leaf pile

...with the cousins at the end of december

random...

a few weeks ago we babysat my sister's dog while she was out of town. evan somehow thought that all of lady's play toys and treats belonged to him. his favorite was the bone. he carried it around ALL day. and yes, that's a beggin' strip treat he stole from the dog in his other hand. luckily lady didn't seem to mind too much :)

ellis family

this is my brother's sweet family. sure do wish they lived closer. we don't get to see them very often, so it was a real treat to have them down here for christmas. while they were visiting we went to the park on a warm winter day to take a few pics. saige was so smiley!

colby was more interested in exploring and finding sticks than taking photos :)

foggy december day at the beach

back in december we went to the beach with my brother and his family who were visiting from minnesota, and my parents. we had a picnic lunch near the sea wall and the kids waded in the water. i love the mild winter days in texas!

nephew colby loved the water!

zoo trip

during christmas break we took a trip to the zoo with some of the family that was in town. we loved checking out the new african forest exhibit. here's a few photos from the day...

this little monkey wanted to be on the other side of the fence.

niece saige was such a good little baby in her stroller

the newlyweds my brother andy and his wife kaylynn

love the lion water fountain statue. it's been around since i was a child.

one of the highlights was seeing this orangutan open her christmas stocking right in front of the glass window. she's eating a frozen popsicle with oatmeal on it.

outside the reptile house

evan LOVED petting and brushing the goats at the children's petting zoo!

the chimpanzee exhibit in the african forest was really neat. we got to see the chimps really close up. this guy does not look too thrilled to be there though.