A Bako Noel

We flew to Bakersfield to spend Christmas with Blake's side of the family.  Caroline and Ellie did great, especially considering the fact that after 2 cancelled flights...

Ellie

being up all night...

Caroline

waiting in line for hours at the airport at 11pm...

never actually flying into Bakersfield, and having to be picked up in LA...

they were in great moods the WHOLE time!

Going to Bakersfield feels like home for both Blake and I.  It's the longest I've ever lived anywhere and its where Blake was born and raised.  Going home means Caroline and Ellie get to see all of their cousins...soon to be 7 cousins all at the age of 5 and under.

...Not to include their second and third cousins, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, and a Great Grandma.

The extended family has a Christmas Eve tradition of all getting together with a soup/bread/dessert pot luck, all the Great Grandkids dressed up in matching PJs,

silly games, a visit from the real Santa Clause, and a White Elephant gift exchange.

The kids reaction to Santa varies on the spectrum ranging from excitement to terror.

Caroline and Ellie were definitely on the terror side of the spectrum.

A part of me felt so bad about them being so terrified, but I'm sad to admit that I was completely entertained and got some enjoyment out of getting these pictures.  I only hope this experience doesn't permanently mar their psyche.

I think they'll be ok.  Yiggie makes everything better.

Our family....

Blake and I each have our own Christmas memories that are poignant, fun and special.  But now, we are beginning an entire new life of memories together, with our children and with our whole family.

I am blessed to call his family, MY family.

Pointing to where it all began....with Caroline and Ellie's Great Grandma!  What a Legacy!

Let's See...where was I?

The last month and a half as been a blur...filled with fun, family and outings that have kept us on the run since the middle of November....

Allison holding Caroline and Blake holding Ellie

I ended my year leave of absence with Chevron at the beginning of December, and went back to work for 4 days before I took my month of vacation.  I know.  Rough life.  Someone please feel sorry for me.

My mom stayed with the girls while we were at work, and I think all three of them had a great time.

She and my Dad were in town already for the Thanksgiving holidays that was only a few days before, so instead of flying back with Dad, she stayed an extra week.

She taught them how to find their belly-button which they like to search for and show off whenever you ask them to.

She took them around on the wagon that they got for their birthday, went to lunch with them, and did a lot of playing that week.

They both wanted Grandmom that whole week and no one else.  Hmph.

Ellie waving in the back

Thankgiving, the week before, was a total blast.

We had David and Angie also come for 4 days.  They are like siblings to me, and we couldn't have been more thrilled to spend the holiday with them.  Rick was a part of the whole weekend as well, but he decided to stay at his own house instead of sleeping on the couch...call him crazy.

We had 16 people at our house for Thanksgiving...if you count the babies.  (Sidenote:  when do babies start getting counted...I never know what to say when we go to a restaurant and we're asked how many people do we have.)

Ellie, left and Caroline, right

We had 2 international students over that day and also our neighbors.  We were singing the motto, "the more the merrier" this year!

It was our first time to ever host Thanksgiving, and we hope we have many more opportunities to do it.

The weekend before all of our family came in town for Thansgiving week, Blake and I took the girls up to Groesbeck to visit our good friends, the Byrds.

Blake hunted with Wesley, i.e. sat in a deer stand in the feezing cold beginning at 4am waiting for deer to come.

Deer never came.

Ellie

We also watch A&M play LSU that weekend, which we were all anticipating to be a really great game.

It wasn't.

We mostly just hung around with Debbie and Wesley in their gorgeous home that they built last year and just enjoyed being in the presence of good friends in a beautiful setting.

It was a perfect weekend.  Even the hunting and football game was a great time!

And now, to what's going on now, we just got back from an 8 day trip to California for Christmas to visit Blake's family.

It was such a busy week.

We arrive a day late due to 2 cancelled flights.

Blake drove up to San Francisco with all the guys in his extended family for the Monday Night football game.  49ers vs Atlanta.

They had a wonderful time, every single guy came back hoarse, and it will be a memory they will probably talk about for years and years.

Caroline

We had our Christmas Eve celebration with all of Blake's extended family.  It was the loudest, most chaotic, most fun 4 hours I have spent in a very long time.

All of Blake's siblings and their family spent the night at his parents house for Christmas, and we all woke up for Christmas morning with some very excited nephews.  Caroline and Ellie were mesmerized by their cousins.

We got on a plane on Sunday to come home.  The travel this time was easy and uneventful.  The opposite with how we started the week.

And now, here we are.  About to enter into 2014.  What a way to end the year.

(All these photos here were from a walk that we took near where we live a little over a week ago.  I have tons of photos from all these other trips that I'll post over the next couple of days.)