Christmas '08

Happy New Year, everyone! Another Christmas has come and gone and it was a great one! Even though Christmas is always so busy, I can't complain because I feel so blessed to be able to have all of our families so close so that we can spend time with everyone, even it it is just for a little while. We bounce around for 3 days from one family gathering to the next but it is always great to be able to see everyone! Now that Anneliese is almost 3 (only a week and a half until the big day), she really gets Christmas and loves it almost as much as her mommy does, I think. It was so much fun watching all of the Christmas movies that I love with her and hearing her ask for them over and over again. I bet we watched Charlie Brown Christmas and The Grinch 20 times each at our house and for those that know me, I loved that! And, I think, she was almost as sad as I was while we were taking down the Christmas decorations. She kept saying, "Aww, mommy, where's the tree?" or "Aww, the Christmas lights aren't on anymore. Put them back on." She and I will have to count down together until next year.

Anyway, here's our Christmas '08 in pictures.

1st visit with Santa in Hallettsville (unfortunately, I failed to get pictures of our 2nd visit but she did very well then too).


Checking out the loot from St. Nick.


Hanging out with her best bud "Jackaboo" at their school Christmas program.


Christmas #1 at our house on Christmas Eve morning.




Christmas #2 with Brandon's family on Christmas Eve night. Can you say "trouble?"




Christmas #3 with mom and dad at their house Christmas morning.








Christmas #4 with the Noska side of the family on Christmas day. We don't have many pictures from this one (to my defense Brandon is in charge of pictures at this one). Sorry about the blurry pic.


And finally, Christmas #5 with the Henkes. I didn't take many pictures at this one either because we were all too busy playing games and having a good time! I managed one picture that wasn't blurry (what's up with that?).


Christmas #6 was with Mom-boo and Uncle Ronnie and Aunt Sharon but I failed to take any pictures. Oops.

Trying out a couple of new toys.





And, I'll leave you with a few family shots that a friend of ours took. He also took the pic for our Christmas card - he's very good!









May all of you have a happy and healthy 2009!
Love, The Noskas

Halloween '08

Another Halloween has come and gone and Anneliese gets better every year at this whole trick-or-treating thing! We have more candy this year then we'll ever be able to eat. I have a feeling teachers at St. Ignatius are about to hit the mother load in the faculty lounge!















Enjoying the loot . . .



And finally, here's where a night of candy eating will get you . . .



I guess trick-or-treating is rough on a 2-year-old! Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Destructo (aka Anneliese)

Here's what happens when mommy's sick, daddy's barbecuing chicken and the Longhorns are whoopin' up on OU:

Hook 'em Horns!

It's another football and tailgating season and of course we are loving it! Our little Longhorn is a tailgating champ, again! She's been to a couple of tailgates and one game so far and she handled it like a true professional!


Getting ready for the game:


Teaching the new generation how to tailgate:


How Anneliese spent the first half of the game:


And finally, cheering on the Longhorns:




Anneliese brought visitors with her to her second tailgate. This time, she got to go watch the game at home with Granny and Grandpa, but I think she was a little upset that she didn't get to see the football boys in person. She has a little bit of a fascination with the football boys. I think we're going to have to nip this before she's 16!



That's all for now.
Love, the Noskas

Update . . . finally!

It's been forever since I posted anything. Life just kind of gets in the way of this whole blogging thing. :) Anyway, here's what we've been up to since the last post - in pictures.

Beach 2008 - Our pictures are limited for 2 reasons: 1) We spent Sunday evening/night in the emergency room because Anneliese cut her leg and 2) a hurricane chased us out! But we still had fun!







Jason's graduation! Most of you have seen pics of the proud graduate. Here's what Anneliese did during the graduation ceremony - she stayed up long enough to hear and see him get his diploma and then . . .



A great 4 generation pic - I know Mom, Anneliese and I will cherish this photo for a long time.



Klayton's b-day party - What a great party! It was an amazing party - by anyone's standards - with great party favors and tons of fun games for the kids. What made it even more amazing was that there was a 3 day old sweet baby girl laying there taking in all the action! Wow! Anneliese had a great time - thanks Kelly, Kevin and Klayton for a great party!





Random pics of our fast-growing little girl!

Fun with Klayton

Every summer we try to get together as often as possible with Kelly and Klayton on Thursdays and have a play day. We've gone swimming a few times but a couple of weeks ago we decided to try something new.

The day started out playing on the playground at Zilker Park.



Then we took a ride on the Zilker Zephyr - it's a train that circles the park. We enjoyed about a 30 minute ride. Klayton and Anneliese both loved the train!







We then had to pit stop for food and what better place to go during a day of kiddo fun then McDonalds (or "Old McDonald as Anneliese calls it)!



After refueling we set out to Fountain Plaza. It's basically a small area near Auditorium Shores that has geyser-type sprinklers and small wadiing pools. I'm not sure exactly who decided that this was a good idea or what the exact purpose of it is but apparently people just bring their kids and picnics to this random sprinker slab and let them loose. I think it's one of those totally "Keep Austin Weird" things! Anyway, Klayton and Anneliese had a blast!

They dove right in to the wading pools (or retention ponds, whatever).



Klayton ran right into the sprinklers without any hesitation.



It took Anneliese a little longer to venture out into the sprinklers but eventually she found the fun in them!







Thanks Kelly and Klayton for a great day!
(p.s. We sure are going to miss these days when yall live in "Waco" but we promise to do our best to come see yall as often as possible :))