Christmas in Denver

We had a great time in Denver. We only ate in the dining room and let the breakfast nook be a perma-craft table. The girls made Christmas ornaments, they water colored, played with play dough  . . . they spent a lot of time at the craft table. One of Norah’s favorite presents was a big box of crafts from her grandparents. They worked on those crafts all week.The three girls also enjoyed taking nightly baths in the big master bath tub. The bath toy selection was fantastic. Norah and Evelyn left out goodies for Santa and his Reindeer Santa left Norah a Space Shuttle and an astronaut costume. She had asked for a space shuttle “with an American flag” but the costume was a bonus. Alice got a play-doh set from Santa.The next day we went to the museum of Nature and Science and saw the Space Odyssey exhibit which was very hands on And the Mummy exhibit – the whole reason we went was for the mummies actually. Norah has been asking us questions about mummies since mid October. She saw a cartoon with a mummy walking around and no matter how many times we tried to explain this was just not so she just wasn’t buying it. I’m happy to report that her trip to the museum seems to have satisfied her for now. We haven’t had a mummy question since. The biggest highlight of the trip was finally meeting Andrew, or as I taught Alice to say “Baby Drew.” He is truly the smiliest baby I have ever met. I thought Alice was extremely smiley and strangers would even comment on her smiles but Andrew is the king of smiles. He has a beautiful wide grin and one only needs to makes eye contact with Baby Drew to get one. Louis is still adorable and incredibly fluent in English but as this picture suggests, we were all a little star struck with the new grandkid. IT was also nice to see Ashley and Matt’s new house.We also went to the Denver Zoo which is just amazing. They have every animal you ever wanted to see at a zoo. Rhinos, Hippos, Polar Bears . . . everythingYou can see Alice, Bryan, Norah and Matt and Louis on the Carousel  The Denver Children’s museum was wonderful – they had a real fire truck to play on/in!Also – we had perfect weather. The sky was so clear and blue I couldn’t stop talking about it. It was warm enough to walk to the playground almost every day yet conveniently we had one super cold day with snow to play in. We were worried Norah was going to complain when we got back to Dallas and she remembered that we’d told her she’d get to play in the snow. She also went Ice skating but those pics are on Bryans phone.

Christmas Eve Eve

Since we were flying to Denver for Christmas we had a practice run of Christmas morning before we left and opened presents from Bryan’s parents. Bryan’s mom once told me “I like to get people what they want to get for Christmas AND what I want to get them for Christmas” and it is very true. We always get just what we asked for plus some very thoughtful surprises. I’m amazed at how often what Susan wants us to want turns out to be what really wanted most of all and just didn’t even know it! This year I think Susan deserves an award for sending Alice a cowgirl hat and Norah a pair of cowgirl boots. While she was in town for Thanksgiving she witnessed the girls fighting over Norah’s cowgirl hat and Norah bemoaning that her cowgirl boots now fit Alice instead of her. It never occurred to me to ask for another hat and set of boots but they were just what we needed. In this picture Norah is trying out her new leotard and ballet slippers while Alice tries out her new scooter. Norah showcasing her new outfit and boots I think I caught Alice mid sneeze in her cute (homemade by Susan) Red Riding hood cape