Happy New Year!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year! So far 2011 has been good to the Angelo Family, but I guess before I get to that we should finish off 2010.
We started our Christmas celebration this year with our second annual Polar Express Ride. This year we arrived in the North Pole via Palastine, TX. Although we had a great time and the girls LOVE any excuse to wear their jammies out of the house we were not as impressed with the adventure as our ride that departed from Williams, AZ.

In mid-December the girls and I packed up for Chicago to start our Christmas fun. It was so nice to be with Family and enjoy our Christmas traditions. Alex was trilled for the snow and both girls loved all of the extra attention and fun.

This year the Christmas Eve Party was celebrate a day early so Catherine could be with us before she left to celebrate Christmas with Kyle's family.  It was so much fun having all of the extra guests that normally can't join us on Christmas Eve, and extra nice to not wake up on Christmas morning exhausted!  The girls were so excited for the party I don't think they could have waited another day anyway.  Santa made his annual visit to the party which always makes it magical and very exciting!

As an extra special treat this year Santa read the letter that Alex mailed him.  What a surprise that was!  We were all disappointed though that Buddy failed to show this year.  (Although, Charlie Evan's did manage to put the costume on a little later in the evening and put on a little show!)

The real Christmas Eve was very different this year.  Daddy and Peppa took the girls to the zoo while Mommy and Gamga stayed home to wrap presents.  Next year all the presents will be wrapped before Christmas Eve so we don't have to miss out on all of the zoo fun!

 

Christmas morning brought all of the excitement you would expect!   I woke up to a text from our property management company telling us our hot water heater in our AZ house, that we are renting out, went out and leaked all over the garage and the downstairs bedroom.  It wasn't the type of Christmas surprise I would have hoped for, but we managed to have a great Christmas anyway.  Alex and Rory loved all of their gifts and had so much fun opening and passing out presents.  Christmas dinner, as tradition calls for, was celebrated at Benihana and was so delicious!   Alex and Rory ate every single bite of their onion soup, fried rice, and steak, and if you have ever seen how little those two usually eat you would now how good their dinner must have been.  

New Years Eve day was spent at the Morton Arboretum.  If you haven't been there you really should plan a visit.  Was a neat place to explore!  We can't wait to get back for a visit in the summer.

Following the New Year we all drove back to Texas - Pat and me, the two kids, the dog and the cat.  It actually went better than one might have expected and is a relatively interesting drive.  The girls started their new school the day after we arrived home and so far it seems to be going pretty well.  The kids in their school are very nice and have worked hard to try to include Alex and Rory in the activities.   And yes, as you can see from the picture below they have a HUGH fish tank in the lobby.  That was the selling point for Alex.  :)

 

While the kids have been in school I have been searching for a house.  Living in this little tiny apartment hasn't been easy and we are quickly running out of room for our stuff!   After looking at more than 30 homes in two towns (which by the way was every single house for sale in our price range that met the specifications we wanted) we finally found a home we love!  It is in McKinney, which is a little further north than we had intended, in a really nice area called Stonebridge Ranch.  (www.stonebridgeranch.com)  This community has everything we could ever want and we can't wait for you all to come visit so you can enjoy it with us.  Below is a picture of our future house, which we will close on at the end of March.  It has 5 bedrooms, a study, game room, and media room, so there will be plenty of space for everyone!  Alex will go to the neighborhood school, which is very highly rated, in the fall.

Wishing you all the very best in 2011!

Love,

Caycee, Pat, Alex, and Rory