HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Hi everyone! I know it's been a long time between posts. The short story is that it's been due to technical challenges, which should be getting better this week. I owe you a ton of pictures from December including a trip to Jasper and of course Christmas!!! In the meantime, here are a few from New Year's Eve. We went to Austin First Night, which is something they do in a lot of cities but here HEB (grocery store chain) pays for it so it's free. We had an awesome time! Our friends Nick and Jada and their kids, Aubryn, Keira, and Leif went with us. Most of you guys know Dionne and Jacob and Emma, they came too even though Kurt had to work that night. So we had 5 adults, 6 kids plus one in the oven :), and 3 strollers. We parked near the capital and took a shuttle downtown. There was a food court with some yummy snacks, a parade, and lots of people-watching.

So here are some shots by family group. First the McBrides. Here's Emma on Dionne's shoulders. Unfortunately, I didn't have my video camera so you can't tell, but Dionne needs a serious massage today after the bouncing and leaning going on up there :).

And here's Jacob with them as well. He really enjoyed the parade and he and Aubryn got to go to the front of the crowd to watch up close.Be sure to check out Dionne's blog for more pics - over on the right of the screen there's a link to McBride Family Blog.

Other sore shoulders probably belong to Douglas. Kinsey was a little bit more still, but she's not exactly a feather-weight and he walked multiple blocks with her up there. As you can see from the clapping, Emma and Kinsey were really enjoying the parade.And here's our little snow bunny all bundled up before the parade. She's wearing her new Colorado hoodie from Obi and CC.And here are a few families of the Shock family. This is Jada (aka super-stroller pusher) with Keira (pink jacket), Leif (cutie under green hat) and Aubryn (the really shy one in front who isn't at all a ham!). And here's Nick with his long-searched for kettle corn. The kids were all very grateful for the yummy goodies. Here they are watching the parade......while Leif (or as Jacob says "Leif Shock boo-ya!") hung out in the stroller where the snacks were. Then Leif got a turn to watch the parade on his dad's shoulders. This kid was hilarious. He spent most of the time rubbing his popcorn-covered mittens into his Dad's hair or......grabbing his nose......or giving him kisses. So cute!

On our way back, we had to stop and take some pictures by the capitol. At night it is absolutely beautiful. This was a cool pic that Nick took. Hopefully they will post the pics of their family on their blog soon and I'll give you the link.

And here's me and Douglas and Kinsey at the foot of the capitol.

All in all it was a totally fun night and a great way to celebrate the New Year. I can't imagine what all 2008 will hold in store for us. I could spend a really long time talking about all of the incredible blessings of 2007, but heck, just look back over the old blogs and you'll see :).

Here are a couple of pictures from today. Many of you know that Douglas has great fashion sense, today he was in charge of Kinsey's outfit and she was serious runway material. Kinsey had so much fun having Mommy and Daddy home today. This afternoon we found an old gift certificate to Cold Stone Creamery and all enjoyed some yummy ice cream on a cold Texas day :).

Ok, I promise to blog more soon with tons of pictures. In the meantime, big news, Friday the 11th we have our ultrasound to find out the baby's gender. Be sure and check back in!!!