Christmas in Texas

Before Thanksgiving Linda was busy making some

Christmas gifts for the grand kids.

Now that Christmas is over and all the gifts have been given,

it's safe to put the pictures on the blog.

The first project was making a CTR block for each of the

Grand Kids

  

We picked up some scrap lumber at a nearby construction site

and Steve cut them down to the right size.

Next Steve sanded all the blocks

In the house Linda painted each block in

the kids favorite colors

and sprayed them with a sealer

After designing the graphics on the computer

they were printed and applied to each block...

then sprayed with another coat of sealer.

The final touch was a CTR ring attached to each

block with a complimentary ribbon.

All the kids loved their blocks and Grandma and Grandpa

had fun making them.

The second project was making a quilt for each

of the grand kids.

The hardest part was picking out the fabric!

We bought the batting in bulk so it had to be cut to size

After embroidering a name on each one 

(with my new embroidery machine)

Each one was tied ....

edges pinned .....

and sewed.

Each quilt came with a stuffed animal to match the

print of the flannel fabric.

there was a Pig for Camry's candy & ice cream quilt....

A Monkey for both Jetta and Charlotte's pink Monkey quilts....

A Green Oregon Duck football for Wyatt's football quilt....

A cute little frog for Sienna's Frog quilt....

A puppy for Connor's Dog in the doghouse quilt....

Thomas the train for Crew's train quilt....

and an adorable Caterpillar for Cora's nursery animal quilt.

On Tuesday, December 18th we headed for Texas

We miraculously made all our flights

including one leg on the new

Boeing 787 Dream-liner.

For the first few days there was some pretty strong

winds so Steve & Wyatt found a kite in

the garage and had lots of fun flying it ....

Hold on tight!

When Charlotte woke up from her nap she wanted to

join in the fun pointing and shouting....

kite....kite.....kite !

We had lots to do before Christmas....

first on the agenda was buying and decorating

this cute lighted mini tree.

Cora kept busy with her toys while we were all

busy with Christmas Activities.

No Christmas Tree is complete without 

Candy Canes!

Candy Canes are fun to hang on the tree, but ....

even more fun to EAT !

Steve and Wyatt dug out the Christmas lights

and outdoor decorations.

Trudi & Steve putting tape over the extension cord

On this day

it was too windy to put up the "blow-ups"

but they were able to get the lights up which was

quite a project considering the house is all stone with 

metal trim and no place to pound a nail, hook or hanger.

One night we drove out to a nearby town called

Belton where they have the 

Copperas Cove, five mile, drive-thru light display.....

It was amazing!

Each display was sponsored by a different

community business or organization

They were all animated in some way

they were along side the road, out in the fields and....

some even went over the road.

It was quite the display and well worth the

$5.00 per car we paid to see it.

When the wind finally died down we were able

to set up the rest of the outdoor decorations

This cute little Snoopy blow-up

and SANTA !

put it all together and when nighttime came 

we had a very festive house  

Of course we had to make a batch of

Christmas candy.

Peanut Butter Balls, Marshmallows, Rice Krispy's

and Chinese Noodles all dipped in yummy chocolate.

In a rare moment (and it was just a moment)

Charlotte sat still long enough for

me to get a picture of her by the tree....

can you say C H E E S E !

and Cora LOVES her walker and goes

all over the house just as fast as

her little legs will go.

Putting all the gifts around the tree was

 sooooo much fun

On the Saturday before Christmas we made the two hour

trip down to San Antonio.

We went to Greg & Ruthie's new home

Here, all the cousins are together enjoying

a dinner of Pizza, salads, chips & desserts

There was quite a house full with all of Pam's family,

Trudi's family & us, Greg, Nicole's family & Shelba's family.

We missed George (deployed) and Ruthie (in the hospital)

Cora & Abby

getting to know each other....two cuties!

Will & Wyatt

Cousins getting reacquainted and ....

Charlotte entertaining the babies

Christmas is almost here!

It's Sunday and everyone is all ready for church

Monday was Christmas Eve and Wyatt was

so excited he could hardly contain himself, 

Charlotte didn't know what was going on, 

but was having lots of fun, and

Cora had no idea what she was in for!

first off we had to get the Turkey in the oven

It was very, very cold (especially for Texas) outside

but Charlotte wanted to go out...she especially

thought wearing this winter knit hat was lots of fun.

When the turkey got close to being done we gave

 Wyatt the job of watching the Pop-Up button on the

Turkey and ....

setting the Christmas Dinner table...even Charlotte helped

with the centerpiece.  She loves bows and so

we let her put bows all around the Santa.

Dinner was ready....smelled, looked & tasted Deeee-licious!

We even had the traditional Sparkling Cider.

(notice how all the food is far away from Charlotte?)

After dinner was done and dishes were cleaned up

we went into the living room and the kids

opened their gifts from their daddy.

a WII game & jammies for for Wyatt....

The "Elf on the Shelf" book and doll & jammies for Charlotte....

and a soft baby doll and jammies for Cora.

The kids all put on their jammies and ....

Mommy read Charlotte's book

to them.

Later....much, much later....the kids were all in bed

 and finally asleep.

Santa showed up and we helped him sort all the gifts

and set out his presents.

Then with a sheet neatly strung across the hallway,

three very tired Santa's Helper's went to bed.

The girls always get up early but on Christmas morning

even Wyatt was up early

As is tradition the youngest always gets to go first, however....

Charlotte didn't know the "tradition" and 

blew right by the sheet before we could 

catch her so in this case.....

 the middle child went first!

Next came Wyatt.....

and as quoted in the scriptures...

"and the first shall be last..." Last came Cora !

the kids had no sooner started peaking in their

Christmas Stockings when George

called on Skype.

Everyone gathered around the computer and showed

daddy what Santa brought them.

After their Merry Christmas Skype call

everyone got down to the business of 

opening presents.

Cora LOVED all the paper and bows, but she

thought this stuffed puppy named Violet

was pretty cute when it talked and called her by name

(previously programmed on the computer)

She also got pretty upset when she had to wait for

mommy to get her blocks out of the package....can

you say patients?  

Charlotte loved her princess doll and knew exactly

what to do with the crown.

While mommy was helping Wyatt, Grandpa

helped Charlotte with her

Minnie Mouse doll.

Wyatt got everything he wanted including this

Dino Transport Vehicle and.....

a few things he didn't ask for like this

Razor scooter which he rode up and down

the hallway all day long!

Steve and I opened our gift from the Lansford family...

hmmmm...what could it be....

a fun wall hanging....which, by the way,

looks great in our house!

Trudi opened her gifts last.  

here she is showing off the 

Garden flags (Texas for George, Oregon for Trudi)

from her mommy and daddy....

an embroidery machine from George

and new bathroom towels from the kids.

We took Wyatt shopping for his mom and he was

so excited to have this little secret and could hardly wait

for her to open his present to her.

By the end of the morning all the gifts had been

unwrapped, lots and lots of hugs given and 

many thank you's had been said.

It was fun to share this special day with Trudi and her

kids.  We are hopeful this will be the

last Christmas they will have to spend without their 

daddy...we missed you George!

Since this is getting way too long we will continue the

 "Christmas in Texas" blog in another

post soon.