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.':

Christmas at Great-Grandma's House

My Grandma Haug always has her Christmas on Dec. 23rd. We have not been to this Christmas celebration since before Payton was born because of Scott's work schedules. Scott was not able to come this year either, but we finally got to go.

The kids also got to meet some second cousins for the first time. Payton was especially thrilled - she seems to be a little more social that Ian.

The 'play room' - featuring toys from the time when my Dad was little.

We had the traditional tamales and chili for dinner, followed by the White Elephant gift exchange.

I, uh, lucked out on that event and brought home......

an udderly cow mug.

You know you want one.

Happy New Year! Oh, and Merry Christmas!

I know I haven't blogged in ages, so I'm going to be doing a little catching up over the next few posts. I have lots of excuses as to why I haven't blogged, but no one really wants to hear them because it's the usual holiday business. Just pretend that you understand, forgive me, and we'll move on :)

So, with that all said, we had a very nice holiday. The kids were out of school for 2 full weeks! so we tried to stay busy to ward off boredom.

We had a little Christmas at home before we joined up with the rest of the family for a total of 4!!! Christmas celebrations! (Seriously, it was out of control....)

At home, the large gift for the kids was the Lego Death Star. The kids have been drooling over this for the last 5 months, so this was the big present from Mommy and Daddy.

This set is huge. It has over 3800 pieces! Hopefully, it will take the kids (and Dad) a while to put together - I'm thinking at least a couple of months.