Hunting for (Rein)deer In Waco

We've made it to Christmas... 

And we're days away from Valentine's Day...

PROGRESS!

We began our Christmas celebrations this year in Waco...

But they started off a little different than they have in the past... instead of lots of family time we had some girl time and some boy time. Except for sweet Graham who got stuck with all of the girls. But I am sure he has plenty of boy trips in his future.

Bop wanted to take Caden on his first hunting trip and of course Justin was happy to oblige. And Uncle Tag too. So nearly the minute our feet hit the soil of Waco the boys were all off to hunt some of those Christmas (rein)deer. :)

Meanwhile, back at the fancy ranch the girls hung out and did what girls do... shop!

For Baylor gear...

And ate...

Rosa's.

And watched a chick flick...

The Holiday.

I was anxious to get pics of my boy while he was hunting and I would be lying if I wasn't a bit nervous about him being there, but Bop addressed all of my concerns (even if they all thought I was a bit loony toons) and I felt better about a 5 year old and 5 guns! (I don't really know how many guns were there... it just worked best for the sentence!)

A few pics...

The campfire... and the Chade!

Dude spread...

Burger...

My two dudes!

A hunting selfie?

Snug as two bugs in a rug... or a camper... out in the middle of the deer lease... 

Fast asleep after on the ride home after an early morning hunt ...

Justin got him a deer and Caden had an up close and personal lesson in life and death and the food chain... it's what makes the world go 'round. He did have some food for thought on the way home, when he asked his Daddy, "Daddy, do you think that her friends and family will be looking for her today?"

Sweet thing... he knew that someone would be missing that sweet lady of a deer and his heart wasn't quite sure how to rectify that. And I can't say that I don't understand 100% how his little brain was turning. 

If you ask him if he'd do it again... He'd say YES and double YES! I think he's a boy who loves to be with his Daddy... and the rest of the boys, so he'd do nearly anything to make that happen.  

In the coming days and weeks we had several conversations about Daddy's deer... including when he ate her for dinner... gross! And this is why I can't think too hard about anything I eat or else tears will fall! :) But Caden again... decided it was ok... and he ate her! :) And I think he even liked it... 

Enough about hunting... 

Back to Christmas!

Sunday the boys got home and the tickle I felt in my nose and throat on Saturday and alerted Justin that I was likely getting sick... in fact did turn into more... and by Monday morning I was full blown sick and getting worse by the hour... but the show most go on! 

Justin had to come back for work on Monday but the kids and I stayed to play...

I don't have much to show for the rest of our time in Waco because I wanted to do nothing more than to rip out my eyes, cut off my nose and extract my lungs from my body... oh and crawl into bed! :) Okay so maybe that extract my lungs thing is a bit dramatic... but everything else I was ready for! :)

But  don't worry no such thing happened... 

We had LOTS of Christmas fun to produce...

SO we pressed on...

We did lots of playing with Nana...

Wrestling with Uncle Tag...

Doing G-Dawg's hair...

And even took the kids to an inflatables place... where I am sure is where I caught the next round of sickness that would spread the love around the family... 

BUT the kids had fun...

And that's what counts!

By Monday evening Justin had made his return and realized that the sickness he thought I was "making myself feel" was actually REAL and he suggested I call my doctor the following morning and see if they had any recommendations for what I should be doing that I wasn't already... And they said... if my 4 allergy/asthma meds weren't cutting it... they said, good luck... ride it out... take some Robitussin... Awesome, thanks!

Christmas Eve came bright and early the next morning... and by then Justin's grandparents had arrived to share in the fun! We opened presents... which I have no accounting of... 

But I can assure you that we were all well-gifted and of course left with WAY more than arrived with. The kids had a magical time opening all of their presents and of course wanted to play with each one right away. The rest of us enjoyed seeing the joy in their faces and were thankful for the time to spend together.

Not long after presents we ate a Christmas Eve lunch and then it was time to pack up and hit the road...

We still had Christmas to be had at home... and in Corpus Christi...

But the sickness still had it's turn to give us its gifts too... 

We only thought my cold/allergy attack from Hades was the last of it! :)

Little did we know...

Merry Christmas Eve!