All Things Christmas

What a fun holiday! I'll start from the beginning, which was Christmas Eve church service at 3pm. It was geared toward the kids with lots of singing, a reenactment of Jesus' birth, and the candlelight singing of Silent Night (using glow sticks instead of candles - smart idea!). After the service, they had a live nativity scene with animals - see Bill's earlier post.
We prepared for Santa by setting out his cookies and milk, as well as the carrots for Ruldolph and crew. The girls had to test the cookies to make sure they selected the best for Santa.
Grandpa Denny brought a Northern tradition to Texas by making and setting out an Ice Candle with the girls. I can safely say we were the only family in Texas with an ice candle on Christmas Eve! The girls really thought it was neat.
The next morning was very fun. The girls woke up, got Grandma and Grandpa and came downstairs yelling "The presents are here!". We opened our stockings, then had some breakfast before diving into the tree presents. My tradition is to make orange rolls, just the plain old Pilsbury ones in the can, and for a long time, my grocery store stopped carrying them. I was distraught thinking I'd go hungry Christmas morning. But, my Christmas miracle was at Wal-Mart where I saw a case full of those blessed tubular cans of goodness. I bought 3 to be safe.
We played with all our new toys!

We had dance parties!
We bounced at the bounce house.We wore ourselves out!
P.S. I LOVE my new camera. Got a Nikon S710 - more camera than I ever expected in such a small package, and I'm really excited about all the options. It's been awesome taking pictures that actually turn out and aren't blurry! All the pictures above are from the new camera.

Day after Christmas

Jessica has all the Christmas pictures on her new camera so this post is a little out of order. Today it was 80 out. Lauren had a great idea to have a picnic for lunch so while Jessica, Denny and Luci went to a movie the girls and I started the process of looking for a golf cart by going to a golf cart dealer, then got some Rudy's to go and went home and had a nice picnic. We had a visitor in pic 2. After lunch we played outside for about 4 hours. -Bill

Santa Arrived!!

We ran in right after Santa left and saw all these presents he left. Hopefully Emma gets the apple she wanted and Lauren gets her puppy. I guess we will see once we open them up.

Yes thats a camel...

We went to Christmas Eve service today at 3:00 and when we came out there was a live nativity scene. The girls enjoyed petting the animals and are excited for tomorrow!!! -Bill

G&G arrive

Grandma and grandpa have arrived for Christmas. the girls are very excited!! -Bill

Back on the trails

Lauren and I went on another trail. This one has a nice stream that pooled into a mini lake with minnows. Lauren had a great time. -Bill

Trail of Lights

We went to the trail of lights last Friday night. We were lucky that it was in the 70's so we didn't need jackets. -Bill

Saturday at the Park

Our neighborhood had a event at the local park that all the local businesses threw with bounce houses, trains, food and music. Here are pictures of the girls riding the train. -Bill

Playing with a box

We were shipping some gifts yesterday and the girls found a empty box to play hide and seek with. Hours of fun with a cardboard box. -Bill

Santa Pictures

Here are some pictures of the girls with Santa. -Bill

Waiting for Santa

I thought I would have a lot of time to update the blog while I was unemployed but Jessica gave me a list of things to do to keep me busy. Here are some pictures we took last Sunday while waiting for Santa. -Bill

The Power of the Santa Call

The other day, we were all playing in the front room. Lauren and Emma were playing camp and had their blanket spread out and all their camping gear - you know, dress up clothes, the old cell phone, fake food. Lauren decided to take something from Emma's hand, and instead of getting upset, Emma picked up the cell phone and told Lauren she was calling Santa. And she did, telling Santa Lauren wasn't being nice. Well that set off Lauren and she stormed to her room, mustering all the drama she could to tell us she was NEVER coming out, and slammed the door for good measure. It took all we had for Bill and I to not laugh. We looked at Emma...she picked up the phone and dialed Santa again.

NEW JOB!!

I have been unemployed for a total of 4 business days and today I got a call back from creditcards.com. They offered me a position there, which I am going to accept, and will start work next Monday.

Tonight Jessica, Lauren, Emma and I will celebrate at the place we always go to when something exciting happens. WHATABURGER. Yummy.

**This also means that the golf cart search is back on. I have not raised enough funds yet but I think that I should in a month or 2.**

Sugar Church

The girls participated in Operation Christmas Child through our church this weekend. They each took home a plastic container and filled it with fun items for a little girl less fortunate. On Saturday they brought their containers and walked it up to the front of the church to hand in. Afterward, we all went downstairs and made a gingerbread church, using a sugar cone as the steeple. I didn't get the memo to bring tools to mix the powdered sugar frosting, so being the smart engineer that I am, I ripped off a corner of the box and used it as a spreader, and the pointy end of the steeple as a stirrer. Our church looked just as good as those who came prepared, and I didn't have to do any dishes! The girls ate about half the frosting, which may I remind you was watered down powdered sugar. It didn't take long for them to be bouncing off the church walls, and Bill and I were thinking this was a cruel activity the church put on for families...getting all these kids hyper on sugar! When we were done, they took our picture for the bulletin, and we brought the church home for decoration. The girls had a really fun time.

Thanksgiving weekend pt2

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed downtown to the Chuy's parade. It was a little colder so we needed jackets this year. The girls loved it!! -Bill

Thanksgiving weekend pt1

The weather was very nice on Thanksgiving so we were able to spend a lot of time outside. Here are some pictures. -Bill