Christmas in Lubbock

As previously mentioned in my "I love dead pigs" segment we spent Christmas in Lubbock. As I predicted Charlotte started walking. I just knew she wasn't walking because there was no room in our rental and sure enough as soon as she got to Uncle Jon and Aunt Mandy's house and had some space she took off that first day!



WARNING: This section contains Santa spoiler info.

This is the first Christmas Connor has really been excited about Santa. We showed him Santa Tracker on the internet on Christmas Eve and he completely lost it! He kept running back and forth saying "He (Santa) moved! He moved!". Then he would tell everyone "Go to bed!!!!". He was getting really frusterated with all the adults staying up. Finally we had to put him in bed with us until he fell asleep. Aaron was scratching on the wall pretending to be reindeer on the roof and Connor just about couldn't take it. Aaron pulled out his iPhone and said, "Connor, do you want to check Santa Tracker one more time?". Very upset, Connor said, "WOULD YOU PUT THAT THING AWAY AND GO TO SLEEP!!".



Nana & Papa and the kiddos.

Uncle Jon serenading Charlotte........

and later being spoiled by Aunt Mandy!




Connor with his hard hat/headlamp from Super Grandma & Super Grandpa that he can wear to "inspect" our house and Charlotte with a doll stroller she thinks is for her.

Hunter trying to feed Charlotte her first Ramen noodles.

She also got some girlie movies from Gramma & Grampa. Here she is enjoying her first chick flick--Thumbelina.

Just thought this one was cute so I had to include it. Notice Daddy's redneck steak grill in the back (In all seriousness, he learned how to make this on the Food Network and it really does cook steak just like in an expensive steakhouse).

This is Connor singing "He's still Workin' On Me". This is one of those keepers you have to get on video. Still haven't figured out how to rotate it :)

On Jan. 9 we finally got snow so the boys had fun outside.

Poor Charlotte! She was scared to go outside because Connor kept throwing snowballs at us. She's probably scarred for life and will have to live in California. The horror!!!

Now is the time if you are not my parents you probably want to check out before you are bored to death. That's right--House alert!

I had to put this one in because it shows just how bright the "Interrogation Lights" (aka flood lights) are over the garage. I told Aaron it looks like a penitentiary. Might have to change out that bulb.

Entry chandelier that I tried to include earlier but this is a better shot. It is about 3 feet tall and the glass has the look of parchment paper. It looks soft and "glowey" when it's on. We got it right before they discontinued it!

Island granite that I was "appalled" at when I first saw it. All I could see was Texas orange. Now that the backsplash, lighting, etc. is in I love it!

Aaron's big splurge was the shower. He really wanted a walk in shower (not sure what it's really called but the kind where it is really deep or takes a turn so you don't have to have any glass or a door) but the plan just didn't allow for it no matter what changes we thought of so we did some tile upgrades. Every other grout line has darker toned, shiny 1/2 x 1/2" accent tiles. He also talked me into a rainfall shower head coming down from the top. We'll try to save some water for the rest of the planet.

We've had a few "issues" (as in "Whoops. We've never built this floorplan before."). When they brought in the tub it didn't fit in the space. They only way to get it dropped in was to cut out a niche in the wall to add a 1/2 inch. I think it turned out pretty good.

When I saw this I had to take a picture. I sent an email to the builder that said, "I'm no expert but is the tub supposed to be supported by bricks and plywood and the pvc held up by small tiles?". Remarkably he said this was common practice and that it is all cemented in place. Still seems suspicious to me but alrighty.