Tis the Season!

 We kicked off the Christmas season by attending the Dickinson Christmas parade. Tristan marched in it and decorated his trumpet with lights and wore a Santa hat. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture.

A couple of weeks later Grammy and Pop came to visit and we all went to the Dickinson Festival of Lights. It's pretty impressive, especially considering that it's free. Once again, no pictures. I forgot both my camera and my phone.

Evie was pretty exhausted when we got back and crashed on the couch with Grammy after her bath.

I just have to throw this picture in here because it's so darn cute!

My Who baby

We got all dressed up for Tristan's band concert. Grammy snapped some pictures of Evie in her Christmas finery before we left.

Sporting her beads of course.

Grammy and Pop came back to visit us again and we all headed out for our annual Christmas Eve dinner at IHOP. It's been a tradition of ours ever since our magical white Christmas in 2004.

IHOP 2012

Santa had work to do that night. We weren't able to put out any presents ahead of time because Evie kept trying to open them all. 

Notice there are hardly any ornaments on the bottom of the tree.

 

 

 

The aftermath of the Christmas morning chaos.

 

 

Better-Late-Than-Never Thanksgiving Post

Wow, I haven't blogged in a long time! Where has the time gone? I've also been very lazy about taking pictures. I just kept forgetting my camera. I know, I suck.

No review of our fall activities would be complete without including these pictures of Evie "helping" with the baking. In preparation for Thanksgiving we made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, a family favorite.

Rhett waiting for the inevitable morsel from Evie.

We spent a lovely Thanksgiving in Nacogdoches with all of my family. There were some new faces this year. We welcomed Matt's fiance, MaryAnn, into the family and Marc brought along Allison and Breelie. And that other precious new face? My adorable nephew, Andrew!

DuFrene family 2012

My girls snuggling. (Notice the lei Evie is sporting.) And who's that brown-skinned boy sitting there? Seriously, Mere, you can't call him Casper anymore.

We spent some time out on the deck enjoying the beautiful weather, making s'mores and looking at the stars.

Quiet time with Grammy.

On Friday we went on our annual Christmas tree hunt. I love going to the tree farm. It's so much more fun than getting a tree from the lot down the street.

After each family had selected the perfect tree we took a little trip to the duck pond at SFA. 

When we got back to Grammy and Pop's house it was time for the Christmas decorating to begin. All of the guys look forward to this every year because it means getting about 50 storage tubs out of the attic. Ha!

This is the one and only picture I took amidst the chaos. It's of Meredith holding her lid ornament. She made it when she was very small and it's had a place on the tree every year since. 

Stay tuned for a rundown of the Christmas season festivities!

Marching Band Headed to State

As many of you know, Tristan has been attending band practices and working hard since the beginning of the summer. Well, all of that hard work paid off and the Dickinson High School band is now heading to the state UIL marching contest on Tuesday, November 6 at the Alamodome in San Antonio!

Way to go Tristan! We are very proud of you.

Happy Halloween!

On Sunday we took Evie to the pumpkin patch. I wanted to get some cute pictures of her in her costume but she just wouldn't cooperate. She hated the hay! She ended up sort of posing for some with Daddy and Bubba. 

Tonight, she was all over the place. So much excitement! 

Posing with LaLa before going trick-or-treating.

I couldn't get her to stand still for pictures...

Evie had the most fun opening the door to trick-or-treaters. I swear, that was the highlight of her night.

Helping Gram B hand out candy.

At one point, Evie nabbed a Tootsie Roll and hid in the hallway with it. I caught her chewing on it, wrapper and all. Yum!

Enjoying the fruits of her hard-earned trick-or-treating.

Happy Halloween!

The wonderful Sarah Giles of Butterfly Chaser Photography has done it again! 

Some of Evie to commemorate her 1st birthday.

Some graduation photos of Scarlette.

And a few of Tristan.