Christmas Time is Here...

So it's been two months and obviously a lot has happened since my last post. We spent the next two weeks saying goodbyes and packing up our flat. We had to pack up the entire flat (except what was already furnished) since we will not be going back to that place. The last 2-3 days before we left were quite frantic! The Hands On interns, our 6 month intern and another good friend of ours joined us to say goodbye at the airport. The flight was uneventful, but I got a picture of what our trip back will be like. There was a British couple a few rows up from us, in the bulk head row, with a baby so I was able to see what a 10 hour flight with a baby is like. Should be interesting!We arrived to my parent's house in the late afternoon and then later had the dinner I had been planning for weeks - steak at Texas Roadhouse! It was just as good as I remembered. Then the next day for lunch I had my next favorite food:

Sonic greatness! We were having a great time being home, but realized how hard it was not

having a car. But our second Sunday home we received a huge blessing that we couldn't have seen coming. We were at our church in Arlington talking to a lady we knew and told her of our need for a car. Not half and hour later she called Chris over and told her she had a lead on a car. She introduced us to a lady who said that she and her husband had a spare car they had tried to sell but couldn't. They wondered why they were keeping this car around and now we are the third people to be able to use it. They said we could have it for as long as we needed it. What a blessing! We spent the next two weeks in southeast Texas with Chris' family. We spent a few days with Chris' youngest brother, his wife and their little girl. It was great to spend time with them and meet our niece for the first time. That Friday we had dinner with Chris' other siblings and their spouses and I met Chris' other brother's wife for the first time. Crazy! We had a great time concluding with a great baby shower.

These are the shower hostesses (my sisters-in-law and mother-in-law) and me:(from left)

Lacey, Angela, me, Amber, and Jamie

This is Chris' first pair of shoes. And the bottle in the back is actually a candle that his mom had

at her baby shower before she had Chris.

My sister-in-law made this cake. It was so good- and cute!

Then we went back to the Dallas area to spend a few weeks with my family. We arrived on Monday and Thursday was Thanksgiving. Once again, I failed to actually get pictures of people but I got some of the food and pretty table!

Yummy turkey!

My beautiful cranberry dip.

Pretty place setting.

The rest of the time was spend doing a lot of sports watching, baby shopping, and Christmas shopping. But one of the most important things was cookie making! My mom and I had lots of fun with some very delicious outcomes.

We had barely gotten started and I already got flour on Caleb!

Of course I had to taste test along the way. :)

Me and mama had fun cooking! We were making some cookies that my Grandpa Hurst's mom first made. And we were being silly in the process!

The finished products - beautiful AND yummy!

While we were working on taking our Christmas card picture I was just having some fun taking pictures of my parents' tree and some ornaments. I also took this picture of a special present that will arrive about a month after Christmas:

We can't wait for his arrival!

My parents' pretty Christmas tree.

Pretty ornament

Awesome ornament

My grandma made this when she was in the nursing home. She was pretty unresponsive to anything else, but when they put a paint brush in her hand it was like she remembered what to do. (She used to be a painter).

A few days ago we came back down to southeast Texas to spend the two weeks leading up to Christmas with Chris' family. On Sunday we did Christmas with Chris' brothers and sisters and spouses (we draw names for gifts) since one of the couples won't be here on Christmas day. We had a lot of fun and it was the first time all the siblings and spouses had been together for Christmas (well, early Christmas anyway).

So that basically catches us up to now. There have been doctor's appointments mixed in there but nothing significant to report. Everything is good and he is head down. Next appointment is December 28th and then I'll start going weekly. Can't believe I'm closing in on 8 months!

So that's what's been going on with us. Hopefully I will be better about updating this especially when our little guy arrives.

Merry Christmas!