The Duck Park

 It has become tradition to visit "the duck park" with Mrs. Linda and Evan when we have a school break, so on the last day of 2010, we marched over there with our baggies of bread, fed the eager ducks (while Naomi squealed and ran), and played hide and seek.  Thanks to Pastor Mark for sending us these pictures!

                                         Evan is such a good sport! 

Ezra loves hanging and watching the big kids do their stuff.

We have so much to be thankful for in 2010 - welcoming Ezra to our family, God's constant provision, our church family and home, our loved ones.  Thanks be to God for His indescribable gifts!

Day at the Museum

Day two in Houston at the Museum of Natural Science.  Dinosaurs, chemistry, rocks and minerals, oil drilling, seashells, African animals, and pirates!

 

Fun with Every Other Child in Houston

Okay, the title may be a bit of an exaggeration, but when you combine a huge children's museum with the winter holidays and a rainy day, you get a pretty crowded place.  But we had a great time at the Houston Children's Museum.  Some of our favorite exhibits included the science hall...  

 ... a tummy time area for Ezra,

 this light floor,

 ... and the kid's cafe.  Naomi and Johnathan spent lots of time cooking pretend food in the kid-sized commercial kitchen and serving Daddy and Mommy. 

Such a fun afternoon!

Snuggle bunnies

All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth

Ezra cut his top front tooth today.  Inspired by his bravery, Naomi worked her loose bottom tooth to a point where Daddy could yank it out for her!  Now they are tooth buddies!

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

 This was our "Christmas, Part Two" - everybody feeling better, in their new jammies.

 More snuggles...

And our Christmas dinner, the day after Christmas.  I have to say, this was not a bad arrangement.  Christmas day involved absolutely no work, and we enjoyed all our "fancy" food the next day. 

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

 Our scaled-back, recovering from stomach flu version of Christmas morning was simple and sweet.  Pjs all day, hot cocoa, Luke 2...

 ... introducing Ezra to stockings and wrapping paper...

 ... playing with new gifts, learning to sew...

... snapping pictures to remember.  And being thankful that we are together and recipients of the greatest Gift ever given - Emmanuel, God with us.

Christmas (Play) Without You

Naomi tried valiantly to recover in time to do her part in the Christmas Eve play, but she just wasn't ready.  But Johnathan took part for the first time.  Though he was a little too nervous to say, "Yeah, get to the part about the angels!" he did sit up front and center on this bench in the role of "Johnathan Parker".  I got to watch the video of the production, and the kids did a fantastic job!

Home for the Holidays

Two days before Christmas - Time to decorate our gingerbread houses!  We had a good time for a little while...

 ... Until about two minutes after this picture, when Johnathan lost his lunch.  Naomi joined the club in the wee hours of the morning Christmas Eve.  The gift of stomach flu definitely altered our Christmas plans, but we have a history of unexpected holiday illness, hospitalization, and/or surgery, so we tend to hold to our plans loosely anyway!

 But the houses sure turned out cute!  Naomi rose to new levels of intricacy on her house this year.  And Johnathan and Daddy had tons of fun creating their superhero house complete with a flat-screen-bad-guy monitoring system and laser on the front.

Caroling, Caroling

Our whole family had a really fun time joining the youth group in their annual caroling night.  We crisscrossed all over the country roads to visit some very sweet members and friends of the church - even Ezra joined in the singing!

Little Gummer Boy

You thought you could inchworm your way over there and chew on Johnathan's gift, didn't you, Ezra?

Caught redhanded!

Christmas To Remember

I love our tree because many of the ornaments are reminders of trips, events, or special memories. We add several new ornaments every year. Here are three newer ones...

The Boaz family now has three, so we picked up this ornament at Santa's Workshop in Colorado this summer.

This church steeple reminds us of Zion's steeple that we see out our window every night.  The other ornament in this picture is the Broadmoor hotel in Colorado Springs, where Kevin and I stayed for a night last year before moving.

And this ornament is the one we got at Santa's Wonderland, where we saw millions of lights.

Holiday Cheer

 Good King Winfreestuff got ahold of some tickets to the Aggie Women's basketball game this weekend, so we donned our maroon apparel and filled our morning with holiday cheer(ing)! 

 While Naomi and Johnathan wolfed down some popcorn and took in the sights, Ezra took a nap in the wrap - further proof that this boy will sleep anywhere!

And the Aggies won, by the way.

Rocking Around the Christmas Tree

The thought of fighting my way through Black Friday crowds right after Thanksgiving is not my idea of a fun way to start the Christmas season. In our house, those days are for staying in our pjs, decorating the house, and putting up the Christmas tree. That's just what we did this year.


Naomi and Johnathan were so excited, and Ezra looked on with a slightly bewildered look on his face! We used up our leftover turkey to make our traditional turkey wreath, used our Christmas mugs to make hot cocoa, and put ornaments on the tree.

That evening we engaged in the next time-honored tradition of turning off all the lights, looking at the tree, and eating peppermint ice cream.

Whew! Time for a long winter's nap.