Christmas in Aggieland (Round 2)

We loaded up my car and headed to College Station last Wednesday despite me hitting a deer earlier that week in my car just as I was leaving for work one morning. Thankfully it didn't do too much damage and my car is still drivable. Anyways we got to Daniel and Lauren's house that afternoon and Layton was so excited to see Cooper and Kyleigh and their new house. Every stop we made on the way he would get out and say "is Cooper's new house?" He was beyond excited. Their house is so nice and I enjoyed getting the full tour since we had never been there. I helped Lauren get a little organized and we moved all the presents to the garage because they were everywhere and we knew the boys wouldn't be able to keep there hands off of everything. That evening Lauren cooked a delicious meal and then we had a birthday party for Jesus. We wanted Cooper and Layton to try and understand the true meaning of Christmas and Layton's new thing is to sing Happy Birthday all the time so I knew he would get into it. He definitely knows what birthday cake is now too that we have been to a few parties. After dinner we sang and had cake. That night we stayed up way too late talking and catching up.

Thursday we hung out around the house and Lauren and I managed to sneak away and go get a pedicure. It was nice to have a little peace and quiet having three kids 2 and under in a house gets a little crazy. That night we had Christmas with everyone and Daniel cooked some awesome steaks on his new grill in his outdoor kitchen. Amanda and Jerrod and Carter and Laura came for dinner and we all were able to be together. After dinner we took Layton and Cooper to see the Christmas lights at Christmas in the park by the mall and they enjoyed it. The lights were so pretty. Once we got back to the house we let the kids open all of their presents first so they could play while everyone else opened theirs. I was so surprised when Layton walked over and said "mail mommy" and handed me a card. It was a really sweet card from Clifton and Layton and as I was reading it Layton walked over again and said "tree mommy tree" and handed me a white rose. On the end of the rose was a ring with diamonds all over it that matched my wedding band (well almost). I had always told Clifton I would love to have another band just like my wedding band to put on top so it adds that much more sparkle to my ring but he always said maybe when we have been married 25 years so I was truly surprised. It was cute the way he incorporated Layton into everything. That was probably the best Christmas present I have ever gotten. Layton had so much fun opening presents and the boys had fun playing together with all of their toys. We stayed up way too late again after everyone else left and watched Clifton, Daniel and Matt (Lauren's brother) put together Cooper's motorized Ford truck. It was fun to see how excited Daniel was about giving it to Cooper once it was all put together.

Friday (Christmas Eve) we hung out until after lunch and then headed to Americus Diamond in San Antonio and got my ring exchanged, sized and soldered together by 5 when they closed. We had such a great time in College Station with everyone but it went by way too fast. We can't wait to go back and spend some more time with them. Here are a bunch of pictures from our time there. I took so many it was hard to only pick a few to post.

Kyleigh is so happy all the time so it is really easy to get a great picture of her.

Layton decided he needed to wear Kyleigh's pink sunglasses

Sweet girl

Our Birthday Party for Jesus

Layton was so excited about the cake he couldn't keep his hands off of it.

Both boys were ready for bed and Papa was going to read them a story.

Layton wearing Cooper's goggles that go with his weed eater.

All the guys working on the steaks outside

Playing with Cooper's new train table

I love their matching pajamas.

The lights in Christmas in the Park

Time to open presents

Mom opening her gift that Lauren made her with all the grand kids picture on it.

Kyleigh riding her new horse

This was Layton bringing me my special rose.

It was Jerrod's turn to get the Santa lingerie. This has been passed around every year in our family and it is always a joke to see who is going to open it. This was originally given to my grandmother when she married Joe at one of her showers. I love Amanda's face in this picture.

So many fun memories made this year together!