William and the Wii

We received a new game from Aunt Jolie and Uncle Mike for Christmas called Wii Music. We love our Wii, and this new game is GREAT! Daddy and William were playing together last night and I couldn't help but take a few pictures. William loves it!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Pics

It has been a crazy week so I am just now getting around to posting our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day pictures. I will be adding some pictures from Nonno and Nina's visit and the AlamoBowl later this week.

We had such a lovely Christmas this year, and were lucky to be surrounded by so many family members. We really had a great day of food, games, and fun. We could not have asked for a better day to spend with loved ones.

We also must have been good this year because basically all of our entertainment needs have been taken care of for the next year. We received our renewal to the San Antonio Zoo, a membership to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens, a membership to the New Braunfels Children's Museum (so much fun for Will), and season passes to Six Flags-Fiesta, TX. We also have a pass to the state parks of Texas (Colby's b-day present), so really we have so much that we can do and we don't have to worry about entrance fees to any of it. We are just so excited about all of them. William and Mommy go to the zoo about once a week, and now can add some other fun activities to do as a family. WOW!

Enjoy our pictures!

Love,
The Tates

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all!!! Santa came to visit last night and we all have such wonderful treats. Santa brought William a barn with animals that make noise. He loves it so much. Grandma and Grandpa came over around 7:30 this morning and we started opening presents around 8. We all got such great presents. We are enjoying spending time with Nana, Nanny, Tia, Grandma, and Grandpa today. We have such beautiful weather in Sherman. It is sunny and cool, a perfect day to play. William was a good boy during all of the present opening and he has really loved all of his toys so far. He is a still a little under the weather today, but all in all he had a wonderful Christmas.

We hope all of you are having a wonderful day.

Merry Christmas!!!

Love,
The Tates

Merry Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas Eve Everyone!



We have had such a busy week, and it is only Wednesday! On Friday evening we left for Sherman and arrived around 12:15 AM. Mommy and Daddy thought they would be clever and leave at night so William would sleep on the way there, HA! He tricked us. He only slept for about half of the ride there, but luckily fell right to sleep when we arrived at Nana's. When we pulled up Nana was waiting for us in the driveway and William pointed to her and said "Nana!" It was so cute, and the first time he has called her by name. Very early Saturday morning Nana and Mommy left for their cross-country journey to Iowa. They had so much fun on the road, except it was VERY cold. At one point the thermomemter read 4 degrees. That's cold!!!!! William and Daddy had a great day together. They played at the park all morning and just spent a lot of quality time together. They both really enjoyed their Saturday together. On Sunday, Mommy, Nana, and Nanny (William's great-grandmother) headed back to Texas. It was -10 degrees when they left with a windchill of 30 below. Holy Macrel! That was COLD! William woke up with a fever and Daddy had to spend his Sunday nursing him back to health. Poor guys...so much for a fun filled weekend while the girls were away. The girls arrived safely back in Sherman Sunday evening.



We have been spoiled this week with Nana's cooking. She has made some wonderful meals while we have been here. Poor Nana has been working all week, but hopefully she will be home around 2 this afternoon so we can start the holiday celebration!!! Last night we went and saw some pretty Christmas lights near Sherman. William really enjoyed them and we have posted some pictures at the bottom of this entry.



William has especially been enjoying his time with Nanny. He loves to sit in her lap and have her rock him. He sometimes wants to rock Nanny which is also very cute. Mommy and Nanny are leaving this morning to head to the DFW airport to pick up Aunt Jan, and while they are busy doing that, Grandma and Grandpa will be heading to Sherman from Brownwood. By this afternoon we should have a houseful, and we are so excited!



We hope everyone has a very fun and happy Christmas Eve!



Love,

The Tates

Colby's Holiday Party

We were lucky enough to have Grandma and Grandpa come down to watch William on Saturday night so that we could go out to Colby's company Christmas party. It was held at the brand new Grand Hyatt on the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio. We had a good time and the food was great. We sat with Colby's former boss and her husband. They are always so nice and we both enjoy talking to them. After the party (we left early) we headed to one of our new favorite dessert places, Cocoa. It is a cute restaurant in the north-central part of San Antonio. Colby LOVES their chocolate martinis and I love their desserts. This time we had one mini- chocolate lava cake and a slice of their roasted hazelnut dark chocolate cake. I could have eaten my weight in that cake. It was to die for! So yummy! As always we had such a wonderful time. We tend to really cherish the few nights we get out together as a couple.

There is always a professional photographer at the Christmas party and here is our picture from this year.

Thanks again Grandma and Grandpa for giving us some time off! We truly appreciate it!!!

Festive Decorations

It sure is cold here today. It is about 40 degrees and we have a strong north wind blowing. It really puts us in the holiday spirit. Although we will only have 2 days of cold weather before it is back in the upper 60s/70s again.



We wanted to share some pictures of the decorations we have around the house for Christmas and some pictures of William helping us decorating his 2nd Christmas tree. He really likes the tree this year. He loves to point at the different ornaments and tell us what they are. He is getting SO big. For fun I have added a couple of pictures from last Christmas. What a difference one year makes!



We are also getting ready to head out of San Antonio for Christmas. This weekend we are heading to Sherman and Mommy is driving with Nana to Iowa to pick up William's great-grandmother. The three ladies will arrive back in Sherman on Sunday and by Christmas Eve we will be joined by Grandma and Grandpa, and Great Aunt Jan.



After Christmas Nonno and Nina arrive, and then Aunt Jolie and Uncle Mike (along with Grandma and Grandpa) will come for a visit so that we can go to the Alamo Bowl. The Alamo Bowl has become one of our new winter traditions (3 years running). We always have a great time and this year we will see Missouri versus Northwestern. Should be a good game.



Don't you just love the holidays? We are so glad that we are lucky enough to see the majority of our families during this time of year, although we wish we could see everyone. Those that aren't with us for one reason or another are always in our thoughts.



Expect a few more updates between now and New Years!



Hugs to all,

The Tates

Our Jesse Tree and Advent Traditions

This has to be one of my favorite times of year, the time of Advent. I love all of the biblical stories associated with the season, and as William gets older it is so much fun sharing them with him. We now have 2 advent traditions that our family plans on doing every year. Last year Nana gave us a book of 24 advent stories, one for each day in December up until Christmas Day, and we read them to William in the mornings. The book revolves around Benjamin Bear. He is impatiently waiting for Christmas, and to help the time pass, his mother tells him that every day when he opens a door on his Advent calendar she'll tell him a story. Each story is about another little bear and his long journey to Bethlehem. We just love it! We read it to him last year and have continued the readings this year.



Our second and new tradition is that of the Jesse Tree. William's Godmother, Shannon Robinson, made him a Jesse Tree this year and did such a GREAT job with it. It is SUCH a treasure to have. Shannon is so creative and always has her family do such neat and education activities, which we just LOVE! The Jesse Tree is basically a symbol of the family tree of Jesus. Jesse was the father of the great King David of the Old Testament. He is often looked upon as the first person in the genealogy of Jesus. At dinner time we read the passage of the day while Will colors a picture,usually revolving around the story we are reading, and then he gets to put the ornament of the day on his Jesse tree. We have the tree sitting on our kitchen table so we get to enjoy it at every meal.



We have been trying our hardest to do these two traditions every day in December, and even though some days were skipped, we always make sure they are read the next day or so. We do get through all of the stories, but some days have more stories than others ;-)

Hope you all are enjoying the season of advent as much as we are.



With love,

The Tates



Here are some pictures of our family enjoying our new advent traditions.