Yet Another Gingerbread House

I missed having Grandma do the house with the kids this year (sure is easier having someone else monitor spillage and icing goopification!), but we made it through fairly unscathed.  Katie Mei really enjoyed it and was quite the little decorator.  Jacob and Merrilee were very creative in their little doorways and "lawns" with gates.  I just contributed the Tootsie Roll firewood pile.  Saw that on a friend's blog and thought it was cute.

Singing Their Hearts Out

Last weekend the kids were in the Christmas Cantata at church.  They've been working on this music for a few months and I was really pleased that they enjoyed being in the children's choir.  Jacob loves to sing, and Merrilee does too, but she's a much better reader, so their teacher Ms. Andrea gave them appropriate assignments.  Jacob had a solo in The Friendly Beasts... "I, said the donkey, shaggy and brown".  Merrilee was a narrator for the cantata and did a beautiful job, reading with enthusiasm and expression.  Katie Mei hadn't been going to practices on Sunday nights, but had learned some of the songs in her Pioneer Clubs class.  She's really not much of a group performer, and would probably have preferred to just lay low and stay in the pews with us.  But we made her get up there and at least stay with her group.  She did pretty well.  She didn't fall over the communion rail and bust her head like I expected her to (although one of our little friends did~glad he was okay, Mindy!).

Enjoy the photos and videos of our Christmas Kids!

 

Scenes From a Parade

We once again attended our little Christmas Parade and enjoyed some sunny weather this year.  Last year Jay was out of town and we woke up to a cold drizzly day.  But this year we had the best of everything!  Jay was home and joined us, and the day was clear and sunny, and even got warm enough to remove our coats after awhile.  Of course this meant the crowd was larger than last year, but in our small town it really didn't make too much of a difference.

Here are a handful of photos of our day. 

 Hot cocoa, courtesy of our own Leesburg UMC.

 Happy girl waiting for the fun to begin.

 Jay told me to let him know if he got a sucker stuck in his hair.

 Peanut Christmas tree~yes, those are peanut plants.  Farmers dig up the peanuts and leave piles of the plants to dry in their fields.  We still haven't figured exactly what they do with the upper part of the plants after they're dry, but we have seen some farmers roll them into bales like hay.  I'll have to research that; I assume it's for animal feed.  In any case, the Christmas tree plant pile was novel!

 Happy girl with her candy.  I thought ahead and brought bags for the goodies this year. Smart Momma.  Aunt Katie, we've gotten plenty of use out of this darling sweater!  Thank you so much!

Grand Finale...here comes the Big Elf!

Happy 7th Birthday, Jacob

Jacob turned 7 last Wednesday.  We did not have the traditional family party for him because Wednesdays are pretty busy around here, but I made cupcakes and let him take them to his Pioneer Club class at church.  After we got home he opened his gifts.

  Jay bought Jacob a new bike.

Grandma and Grandpa got him an exciting explorer set, complete with safari vest, water bottle, bug collecting kit, and binoculars!

Aunt Paige got him a slingshot (with my permission) but Katie Mei took a liking to it rather quickly!  Isn't that the most awesome longhorn?  I love this thing!

We're not so sure Jacob is ready for such high-tech weaponry, though....

There were also some gifts sent along for the girls...Katie Mei loved her T-shirt from the Murphy Street Raspa Co.  from Aunt Paige.  She calls it her "Ice Cream Shirt".

 Merrilee got a beautiful little treasure box from Aunt Paige...she loves those.

 And all three kids received sweet little Christmas ornaments from Grandma and Grandpa.  This photo of Katie Mei turned out just adorable!

Tea, Anyone?

It's been weeks, but I haven't been able to get all my thoughts posted.  November turned out to be a busier month than I imagined!  But this one I wanted to share.  Merrilee worked so hard on it and it really was delightful to be the object of her gift of hospitality.

As you can see, I was invited to dine at the Sweet Pea Tealand International Tea House.  (Sweet Pea is one of of my nicknames for her.)

This darling little tea house is run by a charming young lady who is both waitress and cook.  Apparently it's a popular place.  I had to share my dining room with other patrons who had arrived before I did.

