Merry Christmas and a Happy CO Trip

Yo ho ho! It's Christmas!  Let's kick things off on Christmas Adam and our Bethlehem dinner!  It was a pretty fun dinner.  There was something there for everyone, which was great, and we all had a lot of fun and enjoyed the evening.

On Christmas Eve, the kids all worked on a gingerbread house.  They had a good time, and Grayson worked his way through a LOT of our old candy.  He didn't put a roof on his so he just started filling in his house with whatever he could get his hands on.

We went to some parks in the afternoon and had a good time.  We ended up at one that I think is called Devine Lake Park which was pretty big and fun to explore.  They had a train that was just Grayson's size!

This tree hasn't actually fallen over, or, I guess it has, but it wasn't completely uprooted and it's still growing.  Pretty cool to see and use as a seat!

For Christmas Eve, we had a fancy dinner with chicken cordon bleu, and Grayson couldn't keep away from his fancy drink.

After dinner, the kids all got ready for bed, and then we had a little Christmas performance with songs and some piano playing.  Grayson sang his songs from his preschool performance, and Brooke played the piano!

The next morning was Christmas itself! Boy was there a lot of excitement in the house!  I did need to spotlight one item that I think would go unnoticed in other pictures, which is that Grayson got antlers for his hex bugs!!

Everyone was very excited and had a fun time opening their presents.  All the kids did well taking turns opening gifts, and while Grayson did get distracted a time or two and wanted to play with things, for the most part we were able to keep things going, and everyone was happy and excited all the way through.  Some highlights would be Winry's double stroller for her baby dolls, everyone got Legos, including Brooke getting a big Eevee, and Grayson got a penguin slide!

There was a 5th grade trade fair or something at the school last week I think, and since then, Winry really likes to play it as a game.  After putting the kids to bed on Christmas night, I paused for a moment to appreciate her sign and all her wares on display for sale.  Don't forget your tickets!

I don't think I specifically called this out before, but Gram and Pop came to join us for Christmas this year.  It was great to have them here, and the kids loved getting the extra attention.  And sometimes it's cold here, and so we had our chance to enjoy hot chocolate together, just like Grayson wanted.

We'd been planning for a while to potentially go to Colorado for New Years, but the plan was to drive, so we didn't want to tell the kids in case it snowed and we couldn't go.  So Friday morning it was time to let them know!

Taking off meant we needed to do a little Christmas clean up before we left, such as cleaning up the Christmas tree.  All the kids gave it a proper goodbye before the decorations came off.

And then I took it over to the tree drop off at the park.  We had to get the tree out before we left because Jelly eats the pine needles and then throws up....

Here are all the gingerbread houses before we said goodbye.  It had only been a few days since we made them, but if you look close, Brooke's roof is starting to bend in and the graham crackers were all soft to the touch.

We started our drive as soon as I finished work for the day.  It's about 6 hours to Lubbock where we were spending the night, and being winter, much of it was in the dark.  It was funny because it really wasn't that late, but having been dark for a while, and being out in rural areas where there aren't a lot of buildings it felt VERY late!  While we were out, there were hundreds of flashing red lights in the distance, and most of them were in sync as well.  It was interesting enough it kicked off a vlog, of which part 1 and part 2 are all about those mysterious lights (spoiler: they're wind turbines).

We finished up the drive on Saturday, and made a stop at Garden of the Gods.  I'm so glad we did.  We were there for a couple hours and hiked a few miles and climbed on the rocks a little.  It was nice to have a break from the car, and the break was long enough that when we got back in for the final hour of the drive it didn't feel bad at all.  Getting close was exciting enough for another part to the vlog!...?

The kids had fun finding places to climb.

Or cracks to wiggle into!  It was fun, but by the time we were done, Grayson was tired and I had to carry him most of the way back to the car.  It was crazy busy there, so we just parked at the farther lot which meant it was about a mile walk carrying him.  Turns out, he gets HEAVY!

We rolled in to the Cammacks house about 5:30 and ate some dinner we picked up along the way.  We had Spice Kitchen, which we all really love.  That night, Grayson found a really cool game to play.  They have Uno Attack and he loves just pushing the button until cards shoot out.  Eventually he realized it'd be fun to shoot them on me.

Monica found us mid-game and captured a different angle of the events.  Also, once we got to the couch the goal was to hit me in the face, which was lovely.

On Sunday we went to church and it was good to see all the familiar faces, at least of the people who were there.  It seems like a lot of people were gone for the holidays.  That afternoon, we headed over to Cottonwood park for some play, including hanging out on the monkey bars.

