Christmas Day

We had a nice, relaxing, lazy Christmas with just our little family of four this year. Campbell woke up at 5:30, which means I got up then, as well, to keep him away from what Santa had left until the rest of the family was up. He helped me make pigs-in-a-blanket while we awaited the others. Helene came downstairs at about 5:45, so I sent her up to wake up Daddy. John is usually the first one up, but he was on call and worked late on Christmas Eve. So, we finally got everyone downstairs before 6:00am, but John decided to torture the children a little more by telling them they had to do a happy Christmas dance first:

We tried to do everything kind of simple and small-scale this year. The kids seemed to enjoy their gifts. And, as always, the boxes and bows are almost as much fun to play with as the gifts inside:

I snapped this picture mid-morning because we were looking at the hundreds of birds that landed in the cottonwood. I posted it here because it shows what kind of weather we had for Christmas Day. It hasn't snowed in several days, but there's still some snow left on the ground. This was the warmest day we had had for a few weeks; it got up to about 45 in the afternoon. The sky was blue and the sun was warm enough that we enjoyed sitting out on our deck mid-morning, drinking coffee and reading new books, while the kids ran around in the green space and got some fresh air.

This is me peeling apples and Helene eating the peelings:

I had so much fun making this pie. It's from a Southern Living recipe that I saw before Thanksgiving and had been wanting to try. It calls for 4 1/2 pounds of apples! It's a balancing act trying to pile all of those apples on.

Here's our Christmas spread, which the children found to be suspiciously like a Thanksgiving spread. Helene is in the background with a plastic rose in her teeth. She thought I was taking a picture of her. We had turkey, mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, stuffing/dressing, rolls, and gravy. It was all wonderful, and we should be eating the leftovers for days. We used the Christmas china. I think it was the fanciest meal we've ever had with just the four of us.

John prepared a delicious herbed roasted turkey.

The pie baked down some, but was still huge. And yummy. The crust was wonderful and not too hard to make. I highly recommend this recipe. (I did not do the sauce that the recipe mentions, just the cornmeal crust and double apple pie.)

Take-Apart Station

In Campbell's first grade classroom, as well as at a summer camp he attended last summer, there was a take-apart station. People would donate old equipment (typewriters, phones, etc.), and the kids could take them apart with tools and just explore. Ever since, the kids have been asking to take stuff apart at home. We don't usually have stuff sitting around that I would like to have destroyed, though.

For his birthday, Campbell got a used laptop computer. I finally got around to taking the old desktop computer out of his bedroom this last weekend. So, the kids are having a great time taking it apart. They woke up early on Tuesday and spent an hour working on it before school, then another two hours on it when they got home in the afternoon. I don't know how much they're actually learning, but I think it's a good experience, good practice using tools, and a good way to take out their destructive tendencies. And it's better than watching TV!

Harry Potter Scars Are Cool

When Campbell was about 18 months old, he tripped at the museum and fell into the corner of a display cabinet. I rushed him to the ER, and they glued him up. He now has a nice vertical scar on the right side of his forehead.

Now Helene will have one, too. We took the kids to the Rec Center today to swim. Helene was in John's lap on the twisty tube slide. They had been sliding over and over again and having a blast, but this last time, Helene sat up instead of leaning back and bonked her head on the tube. She has a pretty deep horizontal cut. The lifeguards did a quick patch-up job, then we took her home, so John could do a better job.

He used the kitchen table as a surgical table and glued her up. Helene was very brave.

John told Helene that stitches create less of a scar, but Helene insisted that she wants a scar! I'm writing this down, so we can remind her of it when she's a teenager. She asked why anyone would not want a cool scar on their forehead. I told her 16-year-old girls are silly and get upset about any little blemish on their face. She laughed and said she'll never be that way. That's my girl!

Campbell

At Campbell's last den meeting, the boys made their own boats for the Raingutter Regatta. And at the pack meeting last week, they got to race their boats.

They also played a game of Turkey Bowling. They're actually tossing a frozen Cornish game hen at the pins.

I'm really glad we got involved in Cub Scouts. It has been a great experience, so far. I hope that Campbell stays with it, becomes a Boy Scout, and eventually an Eagle like so many of his family members. I would love to send him to Philmont one day.

