Grandma visits, Western Stock Show

Grandma and Grandpa came to visit shortly after Christmas and we have enjoyed a long visit with them...

This cool background was someplace - I can't remember. THat's why I need to do this more frequently.

Hugs and giggles at the Museum of Nature and Science. Favorite exhibit? Gems!

Whispers between the girls

Budding cowgirl

Alexis with bed head

Creativity flows through these veins

Stocking up on food for the Western Stock Show rodeo

Enjoying the show 

I am so thankful the Karen and David are willing to come out to us each Christmas. And I am thankful for the time spent with my mother. We live a good distance apart, so these weeks of daily time spent together are precious.

I also really enjoy outings with the kids these days. They are less work for me now, and they tend to really engage with the events happening around them. At the rodeo, Drew found $5. He was excited to buy his own concessions with the money and even shared some of the money with Belle. I thought that showed maturity.

Belle was mostly interested in the activities that involved girls. So the barrel racing was interesting, but we also watched shooting (where riders race around barrels and shoot balloons at the same time).

She is getting great at riding and we have upped her lessons to twice a month.

Christmas 2016

Each year, Christmas gets more and more special...decorating with the kids, their enthusiasm for the season, gifts, candy and fun -- it really perks up the spirit. We watched several of the must-see films of the season, but this year we added "Elf" to the repertoire. It's been in the "quote" bank ever since. The kids loved it. It is pretty funny. So now we own it, and as Annabelle said, It will be a tradition. Other traditions include the Parade of Lights downtown, Santa train (this year from Georgetown), and baking some cookies (we attempted snow men cookies this year made from cake balls.) We picked out a tree at Jared's and decorated together. We listened to lots of Christmas songs and talked quite a bit about the meaning of the season. I am so thankful for the memories and my babes little warm and happy hearts. This is a link to an album of our good times...

https://goo.gl/photos/6hxWrAiDCwJ6vyP3A