It's that time of year! Our tree has been up a couple of weeks and we are in Christmas mode.

J had his first cello concert last Wed. night. He was in the first number, and he was front and center on stage. You'll see the picture of him standing next to the teacher, and there couldn't have been a better place for him. We could tell that he was loving it. There are two videos to capture it, but only a couple people are obligated to watch and they know who they are. :)

He was most happy about his cousin Ethan coming. The rest of us were chopped liver.

We had play practice today. Hope to get some more pics tomorrow! Again, J is center stage, movin' and groovin', and E is 2 to the right from him.

Today we let J set up his train that grandpa got him a couple years ago. We put it up the years we stay here for Christmas.

Also spent the afternoon decorating cookies, with help of course. Most of these we will give away as neighbor gifts. I need to make other treats first.

Post T Day

It seems like Thanksgiving was forever ago, but really only a week has past . Here are some captured moments from our festivites.


E's class at school had a "feast" of cereal.


V had a snack there too.


Waiting for everyone else to get to mom mom's house. We were the first ones there.


Annual cheeseball turkey. (yes, it's my own creation)


Forcing her into a pic w/ me.


yum


Some of our favorite people made these pilgrim hats out of marshmallows and cookies. Huge hit w/ the kids.

Happy Thanksgiving

J 4yrs old- november 2005

6

Yup. My girl is 6. There is something so big girl about the sound of that number, don't you think?

Celebrations started w/ lunch at Panera w/ mom mom after school on Friday. (she's started wearing her stickers from school on her forehead...i don't know..)

Then that evening her two cousins that are her age came over to stay the night.

They made their own snack. We talked about how cowgirls would need to build a fire out on the range at night, so that's what they did. I loosely followed this as I remember doing it in girl scouts/brownies.

J is not to be left out!

After snacks it was bed time and not too long until they were fast asleep.

Morning brought her breakfast of choice, baked oatmeal. Then we were off to ride horses!

They LOVED the hats I bought them. (notice my e's belt buckle...was mine from earlier days)

After leading the horse out of the pasture,

brushing him, (his name was Mel)

little bro looking on,

cleaning his hooves,

making tractor noises,

stopping for a quick pose,

or two,

it was finally time to line up to ride!

Best moment of the day. This little one likes to play it cool, but she could not contain that smile. Priceless.

Everyone, including J, got a turn.

Even V.

Many thanks to Connie for making this happen! She went above and beyond.

Then it was back home for her lunch of choice, tomato soup and grilled cheese. A good choice for a dreary, cold day.

Then cupcakes!

Horse cupcakes, of course. They almost look just like the pictures in the book.

We finished things off with presents. This is a picnic basket that I covered for her, and I made the food. Sandwich (w/ lettuce tomato, cheese, turkey slice; apple and two mini cupcakes) It was a good day and thank you to all who helped make it special!

CA trip

This guy and I took a quick trip to CA to meet my nephew.


Also had lunch w/ some old girlfriends.


Celebrated dad's birthday.


And dad made BBQ chicken and ribs.



And when I wasn't sick, I held this little guy.