Uncle Pat & Aunt Paula's Ranch

Another day trip we made while Mike was off work was over to Uncle Pat (Mike's brother) & Aunt Paula's house in Weatherford, OK. Unfortunately we don't get to get over there that often with Mike being on call nearly every weekend but we were glad to get the chance over the holidays. They have a lot of land with cattle (longhorns), horses, & 2 super sweet dogs. Mike's niece Celeste and her daughter Madeline (who's a cutie!) were also visiting from Wyoming so it was good to see them too!

While we were there we checked out the cattle, met the horses, and the kids got to get up on the horses. Isabella wasn't too thrilled about it and this is why she wouldn't smile. Later she said she doesn't like to get on horses that are tied up to a pole (like they way they do pony rides). Ah well. Jackson rode the horse around all on his own and did really well.

Later Mike got to help Pat with getting a longhorns' horns out of the feed trough where he had gotten them stuck. This was quite an undertaking but somehow the longhorn got unstuck.

We enjoyed a nice meal and had a chance to visit a bit before heading back into the city. Jackson was so worn out (& didn't have a nap this day) that he passed out in the car (not very common for our kiddos!). It was a really fun day!

Tiger Zoo

Mike took some time off after Christmas which gave us some time to do some fun things (besides play with Christmas toys!). One unseasonably warm day (we seem to be having a lot of these this winter!) we took a road trip down to GW Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood. We had a groupon that we needed to use so it was the perfect timing.

It was a very interesting "zoo" with a lot of cats! They had some other animals to see as well but the majority were cats. I felt a bit mixed about the place because it was tough to see all these animals living in environments that were not very natural (pretty barren large cages). They seemed to try to provide them with some stimulation but their enclosures are not near as nice & naturalistic as our OKC zoo. But they do take in a lot of unwanted exotics who have been abandoned & abused so I tried to feel a bit better about the fact that at least these animals were being fed, given shelter, & cared for. And with minimal funding, I don't think they can afford the high-tech enclosures like the big zoos.

The kids enjoyed looking at all the animals as well and Isabella brought her camera along to take pictures of all the animals. We brought a picnic lunch and enjoyed it in their little picnic area. It was a nice little quick day trip for all.

Merry Christmas 2011!

And finally, the main event... Christmas! I love the lead up to Christmas & all the traditions, but the whole point is Christmas! It is such a fun day of celebrating Jesus' birthday.

This day is still filled with traditions & we enjoy every bit of it.

We started the morning out right with yummy chocolate croissants. We buy them every year (or we have for the past few years) from William Sonoma & they are delish!

Oh, but before we ate, we all enjoyed what was left in our stockings. In this next picture, Isabella is holding up a letter from our elf on a shelf, Tom. This is what it said:

My time with you this Christmas

Has come to an end

It’s been fun making magic

And seeing you every day.

You’ve taken such good care of me

I hate to say goodbye.

But Santa needs me back at the North Pole

And now we’ll tell you why.

Today we’re having a party

To celebrate Jesus’ birth.

You see this Christmas giving

Started with Him first.

God gave us the greatest gift

That first Christmas day

When He gave the world His son

To show us the way

So while we’ve had fun playing

And making mischief the whole night through

The true purpose of our visit

Is to remind you that “GOD LOVES YOU”

Merry Christmas & see you next year!!!

Love, 

Tom 

And then the kids had to check out how much of the cookie & carrot Santa & his reindeers ate.



Then the kdis enjoyed ripping through their presents & loved their gifts.

Laura came by in the afternoon for lunch & a visit. The kids enjoyed spending time with her!

It's hard for Isabella to take a nice smiling picture. She has to make lots of faces.

In the late afternoon we headed over to Gramma & Papa's to exchange gifts and eat dinner. (Thanks Mom for the pictures... I'm awful with taking pictures!) The kids had lots of fun and it was great to see everyone.

Christmas Eve 2011

Lots of excitement on Christmas eve! We had Laura over for dinner and the kids enjoyed that.

They were excited to set out cookies for Santa before heading off to bed. They took awhile to settle down but finally they did & Santa was able to come!

I love how peaceful it is at night with only the Christmas tree lights shinning.

Lastly, here is this years Christmas card that I made. I went a little further this year & punched out a border in the card stock that this card was attached to. It matched the scallop design. (I'll have to get a picture of it.) It was a lot of work to do 100 of them but I made it & I think they all arrived to their recipients on time. :)  (Thanks to my sister Jennifer for once again taking a family picture for our card!)

Happy Birthday Jesus 2011

Another one of our advent activities was to make a birthday cake for Jesus. Of course the kids loved this as they LOVE making desserts with me. I constantly hear, "Can I taste that? Can I have some of that?" Even when it is things like vanilla, baking power, etc. They want to taste everything. (In the picture below you can see all the chocolate on Isabella's face from licking the frosting spoon!) We made a vanilla cake with a yummy chocolate frosting that had a touch of coffee flavor. (The frosting was my favorite!) Isabella really wanted to decorate the cake with sprinkles... but I hate sprinkles. So we compromised & she was allowed to decorate half of the cake with those things. :)

I asked Isabella if she wanted to sing happy birthday to Jesus but she chose to sing Away in the Manger instead. Works for me!

Co-op kindergarden Christmas performance

We had a little party at the end of our co-op day in December. The party was for a group of kids in a local shelter. We all bought presents for the kids and invited them to join our party for snacks. The entertainment portion of the party was provided by the preschool/kindergarden class (which is Isabella's class). Here is there songs. (Sorry about the recording, I'm trying to get used to a new camera & don't quite have it yet!)

Christmas Traditions Continued - December 2011

There are a few other Christmas traditions that we do every year. For the past two years I have been putting these into our advent calendar as fun things to do leading up to Christmas.

Every year we go down the street to Regional park and take a carriage ride through the park to look at the light display. It's so fun to snug up close in the carriage with the blanket and hear the jingle jingle of the sleigh bells on the horses. The kids love pointing out all the things they see in the lights and it is lots of fun seeing their excitement. This year Mike decided to add on to our light tradition. So after leaving the light display, we went over to the coffee shop to enjoy some hot cocoa. I hadn't even realized they make them in small (very small, which is good!) sizes for the kids & heat the milk to a warm temp (instead of hot). They were so excited to get their own just like mommy & daddy!

Another yearly tradition is visiting Santa. Isabella was so excited to tell him what she wanted (Dr. Dreadful Zombie Lab ... no lie!) and Jackson was too,  although I think he became a bit reserved upon seeing Santa. He still managed to get out that he wanted Batman (or was it Star Wars?!).

Jackson was so worn out from the day of running around and seeing Santa that this was what happened on the way home (which is a rarity for any of our kids!)-