Random Updates

Well, I have gotten behind - life has a way of just flying by, doesn't it?  We are so blessed and life is sweet and good.  The last few months have sailed by and I sometimes wish for a pause button, just so I can savor every moment with my children in each sweet phase - they are changing so fast!

This was our family picture from late January - right around Holton's first birthday.  It looks a little JCPenney because it is :-)  but I love it anyway!

 The H man loves playing in the pool of plastic balls!

Holton turned one year old on January 26 - hard to believe our baby stage is coming to a close.  He still falls asleep with me at bedtime sometimes, and I just cherish those moments of being able to hold him close when he is so sleepy and content (and not squirming!)...

We had a fun birthday lunch with family and close friends for his big day!

The highlight, which was not caught on film, was when he put out his birthday candle with two of his fingers - ouch!  It didn't really seem to phase him, although everyone who saw it had a moment of terror!  Stupid Mommy for putting a lit candle in front of him!

Skip to March ... in Texas, spring came early, and along with it came beautiful bluebonnets!  We found this patch of flowers near our house and couldn't resist some pictures one Sunday morning...

Yes, that is a black eye under Holton's right eye... an accident at music school... oh well, I'm sure it won't be the last!

One of our favorite spring activities is to visit the Dallas Arboretum during Dallas Blooms...

How can you resist this face???

My baby girl is looking far less "baby" and far more little girl!  She is growing up so fast!  She would have you think that she is a "grown-up", and she wants to do everything I do and then some.

Brian and I got all dressed up for an 80's party celebrating the 40th birthday of a friend.  We managed to capture all the bad styles from that decade in one night!

Yes, his hair is really shaved to a mohawk and dyed red!

We also had a wonderful weekend trip to Austin to visit family and friends.  We got to ride on the train at Zilker Park, and this was a big highlight of the trip for the kids (even though it was 90 degrees!).

Sorry for the lack of posts lately - I will try to stay on top of the blog this spring!

Love you all!

Holton Family Visit and Krissy's Wedding

My parents and my sister Jacque came to visit in early January, so we got to have Christmas all over again.  The kids are young enough, it seemed perfectly normal to them to have Santa come twice in less than a month!  We had fun giving each other special things this year, and we all enjoyed watching everyone open special surprises.

Pajo and Brian  - we are trying to initiate Pajo into the Texas football culture.

Holton just loved crawling around and playing with everyone's presents.

We even did stockings all over again!

The Holton clan...

Addy loves her Aunt Jacque (sometimes called Jacqueline in the cutest two-year-old voice) and really took to wearing her boots!

Playing with Aunt Jacque at the park...

While everyone was here, we took the opportunity to leave the kids for a night and fly south to Corpus Christi for the wedding of our sweet friend Krissy from medical school.  She was a bridesmaid in our wedding, and it was so much fun to celebrate with her!

It was a gorgeous warm evening in South Texas, and she was beautiful!

It was great to see old friends from med school too...

And Brian and I enjoyed our first night away from both kids, although I have to admit I thought about them a lot and missed them even for just 24 hours!

Art Installations by Adelyn Hughes

Adelyn is a very organized and creative child.  During the month of December, she treated us to some interesting projects that we have termed "art installations" using various toys, books, etc...  Sometimes we don't even realize she's up to a new project, until we find something like this on the coffee table...

Many of the art installations have involved the Little People Nativity set given to her by Mimi Jo and Papa Carl.  Notice the addition of "Frosty the Snow-Duck" on the left.  He was not originally a part of the Nativity set, but rather a gift from a classmate from school.  However, Addy has revised the scriptural scene to include him in each installation.

This one involved an egg crate.

This one involved placing members of the Nativity scene on top of toys and containers scattered all over the kitchen.

And of course, in the letters of her name puzzle.

She was very proud to have an installation by the kitchen window too...

Here are some fun videos showing more of her installations involving books ...

Keep reading below for more recent Hughes Happenings!

The Rest of December, 2011

Keep scrolling down after this post for several recent new posts...

December was a busy month in the Hughes household... I can't believe how fast it went!  We have had alternatively warm and cool weather - kind of unpredictable.  Here's the little people in the family dressed for a neighborhood walk on a cooler day!  I think by the end of the walk, Holton had managed to take off his hat, mittens, shoes, and socks... cold feet!

We have also enjoyed many trips to Breckenridge Park on sunny days...

Christmas this year was all about family (as it should be!), and we got to see so many special people! Brian's sister Amy and her family came to visit from Nashville. Our kids had so much fun playing with their older Nashville cousins, who in turn were so sweet to play with our little ones! 

We had several family gatherings during Christmas week.  On December 22, we celebrated Grandmother Gracie's 96th birthday with the entire Hughes clan.  We set a record for our house so far by having 31 people (including kids) over!  It was crazy but fun and great to catch up with everyone!

I like Darren and Marla's family backrub train - we're going to have to teach this to our kids!

This is Grandmother Gracie with all 12 of her Great Grandchildren!  So amazing to have all of them together in one room!

Getting ready to blow out birthday candles...

Next, on Christmas Eve, we got to see much of the Cranfill side of the family.  Brian's cousin from New Mexico was in town with his family.  Grandmother Crickett was able to be there, and it was special to have the kids spend a little time with her.

T-Pa and Holton...

Crickett with her Hughes grandchildren.

We met at a restaurant and the little man got a bit restless!

Crickett and many of her Great Grandchildren...

And finally, my only picture from New Year's... We continued our now almost annual tradition of celebrating the New Year with our friends Kendall & Lisa and John & Jennifer.  We walked to a neighborhood Mexican restaurant for dinner and then had a wonderful evening at Kendall & Lisa's home enjoying some of Kendall's mean margartitas (oh, and maybe a few tequila shots too, but don't tell anyone!)

  Love you guys!