A very Merry (and very belated) Christmas to you!

We had a wonderful Christmas.  I know I'm a bit late writing about this and a little out of order with my last post, but I finally have some time to sit and write about it.

First of all, hubby's sister (who also lives in Austin) was pregnant and due on December 15.  She started having contractions that day, and my newest nephew, baby M, was born in the wee hours of the morning on December 16, one day before my anniversary.  Here's the little cutie.

The most amazing thing to me about baby M, is that he was 22 1/4 inches long!!  Did I mention his daddy is 6'7" or something crazy like that??  I think he's going to follow in daddy's tall footsteps.  

On December 19, an army of in-laws arrived.  My husbands parents and his brother, sister-in-law and their three kiddos flew in from California.  His parents stayed with his sister, and his brother's family stayed with us.  In total, there were four adults and four kids in my house for five full days!  It was chaotic to say the least, but so much fun. 

Juliet had a blast playing with her cousins.  She ran around after the two older ones all day long.  It's a good thing too, because I was busy cooking meals most of the time.  Her cousins are age 6, 3, and 10 months, so she fit right in between to two youngest.  

Here they all are watching, "Dora." 

One night, we all drove out to Marble Falls, TX.  It's a small town where I went to High School about an hour west of Austin.  They have a trail of lights along the waterfront of Lake Marble Falls every year.  We drove out, ate dinner at Chili's, and then loaded up the kiddos to see the walk of lights.  We had so much fun, even though it was a bit cool that night.

We spent a lot of time at home, just letting the kids go nuts.  But we also spent some time at my sister-in-law's house.  We got some great family photos there.  

Three generations together for Christmas

Holding my youngest niece and my brand new nephew

On Christmas day, my sister-in-law had her new baby boy dedicated at her church.  While they were away, my other sister-in-law and I worked to prepare the Christmas dinner.  We had a wonderful meal, and then there was gift-giving madness!  Children ran to and fro, paper, bags and boxes were flung about, toys littered the floor...it was awesome!  My sister-in-law who lives in Austin bought little gifts for all the kids, and she included our sweet little Liesel.  It meant so much to us to see a present with Liesel's name under the tree.

And just as quickly as they came...they left!  Their flight left at 7:30pm on Christmas day.  My parents graciously agreed to take Juliet for the night.  After everyone left around 4:30 pm, I lay down on the couch and didn't move until I went to bed at 9pm.  I napped in the afternoon for three days afterward because I was so worn out.  But it was well worth it!  Get together's with hubs entire family are few and far between because they live so far away.  It was a rare treat...one we enjoyed immensely!