Getting festive...

Neither of us are too excited about winter, but thankfully holiday lights and decorations help make winter just a bit more fun.  We've made three trips so far this year to our favorite Christmas light display, Brookside Gardens. Its great on a mild night since you walk through the gardens to see the light displays, and its even better with a cup of hot cocoa in your hands!  Austin didn't seem to notice at first, but definitely starting smiling and seeming somewhat excited about some of the lights. 

   

The serpent

Austin seemed to really notice the blue tree

Hanging with Boston inside the Conservatory, waiting for the rain to stop!

 There's a great train display inside, and Austin has been quite content to stand at the railing and watch the trains go by!  Making daddy proud!

We took advantage of having friends with us to take a train room family photo. 

And a good mom's + babies shot as well! 

Austin definitely was entertained by the trains and the lights.

The tree has been up for a few weeks now in the house, and the decorations are out.  Since we're not going to be here for Christmas this year, we've tried to max out the number of evenings sitting in the living room with the glow of the lights on the tree.  Austin likes to stare at the lights too!

His new thing is laying on his belly and shaking his arms and legs in the air.  It kind of looks like body surfing.  Super cute, but funny that he hasn't quite figured out that if he used that energy to push himself, he'd actually crawl and get somewhere!

 But, he does try really really hard to reach things.  It usually involves pushing off with one foot, while sticking the other way up in the air and concentrating really hard on reaching.  Half the time he manages to push himself to the object that he wants.  The other half of the time, he just whines. 

 

Minus the shopping for presents part, we're totally ready for Christmas.  We are very much looking forward to visiting lots of family, and relaxing in the Hill Country in Austin soon!