holly and jolly.

Leading up to the celebration of Jesus' birthday, this year our family did the Jesse Tree for the first time.  Sadly, I didn't take a picture of our little tree but you can read more about it here.  That link will take you to something very similar to what we did.  It honestly made Christmas a joyous anticipation... a beautiful awaiting of our Salvation in bodily form... the supernatural birth of Jesus Christ.  I am already excited to read through it again next year and hang leaves on our tree each day of December.  

Another first in our household was Peanut losing two teeth.  Whoa.  Talk about growing up overnight.  The big tooth was already pushing its way through, and then the second one came out a day or two later.  I'm not ready for her to look any older than she already does!  

The next two bath pictures are almost identical, yet taken a couple days apart, the first by me and the second by K.  He didn't know I had taken the first until he texted me his and I return texted mine back.  Funny.  

Our little Thai baby is picking up new things each day.  I didn't know she could count past five until she counted to ten one day!  Then on video here she counts past ten.  It is amazing how quickly she is becoming fluent in English, all the while inserting her silly humor.  

Since we already made my mom's sugar cookies, it was time to make K's family tradition:  Danish vanilla cookies.  These are super duper fun (insert sarcasm) because you get to sprinkle them twice.  Once with cinnamon and sugar.  A second round of colored sugar sprinkles.  This makes for gritty floors not only on baking day but every single day thereafter, and even a couple more past the point the cookie jar is empty.  Good times.  ...but full of tradition, right?

The only reason I add the next picture is because Buddy is rightly named so.  He asked - in true Buddy the Elf form - for syrup to dip his turkey and cheese.  Mind you, he's never seen the movie Elf so I am not sure where he got that idea.  

Kids Christmas party at K's work.

One day the kids asked for a clubhouse like Fancy Nancy and it got me thinking.  What better to do with a lot of unused space in the bottom of the girls' closet?  Great idea, kiddos.  Buddy helped me clear the area, and I got to sewing.

 Here's what we came up with:

These are similar views you'd have out our windows in Vegas... sand and more sand with a patch of grass.  Sometimes astroturf but in our case the old fashioned kind.  A palm tree or two and maybe a cloud.  It's generally clear skies, which makes for a beautiful view of airplanes from the Air Force base.  The sound of freedom!  

Look a little to the left and you'll see Mt Charleston, usually with a little or lot of snow, even in the summer.  Tack these "windows" to the wall and you've got a Vegas-style clubhouse.  Perfect for my three.

 A couple days before Christmas, we drove down to the Bellagio.  It was beautiful!

 The Grinch in the cake shop was made entirely of fondant!  It was probably four feet tall.

Time to stop here for tonight.  Merry (late) Christmas to all and to all a good night!  Blessings, angela

november in review.

We spent Veteran's Day weekend camping at Zion National Park in Utah.  The word majestic doesn't even begin to describe how gorgeous enormous rocks can be.  I could have spent hours examining the view!  I hope we get to go back at least one more time.  

One more note to add merely for memory's sake.  It was freezing.  I mean FAH-REEZING.  The kids didn't seem to mind much, as evidenced by the smiles (and silly faces) here.

They have much to learn about camping etiquette.  Peanut was allowed to pack her own backpack of fun things to bring.  She packed her pink cat Cupcake, a few books, and other expected items.  What I didn't notice in her pack before she pulled it out at 6:30am the next morning, was her tin whistle (see pictures way down below).  She is learning simple songs on it for school.  It is cute to parents to hear your five-year-old toot out "Mary had a Little Lamb" but it is not exactly the way an entire campground of sleepy people want to be awoken at that early hour.  We cut her off by "Little" with a loud shushing.   

It's funny now.

I think the moment after I post this, I'm off to hunt for ethnic colored crayons.  Peanut always draws herself and Buddy with orange skin and then Sweet P with dark brown.  Does she really see them that way?  I have no idea what color she would use if we adopted a little boy from Ghana!  :)  We need a lot more cultural diversity in our flesh-colored drawing instruments.  Makes me laugh.  

My parents were in town for a bit after a work trip to California.  I have no idea where all my pictures are from that time!  K and I took advantage of the babysitters and saw The Lion King at Mandalay Bay before the show closed on December 31.  It was spectacular!  If you have seen it, you know what I mean that the voices and costumes were captivating!

We all go to a once-a-week school day for homeschoolers called Classical Conversations.  The little two go to their own class too.

One quarter of the school year, the kids learn basic music skills by playing a tin whistle.  Peanut loves this part of class!  Maybe someday we will have someone to play the abandoned saxophone that's in our attic.  It is begging to be played again.  

As we prepared for Thanksgiving the following week, we made my mom's famous sugar cookies.

My parents flew out the Saturday before Thanksgiving at 3:00pm and then K's parents drove into Vegas a couple hours later about dinnertime.  Once again, we took full advantage of babysitters and saw another show.  It's been a long while since we had a date night, so we kind of overdid it...   Cirque de Soleil's Mystere at Treasure Island.  Fantastic show.

Then on Tuesday K's sister drove in with her family of seven.  It was a wonderfully noisy full house!  After almost ten years of living far from family, we treasure the times we have together.  

The girlies had too much fun with makeup.

Sweet P begged for more and more.

Thanksgiving dinner at the kids' table.

Pops and Buddy.  After we share dinner, it is our family's tradition to read Psalm 100 together (thank you to KTJ for sharing this tradition with us!) and then go around the table sharing one thing we are thankful for over the past year.  I especially love hearing what the little people have to say.  

The following morning as we were about to head out for a hike at Red Rock Canyon, we had a man down.  Buddy took a spill on the stairs while holding his plastic six shooter.  Unfortunately, it cut right into his face, so we were off to the ER for stitches.  He was a tough guy!      

Upon returning home he wanted to know where the guns were to get back to playing.


I love kids.

Instead, that day we went to the park to play and shoot rockets.  Then we resumed the hiking plan on Saturday morning.  Red Rock Canyon never disappoints.

One last night we took advantage of babysitters.  The oldest K and K girls are so responsible, so the parents went on a double date to Buca di Beppo and a short stroll on the Strip to see Christmas decorations.   

After all our guests left the next morning, our family decorated the house.  It is Sweet P's first Christmas at home,  so it was extra fun to decorate the tree!  She loved all the ornaments and hung a bunch in a big cluster.  

I'll share more of our Christmas as a family of five shortly.  Blessings, angela

roos n more.

Our first school field trip was at the end of October to Roos n More.  It's about an hour's drive northeast and well worth the trip.  I never would have dreamed I could see so many exotic animals in the middle of the desert of Nevada!  Vegas is full of surprises.  


Here's a photo recap of the day because, seriously, it's January 2012 and I'm posting about October 30, 2011.  I need to get a move on.   By the way, Sweet P was there too but is terrified of close proximity to any animal.  Reference this zoo post if you want proof.  


Petting a baby porcupine.

"Passing snakes" took on a whole new meaning.  You could not pay me to do this!

Did you know an armadillo looks like a small cantaloupe when it's rolled up?  God created these guys so amazingly... they fit together like puzzle pieces into a perfect sphere.  

Hello, toucan!

Meeting a sloth.

Camels and zebras too.

A very close encounter with a monkey.  Buddy had glasses on, so the monkey loved watching himself in the reflection.

The amazing bear cat.

Playing with otters.

Petting our first kangaroo and seeing a baby joey inside its pouch!  Did you know baby joeys are only the size of a jelly bean when they are born??  When we saw it, it was still only 2 or 3 inches long!

There were a couple albino kangaroos.

My favorite lemur.  Funny guy.  

The end.