So I won’t try.

Needless to say, it was a full 9 months. Full of hugs, tears, and a lot of growing.

I started a new job full-time. Luke had a ballet recital AND a violin recital. We took a vacation — a road trip actually. Andy and Luke both started Crossfitting. And after a very hot, but relaxing summer, autumn snuck up on us and our busy school year routine started up again.

Mads celebrated her 1st birthday, and we had a very small party with just us and our very close nanny, Michelle.

The holidays were fun this year since Mads is older.And I worked very hard to make our holiday celebrations all about the experiences, rather than the “stuff.” In the weeks leading up to Christmas, we participated in numerous holiday-type events, from the downtown stroll & sing-along to spinning under the Zilker tree (which is where you see us in the above photo.)

This year promises to bring even more changes. I can’t believe my kids are growing so fast.

Luke runs with Andy toward the finish line in the Junior Dillo -- a mile long course..

Luke ran in his first race (not in a stroller) on Saturday — the Statesman Junior Dillo!  It was a mile-long course at Auditorium Shores.

I wrote about it in Red In the Face and there are more photos there.

Tomorrow is my turn!  I’ll be running the Cap10K with my running buddy, Jenny.  Wish me luck!

We decided to start about a week or so before Madeline turned 6 months old to introduce solid food because she was giving signs that she was ready.

Her first food?  Banana — mashed and mixed with breast milk.  She took it surprisingly well.  Luke has even helped to feed her, as you can see from the photo above.  It’s awesome seeing them interact.

We’ll be taking it slow on introducing new foods.  The next one will be avocado, and then we’ll move into white fruits.  I’m actually looking forward to making baby food again — it was so easy!

It seems like EVERYTHING is happening this month — South by Southwest, Rodeo Austin and the Zilker Kite Festival, just to name a few.

Andy and I are going to SXSW Interactive this year, which means next weekend will be especially busy, so we decided to pack of the kids today and take them down to the kite festival.

It was a gorgeous day, but the wind didn’t seem to be helping people keep up their kites.  There appeared to be more people than kites this year.  And it’s true that we did not bring our kite, but we still had a great time.  I mean, how can you not have fun when there are kites, cupcakes and fun houses?

If we had really wanted to, there were kite-making crafts in one of the tents or we could have bought a kite from one of the vendors.

For us, it was all about the sunshine.

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For the first time since Madeline was born, Luke, Madeline and I made a fun outing that didn’t involve errands or school or extra-curricular activities — without Andy.

We visited the Austin Zoo, which is a great place to take small children, although Mads is a bit young to really get into the animals.  But we had fun anyhow.

The trails are really rocky, so I had to bust out with the jogging stroller to help keep the bumps under control.  Madeline ended up in my sling anyway, and I pushed the stroller through the zoo one-handed.  Not an easy task.

It seems like the Austin Zoo has received some donations and made some improvements since we visited a year ago.  There’s a new wolf playard and information signs about the animals on almost every enclosure.

The Austin Zoo is small, but they really try to educate the public about proper animal care and why exotic animals do NOT make good pets.  It’s definitely good for a few hours of downtime with the kids.

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All week, the talk of Austin has been the possibility of snow.

I’m used to getting my hopes up only for them to be dashed, but Friday morning, we actually woke up to a blanket of SNOW.  We didn’t receive quite an inch, but it was beautiful.

Treacherous, but beautiful.  Underneath the snow was a hidden layer of ice, thanks to the sleet and freezing rain that fell in the hours before it switched over to snow.

The Snow is starting to melt now, and temperatures may actually rise above freezing today for the first time since Tuesday.  It looks warm outside right now, because the sun is out and the sky is a gorgeous blue.

Below are some more of the photos we took during our time in the snow.  Enjoy!

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Love this photo — just wanted to share.  We’re doing well, ya’ll!

Instantly, the living room felt lighter and less imposing.

It’s significant because it finally feels like the holidays are over and we can concentrate on getting on with the new year.

Luke managed to convince us to leave up the strings of lights we draped over the front windows and doorway to the kitchen.

He loves lights.

Every Friday in December, after his violin lesson, Andy drove him home the long way, past homes covered in glittering lights and inflatable Christmas icons.  His enthusiasm was infectious.  It made me feel like a kid again.

But he was glad to return to school — even looking forward to it.  He loves school.  The rest of us were looking forward to it, too — probably Mads most of all.  Since the grandparents left, I don’t think Mads took a nap longer than 10 minutes during the day for a week.  There was just so much activity in the house, no one could rest.  She had to have been tired and grumpy.

She finally succumbed to sleep today.

I’m not sure why people associate the holidays with peace.  Today — the official beginning to the festival season — was peaceful.  After her midday nap, Mads and I walked outside to get some sunshine and took a piece of mail that had been mistakenly delivered to us down to our neighbor.  I didn’t expect Miss Thelma to answer the door, let alone invite us in, introduce us to her grandson, and show us the digital picture frame he gave her for Christmas.

Thelma is a spirited woman, bright and energetic — especially for 87!  She’s incredibly proud of her large family, not to mention her 9 great-grandchildren (soon to be 10).  Mads and I had a wonderful time chatting with her, and she asked us to come by again for a visit.  It will be a pleasure.

I just love our neighborhood.

Thelma is just one of our numerous and wonderful neighbors.  Anytime we’re outside, people come out to say hello.  And they put up with our front yard garden.  I made sure to keep them happy by giving them each a jar of homemade persimmon butter, made with persimmons from our tree.

We rang in the New Year with our neighbors.  It was so nice to go out and be social, even if it was next door. It was also nice to only have 50 feet to walk when it was time to go home.  No need for a cab.

Yesterday, for the first time, I let Luke cross the street by himself to play with our neighbor’s granddaughter who was outside playing with a hula-hoop.  It was kind of momentous-feeling.  He’s really growing up.  He’s crossing the street without me.

It makes me wonder — how much will change between now and the next Christmas?  What things will the kids be doing?  What will we have experienced?

I guess we’ll just have to see what 2011 brings.

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