Christmas Eve Eve

We headed out to Whitney today to spend the day with Lane's mom & her husband, Rich. It's so nice to get away & be out in the "country". It's really peaceful. In fact, after we put E to bed, I was playing on the computer, Lane was studying, his mom was baking brownies, Rich was getting a fire going,  and Christmas music was playing. Doesn't that sound perfect? There was no hustle & bustle going on. Just pure calmness. I loved it & briefly considered moving to the country one day.

Anyway, let's rewind to earlier. Jan & Rich took us to this place called Homestead Heritage. It's in Waco. I'm not sure what the correct label for this community is, but it reminded me of the Amish. They are pretty much self sufficient. We walked all around there & saw so many cute things. Unfortunately my camera battery died & I didn't bring my charger, so I had to get pictures from their website. Mine would have been much better, but oh well.

They have their own animals. We saw the chickens, turkeys & goats. We were able to go inside the goat area to pet them. I have to say kids (baby goats) are so cute! They were so friendly & would just come right up to us. Elliot loved it.

 Inside this "Barn" they sell all sorts of handmade items. Their workmanship is truly amazing. I wanted to buy this precious white dress for Elliot, but it cost $275!

We watched the blacksmith as he made a hat rack. Very interesting. I wish you could have seen the fire hot coals. There was this HUGE billows that was attached to the side of the place where the coals were. It was pretty neat looking. 

This place is called the Grist Mill. It grinds up all sorts of grains. I really just like this big water wheel.

Before we left we ate at their deli. Lane & I split the sweet potato soup and it was sooo good!

The end.

Gaylord

This is our 2nd year to visit the Gaylord. We went with my mom, brother, his wife & their little boy. Unfortunately we only have pictures of us. They have so many Christmas decorations & lots of photo opportunities. Elliot loved seeing everything.

E & Grammy (my mom)

Jaymie, Justin (brother) & Easton

Relaxing Getaway

 For part of my Christmas gift this year, Lane surprised me with a one night stay at The Wildwood Inn in Denton. This was the first time I couldn't figure out what he had planned. Never would I have guessed this! As you can see, it's this really pretty mansion with 14 rooms. They have a really nice study/library, beautiful wood floors, a large back porch,etc. And it wasn't creepy like some bed & breakfast joints can be. Yes it did have 2 pictures of rabbits in the bathroom, but they were tastefully done, if that is even possible :) Since we stayed on a weekday, they had a continental breakfast. There was a delicious freshly baked egg & artichoke strudel, so I can only imagine what the real breakfasts & dinners consist of.

Here's a picture of our doorway. Notice the fireplace in the corner. I was very excited about that.

But wait, it's a 2-way fireplace right over the jetted bathtub. I was in heaven!

Farewell beautiful inn. Hopefully I can come back & see you some day.

We were...

HERE!

Lane got me tickets for my birthday & the day finally arrived! We were lucky enough to watch in person the Cowboys beat the Redskins. It was such an exciting game & I'm so glad we were able to go!

After the win.

Trains

On Saturday we went to see the Trains at North Park. They did a really good job on the displays. They depicted The State Fair, downtown Dallas, Washington D.C., California & many more places that I can't remember. I wish I could have done a better job of capturing them all, but my camera was about to die. So here is what I got.

Lane's sister Aly & her husband Chris met us out there. Sorry Chris, I didn't realize your eyes were closed!

Us in front of Downtown Dallas.

Holiday Party

Last Friday Amy had a holiday party for the kids at her house.There was tons of food & she even made hot chocolate in to go cups. It was very laid back as you can tell. We all wore pjs. E hasn't been feeling too good since we've been down here & she was glued to me the entire night.

 Here's Caroline & Jackson focusing really hard while they decorate cookies.

This was probably the only smile she cracked the whole time. 

 Arrington, Liz & Ben

 Paige, Zach, Blake & Kylie

 This game was a hit with the kids. They had to throw a ball through the wreath & hit the jingle bell.

Towards the end of the night, E decided it would be fun to dance a bit.

Aren't they so cute looking out the window for Santa?

 The big guy arrived & read a story to everyone. 

Merry Christmas to all & to all a good night! 

 Mike, Regina, Kelly & Arden 

Kristin & Jake

Santa

Today we took Elliot to get her picture taken with Santa & this is what she thought about it...

So not the reaction I was expecting. She's always pretty good with new things & people, but not this time around. On Friday we have a holiday party where Santa will make an appearance, so it should be interesting to see how she handles it.

Let the Festivities Begin

Last night we headed out to Mansfield for their holiday celebration. The main attraction for us was the snow hill. When we got there, we were informed that only 1 person can be in the tube, which meant Elliot had to fly solo. She usually likes slides, so I figured that she could handle this & I was right.

 She enjoyed herself. It was so cute to watch her come down. She had no expression on her face during the ride, but as soon as she slowed at the end she was smiling ear to ear. There were a couple of photo ops that we took advantage of. Here we are with the Grinch.

 Suprisingly she wasn't scared of him. As we were taking this picture I kept thinking of the segment on Ellen Degenerous, "What's Wrong With These Photos" photos. Usually people send in pictures of their kids hugging Disney characters & they're always grabbing onto something questionable. It's quite amusing. Well the Grinch must have seen the segment too because he politely crossed his hands in front of him. Probably keeps him out of trouble. Here's another picture of her on some gifts.

 After that we headed over to my church for the nativity. I should have taken more pictures because there were so many cool nativities to see, but I only took 1 that Lane wanted to send to his friend because she's from Nigeria.

All in all it was a great kickoff to the season. I can't wait to do more fun things!