food, crochet, merriment
Another LOVELY perk of having Dane and Kortney back in town is that they get to share some of their unique Christmas traditions with us.
Welcome to the Whoville Grinch Party!!
Cindy-lou Who even showed up!!
Great artwork Daney boy and wonderful Grinch party!! It’s sooooo fantastic to have you and your family with us.
(Now if we can just get them to STAY)
At last…at last!
With hugs for absolutely everyone…
older…
and younger…
shorter…
and taller…
my crazy wanderers have returned.
My heart is filled to the brim and I can breathe more deeply now.
All are safely gathered in…
Out of the blue–we got news that our Daney boy and his family would be in Las Vegas for about a week–there was only one thing to do…
ROADTRIP!!!
Awesome too that Lily & Beckham both had soccer games there that week as well. Double duty roadtrip! Wahoooo!
We made a quick stop at the Creamery–you know…
long enough to get and ice cream cone, and get our picture taken with a cow. Heh, heh.
We drove, and drove and drove until the lights of the city came into view.
Now, honestly, none of us are particularly huge fans of Vegas. The whole place feels kinda creepy to tell the truth. But if my wandering Texas boy and his birdies are here then we’ll forge ahead!!
Ok, nowwww I feel better. Haha. Seriously though, it did make me happy to see the Trump hotel. So dang awesome.
Good old Nate found our hotel in no time and checked us in. Then all we had to do was wallllllllk to our rooms.
This place was so huge that there was an airport type moving walkway just in the nick of time!
Though I whined…I did not, in fact, die–as you can see.
Ahhhhhh….what a lovely room!! And what cute kids!
After a good night’s sleep, we were off to find my Texas boy!
We found them!!! Oh, it was so good to see Dane and Kortney, sweet little Merrick and Skylie and Linky. I didn’t take the pictures that I should have because I was too busy hugging them all.
This breakfast joint was the meetup place for the rest of the family travelers!
I know that other than Dane’s family–we all live right by each other, but for some reason it was just so nice to sit there and look around at everyone. I kept thinking–“These are allllll mine.”
So, so good to see them again. And SO incredibly good to have all my family in one room– even if it was just for a little while.
And did I mention–the food here was great too! The pancakes were bigger than the plate!
My BLT looked positively dangerous!
It was scrumptious, although I had to dismantle it before I could eat it. Nobody’s mouth opens that big.
After that– some folks went shopping…
site seeing…
did some soccer-y stuff…
and caught the water show at the Bellagio. Believe it or not, I stayed in the car in the parking lot because it was just too much walking for me. Look at these little treasures, would you?
Mine. Mine. Mine. Heh, heh.
I spent the last night at the soccer condo so that I could teach my class from there, Saturday morning.
The crazy boys stayed up half the night playing games. They laughed so much I thought someone would be sick.
We came home after two lovely days with all my kiddos together. I’m pretty sure that this is what Heaven is like.
My Heaven anyway.
With the very first real snowfall of the year, Rhen was over come with seasonal spirit and promptly went out and made an adorable little snow man. Perhaps this is better described as a snow-ball man–but no matter. We adore him, perched up on top of the car!!
When the family saw our little guy the photos of their snowy creations started flooding the family text group. Miss Chomp and Fluttershy with their frosty fellow–
so cute!!
Miss H with her gigantic snow lady. Check out that hat!!
K & L’s snow chick even has long, lovely hair! Awesome, awesome.
Even my crazy Dane sent in his contribution from 85 degree Texas.
Ohhhh, Dane! HAAA!
Our silly snow didn’t last long–an hour or two, tops–but we’re pretty good at making the most of what we’ve got…rain or shine.
And loving every minute!
When my Daney-boy told me that he was taking is sweet little family to Boston–AND to his first actual Patriot’s game–well, I knew something special was in order. I grabbed the appropriate colors of my favorite Caron yarn and got to work. With three different patterns and some embroidered patches from Ebay, Papa Bear, Mama Bear and Baby Bear had some awesome new hats for the special day.
As you can see–they were a hit!!
Of course the Patriot’s did their part too and put on an unforgettable show right where my boy could see it, up close. Good job, Tom Brady!
Colts 24 / Patriot’s 38
“Take family to Patriot’s game–”
check.
Happiness–
double check.
