Ranch Heritage Christmas Tour...

Our final holiday activity in Lubbock before we depart for Phoenix, AZ was an annual Christmas tour at the Ranch Heritage Center.

I loved this activity last year and couldn't wait for it this year.

So we met some friends:
And peeked into windows and doorways that showed people celebrating Christmas as they would if they were living in West Texas during different periods of time.

There was my favorite, a woman in an clay structure singing songs to soothe her nearby baby:
Young girls practicing their carols:
Cowboys sitting by the fire near their decorated tumbleweed:
Couples enjoying dancing:And woman crafting together:
The kids were even able to write letters to Santa and mail them at an old fashioned post office:
Ooooh and the big man in red was even there handing out candy canes. All it took was the promise of candy and the security of a friend by her side to get Analise to approach:
It was a fabulous evening.
Thank you Ranch Heritage Center, you never disappoint.

Tunes...

Look what happened to my car!!!
Don't fret, Eric is the one who did it (okay still fret, but maybe not as much).

Eric dismantled my dashboard in order to install a new (and more importantly, working) radio. To be honest, my radio wasn't broken but the CD player was and with a long drive coming up to go to Phoenix for Christmas we needed a working CD player. Mama needs her audio books to distract from the whining coming from the backseat.

I was a little worried when I saw all the parts involved:
But luckily my husband did not disappoint:
Yay! After a trip to the library for some books on CD we will be ready to go. Phoenix AZ, here we come.

Christmas Caroling

Last week during Sage preschool (our co-op preschool) we enjoyed another fun holiday activity with friends: Caroling at an assisted living home.

Before going, we met at our house to bake some goodies to take along:
And luckily, some even escaped the "taste test" and made their way into the bag to take along:
Unfortunately my camera died soon after we arrived so I don't have many pictures but a friend was able to snap this picture of our group singing:
It was a lot of fun and everyone enjoyed the event. Analise even turned to me once to said "this is awesome, it is just like church." I have no idea what about it was like church. Maybe because we were looking at sheets of music to know the words of the songs, but other than that the similarities were lost on me.

Bring on the holiday activities.

We have had a fun filled weekend full of holiday activities.
Friday night we donned our pajamas and met some friends at a local bookstore where they were doing a special reading of the Polar Express:
And after the story, we wrote letters to Santa and enjoyed a treat of hot chocolate and cookies.
The next day we enjoyed a holiday festival at our Science Center.

There was cookie decorating:

And then eating said decorated cookies:
After that we met up with some friends and the kids braved a maze:Look! They made it out safely:Here is Analise and couple of her friends waiting for their turn in the bounce house:And what a turn it was:Finally, as we were getting ready to leave, the most amazing thing happened.
Emery convinced Analise to go on the barrel train with him. You see Analise has zero desire to do any ride that does not involve her Mom or Dad sitting safely beside her. Emery, however, does not yet have this affliction and wants to try most things. He asked Analise to go with him and after we asked her to help him, she was game. It was a very proud moment for Eric and I as we watched them ride away knowing that they felt safe because they were together.

Trouble

Analise and Emery are starting to conspire in ways I have always feared.

Happy 1st of December.

This morning when we woke up we were greeted with a lovely 1st of December surprise.
Snow!
I quickly ran out to snap a few pictures of the snowfall in case the snow stopped falling before I could document it.
Little did I know that there would be a winter wonderland by the time we left to take Analise to preschool.
Here is a picture of the front of our house...you can kind of make out the Christmas tree in the window. With the snow the whole street was looking very festive and in the Christmas spirit.
All the snow had turned to slush by noon which was sad but it was still nice to get a taste of a white Christmas.

P.S. Look at me blogging on December 1st when I am not even obligated by NaBloPoMo! Don't get used to it.

For this we are thankful...

We loved writing down things we were thankful for each night this month. It was a fun and thoughtful way to reflect on all that is so good in our lives and the many things we have to be thankful for.

Analise's were my favorite to hear because they were so literal and honest like only a child's thoughts often are:
Guess who got a cupcake that day from a friend?

Then there was her standard go to answer when she couldn't think of anything else:
She sure does love her cousins. She names them daily (Saba, Cadie, and Cambrey), and often asks what I think they are doing when we are not together.

Emery had the same answer every night:
"Ya Ya" is his best friend, Elliot, and we are more than a little aware that Emery is very thankful for Elliot. When pressed to think of something different for the evening he would often go to his second love:
Even the adults in the house varied from thoughtful responses:
To silly:
And then there were those cryptic leaves of thanksgiving:


Have you guessed?
We have a lot to be thankful for.

I am ten weeks along and everything looks great. Baby should be here by the end of June.