Enjoying The Post-Christmas Lull

Christmas was fun!

Here Ryder is learning to colour in the lines with Uncle Grant.

Fun new PJs from Alabama friends and lots of loving from Pop & Mimi.

A fun new fishing game from a very special Auntie.

And so many new books to give some variety to the old ones 

that have been read over and over and over again.

And since we said goodbye to family, it's just been quiet and relaxing.

Enjoying a nice hot bath, catching up on laundry, dealing with all of our Christmas leftovers.

And then last night it snowed!

Hooray for our snow day and all of the fun we had playing in our quiet neighbourhood.

I made a snow angel that Ryder thought was hilarious.

And we even figured out how to use the Tonka Scraper to plow the snow into piles on the driveway. All those piles of snow made great snowballs, though I don't know if we every actually hit Braden.

Local Entertainment

There's not a lot of readily available entertainment out here in the Nevada desert
- unless you're into gambling. 

So what do we find to do for fun?

Well, this morning we drove out to the desert and went target shooting.

'Let's go shoot some guns' said Ryder.

 Then on our way home, we took a little detour through downtown to admire the Christmas pennants from my Etsy shop hanging in the display window of the local saddlery.

Life in a small town. <3

It's All Over

Well, 'Christmas' came and went at our house today.

Ryder was so excited to wake up and new that it was going to be fun, but wasn't 100% sure why.

It didn't take him long to figure everything out.

We began with stockings.

Then the Christmas story and some Bible reading.

Followed by some pretty fun gifts from his favourite people.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Oh There's No Place Like Home For The Holidays!

We went on our second annual Lake Tahoe Christmas Tree Hunt!

Local friends, this is a tradition we love and tree permits are available at the USDA Forest Service Office for $10.

This year we had Pop & Mimi with us - plus a LOT of snow!

 We picked up a sled and gloves for Ryder in South Lake Tahoe.

They ended up being essential to our happy tree hunt.

 Plus, after the tree was loaded up, we had a fun time taking a few runs in the sled.

We love Lake Tahoe!

And our winter wonderland outing was followed by a fun sweater party with friends - 

who also helped us decorate our new tree.

Here we are - ugly sweaters and all.

 And every toddler needs a friend like Mrs Davis!

It's good to be home for the holidays - 

And, It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here!

Operation Christmas Child

This last week, our local MOPS group filled shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child.

This week is their national collection week, but there are still lots of opportunities to get involved, and probably a local collection centre in your area that you can get a shoebox to, if you're interested in participating.

I didn't get any pictures of the individual boxes we packed at our table, but our MOPS meeting place is also the local collection centre and here are just some of the boxes packed and waiting to be shipped overseas.

Now that I have little ones, I treasure opportunities like these, when I can teach them to look beyond themselves and encourage generosity. I could see the wheels turning in Ryder's head when he realized that the colourful airplane gliders he helped choose weren't going to be for him.

As we look forward to Thanksgiving next week, I am reminded to be thankful for our life here in America and all of the blessings God has given!

A Little of This & A Little of That

Mondays generally contain a little of this and a little of that. But first, because I'm all about keeping it real, here's what Ryder found to do while I was in the shower this morning.

That's just about a whole roll of tp and too many q-tips to count. He can sure be thankful that I didn't find the mess until after he was already having his afternoon nap.  What a little turkey!

Weekends where everyone's home generally leave a bit of a mess around the house and so I always have some tidying to do on Mondays.  Today I also was able to meet my new doctor. My regular OBG for this pregnancy had a baby herself last week, and so today I enjoyed meeting the man who's going to help bring our next little guy into the world in about 6 weeks - give or take. :)

A quick trip to the gym after my doctors appointment was followed up with some time spent sewing an oh-so-soft baby blanket and a few burp cloths together for a friend who is due to have her first little girl soon.

And Ryder was overjoyed to receive a brand new beautiful red firetruck in the mail today.  We're so thankful to Granny for sending such a great Christmas gift! It was fun to watch him drive it around the house all evening.  He even snuck in one last little push when we told him to head to his room for bed tonight. :)

A very happy Monday to you all!

Our Alabama Christmas

This is my ABSOLUTE favourite picture.  

Ryder is ecstatic to find a little orange ball in his stocking. 

Look at that face!

Cozying up with Gram to open another gift.
That tongue!

So blessed to be with family through the holidays!