Move over!

Finally joining big brother at the wheel

Little Drummer Boy

Christmas Break Ski Trip 2014

We spent about a week in Angel Fire skiing between Christmas and New Year’s.  We got there on Sunday, rented skis, and settled in. Monday was the first day to ski, but the crowds were so bad that we didn’t ski long.  Tuesday was bitter cold.  The forecast high at the base was 12 degrees, and they were reporting –25 windchill at the top of the mountain.  The kids stayed at the house, but Jennifer and I skied.  We could only do about three runs at a time without getting too cold.  My goggles fogged over and then froze.  It was pretty cold.  But Wednesday and Thursday was great weather (upper 20s) and we all skied quite a bit.  Both of the kids even did a blue for the first time on Thursday!  On Friday, we packed up and drove back to Fort Worth.  Here are some pictures and videos from our trip.

Nathan just hanging out playing some music

Amber and Lance happened to be skiing in Red River at the same time, so they came over on Monday and the kids did some sledding.

I had to get the sledding track ready for them

We got in the hot tub several times

Henry never really left the house.  Thanks to Nana and Pappy for taking turns watching him so we could ski.

We watched lots of football, including the Aggies, the Cowboys, and several bowl games.  I think Henry is starting to like it

Getting the kids ready to ski is a pretty big effort.  Here we are ready to head out

The first couple of days I kept Nathan on the bunny slope.  He picked it up pretty quickly.  Here is a video of both of Hannah and Nathan on the last day. Hannah is in the white jacket in front of Nathan. Jennifer was nervous the whole time. She kept telling them to slow down.

On Thursday, we ate lunch on the mountain.  It was funny because Hannah was tired and Jennifer told her they would ride to the top and get hot cocoa. I had already started down the backside so Jennifer had to convince her to ski down again for hot cocoa at the bottom. We went in the warming hut at the bottom and of course the café was closed.  Hannah was not happy.  So we had to ride up again to the warming hut at the top.  She cheered up pretty quickly when we finally got inside.

Nathan was a perfect angel during Hannah’s meltdown, but when we finally sat down he crashed.

Afterwards we went outside and took a few family pics.

“All done”

We had so much fun and can’t wait to go back.  I think the kids may go again at Spring Break.

Merry Christmas from Aledo!

We started our celebration with Christmas Eve service.  Here is Henry ready for church. Hard to believe he’s 9 months old (he just started crawling last week).

After church, we changed into our pajamas and loaded the Suburban Express!

We had hot cocoa and snacks all ready for some Christmas light viewing.  We went to a house that is popular in the area for having a big display, but all the lights were out.  Pretty soon after that, Henry got fussy so our tour got cut short.

When we got home, we put out our cookies for Santa. Hannah decorated these especially for him.

The kids spread some reindeer food in the front yard

took a few pictures in their Christmas PJs

and settled down for a long winter’s night.

Henry was up first on Christmas morning

Nathan was next

Santa left the kids some goodies

(Henry’s stocking is under construction)

The kids got some fun gifts

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We’ll leave you with Nathan’s version of Joy to the World…

Let every heart, prepare Him food!

December Happenings

We had a busy December preparing for Christmas.  Celebrating Jesus’ birthday is a BIG deal at our house!  We count down with a fun activity each day. Here are some of the fun things we did.  Don’t judge that our kids seems to wear the same outfit the entire month.

We decorated our tree (in shorts and t-shirts)

Nathan was having so much fun one day that he fell asleep in his fort

and later on the couch.  If you know our kids, you know that is rare!

We drank hot-cocoa in our Santa mugs

Made Rice Krispy treats

Enjoyed the fair weather

Played dress up

Went to see the Nutcracker

Wrote letters to Santa at the library

Visited Santa at the FNI Christmas Party

Hannah had a Christmas party at school

We took a quick trip to Evadale to visit Me-Maw and Nan

Did some holiday baking

We opened presents with Nana, Pappy, Aunt Becca, and Uncle Jon Michael.  Nathan loved his Ninja turtle race track

Hannah loved her American Doll

Henry loved the paper

We did some shopping.  This was one of Nathan’s ideas for Mommy.  We opted for the robe on the next rack.

We also wrapped some gifts

Hannah wanted no confusion, so she went with first names on her gift tags.

It was a great month leading up to Christmas!