December Stuff...

Love all the fun stuff December brings! One night we went to look at lights in our pi's.

 These people did up right.

 Anna Lou had Polar Express Day at kindergarten and we had to make a train car.

 I got to help with the boys Christmas parties at school. I brought Boone into Graham's party and he finished up Graham party treats.

 The older kids put on a cute little Christmas program. 

 Sweet kids singing/yelling about baby Jesus. :)

 I got a little smile when he saw me.

 Dave and I went to dinner and the Robert Earl Keen concert with our good friends, John and Terri. It was such a fun double date night out.

 REKwas awesome!

I got to help with Anna Lou's Christmas party on the last day of school. We love Mrs. Gann!

We left school and headed to get a little Christmas mani.

 She really wanted a snowflake on her thumb and somehow ended up with several designs. 

We love December!

Weekend in Ruidoso...

We had a free weekend and decided to go to my Uncle and Aunt's house in Ruidoso, NM.  It is awesome living 4 hours away from the mountains. With December always so busy, it worked out great to get away, slow down and hang out with my favorites. 

 We drove up to Ski Apache to show the kids the slopes. Last time we came, it was summer and was not covered in snow. I think we are a few years off from the kids skiing. Anna Lou may be ready soon, but not the rest of them. 

We don't really have snow gear, so we layered up and everyone seemed to stay warm.

 We had some really great gloves for Boone to wear;).

 We took a ride on the Gondola to the very top. 

 The kids loved the snow and did a little ballin'.

While Boone (and I) napped, Daddy took these two tube sledding. We saw this awesome place on our way home from Ski Apache and the kid couldn't wait! 

 They had a blast! 

Not surprised that AL loved it, but was so glad G gave it whirl too. 

Saturday night we went out to dinner on the Main St. 

Watching them throw the pizza's in the air.

 Everyone ate a lot and slept great that night! 

 Something special about the cabin is that there isn't cable. But there is a tv with a dvd player and the kids watched a movie on Sunday. The littlest one has yet to sit still for more than one minute of tv, but he continues to pester the others while they try.

 And just like that, it was time to head back to Texas. Such a great weekend and we can't wait to go back soon!

Party On..

We had a couple of fun Christmas parties last week. We went to our ASK Staff party which was "tacky Christmas" theme. I am SO thankful for these women. They were my first friends in Midland and I absolutely love serving with them.

Our Community Group party was a great time! We brought appetizers and did a white elephant exchange. Unfortunately, we came home with an Aggie Snuggie. boo.

We are so thankful for this wonderful group that has welcomed us and blessed us so much these past several months.

 The very awkward guys pic. ha!

Ice crazies!

We were thankful to only be stuck indoors for two days from the ice storm, unlike our Dallas family and friends who were hit a lot harder. School was out early on Thursday and all day Friday. We got a little stir crazy!

this crazy baby loves to wrestle.

We decorated this pretty gem that took all of 30 minutes.

Sunday, the ice melted and we had to get outside.

We finished off our weekend with a little Polar Express.

Meeting Santa...

Meeting Santa this year was perfect! We went on a Wednesday night to the mall and their was no line and surprisingly no tears. Anna Lou had plenty of questions like "do you think he knows what a rainbow loom is?" and "should i have brought a list?" (lovely). Graham was cool as a cucumber but not too bummed it all lasted only 5 minutes.  Somehow Boone was pretty easy going. I was so sure Boone would not be a fan. I think it helped there was no line to build the anticipation. Since there wasn't a line the kids had a chance to chat and Santa was super sweet.  They also let me use my own camera.

 When we were walking up, I asked if Anna Lou or Graham wanted to sit on Santa's lap with Boone and Graham quickly answered "Anna." I showed this pic to my friend Brooke, and she told Graham at church today that she saw a cute pic of him sitting on Santa's lap. He came up to her later and said, "I actually wasn't sitting on Santa's lap, I was sitting next to him." Just to be clear. 

We love our Midland Santa!

We celebrated our success with Chick Fil-A ice cream.

Thanksgiving and Baylor/TCU game...

 We had a special Thanksgiving because it was our first trip home since we moved, and it was our first Thanksgiving with the Junods in 6 six years. When they lived overseas, we had to get used to Thanksgiving without them. boo. So glad to have them home! So, it was the Junods, Honey and Papa, our Great Aunt Rosie and us.

RoRo and Brooks.

 Cute sisters.

 Townley got lots of love from AL

 Papa did lots of fires in the pit outside. Anna Lou would stay out there all night if she could.

 Lots of community baths.

The baby gets the sink.

We made plans a while back to the to BU/TCU game. We don't get to go to many Baylor or TCU games because of our own football season, so we were excited to know we would play each other in Fort Worth on a weekend that we would be home. We were SO thankful Honey and Papa offered to keep our SEVEN kids for the day. It was such a fun day date! 

We got to see lots friends and family, both Bears and Horned Frogs.  I think I accidentally took this next pic, ha!

 So great to see my sweet Amanda. We both saw these boots when she was visiting Midland and we both ended up getting them later. 

 Loved seeing Marissa (who also married a horned frog), Helen and Amanda.

Mike and Kim and their kids were there too!

And it was pretty great  (for me) that the Bears won! It's a friendly fight in our house.

After 10 days at home, we were pooped! It was so refreshing being with so many people we love and enjoying some great family time.  A blessed Thanksgiving and so much to be thankful for!