December

So maybe I just can't handle blogging, working, Christmas, and a remodel all at the same time.  Does that make me a bad person?  Nah, just a bad blogger!!

We went to Lubbock for Christmas this year.  It's sort of our tradition.  Lots of people don't like to travel, especially with kids and the whole Santa drama.  It doesn't really bother us so much, and we like to spend the holiday there with some of our family.

It was a normal Texas Christmas with the whole unpredictable weather.  It was sunny and 60 one day, windy and 40 the next.  The dust came, the dryness was VERY apparent, and we had a great time.  All we need is humidifiers...filled with filtered water...right Amie?

Katherine did pretty well on the road trip.  She cried more than David did at that age, but he was pretty much totally abnormal about car rides, so I can't complain.  She fussed some, but not too much and David was fabulous as usual.  He only asked 20 times if we were almost there.  On the way home I don't think he asked at all.  He's a good little traveler.  When we got there, it was Christmas Eve evening and Katherine was worn out.  She had to spend some time lounging on her Daddy.

Meme got out the dominoes and she and the kids played some game...I was feeding Katherine so I don't even know what game it was.  Anyway, they had fun.  This is Meme and my nephew Chris.
We decided to start a new tradition (will someone please remind me next year?) to give the kids Christmas pajamas as a Christmas Eve gift.  So that means this year will be the only year it's actually a surprise.  Doesn't matter, David was so excited that he got to open a gift.  I can't believe the Henry kids didn't uproar that they didn't get to open one too!  Good kids...
Katherine opening her Christmas Eve gift.
"Aunt Amie & Uncle Gary have the most fascinating moose that sings and dances," says Katherine.
Christmas morning was extreme pandemonium.  The kids were so excited to see what Santa brought for them!!  Sidenote: don't they look cute in their Christmas pajamas?  Note to self: Mommy's going to need some too next year so the pictures look better!
Then we headed over to Meme's.  What a beautiful tree!
The kids only asked about 100 times when we were going to get to open presents.  It's so mean to make them wait until after we eat!
David was pouting about something...don't even remember what.  But I thought this picture of him with his cousin Lauren captured the moment beautifully.
Katherine slept through much of the festivities.  I'm not sure how she pulled that off.
We tried to get some group pictures.  Here's the one I got of the great-grandkids with Grandmother.  They're looking at another camera, but this picture still turned out okay.
Then we tried to get a picture of all of us.  This proved a little  more difficult.  This is the only one I got with my camera, so maybe John or Meme will save me with one they got that might be better.  We try to get this picture every year, so I treasure each of them.
After Meme's we headed to Slaton to see my family.  My grandma does her big get-together on Christmas Eve, but we usually go to her house on Christmas day to see my aunts & uncles.  Here is a picture of my Grandma with 9 of her 13 kids.
When we got back to Meme's house, we had a surprise for David & Katherine.  As you can see, Katherine can barely contain herself.
Marky Mark had a horse & buggy to take us around the neighborhood.  I actually asked if he had to have a permit or something for that thing.  Silly me, we're in Texas!!
Katherine touched the horse, but I'm pretty sure she was clinging to her Daddy the whole time.
For round one, I went with the kids & Meme.  It was so fun just clip clopping around Lakeridge.  People would come out of their houses to wave at us.  What's funny is that they probably thought that we paid for a carriage ride.  Nope, Marky Mark OWNS the carriage!
The day after Christmas was filled with shopping...and it wasn't even the girls.  The boys (John & Uncle Gary) went electronics shopping.  They needed a new TV and choose to make those kind of buying decisions with John in town to help with set up and configuration.  The girls did a little shopping too though, not to worry.

That evening, we had a get together with some friends from high school.  THANK YOU MEME, Aunt Amie and Uncle Gary for babysitting!!

We met at a friend's parents' house.  It was so fun to get to see people we haven't seen in a long time.  There were several people there that I hadn't seen in at least 10 years.  There were also several that couldn't make it and we missed all of them.

Fun bunch...catching up.
They called this an Amber sandwich.  The two boys are brothers...
Fun times.

The rest of the trip was fun, but after 4 days we were ready to get home.  Unfortunately, when we got home, we didn't have our house to ourselves.  The people doing our cabinets & paint weren't done yet and the fumes were terrible, so we were trapped in our bedroom with all 4 Fergusons and all our luggage.  No way to even do the laundry!  We had fun though.  We set a computer up for David to check on his Webkins (he LOVES that thing Meme!) and Katherine can pretty much have fun anywhere.

Hopefully they'll be done with our kitchen by Wednesday.  I'll post before & after pictures.  It's pretty drastic!!