Grayson worked on figuring out how to climb up this arch, and wanted to show everyone how he could do it once he figured it out!  Good job buddy.  From here, we headed to the bridge and played pooh sticks before crossing over to the other playground for a while.  Eventually sunset came and we all started to get cold, so it was time to head back home.

We had a wonderful Christmas, and we're looking forward to a fun week with friends out here in Colorado!
 

Christmas is in the Air

Here comes Christmas, and here comes our Christmas best!  Here we are in front of the Christmas tree after church on Sunday!  Monica even let me wear my corduroy suit to church.  Also, both of the girls dresses were corduroy and so were Grayson's pants, so it was a theme this year!

Here's little reindeer Grayson getting ready for school.  He's also got on his super cool socks that Joy gave him!  If I remember correctly they've got reindeer on the back and are Christmasy, and then have big apples on the front, so the perfect blend of Christmas and school.

Our Santa hats came out.  They were probably out for a dress up day at school or something, but they just got worn off and on for the rest of the time.  I really like when Grayson put it on.  It was maybe a little too big for him, but he was loving it and looked so cute!

On Wednesday, Grayson had a performance at school.  Monica even took the girls out of school so they could come too.  Grayson looked a little nervous when he was walking to the front, but go so excited when he saw us there to watch.  His class sang two songs, and then at the end all of the kids sang Feliz Navidad together.

We have several friends who also have kids at the preschool, and Joy is one of them!  Joy is in the class older than Grayson, and her class was dressed up for a Nativity while they sang.  Joy got to be a donkey.  After the performance Grayson and Joy got a picture together under the star up front.

Brooke had a performance for tumble pom.

And Winry did as well.

On Friday both girls had their class parties at school.  Monica volunteers in Winry's class so she went early and set up food, etc. and helped run everything.

Grayson and I came and went to Brooke's class.  We did jump up to Winry's as well to say hi, but mostly were down in Brooke's class.  Monica came down to say hi to Brooke as well.  We stayed for a little, but after Grayson got his donut he wasn't as interested in being there and we headed back  home.  Monica helped clean up after Winry's party was over, and I think she went down to say bye to Brooke and helped clean up down there as well.  The girls wanted to stay for the rest of the school day, so instead of coming home at 9-ish they stayed until 11:45-ish.

Oh my this little cat has been such a beggar lately.  She had her tooth issues and had to eat wet food for a while, and since it dries out we'd only give her a little bit at a time and feed her a couple times a day.  Well, wet food is a treat to her, and ever since she's been meowing at us a ton every morning.  It's usually not before 5 am, but as soon as she hears any sign of us stirring she comes into our room and meows for food.  If that happens to be a response to my alarm then no big deal, but when you apparently made too much noise rolling over and she comes a meowing, well, that's a little too much.  I've been fighting back the last few days by closing her out of our room so we can keep sleeping (unless she starts meowing loudly, but she usually doesn't).  Anyway, she's slowly eating more of her normal food, and so we've been giving her less and less wet food, and now we're working towards just once at night so she'll stop meowing in the morning!  She'll also come running from anywhere in the house when she hears the fridge water dispensing to see if it's me and will give her treats!  This cat is so beggary lately!

On Saturday we drove down to Bee Cave to go to the giving machines.  There was a big Christmas tree that we stopped to see.

We ended up finding them real quick, which is good.  We let everyone pick something, and then got a couple more things as well.  We're all holding up our pick.

We'd never been to this mall before so we walked around a little and saw this inviting reindeer!  They actually had this exact same guy in the Denver airport before and I've taken a picture with one.

There was also this giant ornament.  Grayson really wanted to jump up and grab the ring, but he's still just a little too small.

When we were heading back to the car we saw a line to see Santa!  And it was free.  We hopped in the line, and there was an elf named Jingles helping out and keeping everyone's spirits bright.  She was awesome, she came and talked to the kids for a little and they really loved it.  She also got the whole line to sing a song together.

And then we got to go see Santa.  He had a fine southern accent that I really appreciated, and the kids all got to tell him what they wanted.  Grayson was our only kid who's been sure and consistent with his Christmas wish.  He wants "one of those fogs that jumps when you push the tab on it."

For Church on Sunday Brooke wanted some fancy Christmas hair, and that meant wreath hair!  Super awesome!

The kids all sang a Christmas song during Sacrament Meeting.  They sang Star Bright, which I think is a newer hymn and will be in the new hymn book.  I really liked it.

When we got home from church, Jelly really looked like she was wishing she'd been born a kangaroo.  I was there to help fulfill all her dreams.  Just look how relaxed and happy she looks....

