Just In The St. Nick Of Time

We were lucky enough that Santa took a little time away from the toyshop this morning to make a quick stop at every guy's favorite place, the hardware store. (The elves must have sent him on a tool run.) Since Audrey wasn't a fan of the Big Guy in Abilene but gets excited about every picture/image of Santa she sees we wanted to give her one more chance to give him her wish list. Success! She would go near him if Dad promised to protect her and she delivered her message. We're certain Santa will be back to leave lots of goodies for both our good girls in just 2 short days!

Making Angels

Hello, Santa!

Natalie finally overcame her fear of fat men with furry hats this year:

 

 

It must be genetic, though, because Audrey wouldn't get within 5 feet of St. Nick even though she spent all morning saying, "Hehyo, Santa!"

 

We settled for a picture of the girls in their favorite Christmas shirts outside the Santa compound.

 

 

Since it was a balmy 70 degrees, we settled for a visit to the Abilene Zoo and chocolate milk instead of hot cocoa.

 

 

 

We hope everyone is enjoying the season, with or without snow!

St. Nick's Day, Texas Style

We must've been good this year because our shoes were full this morning.

When everything was opened Natalie said, "St. Nick is SOOOOO nice!"

Later this morning we joined our friends at the duck pond and park for some more fun.

We hope y'all are having a very happy St. Nick's Day too!

Deck the Apartment

The weather may not be frightful outside but we're in full swing preparing for the holidays down here!

Putting up our Christmas tree.

Attending the Big Spring Christmas Parade with our friends, the Slaydens.  It was a great parade with tons of wonderfully decorated floats - that also threw candy.  There were 4 very happy kids.



Baking the Deschane traditional peanut butter blossoms.

Enjoying Amma and Bapa's renowned Christmas packages with a treat to unwrap each day until Christmas. 

And making LOTS of crafts and ornaments to decorate the kids...uh, apartment.

We hope your halls are becoming festive as well and that you're all excitedly preparing too! 

More Thanksgiving Pics

My sister was way better at having her camera out at Thanksgiving and she put her pics up yesterday so here are a few more from our great time in Anthem!

Ducks

One of the things we did with Holley and Levi when we were in Anthem was feed ducks at their local park. They were very tame (the ducks, not the kids.)  The kids had a blast! I had a blast!

So when we returned to Big Spring we set out to find a duck pond we'd heard a brief rumor about a few weeks ago. We found it! These ducks were quite tame as well which delighted the girls.  We had such fun that I have a feeling we'll be keeping them well-fed this "winter." (Sorry, I just can't say winter seriously when we're still wearing shorts!)

 

 

 

So Very Much To Be Thankful For

This Thanksgiving we traveled to Anthem, Arizona, my sister's beautiful and amazing new home (or rather the new home of my beautiful and amazing sister). She and Matt moved this past August for his job. While we were very sad to see them go shortly after we arrived in Texas we're very happy for them in their new city (northern Phoenix) and house. They finally get to experience regular family life where Matt leaves in the morning and comes home at the end of the day and no longer has to disappear for months on end to dangerous places.

As such, this Thanksgiving they wanted to gather both the Holleys and the Burchs around one table to celebrate family and togetherness. And gather we did - a group of 13. The Hotel de Burch was wonderfully accommodating and luxurious. And the food was all DELICIOUS! Matt and Alexis thought everything out to the last detail to make sure everyone had a wonderful and relaxing holiday together. The kids especially loved being reunited with their cousins. With 4 under 4 running around we regrettably took too few pictures but here are a few.

Thanks again, Matt, Sister, Holley, and Levi for having us, sharing your amazing home, and inviting us back. You know we'll take you up on it. The sooner the better!

It's Always Fun to Wear Mom's Shoes

Blue Bell's Newest Fans

Kind of amazingly the girls had their first trip to Brenham's premier landmark, Blue Bell, last week.  We didn't have time that day for the full factory tour (on the to-do list for the near future) but a visit to the ice cream parlor certainly satisfied these two.  No surprise - getting them to leave was tricky!