Airplane Ride

The secret to our success in traveling with 4 little kids... lots of tablets and smartphones!

Owen was really excited to get to ride a plane. (He's been on a plane before, but it's been a while.) He counted down: "3-2-1... Blast off!" and then "We have lift off!" (I think he learned it from Nature Cat.)

As soon as we landed in Pittsburgh, Owen announced, "It's Christmas!" It was his first time seeing snow in two-plus years.

Birthday Party at Chuck E. Cheese

Alex's sister (our friend that stayed with us for two months at the beginning of the school year) had a birthday party today, and we got an invite:

The girls went a little wild on the arcade games.

Windermere Park and McMurtrie Farms

Normally we would have gone to crafternoon, but the weather was so nice that we decided to do something outdoors instead. This park is just a half mile from our house. It's kind of fun to see a bunch of goats and chickens in our suburban neighborhood.

Random Pictures

The kids' favorite thing to do when they find my phone is to go around snapping pictures. (I delete dozens of pictures every week.) These were the best pics of the last week:

Story of my life. This kid is always underfoot. His favorite thing is to climb into the dishwasher. But he likes the fridge too.

Not a selfie.

Our little bookworm.

9 Months Old

This kid turned 9 months old about 2 weeks ago. He has six teeth, is a great crawler, likes to pull himself up on furniture, loves to pull books off the shelves, and will put anything in his mouth that he can get his hands on. (The only safe places in the house are his playpen and his crib, which he hates.) He had his well check up yesterday, and he is in the 2nd percentile for weight and the 71st percentile for height.

Random

I took this one at Lego Lab this week. The library has four WeDo 2.0 sets, and the girls can create their own robot (Milo) and then program it using code to do certain tasks. I love all the cool STEM toys that they make nowadays. One of my favorite Christmas gifts was a Snap Circuit set for the girls, which teaches them about electricity. So cool!

I took this one a while back. They had matching jammies on, although totally by chance.

Arboretum, Phil's Ice House, and Graham Cracker Construction Co.

At the arboretum (shopping center), the kids climbed on the cow statues, hung out on the cool new patio, and fed the ducks, followed by story time at Barnes & Noble:

We listened to a story about Hannukah

Back at the ranch the kids built graham cracker houses, trains, sleds, etc.

Thinkery and Kerbey Lane Cafe

Tuesday we went to the Thinkery...

...And then Kerbey Lane Cafe for the queso. (Torchy's is better.)

San Antonio Trip

On Christmas after church, we went to San Antonio for a 24-hour getaway. 

The tree in Alamo Plaza.

The Riverwalk.

The tree in Main Street Plaza.

San Fernando Cathedral. (We saw the first 10 minutes of the light show, and then there were technical difficulties. Nor was really disappointed that she didn't get to see it through to the end. ;)

Our hotel!

At the Japanese Tea Gardens:

At Market Square. Nor says it's the biggest Mexican market in the U.S.

 Then we got Torchy's in San Marcos and played at Children's Park:

Fun outing! :)

Christmas Day

Santa found our new house!

Liz asked for walkie talkies. (Notice the dollar on the floor. The tooth fairy and Santa came in the same night!)

Heidi asked for a pogo stick.

Owen got tools, because he's always stealing Dad's.

William got a ride-on toy that makes farm sounds.

Yummy Christmas dinner!