December

One sign that December has arrived at our house is the kids rushing to the computer in the morning to check out the new display on the Jackie Lawson advent calendar.  If you have kids and haven't discovered these calendars yet, make a note to do it next year.  They are remarkable. 

A snowy morning made for a 2 hour hour delay in this neck of the woods.  It would have been laughable back in Indiana. 

Later that week we did get a substantial amount of snow and enjoyed the first snow day of the year.  After frolicking out in the yard, Sasha had the idea to make gingerbread cookies and luckily I had all the ingredients on hand.  She stuck with it from start to finish and Jack assisted for about half of them.

Another great idea of Sasha's.  Phil and I remark often these days how these two are such good buddies.  They rarely argue and are more content to be together than apart.  I used to marvel when other moms would say that it was easier to care for their 2 kids together than just one.  Now I get it. 

The first Saturday in December we had a "Christmas" day starting with a pancake breakfast with St. Nicholas at our church, going to pick out our tree, decorating it, having a family fondue dinner at home(oil, cheese, and chocolate--all of which was way to chaotic to capture with even a single photo), and lastly going to the Christmas Shop on the plaza where the kids pick out one new ornament each year.  It was a wonderful family day!

One of the stations in Sasha's kindergarten rooms is a "Create" area where there is a big bin of odds and ends that they can construct into something with using tape, glue, string, etc.  It is Sasha's favorite thing to do and every day she brings home her new lovely product.  Here she is using her "chocolate milk maker".

One of our favorite pictures from her Book About Me that came home at parent teacher conferences.

Mid-December we did an overnight trip to Durango, CO to ride the Polar Express narrow gauge railway.  We stayed in the Strater Hotel, an old Victorian establishment right on the quaint Main Street  and just down from the train station. 

We did some Christmas shopping before heading to the depot to await the arrival of the train. 

Just like in the book, we all wore our pajamas.  They had the music from the movie blasting from speakers as the train approached.  The kids were jumping up and down and squealing with excitement. 

We spent the whole weekend with our friends Joohee, Lee, Luke, and Jaden.

After the ride to the "North Pole" Santa Claus paid us a visit.  Jack requested an airplane for Christmas and Sasha a rainbow loom.

And it's off to the races again in our hallway.

Art in the basement.

Traditional oyster stew for Christmas Eve lunch.  Chicken and Stars for the kids, of course....

The kids got to open grandma and grandpa's gifts the day before Christmas.  They love their new towels, slippers, and storyteller dolls.

As if December wasn't busy enough, I played in the Christmas Eve and New Years Eve concerts with the Santa Fe Concert Association.  This is always one of my personal highlights of the year.  One of my lifetime dreams realized.....This year for the first time they had an open dress rehearsal right before the concert and Phil brought Sasha to it.  Apparently she fell asleep!

While I was playing in the concert, Phil took Sasha and Jack to the Farolito Walk on Canyon Road.

Sasha and Jack slept together in Jack's room the night before Christmas and actually watched the clock until it turned 6:30 am on Christmas morning before running to the living room. 

Sasha had picked out a lovely pair of earrings for me in Durango.

Christmas Day afternoon we drove down to Albuquerque for a delicious green chile stew meal with my Gingerich relatives at my mom's house.  I love getting together with this group because there are always so many good stories told, jokes (sometimes dirty) cracked, and amazing food.

The weekend after Christmas we set out to go tubing up on the mountain but were disappointed to find the tubing run closed so we continued up the mountain to the ski basin and went skiing instead for the first time this year.  Jack did awesome!  He skied down the whole bunny hill by himself several times and learned how to stop by himself.

Sasha mastered the bunny hill in little time and was getting on and off the magic carpet by herself, just having a great time.

Jack painting his first canvas to hang above the toilet in his bathroom.  He titled it "Our City". 

November

November began with a cousin's wedding in Savannah, GA with Phil's family sans kids.  We all stayed in a historic bed and breakfast and enjoyed exploring the city.

