The Life and Times of the Comtes: Merry Christmas!!

So, this will probably be the first of several (hopefully!) posts over this weekend to document our family Christmas! We came to Gee's house (Joe's mom) yesterday and have been going non-stop ever since. First, we had to make a run to Wal-Mart (about the only place to go in Palestine, Texas!) since I forgot the stockings at our house and spent way more time there than we wanted to. I guess that's what happens when you go to Wal-Mart two days before Christmas!

This morning (Christmas Eve), Joe was going to take Austin duck hunting for the first time. Keep in mind that Austin does not have any hunting clothes, so Joe is just planning on putting one of his coats on Austin so that he will be camouflaged! Also keep in mind that it is about 65 degrees here right now, so there are NO ducks anywhere to be seen. Well, Joe and Austin are on their way to check it out anyway. Joe gets Austin up at 6:15 and gets him dressed to take him to the pond behind the house to "hunt." I hear them about to walk out the door and Austin is doing such a great job being quiet. They open the door and I hear

Joe: "uh oh"

Austin: "its raining."

I wish I could get across the sound in his voice. It was filled with such disappointment, but so matter of fact. They then proceed to stand at the door, with the door open, and look at it, as if staring hard enough will make it go away. Finally, they come back in, resolved to try again another day.

So, later, Kayla gets up and is playing outside. When Austin was little, we used to let him play outside at Gee's house without worrying about what he was doing. He always stayed right near the house and RARELY got into anything he wasn't supposed to. Kayla, on the otherhand, cannot be trusted even if she were on a leash. She gets into EVERYTHING! Yesterday, I walked outside and she had her hands in the little fishpond behind the house trying to catch the little goldfish in there. She looks up at me and says "Look, Mommy, fishies..." Wow... Well, today, Gee goes outside to look for Kayla and can't find her, but she can hear her talking. She walks around the corner and finds Kayla ON THE TRACTOR!!! Kayla has climbed up by herself and is sitting in the tractor pretending to drive. I finally convince her that we should go get Bubba (mostly so he can keep his eye on her while she's playing!) and as we're heading into the house, he comes out. She waves him over and says "come on Bubba" and then proceeds to show him that she has discovered the tractor they can play on! Wow, again...

Here's Kayla, quite pleased with her new find!!

And here they both are. I think Austin is trying to figure out if he's going to get in trouble by being on the tractor!

They have been having such a great time and are taking a nap as I type this! Tonight, the rest of Joe's family will be coming over to eat dinner and open gifts. Should be an incredibly hectic night! I'm sure it will be VERY easy to put them to bed tonight!

Last week was Austin's Christmas program at school...he was one of the three wisemen. He was so cute (again...not that I'm biased or anything!) and did such a good job standing by the manger scene!

That night, we went to Santa's Wonderland with some of our friends. We ate dinner, went to the petting zoo, took a hayride to look at Christmas lights and sat by the campfire. It was a very fun night for everyone, although you wouldn't know it by Kayla's temper tantrum at the end of the night.

Here are the kids waiting "patiently" for the hayride!

I'm pretty sure Kayla had had enough and was ready to go home!

Finally, we celebrated Christmas with my family on Sunday evening since they would all be in Houston and we're all at Joe's mom's house. Austin's favorite gift was a Polar Express train that my grandparent's game him. He said it was his "best Christmas present ever." Kayla got a kitchen from my mom that has already gotten much play time. She loves to make dinner for everyone, even though it usually consists of plastic cookies. Its probably a good thing that we split it all up into several days. I think both children were a little overwhelmed by everything on Sunday.

Austin with his new train!

Who knows what Kayla was cooking at this point!