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OK, now that I finally got through Thanksgiving pictures, on to Christmas pictures! Here we are putting up the tree (it goes so much faster with many hands helping! And only a few ornaments busted in the process…!):
And some couch cuddling:
And some Danny silliness:
I found a few more fun pics from our AZ trip! Here are two from the top of a mountain we hiked:
And from a water-balloon fight and hot tub dip (yay for warm Arizona holidays!)
Here’s a close-up of Danny’s “moustache” for the play:
Susie sampling the dessert drinks:
Katie and Tazie with their favorite furry friend:
And a view out of my plane window on the way home. Stunning!
Us girls also went to the Out of Africa zoo near Sedona. I loved getting to be so close to the wildlife! (Although I was very thankful for the fences – at one point, a little lion cub locked his sights onto Tazie and watched her every move – it was a little unnerving!)
While we were enjoying the wildlife, the boys were enjoying the wilderness; they rented ATVs in the desert!
Here’s the kids an Pappy before we headed to church on Sunday morning:
Danny really got into the gingerbread house decorating!
And of course we played lots and lots of badminton! We also got to visit a gorgeous musical lightshow. It was amazing! We walked around downtown Scottsdale and enjoyed going in all the fancy shops (the boys especially liked the Tesla store!):
We also went boating at Lake Pleasant:
And played mini-golf, go-karts and laser tag at an amusement park!
To top it all off, we had a delicious Thanksgiving meal prepared by Aunt Julie, Bubba and Gramma Jean:
Capped off by the kids’ annual Thanksgiving play:
It was a perfect week of fun! One of the highlights of the holiday season was getting to fly out to Arizona to visit the cousins for Thanksgiving! Once again, it was an awesome trip, full of exciting activities like ice skating:
Crafting:
Swimming (the big kids really did go in the not-so-warm pool!):
Driving around in a 12-passenger van:
Outlet shopping:
Cookie-decorating competitions:
And more to come! We had the great privilege of attending a 100th birthday party for Jim’s great-aunt Ruth (his late paternal grandfather’s sister). I’ve never been to a 100th birthday party before, and I was amazed that Aunt Ruth was as friendly, active and with-it as many 80-year-olds! We hadn’t seen her in a year or so, but she knew who we all were and even showed us a photo of our family that we had mailed to her a while back. I was so impressed!
On a different note, I wanted to share a few more fun pics! See how much taller Becky is than her Bubba now? Crazy!
Some of my cuties:
And the dynamic duo (getting into no trouble at all, I’m sure!) 😉
We drove to the town near my in-laws to meet them for dinner, and then we commenced the trick-or-treating!
The kids brought in quite the haul:
I was so glad to have Grammie here to help me deal with the sugar-rush fallout the next few days. She made sure to keep us entertained. Looking back at these pictures now, I just can’t believe how grown up all the kids look these days. Where has the time gone?
Our front-yard Halloween photo shoot. What a great bunch of characters!
At the end of October, my mom flew in from California and spent a week with us. We were so excited that she finally got to experience a Halloween with us (and it wasn’t even overly cold, which was a big plus)! As usual, Grammie was the best at making sure all the kids got cuddles and storytimes:
And of course, she brought crafts!
Then it was on to Halloween! Tazie dressed up as Skye from Paw Patrol:
Susie was a Ninja:
Jimmy was a very fierce Batman:
And Danny was a power ranger (none of us have ever seen Power Rangers, but he loved the costume!): I don’t know why I didn’t get a close-up of Becky in her adorable Panda costume! More pics to come… Here’s Becky visiting her best friend’s new house and beloved pet. I can’t believe she has donkeys now!!
Here are the kids at a party for our friend Bill. They had a blast!
Best pinata ever – it was a homemade transformer with pop-out candy-filled compartments! This was the first year that pumpkin carving with the kids was actually laid-back and enjoyable! Usually, it’s chaotic and messy and stressful trying to manage little hands with sharp knives and heavy gourds. This year, it was chaotic and messy and fun! 🙂 . The kids pretty much did everything themselves (except Becky is still squeamish about scooping out the pumpkin guts!). It was a fun night!
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