Mason' s 9th Birthday!

We are on vacation so we were unable to blog on our big 9 year old's birthday! Here she is enjoying a birthday party with her cousins at Grandma and Grandpa's house. She had spent the day in the car for the second day of driving and was glad to have cousins ready to play! There was even a Texas cake!

More Christmas Eve...

Opening and wearing the traditional Christmas Eve jammies!

Hammering peppermints to make peppermint bark!

Baking cookies for Santa (while Mason helped Daddy put out luminarias)!

MERRY XMAS!!

These kiddos must have been very good this year because Santa was so good to them! Mason got the Felicity American Girl holiday dress that she so badly wanted but we could not find anywhere! Hannah got a tree house of her very own and a coveted baby doll! Dylan got a choo-choo so he could be an engineer! There were lots of smiles and happiness! Tomorrow, we go see Andrew's family. How I'll be ready by morning I'll never know...

Xmas Eve!!!

Birdwatching at Bosque del Apache

Crazy Kids!!

Xmas Prep

First (and Only???) Snow!!

Raking Leaves

A Few Last Hugs for Santa!

You won't see Dylan in these pictures... After his short little sit on Santa's lap, he is having nothing to do with the big guy other than to wave and smile from a distance. The girls, however, adore Santa and will visit with him anytime, even if he is only a decoration...

Mason's Birthday Party!

Mason had a Felicity American Girl birthday party on Saturday. Everything was as it was in Felicity's day including games, spiced nuts and a ginger cake. She even wore a lovely colonial style dress!

Making Gingerbread Houses!

Mason, Hannah, Robert and Julia made gingerbread houses together last weekend, as is the custom every year around here. Dylan got to work on a gingerbread person but found it much more interesting to eat the frosting and decorations. Unfortunately, a couple of the houses experienced a hurricane and fell down but we still had fun making them!

Snuggle Buddies

Dylan and Hannah have had the stomach flu for the past couple of days. It has been so endearing to watch Dylan seek out his sister and climb in to snuggle with her!

Bosque del Apache

We went to see the birds at the Bosque this weekend! We saw Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese, Canadian Geese, a Blue Heron struggling to eat a still flopping fish, and even a deer family!

A Visit to Santa...

Poor little Dylan did not like Santa up close, though waving to him from a distance was really fun! A little train ride after was just the thing to cheer him up!

A Serious Boy...

Up on the Rooftop...

Yesterday, Daddy and the girls got the outside lights put up for the holidays! Hannah is always ready for a little trip onto the roof so she went up right away. Mason is more hesitant (after all, it is a long way up...) but eventually, she joined them also. The little guy tried but only made it up one step on the ladder! He eventually decided to nap and was quite excited when he woke up to Christmas lights!

The Tree is Up!

Today, we put our Christmas tree up! There was a lot of excitement in the air and the girls couldn't wait to hang the ornaments...that is...until they had had enough. It always seems that in the end, it is just the grown-ups getting the job done! But the tree looks beautiful and everything is festive around the house now. It is fun to watch Dylan as he watches us decorate and sees the lights going up around the city. He is so full of wonder! Let's see whether the ornaments stay on the tree or if he thinks they would be better somewhere else... He looked at the round glass ornaments and exclaimed "Ball!!". He was very gentle with the decorations so far, though. In the evening, Robert and Julia and their parents joined us for dinner.

The Two Dylans...

This is Dylan and his buddy Dylan!

SNOW!!!!!

Okay, well, there was not a lot of it but after these record breaking warm days, we'll take what we can get! We took the kids up to the "La Luz" trail and let them do some hiking and play in the snow. Dylan was a great hiker! He made it most of the way up on his own, then fell asleep in my arms on the way down (heavy...). He loved the snow and added it to his growing list of words today!

Thanksgiving Performance Night!

The third grade put on SUCH an adorable Thanksgiving show on Monday night! Here is Mason with two of her buddies!