Petting Zoo

This past weekend was the annual birthday festival to celebrate Granbury's name sake. There were the usual small town festival offerings including:
a parade, arts & crafts booths around the square, BBQ cook off and even a petting zoo! Saturday afternoon we decided to enjoy the beautiful weather and let Ethan check out some of fun.

As we approached the petting zoo I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but as soon as we walked up he started pointing and calling out animal names. He marched straight up to the gate and right on in.

He was a BIG fan!


This horse was just his size. He was trying to figure out how he could ride him.




Checking out the little piglet.



He was finally able to catch up to one of the chickens he was chasing around the pen.


As Ethan begins to talk more and more he loves to name off animals in books and as we drive down the road, and he enjoys telling us what each of them "says". He loved seeing these animals up close and having the hands on experience!

*Sleet *Ice* Snow*

We have had a crazy week of winter weather! A storm blew in early Tuesday morning with sleet and then ice and a little snow which meant no work for me. Ethan and I spent the day inside because the wind was blowing like crazy and temperatures were in the low teens! Things didn't warm up any for Wednesday and nothing melted so I was home for another day, and we still didn't venture out because it was mostly ice. Needless to say, after 48 hours of not leaving the house I was getting cabin fever!! Thursday I braved the road and went into the office. I only saw 3 patients for the entire day but I was also able make a trip to Walmart to restock on milk, eggs, bread, and MOST important Diet Coke!! This morning we woke up to several inches of snow!! It was really pretty to look out and see everything blanketed in white. Luckily our office decided to stay closed for the day, so Ethan and I got to enjoy the morning playing in the snow.

Bundled up and ready to head outside.



Here's a video of Ethan and Hondo checking out the snow!


Playing on the Snow Fort.




Ethan helped me gather up some firewood so we could stay plenty warm!


As I'm finishing up this blog the sun is out and we've actually hit 32 degrees!! The snow is glistening and starting to melt so maybe we will eventually defrost, but for now we'll enjoy the winter wonderland.

Maiden Voyage

Ethan got his first saddle this year from Santa, and a couple weekends ago we got to get out and saddle up Rowdy to take the new saddle on its maiden voyage. Don't get me wrong, this wasn't the first time Ethan has been on the saddle! He's been riding it in the house, on his rocking horse, and while it sat on the saddle rack, but this was the first time for him to be on it a horseback.

Zack working to get everything set just right


Checking it out....


Getting a feel of things.


Now taking a hold of the situation.


Ride'm Cowboy!


Very excited and proud of himself!!


To say that Ethan LOVES horses would be a HUGE understatement!!
Kisses for Rowdy for a great first ride.

Happy New Year!!

It's hard to believe that we are already starting another year!
We celebrated 2010 and rang in 2011 with great friends and family at
"Waltz Across the Pasture".

The Erwins


The McKays

Walt Wilkins & The Mystiqueros started off the evening and Brandon Rhyder sang us into 2011.


We enjoyed plenty of libations, dancing, and lots of laughs and fun times.


The Erwin's continued the celebration of 2011 on Jan. 1st by heading to Gruene and seeing Walt & the Mystiqueros play at Gruene Hall. We enjoyed this same show last year and it is by far one of our favorites!!


Ethan enjoyed the show and was complimented by Mikey "the sound guy" for protecting his hearing. He had to catch a snooze mid afternoon so he could enjoy all that Gruene Hall had to offer that day.


We are ready to make this year one of the greatest, and look forward to everything it has to offer! We wish each of you many blessings and all the very best for 2011.

Merry Christmas x 5

So I'm a little late with this post but its been a very busy Holiday season!!
We celebrated Christmas 5 times this year!! Yep, that's right 5 different Christmas get togethers. Ethan had LOTS of practice opening gifts and he definitely caught on to the Christmas spirit. It was fun to see him checking out all the presents under the tree, and he loved playing with all the new stuff.

Our first Christmas was with my family in Brenham on Dec. 18th. Needless to say Ethan was spoiled by Nana and Opa and also Uncle Jared and Lauren.

A new tricycle from Nana and Opa


His very own A&M tailgating chair from Uncle Jared & Lauren


Remote control truck (doesn't quite realize that the control and the truck go together)


After we our Brenham Christmas we all headed to La Vernia to do Christmas with my Dad's family. We enjoyed our evening at my Aunt Elanie's house and Ethan got to play with his cousin Landry. Landry was born two days after Ethan. So, when they're together it's like having twins!


