The News of the Hughes: Happy New Year!

We had a wonderful break with fun celebrations and it was so fun to have Ian home with us. It was a nice flash forward to the fun we will have this summer.

I especially loved watching them play together. They have really matured on that front! Their games are so creatively involved and they actually work off of the other's idea to continue the game. It isn't just the "I will be this and you will be my dog" that I used to hear. Real plots, real goals, real characters....too cute. Plus, one of them isn't constantly running out to me to complain, cry, or ask me to play instead of the other brother.

We did our annual-ish trip to the San Antonio Zoo on Christmas Eve and had a wonderfully brisk, but enjoyable fall weather day with a zoo almost to ourselves. I always love to go then because the bears are out. Trust me, you don't see the bears out in the summer in San Antonio. The kids had a great time of course - the zoo is always a winner - and we topped it off with dinner at our favorite Vietnamese restaurant. Dumplings make Ian and Garrett's smile. The funniest parts were Garrett "jumping because he wanted to jump" though he really had to go to the bathroom and Ian holding up his chopsticks and singing "Oh, how I love you crab. You are so delicious, my favorite crab" to the crab in the accidentally ordered, seafood fried rice. We had the restaurant to ourselves for most of our meal I love going there because it was where we ate every time Chris and I went for a prenatal visit with Garrett and Nora and the hostess is sweet and comments on how big the kids are getting. It was a fun evening and thankfully everyone was very ready for bed!

It also snowed here on two....yes, two different occasions. Sadly, even with my Ohio heritage, I am excited by these poor showings. I guess I will take what I can get and since it was officially Nora's first snow, I will embrace it for sentimental reasons. When I told the boys it was 'snowing' they immediately wanted boots and hats and gloves to make a snowman. When I reminded them we live in Texas they just ran out the door in their sweaters. Nora didn't really know what to think of it. It was a pretty wet snow, but I think she realized it was not just plain old rain. Firstly, because she stayed outside and this girl is smart enough to come in out of the rain and secondly, because she kept looking at the little flakes in her hand before they melted. Sadly, she didn't even need a sweater.