Helene

Here's a little of what Helene's been up to lately. As always, her imagination and creativity astound me. In the picture below, you see Mr. Pillow on the left (wearing a purple tutu and a crown). Ms. Vacuum is in the background (better picture below). They got married here on the landing, then had a baby mouse together (the greenish creature wearing the flowers on her head). I'm not sure why Tobie is in the scene. Helene laughed at the preposterous idea (which I put forth) that perhaps Ms. Vacuum and Mr. Pillow had a cat baby as their second child.

Here is Ms. Vacuum. It was her creation which started the whole saga. Her body is a toy vacuum; her head is part of a gumball machine, decorated with stickers. Her hair is the handle of the vacuum, with ponytail holders and ribbons on it.

Helene attended a birthday party recently at Lollilocks. The girls wore pj's and flip-flops, and got their hair and nails done. I think my first spa manicure was before prom!

Halloween

About a week before Halloween, we had a big costume party at our house. It was a lot of fun. John and I dressed as Uma Thurman's character and one of the Crazy 88s from Kill Bill.

We had spooky food, like vampire blood (sangria), . . .

. . . monster toes (pigs in blankets), bones (taquitos), monster claws (popcorn and candy corns in a glove), etc. Silly, but fun. This was a family party, so the kids loved it.

One group had some fun with Rock Band.

Helene was a bat princess.

I had a couple of girls in the neighborhood help me plan some games, and they were in charge of running all the activities for the kids at the party. They were a huge help. Here's Campbell after bobbing for apples.

The party got a little wilder as the evening went on. Here's candy corn poker . . .

. . . and Halloween Twister!

We had wonderful weather for Halloween this year. No coats or mittens necessary! Lots of neighbors were sitting out on their front porches to hand out candy, just enjoying the evening. John, as always, was wearing his gorilla costume and pretending to be stuffed until some unsuspecting trick-or-treater reached for the candy, at which point he would move slightly or make a little gorilla grunt. Even the kids who knew what to expect (from previous years) would jump and scream.

Helene dressed as a Baylor Bear cheerleader. Yes, we're Aggies, but the grandmother who sewed this for her is a Bear. Oh, well. Campbell dressed as a fireman.

I don't know what this look is about, but it's a good spooky/zombie kind of stare, so I thought it appropriate for the holiday.

I always hang these two fall wreaths up here in October and November. This year, I decided to move our B (for Bradley) over with them. Only one person commented on it spelling out "BOO." I wonder if anyone else noticed . . .

Trail Running

When we first moved to Colorado, I went for a hike in Chautauqua Park and saw people trail running. I remember thinking, "Wow! Those people are animals. I can barely breathe at this altitude, and they're running up rocky trails, hopping over logs!" Well, a few months ago, I finally got up the nerve to try it myself. I went for a trail run with my dad, brother, and husband, on a hiking trail just up from Glen Haven. It was beautiful and exhausting, and I loved it. I had not had (or perhaps just not made) the opportunity to do it since then. But today, when I told Chris that John was going to run in the mountains, Chris and Kathy were nice enough to offer to watch our kids, so that I could go with him. It was so much fun! I'm not fast, and I even had to stop and walk for a few minutes, but we ran for 40 minutes total, and I felt pretty good about it overall. John took me to Heil Ranch, a place he runs whenever he gets the chance. It was beautiful. I can see why he goes back. I hope I get to go with him again soon.

Last Day at Disney

Saturday was our last day at Disney, and we decided to spend it at the Magic Kingdom again. We took it easy, since we had been there already (we were only there from about 10:30 - 4:30 this time).
We rode the ferry over from the parking lot instead of taking the monorail. I thought this was a sweet picture of Cookie and Helene deep in conversation.
Big Thunder Mountain was one of our favorite roller coasters, so we had to do it again. Cookie and Tommy enjoyed it, too. Look at that sky - what a beautiful day!
And we had to do the Buzz Lightyear ride again, as well.
See, this is one of those occasions when Helene chose to pose for the camera instead of hide.

Look at the expression on this girl's face as Helene almost takes her out with the hula hoop!


It was fun to have a second, shorter day to see the Magic Kingdom again. We did a couple of things this time around that we had missed the first time. The ones we all enjoyed were The Enchanted Tiki Room (cheesy, but upbeat and fun and a nice chance to sit for a few minutes and relax), The Carousel of Progress (which didn't get a high grade in our guide book, but we all really liked it), and Splash Mountain.

It's nice to be home now (and will be even nicer when John finishes his conference and is home, as well). And I'm glad we have a day to recover before school. The kids have Monday off, and they have lots of make-up work to cover before Tuesday!