Counting Down

I know it's old news now, but I wanted to remember the fun we had before Christmas this year.  The weather was lovely and mild and the kids did a lot of playing outside.  Ben and some neighbors had some sort of game going in the garage one afternoon.

Alex had a sweet little Christmas party at school and made a snowman face from icing and candy.  He's asked almost every day when it would snow here but the sad news (for him) is that a white Christmas is pretty rare in Houston!

After both boys were out of school, we spent the night at the Kirkhams and the boys got to play with "snow".  I must admit I prefer the real stuff to this staticy mess!

We spent a few nights with Grammy and Grumpy and got to catch up with Uncle Jason, Aunt Stacey, and Reid.  We cruised around after dinner to see some neighborhood lights and had to go to our old neighborhood to see the Disneyland house that has been getting bigger and brighter since we were kids.  Our kids loved it!

The boys loved playing with their adorable cousin!  Ben and Reid doubled up on the tractor and had a great time.

One of Grumpy's friends made the boys some great wooden boats so they took them to the park to play.  It was all fun and games until....

....SPLASH!!

I knew it was only a matter of time until one of the kids took a header into the pond, as much as they've played there over the years.  Alex was the lucky one that day and got a shock and a bath all at the same time.  NOT a happy boy.  He scrambled straight back out of the water so, being the awesome mom that I am, I whipped out my phone for a quick picture before the moment was lost.  This is one of my favorite pictures ever!  Good thing for him it was 78F that day so we just walked home for a change of clothes and he was ready to go again.

Not sure how this old ball turned into a helmet, but I also love this picture!

 

After several fun days of family time, we headed home on Christmas eve to get ready for everyone and catch the candlelight service at church.  It was great getting to relax and spend time with our loved ones...that was our whole goal of the season.