The Great Bed Unveiling

This weekend Oma and Opa came up to, ahem, take home the bed that Scott made for them. Yup, Scott, the woodworker, has made a king size bed for his parents! It is/was a Christmas present for them. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite ready for Christmas, and it wasn't quite ready this weekend either.....But, it is a huge project and you don't want to rush greatness :)

Honestly, I'm very impressed with my husband's accomplishments with this bed. I didn't know he had it in him. This whole woodworking thing is relatively new to him (and me). I didn't know what to expect.

I didn't expect....the sawdust on my car, in my house, on everything in the garages.

I didn't expect, my husband suiting up like he's going into chemical warfare (with goggles, breathing filter, and ear muffs - I really need a picture of this, but haven't achieved it yet).


I didn't expect all the trips to Rockler and the other woodworking stores and websites, and movies watched on YouTube.

I didn't expect, how nice it turned out......

Headboard

Footboard

White Rock Lake

The weather this weekend was absolutely beautiful.

Payton is encouraged to do an extra 'I Wonder' project school every 6-9 weeks or so. One of the projects, that she chose to do this go-round, reads, 'After the lessons on rocks, soil, and water compare different rocks, trees, landforms, etc. Make a poster and share your information with the class.'

First of all, can we get any broader in scope? Second, I have no idea what was covered in Payton's class about rocks, soil, and water. Third, can the teachers really expect my 5 year old to fully convey what was covered in class to me, and then apply this knowledge to the outside world?

Given all this stated above, we took a trip to White Rock Lake this weekend, in hopes of finding some rocks. I focus in on rocks particularly because Payton told me they had identified several different rocks in class. She couldn't tell me the names of all of them, but she described them to me. From what I gathered, there was mica, sandstone (she called it sand rock), quartz, and pumice (she remembered the name of this one). There could have been others, but you know, she's 5 and she's trying to learned to read, and she's worried about running away from Conner on the playground.....you get the idea.

White Rock Lake is close to downtown Dallas, but really pretty. There were tons of people out running the path that circles the lake which is 9 miles long! We parked close to a little pier, checked out the water fowl, and had a picnic.

Unfortunately, White Rock Lake has no rocks. Not even white ones.

ps - Oma and Opa were here this weekend for the great bed unveiling - hopefully, blog on that to come.....

Payton's Ballet Class

Payton's ballet school had an open class, or sorts, that the parents could sit in on. The ballet school only does one recital in May, so this is just for the parents to get an inside peak to a class.

Payton wanted me to try to catch her in her jumps, but of course this is really difficult to capture.

All the same, as a mother, I thought she was adorable and did a great job. So here are some pics and videos of Payton practicing her ballet.

The Beach

After Christmas, the kids and I went down to Grandma and Grandpa's house for a little R&R. One of the things requested to do was go to the beach. There aren't many places in the US you can go to the beach in December, but here we were. We went down to the National Seashore which is about 50 minutes from my parents' home. 

It was 70 degrees and sunny, but windy. The water was 61 degrees, so we didn't get in - although there were three brave souls down the beach that did (they must be from up north).

 The kids discovered the sand dunes this trip and loved running around them.

And jumping off them.

Grandpa and Payton played a game with the waves - trying not to get wet. Payton couldn't get enough. They looked so cute :)

Snow in Plano!

The average annual snow accumulation for Plano is 2-3 inches. We received all of it on Sunday! We probably got 3-4 inches!

It started out as rain, then freezing rain, then huge snow flakes. I was surprised at how soon we started accumulating snow considering we were up in the 60s just 2 days prior to the snow.

But it was beautiful. It stuck to everything because we were hovering right around freezing.

The snow was great for building snowmen. We went out to Russell Creek Park and built one while it was still snowing. Poor Ian, by the time we were done with it, his hands were freezing and hurting :)

Then later in the afternoon, we went on a hill hunt. Plano is not know for it's, ahem, hills. But near the pond at Russell Creek, we had a little embankment that we went up and down several times. Payton was especially loving it. She couldn't get enough.

Here's a video Payton took while on Daddy's back.

Here's the kids going down together.

Ian enjoyed sledding too, but once his hands got cold, he was done. Poor guy cried half of the walk home because he was so miserable. Each child wanted hot chocolate when they got home to warm them up. Their version of hot chocolate that is - which is just melted chocolate chips.

It was a rough day for Ian.

Star Wars Cookie Cutters

One of the niftiest gifts that we got this year, especially from my perspective, was some Star Wars cookie cutters.















These are different from any other cookie cutters I've had because they stamp the design in the cookie and then retract so that, the cookie dough doesn't get stuck in the cutter.

Payton was our resident expert on the decorating side. She explained to us that after you sprinkle on the sugar, you have to wipe off the extra, so that you can see the designs.

Pretty sweet!

Oma and Opa's Christmas

 Oma and Opa always decorate their house so beautifully - you can't help but get in a Christmas-y mood.

This is the manger scene, Opa always sets up. In the window sill you can see the note Santa left. It reads, 'Thank you for the cookies and milk. Hope you enjoy your presents. See you next year. Love you, Santa'

I wonder if Santa has a bunch of these made up before hand, so he can leave them at each house...hmmm.

Santa was very good to us this year. The kids enjoyed opening a crazy amount of presents. Poor Collin was sick, but that didn't seem to slow him down too much.

Even brother and sister enjoyed one of Payton's presents.

But the big gift from Santa this year was new bikes. It was a little chilly, so we only went out of 10 minutes, but the kids really think their bikes are cool.

Christmas Eve at Uncle Kevin's

There were presents and chicken kiev during Christmas Eve at Uncle Kevin's.

But what was most memorable for the kids was playing with their cousins.

I always enjoy Christmas Eve service at my brother's church. We took advantage of the beautifully decorated altar area to get some pics of the kids with their cousins.

 Of course, you would think it wouldn't be too difficult to get everyone to take one nice picture with everyone smiling....

 Think again....

As my Grandma Haug would say, 'This one's for the papers.':