Christmas Day

Christmas Day ended up being a beautiful day. We spent the second half of the day at Grammy and Papa's house with Aunt Christy and Uncle Chris and my Dad, Grandpa. We had a wonderful meal and it was warm enough that the kids could spend time cruising around in their new big wheels outdoors.


GG will be joining us in January to celebrate her 70th birthday and Holden's 2nd. Our 10th wedding anniversary is in January as well so we will continue to have a lot to celebrate.

Christmas morning festivities

Team Freas Christmas 2009 from David Freas on Vimeo.

Joy to the World!

Merry, Merry!

Merry Christmas to you all! The boys have been their normal mischievous selves today, even though they know that Santa and his reindeer are coming tonight. Lily is practically falling all over herself to be extra sweet and helpful, I'm sure to get on Santa's good side. She set the table, cleaned the table after dinner, shared her chair with Holden while we made Santa's brownies...I could go on. And she will not be disappointed, she is going to make out like a bandit tomorrow morning.

Polar Express with Dad

David and the boys are riding the Polar Express today. I just got this phone pic from David of them with Santa. Can't wait to hear about their trip. Holden, Lily and I are just hanging out at home relaxing in our quiet house. I just painted Lily's toes red. She thinks Dad and Santa will like them.

Christmas Scene

Saturday we went to visit Santa with Grammy in Lakeway. The kids were very excited and eager to meet Santa.


I was impressed with the Elf helper's ability to wrangle Holden and would be happy to have one or two at home.

Evan asks for a Batman motorcycle, Will wants vanilla ice cream and two pieces of Chiclet gum and Lily wants a baby doll, a doll house and a pink scooter.

Lily gives Mrs Claus a big warm hug.

Group shot with Santa. Santa tells me that his brother has 10 year old triplets.

The kids are overjoyed to see Rudolph and their group hug knocks him down.

I give Rudolph some help.

Holden dances and sings Jingle Bells with Rudolf, now safe distance behind a rope...


or so he thinks, the team takes him down again.

A quick family photo session to capture a Christmas card pic.


And Grammy ushers her flock out the door.

Christmas Card Outtakes

Where's Lily?

Momma and Memo sleepy eyes.

Holden spies a mouse. David is still doing a remarkable job of holding onto Evan so that he doesn't run off, yet looking nonchalant.

Ho Ho Ho

Getting ready for the Christmas holidays. Lily and Evan got fresh hair cuts today, well overdue. And we may just try to get a family holiday photo this weekend. If anything like our prior attempts we will just do individual photos this year. I'll post some Christmas photo outtakes in a bit.

Afterward the kids ran around and enjoyed the Christmas decorations.


And Holden enjoyed some peace and quiet while we were out. By the way, he adores his new big kid bedding. I wish I had videoed him when we showed him his new bed. He was ecstatic, squealing and jumping on the bed for over thirty minutes, pointing out the buses, motorcycles and cars. We couldn't get him to leave his room. He always was happy to go to bed, but now he is even more eager to jump in at naptime or bedtime. And the boys are more than green with envy. Evan wants a big bed too, but will have to wait a bit longer. I'm not quite ready to buy three more twin beds and bedding for our three big kids.

If you are wondering why Holden has a big bed and the kids are still in their toddler beds, it is because Holden never did take to his crib, he transitioned from our bed to a twin bed next to his toddler bed. He would never sleep in it. I've been planning on moving Lily into his room and him in with the boys, but I finally realized that it was going to be later than sooner and that I should probably finish the room as a little boy's room for now. And my efforts were greatly rewarded with smiles, kisses and big a 'Tank you mommy!'

Oh Christmas Tree

We followed our annual tradition and selected our Noble Fir Christmas tree today at the Optimist Club. Our escapade was caught on tape by the local news, full story here.

Giving Thanks

Turkey Trot for Caritas of Austin 2009

I am overflowing with gratitude...

for our health and the health of our loved ones
for our strength to run 5 hilly miles with our children and 14,500 Austinites
for the blessing of our children, family and close friends
for the gift of a gorgeous day for our Thanksgiving
for grammy's juicy turkey with delicious stuffing and some warm apple pie to fill our bellies


Hope you enjoyed your Thanksgiving.

Leopard Attack and a Visit with Grandma

Last week we took an impromptu visit to the San Antonio Zoo to meet up with GG who was in town for a few days to help her cousin who was having surgery. Sometimes spontaneous excursions end up being the most fun. In our case this was true. The weather was great, the zoo uncrowded, everyone was in a good mood and we had a terrific time.

We even had a bit of exciting drama. Will was attacked by a Black Leopard (Sam), twice. Thank goodness for Plexiglas. And fortunately Will was not traumatized by the attack, he asked GG if he would do it again, one more time please. He was pretty excited about the Leopard incident, 'he chased me and grabbed me.' My mom said his open jaws were larger than Will's head.

A leopard attack and a visit by Grandma, really what more could you ask for?




Holden saying 'All Aboard!'


The petting zoo complete with brushes to tend to the friendly goats.


Butterfly exhibit.



Frog pond viewing.