End of Year Adventures

We had a very busy and exciting Christmas and New Years Eve down here in Green Valley. Here are a few highlights:

Christmas Eve with Kaden, Paul, and Aubrie

 All the kids got new Christmas pajamas and slippers. Before bed, Aubrie said to Grandpa "Good night, Santa!" I think the hat confused her. Kody played beautiful Christmas music on the piano, we played at the park, read stories and decorated Ninja-bread men.

One of the many Christmas stories we read Christmas Eve.

We waited until Christmas Eve to put any gifts under the tree (we wanted them to stay wrapped), so we were able to film the kids as they saw the presents for the first time:

We convince Paul to not rip packages open willy-nilly and instead he liked bringing gifts to random people.

This is right before Paul made a beeline for the nuts.

Candy, monster feet, cars, road rug, and my new glasses!

 We all went to the Desert Museum together, but I forgot my camera that day! I got to play with a Hermit Crab (Paul wandered away before the crab came out of it's shell), and a humming bird landed on Grandma Karen. It was a little cold, by Arizona standards anyway, we were definitely glad to have jackets, hats, and gloves!

We also visited the International Wildlife Museum. This was our first time there and I was really impressed with how much there is to see there. It is full of taxidermy animals, which sounds creepy but it was pretty cool. See for yourself!

This is a non-taxidermy plastic replica of a Do-Do Bird.

Aubrie and her new pal the shaggy Buffalo

The only picture we got of the whole group together.

 In the future, when Paul asks me about life when he was two, I will start every story with, "A long time ago, when you were only knee high to a Giraffe..."

We played lots of games and watched a few movies on Le Big Screen, we also visited San Xavier Del Bac.

Paul really wanted to climb on top of the grotto hill.

January 31, 2015

It was great to spend Christmas and New Years with the Phillips and Jones families! It was a great way to finish the year. I am excited to see what 2016 will bring our family, and I hope it brings good things to all of you, my friends and family!