A Christmas Ending

Today we wrapped up our Christmas celebrations at the Richter's. We had a blast watching Jaxson rip through more gifts with excitement.

We were very blessed with some really great gifts.

The highlight for Jaxson was his Birthday/Christmas present from Grammie and Popo...an awesome new Jeep!

Despite the very, very cold temperatures we took it out for a quick test spin. He's certainly still on his learners permit with this vehicle!

We have so many things to be blessed and thankful for this Christmas season- spending our time with family and creating memories as a family is always a great way to spend the day. With two days of Christmas celebrations behind us we are worn out...and ready for a day of rest!

Christmas Morning

We kicked off Christmas morning with the exciting gifts from Santa.

Turns out our little man was a very good boy- he got some pretty awesome stuff from Santa.
He is quite possibly the cuttest little Aggie football player...ever!!

Then we opened up our other presents



And then spent the rest of the morning assembling the many, many pieces of every toy he received...while dressed in the football uniform...of course!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve this year was with the Powers family, we met up at my parents house for dinner, church and lots of gift opening.

Jaxson had a blast opening up the gifts and he and Nikki were dressed up in their best gift opening attire.

We took lots of pictures....all of us.

Waited on big surprises...like this awesome hand made tool bench.

And tried out our toys as quickly as we could.

As soon as the gifts were all over we headed home to get the sweets ready for the big man in red.

Christmas Eve 2010 was a blast!

Merry Christmas!!!

Toeti The Elf

We introduced our Christmas friend Toeti The Elf here and we have had fun each day looking for Toeti's new landing place for the day. Here's some of the sightings from the last few days.

A Cowboy Birthday

Calling all Cowboys and Cowgirls in town….

It’s a special birthday, hope you’ll mosey on down!

JAXSON

Is turning three!!!

Saddle up and ride on out

Saturday, December 18th

Round up is at Arrowhead Ranch

The guests were too cute dressed in their finest country duds and boots!

Everyone had a great time riding the horses. We practiced our roping skills. We fed some friendly Goats. We petted some sweet rabbits. We filled our cowboy size appetites with some birthday cake. We smiled at the birthday boy as he enjoyed every moment of his special Cowboy Birthday!

Untitled from michelle richter on Vimeo.

Three Years Old!!

Yesterday, December 18th, our precious Jaxson turned three!! The excitement leading up to this day and the constant excitement during the day were so fun to watch! He was SO into his birthday this year and we sure had a special day.

We started off the morning by giving him his birthday gift from us. He was so excited to get this new bike and so excited to get out and try it out. He still has some work to do on the whole pedaling thing and understanding that you can't go in reverse- that is the brakes. We look forward to many bike rides around the neighborhood.

The afternoon events included the big birthday party- at a Ranch- so we got all dressed in our cowboy gear for the big party!

He is so stinkin' cute, I really can't believe he is three.

We have been blessed with such a wonderful little boy and we are so excited to see what amazing things God has planned for his life!

Day 4

Today we kicked off the day with a fun filled morning with our friend Colton and his mommy. We visited our favorite bounce house- whoever came up with the idea of a indoor bounce house is a genius in my book! After a very short nap...short enough for me to do some painting in the living room...we headed to the kitchen for more cooking for tomorrow's Christmas party at school- also Jaxson's mini birthday party as well.

The cupcakes were perfect for this little cowboy!

We finished off the afternoon with some Christmas art for the kitchen.

Tonight we are off to our Christmas party with our church group- what a great way to wrap up a wonderful day!

Day Three

Today was day three of my week home with my little man- its half way gone, but I'm taking in every moment of my vacation! The weather was perfect today and we couldn't pass up a chance to get the dogs out for a walk.

Who could pass by this HUGE pile of leaves without having some fun in them!

This afternoon we worked on our Christmas cookies....well Jaxson worked on a gigantic mess with the flour while I worked on the cookies! He had flour in more places than I thought possible- but he had fun! And the end result is DE-LI-CIOUS Christmas cookies, my Grandma's best recipe!!

Santa 2010

Today we headed out to visit with Santa in hopes of finding no line....success! Jaxson did so great and even sat there chatting with Santa for a while- super cute!

You just can't leave the mall without a quick cruise on this sweet ride!

Daddy took a quick break from work to join us for a trip in a train around the mall, followed by lunch.


What a cutie....and the count down the to big 3 is in full force!

Toeti The Elf

We'd like to introduce you to our new Christmas friend- Toeti The Elf.

Toeti joins us from the North Pole as one of Santa's trusted observers of all things good and bad. Each night he promises to leave our home and report back to Santa on the daily happenings.

We look forward to seeing where Toeti The Elf lands each morning as he returns back from the North Pole.

Toeti's presence is sure to be the highlight of many memories and stories each year as we grow this Christmas Tradition.

Dr. Powers

Friday we headed up to Abilene for a very exciting weekend of celebration- my little sister's graduation! She is so gifted and so smart and this weekend she graduated with a Doctorate in Physical Therapy...a Doctor..who would have thought that we'd have a Doctor in the family!

Friday night was a awards ceremony and dinner for the PT group. It was so nice to get to meet all of her professors and join in the celebration of this special event.

Nikki received a scholarship award on Friday night, which was awesome to get to see her receive that award.

Saturday morning was the graduation- the speakers were awesome, the venue was small- overall I'd put this at the top of the list of the best graduation I have attended so far! Here is Nikki receiving her graduate hooding.



Nikki also received "The Graduate Dean's Award of Excellence" which is a very, very high honor! This award hasn't been given to a PT student in the last 7 years! I am SO, SO, SO proud of my little sister. She is so gifted both inside and out and to be there with her this weekend at the completion of the biggest phase so far was so exciting. I know that God has big plans for this girl and I am so excited to see where the road goes from here in her life.