December-ists

We wasted no time in getting the Christmas decor up after Thanksgiving. Well, I should say that we have a house rule to give Thanksgiving its due and not rush through it, but it is nice to get to it while the kids are out of school!

The kids actually have enough ornaments to warrant their own trees. They have mini trees in their rooms and enjoyed decorating them all by themselves.

Unfortunately, we seem to have lost our tote of outdoor Christmas lights sometime in the move. We also sold several bigger decorations before the move last year, so we had to start over from scratch. It will do for now! I'm sure the kids will have suggestions for me for next year.

A special part of the Christmas season is the music, and one of the best classical pieces is Handel's Messiah. Our church puts on a "sing-along" to Messiah, complete with an orchestra, full choral sections and beautiful solos for each part, and thick musical scores to flip through. Don't let the second picture fool you though. The kids were bored by about 10 minutes in, but Hadley had some luck following along with the score, which kept her interest going longer than her brother's. I'll make music aficionados out of them yet!

And nothing says winter like the classic December family bike ride. The weather has been really nice, so we took advantage one weekend afternoon and found some back-way bike paths through various neighborhoods and enjoyed their parks too.

A neighbor's church had its annual "Winterfest," where they truck in some snow and pretend that it's not 65 degrees. This particular evening was actually a little brisk (~55F), but the kids went on the inflatable obstacle course so many times that they eventually ditched their jackets. It was still chilly for the stationary observer (me).

After our free hot dogs, we checked out the dessert options. Owen went for Oreos and milk, while Hadley opted for smores.

And I finally convinced them to actually go to the snow part of the event. (They were not impressed with this snow based on their childhoods in Idaho, and it made them a little nostalgic.) The line wasn't very long though, so we waited and the kids even got to race each other on sleds. Hadley won! I can attest to her lane being pretty fast myself, but there is no photographic evidence of my sled run!

When she's not racing her brother, she's working hard at the gym learning moves on the beam, bars, and floor. It's fun to watch her master new skills!

Lastly, I volunteered to read some of Green Kids Club's books (my employer) to Hadley's class. The books introduce kids to conservation concepts like poaching, wildfires, and pollution, and the kids seemed to follow the stories pretty well. It was fun to spend time in Hadley's classroom. My boss even donated several books to their school library! If only the USPS hadn't lost all of the ones she sent to give to the kids...

Family Picture Time

It was time to get our family pictures updated. We did a mini-session with a photographer at a local park and got a few decent ones.

I love these candid photos that she got of Hadley with genuine smiles!

Because we all know that the photo sessions are really about getting cute pictures of the kids, after all. That's what spurs us to get family pictures every few years - they keep changing and growing bigger. Together...

And individuals... Dancing and sitting.

And one awkward prom pose, 17 years in!

That's all folks! See you in another couple of years.

Thanksgiving Visitors

Oma and Papa came to town! Within their first two days, they got to see Owen's 4th grade musical, witness Hadley's gymnastics class, and attend school Thankful parties before the kids were out of school for the Thanksgiving holiday week. The kids were so excited to have house guests and got lots of fun time in with their grandparents!

When in Houston, there's nothing like dinner out! We had many occasions to go out to eat with extended family and friends.

Meanwhile, the kids pet sat the neighbors' gecko. He was pretty cute and low maintenance. We were supposed to handle him every once in a while to keep him accustomed to human contact. No shortage of volunteers for that here!

Finally, four weeks to the day from getting his splint, Owen's cast came off. Such an exciting day in our house! Time to figure out if he can still write, eat, and throw with this hand.

To celebrate the cast coming off, we went to check out a couple of the larger city parks that we hadn't seen yet. Everything seemed to be back to working order! And the parks were pretty awesome - wish they were closer to our house.

Then, it was time for Oma and Papa to do the second half of their visit, based out of Uncky Dan's house. The kids were sad to see them leave. They ran next to their car all the way to the end of the street. 

But we met up with them soon enough at the Thanksgiving feast! The kids initiated this family collection of thankful lists Thanksgiving morning so that we could remember the reason for the holiday. We have been truly blessed!

Since Thanksgiving fell on Addie's birthday (and Will's two days later), their Sugar Land grandparents had a huge bouncy house and slide set up in the backyard. The kids didn't mind the humidity and sprinkles and got super sweaty in between food courses.

After Thanksgiving, there was one more family get-together to celebrate Papa's birthday before Oma and Papa headed back to Ohio. We even managed to get a full family photo!

There was lots of quality, low-key family time. I guess Owen was avoiding the camera...

Papa got a homemade carrot cake to celebrate 71 years. Well done, Aunt Jenn!

And Owen even got a couple of early birthday gifts! He's rounding the corner to double digits in just a couple of weeks.

After cake, the youngest ventured outside with sidewalk chalk. They ended up with an impressive art piece up to a full aquarium.

Between all of the amazing family functions, the kids had fun on their week off of school! Although it should be noted that it went by too fast for Owen, and Hadley was sad that she had a week off from school at all.