The next week we traveled to Comanche on Dec 23rd and had Christmas with the Erwins on Christmas Eve morning. We were very excited about opening gifts with Uncle Clay and Aunt Marcy because they had a special surprise gift for us. We got to find out if they were going to have a baby boy or a baby girl this May.

We can't wait to meet Cousin Addison!!

Of course Ethan got a ton of more gifts....

His own laptop computer from Pops

A tee-pee from Uncle Clay & Aunt Marcy


We headed back to Granbury Christmas Eve so that we were at home when Santa came Christmas morning. We woke up early and sure enough the Big Guy had brought more gifts!!


Ethan got his very first saddle from Santa (which was also a surprise to Mommy).


More goodies Santa stuffed in the stocking.


Our 5th (and final) Christmas celebration was back to Schertz for my Mom's family (The Schmidt clan). We have a very large family....
My mom is the oldest of 7 kids

(Grandma with her kids and their spouses)

I'm the oldest of 20 Grandkids

(Grandma with 18 of the 20 Grandkids)

Ethan is one of 8 Great Grandkids!

(Grandma with the 8 Great Grandkids)

Plus spouses, girlfriends/boyfriends, pets, and a partridge in a pear tree.....
In all seriousness we counted and this year there were 55 people at my Grandma's house! It was fun to be able to all get together. We enjoyed watching the kids exchange gifts and the adults did a Chinese gift exchange that was fun too!

All of our Christmases were VERY blessed, and we enjoyed the time that we got to spend with all of our families!!

Give Thanks!

This weekend was the official kick off to the "Holiday Season" for us. We hosted the Erwin Thanksgiving at our home, and we were very happy to have Uncle Clay & Aunt Marcy come in from Lubbock and Pops came over from Comanche.

The Erwin Boys


Aunt Marcy & Uncle Clay


Pops & Ethan


Clay and I started off Saturday morning with a 3 mile run which was multi-purpose task
1) Clay & I have committed to running a 1/2 Marathon in March and have just recently started training and
2) (most importantly) it lessens the guilty feeling of eating ALL of that yummy food AND DESSERT!!

Our Spread


Speaking of which... Marcy and Zack decided a couple weeks ago to make the dessert options a little more interesting. They challenged each other to a Chocolate pie Throwdown (please reference the Food Network ie Bobby Flay if you are not familiar with a fore mentioned) Each person created their own Chocolate pie with meringue topping and then there would be a taste off. Both parties put forth great effort and there were several lessons learned
1) Meringue doesn't do well in the fridge nor does it travel well.
2) You have to be prepared for shrinkage
3) You want your peaks to stand up and custard needs to be firm and
4) It never hurts to actually follow the recipe.
Do to some technical difficulties the pies were not submitted before the judges but a winner was declared and that winner was.......
Marcy!

The winning pie (before the 289 mile road trip)

Never fear another challenge has already been issued for a Christmas Throwndown (the item is still TBD).

As we sat around the table we participated in one of my favorite Erwin Thanksgiving traditions, where we go around the table and each say what we are thankful for. It really is great to take a moment and actually voice what we so often take for granted and to also hear those things come from the ones you love!! After we all sufficiently stuffed ourselves we participated in another Thanksgiving tradition......

Nap Time!!


It was a great weekend full of countless reminders of our many blessings!!

Süßes, sonst gibts Saures

(Trick or Treat in German)

Halloween was a great one this year! Zack and I decided a couple months ago that this might be our last year to pick what Ethan would be for Halloween, so we decided to go with something memorable... a Little German Boy! Complete with Lederhosen!! I was able to find a costume online that was perfect. We couldn't wait for Halloween to get here so we could put him in it!

Finally Halloween was here and lets just say it did not disappoint!
He even wore the hat (most of the night).

We started the night off by going into town and visiting some of our friends there. Then we made our way back to our neighborhood and loaded Ethan up in the wagon and went door to door. Ethan got the hang of knock... knock... knock, but couldn't quite say Trick or Treat.

He did enjoy the evening but collecting all that candy was hard work and our Little German Boy was tired by the time we got back to the house.