Christmas Morning

 Christmas morning this year may never be topped. We are a house full of believers, and nothing is more exciting than the magic of Santa these days.

My Christmas Present to Myself

 

Had to include a "put it together shot." Dont you love how I include morning photos of Taylor but not myself.

 

Polar Express

As most Arizonans know, the Grand Canyon Railway in Williams does "Polar Express" runs November through January.  Based upon the book, the train takes you to the North Pole to visit Santa all along stuffing you with cookies, hot chocolate, and Christmas Carols. We again, had so much fun this year, and the best part was that my parents were able to tag along. The smiles on my parents faces as they watched the kids was almost as fun as watching the kids themselves.

After "visiting" (I use that loosely as you can only look out the train windows) the North Pole, Santa boards the train to greet the kids and gives them their magical sleigh bells. Taylor insists to us that he cant hear them, that they are broken...but the rest of us hear them loud and clear. Thank you to the Nobles for making this happen.

 

A Boys Love

 This morning I had the news on and the story about the country's most recent medal of honor winner (first since the Vietnam era) was playing. I noticed Parker intently watching him receive the medal from Obama.

I mentioned to him, "Do you see that soldier? He is getting a medal from the president for being very brave."
Parker responded, "Did dad get that medal?"
"No, he didn't. You have to be super brave to get that."
"But, Dad is the bravest I know."
"Yeah, I know, but you have to be like a superhero to get it. This guy had bad guys shooting at him, and he ran closer to the badguys twice to save his friends who were shot."
"Oh,"  he said. And then paused, obviously in deep thought.
And then he responded with, "My dad is SUPER brave. I know he would have done the same thing."
"I don't doubt you are right babe. Your dad would have done the same thing." I said.
And then he ran off to play.

 

Halloween

Halloween was a little lame this year, being on a Sunday. We did manage to get Lucy in a costume which was an accomplishment in itself. (She would rip off anything we put on her so ended up in an old leo of Abby's.) I would have loved to have one photo with all the kids but now-a-days that is pretty much impossible. Oh well....maybe next year.

The Ninja

Ms. Wonderwoman

The Ballerina

Pumpkin Carving

We had the kids make their own jack-o-lantern designs (Taylor helped Lucy) and then each helped dad to carve. Somehow, mom got stuck doing scraping all night....blah!

Lucy just liked playing with next years pumpkins....

Yes, this is my husband with Lucy's (aka his pumpkin) on his head. Can you guess his inspiration?

Why Everyone needs Grandmas....

Sedona

We finished our Fall Break from school with a trip to Sedona with my parents. Taylor had to work, so off we went traveling our separate ways again. While we were there we went on one of the most beautiful hikes I had been on. Complete with water (Lucy's favorite), old house ruins (Parkers Favorite), and wild blackberry picking (Abby's favorite.)