Enjoying complementary happy hour in the B&B

A whole platter of raw oysters.  It doesn't get any better than that!

Sister-in-law Teresa and I in the candy store

The trolley ride from the wedding to the reception.  The reception was so fun with delicious southern fare at the Olde Pink House.  Phil even got to step in with the hired jazz band to play sax for a few numbers.

One of the 20 some squares that Savannah is organized around.  Phil and I stayed by ourselves one night after the wedding and enjoyed reading novels in the parks, sitting leisurely in coffee shops, and eating in restaurants we would never take the kids to.

We were standing in line here for 45 minutes to get into Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House restaurant.  Family style community tables with down home southern food--the best we've had.  I have dreams about those collard greens and fried chicken!

But we missed these two munchkins so much!  They had a great time with Grandma June and Grandpa Fred though.

Jack spends literally hours each week maneuvering his matchbox cars along the back of our couch.  He parks them carefully in a row and then moves them one by one to the other end of the couch.  Other things he is into right now are pirates, superman, batman, and football.

Sasha got her tenth size violin this month and the sound is 10 times bigger from her smaller one.  We think she's doing a great job and she is excited when she gets to tackle a new song.

Sasha has started to disappear into her room to read books on her own now.  It all began when we rearranged her room and got her a nifty reading light by her bed.  The rule in our house is that you don't come out of your bedroom until 6:30.  Sasha is an early-to-bed girl and early riser so she now reads her current book for awhile when she wakes up until her clock says it's time to get up. 

Playing in our first significant snow.  Sasha and Jack had a blast sledding down the driveway and going down the snowy slides in the yard.

We went down to my parents house for Thanksgiving.  This time we spent the night which made it seem more like a holiday weekend.  It has become tradition to have Anne Liechty at our Thanksgiving dinner.  Our families were good friends in Goshen growing up and she lives in Albuquerque now.  This year her brother, Jeff, was visiting as well.  It was great to catch up with them. 

The kids always love playing the piano and grandma and grandpa's house. 

The day after Thanksgiving we all went out for donuts and then to see the Sand hill cranes where they stop on their migration every year.

October

October was marked by many of our annual fall traditions.  I feel like we have similar pictures from last October but Sasha and Jack have changed so much in just one year. 

We woke up early one Saturday morning and drove up to Aspen Vista hike.  The kids each took a bag and collected beautiful leaves for our fall centerpiece.  Sasha also enjoyed making a leaf collage between two ironed pieces of wax paper. 

We didn't get any great pictures of our visitors, but we enjoyed 5 days with Phil's parents at our house.  Phil took some time off and we acted like tourists in our own town for a change.

Jack enjoys a good French pastry now and again. 

While Jan and Jon were here we visited some home decor shops that we've always wanted to go into, but haven't taken the time to do yet.  Sasha and Jack were very patient in the Indian textile shop......

At the rug shop.....

We woke up at 4:30 on Saturday morning and all drove down to Albuquerque to watch the ascension at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta. 

Another weekend we went to McCall's pumpkin patch.  It's always a great day there in the corn kernel sand box...

in the corn maze...

on the giant bouncy pillow (everyone's favorite)

and lastly the hayride out to pick out pumpkins to take home.

My birthday (the day before Halloween) fell on a particularly busy weekday.  Sasha's violin lesson was that afternoon, then Phil met us straight from work at Five Star Burger for dinner, after which we headed to Sasha's violin recital (Song of the Wind), and then back to our house for Black Forest Cake (baked by Phil the night before) with my parents and Megan. 

Halloween was all it was cracked up to be.  After several parties and parades in the days leading up to the big day, Sasha and Jack were still psyched to hit the streets for some good old-fashioned trick or treating.  Jack was Superman and Sasha was a China doll. 

Jack literally tore down the sidewalks in our adopted neighborhood looking for porch lights that were turned on and hollered at the top of his lungs if he saw one.