Well excuse me Jelly!  Sorry I like holding you.  Anyway, that's a wrap on this week, and speaking of, hopefully everything is wrapped and ready!  We're getting more and more excited for Christmas.  The kids are out of school, I'm going to pick up Gram and Pop from the airport tonight, and... other exciting stuff!  Have a merry week ahead, and Merry Christmas!
 

Christmas Is Coming!

As I look over the pictures from this week, I'd say my takeaway is that Christmas is definitely here!  It's all kicking off with Grayson at preschool.  They made these elf crafts!  The great news is that he did get to bring it home after they decorated the classroom door for a time.  Also, he gives the best smiles for his school pictures.  In fact, when we try to get family pictures, Monica asks him to "smile like you do for Ms. Megan, and it works!

Oof!  Texas is a rough place for a snowman, and this guy seems like he's having an especially tough day!  It has cooled off here, but that's lows around 40, so it's never been that bad.

When I got to the train to head into work I actually found myself on the Hogwarts Express!  It's fun to find the trains decorated for Christmas, though I'll also say that I think they only do this with one of them, so you've gotta get lucky to get the Christmas car.

Monica had her Christmas choir concert on Wednesday.  We dropped Grayson off with the Ellers and I took the girls to go watch.  It was really good, and everyone had a great time.

We were able to meet up with Monica after the show and congratulate her.  On the way home we got routed away from traffic and took some random country road home.  That would have been pretty fun in the day, but it was dark, hilly and windy.  Fortunately it wasn't too much for Brooke, but it wasn't her favorite car ride either.  When we got to the Ellers, Grayson was having a great time and they showed us the fun hot wheels they were playing with.  It took quite a bit of time to get Grayson to put his shoes on and get out the door, but fortunately everyone had a great night.

Winry did a Christmas dance performance.  She nailed it.

On Friday, Monica picked up pizza and a babysitter, we filled some plates, and took off!  We went to a Harry Potter Forbidden Forest event.  Here we are enjoying some dinner along the way.  I had the idea to listen to the various forbidden forest scenes from the various books and jumped around through the books while we were driving there.  It ended up being a great idea, because we saw so many things while walking around that we had just heard about!

And here we are inside!  Oh, while we were driving they had signs out to help guide traffic once you got close.  There was a sign that said "Harry Potter, turn here."  Inside the entrance there were food stalls with English themed food items, and of course, the entrance to the forbidden forest.

There were a lot of set piece items from the books.  Statues of things like Grawp and Hagrid, or this terrace with mistletoe, which I can assure you, was most definitely full for nargles!

There were a bunch of interactive spots where you could try your hand at casting various spells, and it would cause lights to go off, etc. depending on the spell.

Half way through, there was a refreshment stall where we stopped for a butterbeer.  It was delicious!  It also had a light up flashing ice cube in it.  Oh, I forgot to mention the rain until now.  Well, up until this point, if it was raining, it was a very light mist and not a bother at all.  But once I had a drink to water down it was time for the rain to pour!  It didn't actually water our drink down, but it was quite a bit of rain for a little while.

I don't think the rain kept up the rest of our time walking through.  I think it was just for a few minutes.  We eventually came to a place where we could cast a patronus.  I got a phoenix, and Monica got something with 4 legs... I think it's a dog.  All in all it was a fun night, and I'm glad we went.  We talked about it on the way home, and our consensus was that we wouldn't go again unless it was cheaper in the future.  Oh! and on the way home we had to stop and get gas, and I ran into the McDonalds there and got fries, and they were great!  No regrets.  Someone had dropped a few on the ground when they got gas, and I saw them when I got out of the car and they looked too good to not get my own, and Monica encouraged me to go in because I really wanted them.

On Saturday, Monica went out with the kids to work on putting up some more Christmas decorations.  Brooke helped hang our big ornaments out in the tree and got to spend time on the ladder to do so.

On Saturday we had an Elders Quorum temple trip, and I headed down.  There was a nativity set up in front of the temple which was super fun to see!  It was great to go to the temple.

Grayson and Brooke both had talks in primary on Sunday.  I helped them write their talks in the morning, and sat in primary to help Grayson give his talk, and listen to Brooke give hers.  It was a lot of fun to be in primary again, and I definitely miss it.  Hopefully I'll get to be in there with the kids again soon.

Sunday night, there was a Christmas carol concert at the church.  Monica sang in it and we all went and enjoyed it.  Well, I tried.  I ended up in the hall chasing Grayson around and trying to keep him calmer and not too loud.  We had a bit of a rough night out there, and left as soon as it was over.  The girls had a good time with Monica. After, there were treats in the back and they hung out with the Ellers.

And that was our week.  A lot of Christmas, and a lot of choir too!  It's a good way to get everyone in the Christmas spirit, and now we're ready to party in the week ahead!