Texas Family Reunion begins! Christmas: Part 2

After having an awesome Christmas celebration with the Stacy family and then celebrating Mark's Grandpa Hobbs' 80th birthday with even MORE family we were quite exhausted from an already busy weekend but it wasn't time to settle down. We were then packing and getting ready for our 2 week family trip to Houston, Texas where we would spend Christmas and having a big Brown Family reunion!! Mark and Zach and Kali got all packed and loaded up in the Expedition and left on their 2 day road trip to Texas early Sunday morning while Madelyn and I stayed another day so I could go to a doctor appointment and head out on our flight Monday evening. There was no way I was going to make a 30 hour/ 2 day road trip at 30 weeks pregnant. Unfortunately as it turned out, it almost would have been better that we had just gone with Mark in the car. Our flight from LA to Houston was delayed 5 hours and we were stuck in that airport until finally taking off at midnight!! Only to arrive in Houston at 5 am!! Thanks so much to the best sister ever, Kelli, who pretty much waited all night long to find out when to pick us up! Let's just say it was a LONG night and we were quite exhausted but Madelyn was the BEST little traveling companion ever and did great under the lousy circumstances. We picked up donuts and kolaches (one of my Houston favorites!) at 6 am on our way back to Kelli's and then luckily Madelyn and I were able to go back to bed for about 5 hours to catch up on our lost sleep! Meanwhile, Mark and the kids made it to my brother Tyson's house in San Antonio around 9 pm the night before while we were still stuck in LA. He said the trip went smooth and Zach and Kali did great. Hooray! They spent the night there and then headed to Houston to meet up with us at Kelli's that afternoon.
Finally after the traveling days we were able to have some fun and enjoy our time at Kelli's. Eric and Sarah with their 3 girls drove in from Ohio and Kathryn and Sam came to Kelli's for the day where we all met at this awesome mall the go ice skating, play on the cool playground and have lunch. It was quite the busy crazy day to be at the mall, but the kids had a blast and were already loving their time in Texas with their cousins!

Random huge creepy reindeer that was walking around the mall. There were a bunch of them and they even played the drums! The kids thought they were so fun.

Ice skating with Daddy. This was Zach's first time and Kali's second. They both did great and had a blast!

Aunt Sarah and all the little girlies watching the big kids ice skate. Madelyn and Ella were two little buds and really had so much fun together (they are only 6 months apart)

Aunt Kat helping Kali.

4 of 7 seven. Not too bad. This was sitting inside the awesome playground that was all closed off so the kids couldn't leave without a parent...genius. Why can't our mall have one of these?!?

Lunch at the mall with 8 kids! We were a sight to see! :)

After our fun at the mall we packed up and headed to San Antonio to Tyson and Valerie's home for a few days where we spent our actual Christmas. Eric and Sarah stayed at Kelli's for Christmas and we all met up a few days later at Mom and Dad's where the real fun begins!!
Once at Tyson's and Val's, Zach and Nikolai were inseparable and had a blast playing together. They spent much of their time playing the Wii... little did Zach know that's what Santa was bringing him for Christmas.

Cheese! We love Uncle T!!

Love this pic!

Christmas Eve nativity. Here's our Mary and Joseph and the donkey.

Angel and the shepherd.

And of course the "Wise-girl" bringing her gift to baby Jesus.

Opening our Christmas Eve gifts from Mema and Grandpa.

Thanks Mema and Grandpa for our new jammies! We LOVE them!

And the morning we've all been waiting for! Zach is patiently waiting at the top of the stairs until it was time to go down and see what Santa had brought!

Loving our stocking goodies!!

Santa brought Zach and Kali a Wii with a couple new games!

And Madelyn scored a new baby stroller! She was also loving the microphone that Santa left in her stocking.

Gifts for Daddy.

My hot hubby sporting his new shades from me.

...and of course excited to have his very own Settlers game.

Trying out all the new fun things from Santa. Kyndra and Natalia got a new doll house just like Kali's. The girls were loving it!

The boys trying out the new Wii games. It was a jammies kind of day where we just had fun enjoying each others company, eating a yummy French Toast and bacon breakfast, relaxing and in no hurry to go or do anything and then enjoying an awesome steak and potatoes dinner.

We had a great time with Tyson and his family and we are so grateful to them for having us there for Christmas! We love and miss you guys so much already!

After going to church with Tyson and Val on Sunday, we all then packed up and drove back to Houston to Mom and Dad's where the whole family would all meet up for an amazing steak dinner and the reunion craziness to begin!

14 adults and 15 grand kids all in one house!! A day that will not be forgotten! Who knows when the next time will be... Love and miss you all already! More pictures of our Texas reunion to come... stay tuned.