathy got Jackson a glow-worm! Although it is supposed to put him to sleep, he is infatuated with the light and stays awake staring at it! Marley LOVED the pink cowboy boots Adam and I got her--every two year old needs a pair of cowgirl boots! She also enjoyed the big girl panties she got--so much so that she wore them on the outside of her britches all night!

In addition to all the great stuff Jackson got, "the aunts" got me a Vera Bradley tote bag. I was not familiar with the brand, but now I am well versed in Vera Bradley items! I guess it big in Dallas, I just hadn't found it to be too popular in the Houston area yet (or maybe having a baby put my behind the times, who knows!!) But I love this little bag! And I'm sure their intention was for me to use it as a purse, I have to say, it's the perfect size for a diaper bag! And, that's what I'm using it for right now! It hold everything and keeps it organized! I've already ordered a wallet to go with it so I can use it as an every day bag too--I love it! No more bulky diaper bag!!

After presents, we sang Christmas songs, lead by the famous Marley, who knew and sang every word! She danced in circles while Adam got the whole thing on video--too cute!

The entire Dallas trip was a lot of fun and we were so happy to get to see everyone!! And after staying up til 4:30am on Saturday night chatting away with my new best friends--Cristin, Kelly, and Rickie--I had a LONG day ahead of me to get back to League City for Christmas with my side of the family! And of course, Santa....