What a wonderful Christmas!

So this Christmas was so much fun! The twins were really into it this year, even making Christmas lists and getting excited about seeing Santa. Christmas Eve started out at the Harrell family ranch. The Harrell's are a family that "adopted" us upon arrival and are big supporters of the military. They have become quite good friends. Anyway, we started there for brunch and stayed all day. They have deer that come right up to their fence and will let you feed them. The kids really enjoyed that. Later the girls all went for a hike (their ranch overlaps Palo Duro Canyon). The rest of the evening we spent at home wrapping presents and assembling the power wheels!

Christmas Day was also great. The first words out of the kids' mouths when they came out of their room was "Did Santa come??" Luci patiently waited for Eli to wake up and then the madness began. Luci ripped quickly through all of her presents while Eli looked at each present and carefully stacked them on the table. Pretty cute. Then they realized Santa left them a note on the tree and found out there was something in the garage. There were the power wheels!! Unfortunately they had to wait to ride until the next day because of the continuous snow! Oh, Bodhi and Bean also had a nice Christmas, toys and bones!

Today the kiddos got to fire up the power wheels and play in the snow. We got a few inches but with the wind it all got blown into some nice snow drifts.

We had a birthday party for the twins' 4th birthday.  We had a nice turnout and everyone had a blast!  We didn't have the party until the first weekend of December in order to wait for the Raymond's to get here and join in the fun.  Mom R. and Nancy helped out with the cakes and everything else.  They were a tremendous help, especially since I underestimated the difficulty of getting it all done myself!

The Pumpkin Patch 2012

We visited Maxwell's Pumpkin Farm last week and picked out our pumpkins. We had a good time. Hayride out to the patch, got to really pick our own pumpkins off the vine. Eli loved his little one, he carries it around with him. Luci can't wait to carve hers into a face. The patch had John Deere tricycles, train rides, bounce houses, and all kinds of stuff. The twins had a great time!

 

Big tire sandboxes!

 

 The cow train

 

 

 Eli's pumpkin.  He's so proud!

 

 

 Awwww.......

 

 

 Hunting

 

 

 Luci's choice

 

 

What is better than John Deere tricycles???

Lots of heartache - then a smile from our new addition!

So, as you can probably see from the sidebar pics, we have had a rough time with the pets over the last 6 months. We lost Velvet, Carma, Hannah, and Diesel. My emotions probably couldn't take much more when it comes to our beloved pets. Velvet passed away in the middle of the night about 6 months ago. Hannah started having grand mal seizures that came faster and faster together and just got worse and worse. I knew that day would come, I was warned when she was a puppy when we found out she survived distemper. But she lived 12 wonderful years. Carma passed away a little over a month ago, a victim of old age (she was 14) and probable cancer. Diesel, my sweet boy, succumbed to cancer 3 days before we left for Texas. His abdomen just kept growing bigger and bigger. His arthritis was worse, his hind legs would just shake. An ultrasound a couple weeks before he left us confirmed that what was growing in his abdomen wasn't good and none of his organs looked good. The day we said goodbye, all his legs were shaking and he was having a hard time breathing. I miss him so much, he had and always will have a very special place in my heart. I wish he were here with us. But as fate intervened to help alleviate the extreme pain of losing them, my neighbor texted me a picture of 2 little chihuahua puppies that had been abandoned. So I took the kids to see them and of course, what a shocker, one of them made it home with us. He has been a source of joy for the kids, he lets them carry him around, they play and chase each other. And he's been a relief of pain in my heart. He is a very good little boy, almost 6 months old now. He was housebroken in a snap, he isn't nippy or yappy at all, and best of all-Bodhi (who is my original spoiled girl) tolerates him! As you can see in this picture, he is extremely rotten!

 

Oh yes, that's a sweater!  It was no more than 50 that day and he was shivering!

Preschool-First Field Trip

We had our first field trip with the preschool to the pumpkin patch. The kids had so much fun. Eli got to be the "leader" and he was very proud (whenever they go from room to room or to the bus they form a line and he was the leader). They were all really cute and well behaved while we were there. I performed my first "mommy duty" and was a chaperone for the trip. The pumpkin patch let them all take home a baby pumpkin for being so good.

 

On the bus....

 

 

And ready to go!

 

Mrs. Johnson and the class

                                                     Picking out their baby pumpkin!

First Day of Preschool!!!

Can you say YAY!! It's only Tues/Wed for 3 hours each day but it's a nice break. They are doing great and love school. The teacher says it's like they have been there forever. So many new things coming up. They are doing wonderful in school and are loving having new friends.

                                                                      Ready to go!!

                                            Outside the classroom.  They are the Tigers!

                                                               We have our own boxes.

 

Eli went straight for the toys!

Disneyland February 2012

This picture slideshow made with Smilebox

Big Bear December 2011

We took a little vacation to Big Bear again this year to play in the snow and go sledding.  This year we joined up with Team Brown and Team Moreno and had a GREAT time.  It was so relaxing.  All the kids got along great and everyone had a fun and relaxing time.  The kids could sled outside and we could sit inside and watch them from the living room.  We ate lots of good food, played pool, and laughed for 4 days!

A free picture slideshow by Smilebox

Disneyland December 2011

Our first trip to Disneyland!  We had fun although we should have gotten there earlier.  Luckily military gets 3 visits for one price so we will be going back before we move!  Luci and Eli met Mickey Mouse, Eli was okay with him, Luci was scared.  Then we watched the Christmas parade.  We rode the Dumbo ride and the carousel.  Right before we left they met Belle and loved her.  She was the only princess they would talk to.  Next trip we will get to see more!