Feliz Ano Nuevo

Now that we are a month into the new year I hope you are sticking to all of your New Year's resolutions. Thankfully staying current on the blog wasn't one of mine :-) Without further ado here are some pictures from Kate's wild and crazy first New Year's Eve.

The party was at Mia's house and the theme was Mexican (hence my attempt at some Spanish in the blog title). Being back in Texas has helped satisfy some of my Mexican food cravings that had been denied for so long living in Atlanta and San Francisco. We rang in the new year with queso, guacamole (which I am starting to eat a bit of!), and tamales. Yum!

Here Nana and I are lording over some of the pre-dinner snacks.

It was a family event with my aunts and uncles coming over to help celebrate.  Dennis and Peggy get the award for traveling the furthest coming all the way from the Cayman Islands. 

With Kate tucked into her bed for the evening, the party really got started when the party hats came out and the champagne was popped.

Cheers!  Let the fun begin with a rowdy game of Mexican Train.  Kate got to be in the photo by proxy (note the video monitor). 

We didn't want Kate to miss ringing in her first New Years so we woke her for a midnight snack. Hopefully it will be the first and last time she sees Dick Clark count down to midnight!  Sometimes you just need to know when it's time (or past time) to retire. 

Getting some New Years kisses from Mom and Mia.

The fun didn't stop just because the clock turned to midnight.  The next morning Mia treated everyone to a fabulous New Year's Day brunch followed up several hours later by a yummy dinner at Nana's which included black eyed peas for good luck in the coming year.

Kate still had the keys she took from Mom last night to ensure there was no driving after that glass of champagne!

There had been some threats from various grandmothers and aunts that our poor child was being mistreated when she still hadn't gotten to open her Christmas presents. So finally on New Years Day with Mia itching to take down the Christmas tree, Kate (via Mom) tore into her presents. Thanks to all the Denton family for the great loot!

Phew, I am officially done with the holiday season! It was a blast and we can't wait for the fun that awaits us in 2011. Next blog post...Kate's first hike!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

It may be the middle of January, but forgive me while I still attempt to get caught up on our blog.  Kate spent her first Christmas in Atlanta with her Grandma and Papa.  For this flight she got to travel in first class.  She let everyone know of her arrival by screaming as we boarded the plane.  Thankfully she calmed down quickly and settled in for the quick two hour flight.  Grandma and Papa were there to meet us on a chilly Atlanta evening.  

Before turning in for bed on Christmas Eve we showed Kate her stocking and explained that Santa would be coming that night to fill it.

Christmas morning Kate woke around 9.  Thankfully we are still a few years off from being awoken at 5 AM to see what Santa brought.  She was content to goof around with Papa while the rest of us got dressed.

Dressed in her Christmas finery we headed over to cousins Jake and Haley's house for lunch and presents.

The paparazzi were out in full force when all three grandkids gathered under the tree for a photo shoot.

As we sat down for lunch the first snowflakes started to fall. Kate doesn't know how lucky she is to get a white Christmas on her very first one! Having grown up in Texas and Georgia, this was a first for her Mom and Dad as well. As soon as we got back to the grandparents house we bundled Kate up in her snow bunny suit and headed outside to snap a few photos of the snow.

Here's a video of Kate out in her first snowfall.

Once back inside I just couldn't stop taking photos of Kate in her adorable snowsuit.  Sure hope it snows in Austin so I have an excuse to put her in it again but I don't think I'll hold my breath!

The snow continued to fall well into the evening.

The next morning, the boys bundled up and went sledding in the yard.  Stephen looked especially dapper in his sledding outfit!

While it wasn't exactly like Clark Griswold in Christmas Vacation, it was still a lot of fun and a whole lot safer!

I even got a ride on the sled while Aspen, Scott's dog, seemed to have the most fun of all.

Once Kate was up from her nap, we bundled her up again and tortured her with more snow pictures and a ride on the sled.

Here's a video of her thrilling ride on the sled.

No trip to Atlanta is complete without an evening out with friends Kalley and Paul.  Kate joined us this time and we got to spend some time visiting in their new beautiful house before grabbing a bite to eat.  

We had a wonderful and memorable Christmas and hope you did too.  Next post...New Years Eve and boy was it wild :-)  

Christmas Time in Austin

While you might be busy putting holiday decorations away, our blog needs a little Christmas spirit before we completely put 2010 behind us.  After stuffing ourselves with turkey on Thanksgiving, we couldn't pass up an invitation from my cousin Dusky to come to their house for her husband Shane's finger lickin' good fried turkey.  On a beautiful Saturday in early December we took our little city mouse out to the country to meet more of the Denton clan.

Kate had a blast playing with her cousins Cody and Skylar.

Waiting for the turkey to finish cooking

The beautiful bird.  Thank goodness we had a fireman in charge just in case!

Four generations of women in the Denton family.

Once back home, Kate set about making new friends with some of my oldest friends. Here she is meeting Stephanie Land and her little girl Kaki.

 

Soon to be best buds!

 

With Dad starting his new job, we had to enjoy the last few days we had with him. The weather in Austin has been so nice this December so we had lunch at Ski Shores, an old Austin hang out on the banks of Lake Austin.  Kate wasn't too sure about her perch up on the table.  She was probably afraid we'd dump her in the lake.  We might wait a few years before we do that :-)

 

The sad day finally came and we had to see Dad off to his first day of work.

 

Kate is super cute in the mornings and when she wakes up from naps.  Here a a few shots of me trying to capture her yawns and smiles. 

 

Lots of smiles on her changing table.

 

Big stretch!

 

Have to throw in another picture to capture Kate's crazy hair.  It is getting longer and starting to lay down a bit.  I will be very sad once her crazy hair is gone.  Here it is in all it's glory.

Kate had her first visit with the Big Man (aka Santa) and while she didn't scream we didn't get any smiles out of her either.  Santa was visiting at Baby Bugaloo which is an adorable store owned by a friend of mine from college. If you want to check out more from her photo shoot here's a link:

http://www.brookewestphotography.com/kbrownsanta2010

Here we are trying our hardest to coax a smile out of Kate.

One of Kate's new found pasttimes is chewing on her hand.  She holds her hand like the letter 't' in sign language and shoves it in her mouth.  With this new hobby has come significant amounts of drool.  So in addition to her clothes for the day she is always draped in a bib. 

We'll close this blog post with a few pics from her three month photo shoot.  We got some good smiles this time because I had Dad there to help me.  He also bought her the reindeer socks that brought a little holiday cheer to the pictures.

Check out that belly!

 

Kate had a big Christmas and New Years and I'll work hard to get a post up with those pictures soon!