After ordering my meal (It's more than just a tea room!  The menu offers various beverages, entrees, salads, and desserts!), I was treated to sumptuous food in generous portions.

Service was excellent, and my waitress was attentive and prompt in responding to all my requests!  You just can't beat "service with a smile"!

As the sole critic of this fine establishment, I feel obliged to give it five stars and a very high recommendation!  Reservations are suggested, as seating is limited.

Few More Photos From My Trip

Here are a few more pics to enjoy.  It was a great trip and I already miss the relaxing atmosphere and the daily beauty of the scenery.  I can't wait to go back again!

 Looking back on the trail we hiked in The Big Bend National Park

Paige has chickens and they lay about one egg a day.  She probably had close to 40 eggs in the fridge by the time I left.  The rooster made sure we woke up on time every morning (and then some...).

 Cactus in Paige's back yard

 Sunset in Paige's back yard

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner of lamb shanks, potatoes, broccoli, and wine.  Lovely!

The last day I was there we went to The McDonald observatory.  We took a tour of the facility and went inside two of the domes.  It was very interesting and quite a pleasure for this astronomy hobbiest!

Like any vacation, it's always nice to come home to the ones you left behind.

But I'm still looking forward to going back again.  Maybe I'll need another break this spring.  Thanks for the great time, Paige!  Love you!

Texas for Thanksgiving!

I'm trippin' for Thanksgivin'!

My dear family had their turkey and stuffing on Saturday before I left to visit my sister in Southwestern Texas for the week.  She lives in the Chihuahuan Desert and this is my first time out here.  Paige and I have been having a such a nice time relaxing, sight-seeing, and checking out a couple trails here and there.  We visited the Chihuanhuan Desert Research Institute on Monday and hiked one of the trails there, then walked through the botanical gardens and the cactus greenhouse.  I have other photos on another camera, which I'll share once I get back home, but these are some I'm able to upload right now.

The first night I was here, I had the pleasure of seeing the full moon rise over the desert.  Wow, it is big country!

Yesterday we took a road trip down to Big Bend National Park and drove around a bit to see inside the basin. 

Then we headed back out to the Grapevine Hills trail.  Our hike led us through some pretty flat, easy terrain, then up the "hill" to Balanced Rock.  It wasn't so much hill as it was the side of a rocky mountain.  Paige has a lot more experience hiking this stuff (something about spending the majority of my hours at home teaching school to my children that limits my desert trail hiking opportunities...), so she found it to be a very easy hike.  I had a few thrills here and there with being up so high, but as long as I stayed behind her, I was okay.  It was a great trail, because it wasn't so long that we couldn't do anything else the same day, and it had plenty of variation in the views and difficulty so that it was interesting and very photographic.  I had a great time!

 Standing by a tall ocatillo cactus on the side of the 6.5 mile gravel road leading to the trail head.

At the top, in front of Balanced Rock.  I don't look too much worse for the wear!

 Looking back down toward the trail, from about 1/4 of the way down the "hill".

The view through the Balanced Rock, looking southward toward Mexico.

After our hike, we drove around the west side of the park to look at the view near another trail, but decided it was too long to give us time for dinner.  I did get to see two very fast road runners crossing the road, of course.  They were too fast, and I was too slow, to get their photos.  Then the "check engine" light came on in her car which was good for a thrill.  However, there was no problem with the engine temperature or anything else we could find, so she topped off the oil and we went to dinner.  The Starlight Theater restaurant served a delightful meal--superb chips and guacamole--and the country-fried antelope with Shiner Bock beer gravy was excellent!  Next time I'm going for the pork medallions in chipotle reduction.  Mmmmm.

We got home at a reasonable hour, and only had to drive over one dead javalina on the highway.  Those are nasty animals when they're alive, and they're a couple degrees nastier when they're dead.  Ick.

Now we're hanging out after a breakfast of home-grown chicken eggs, country ham, toast, and figs.  I could get used to this....

And a big thank you to Ringo, for letting me use his laptop.