Post Thanksgiving

  I was able to get a lot of shopping done while Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales were going on.  Shopping on my phone is SO much easier, however, I don't know if it always saves me money.  Often I am willing to spend a little more just so that I don't have to take 45 minutes to load up the girls and go myself. 
  We did manage to get family pictures taken and for crazy cheap too!  $75!  The gal was super sweet and got our pictures edited and back to us in five days.  You can't get anything good for that cheap down in Florida.  After pictures were taken, we took the scenic way home and drove past the temple here in Albuquerque. 

 Becca looked so adorable in her outfit!  Not hardly any smiles from her during the family photo shoot but she wasn't crying.  Hallelujah.   

 She is starting solids now and isn't much of a fan of the rice cereal.  She does like applesauce.  Carrots are a little strong tasting for her.  She often gags.  

 One of the days we chose to stay inside and out of the cold I pulled out our ball pit balls.  The girls had a lot of fun throwing them around at each other.  

 Ellie adores Gerald and picks him up all the time.  I think he still likes her, for now, but she is about as gentle as a 2-year-old can get.  Which is not gentle at all.

 And here is my sweet Becca Boo.  She loves the sound of running water so 9 times out of 10 she will lay happily on the floor while I take a shower and get ready for the day.  Once the water is off, though, her water works start running.

Thanksgiving

  We went to Clovis for Thanksgiving this year. A little more than a 3 hour drive to see family and have extra space to run around made the drive more than worth it. Becca slept the first half of the drive and cried for half of the rest. Nothing new there. Ellie had fun looking out for cows and horses. Before we were totally tired of the drive we arrived!  We were able to drive without stopping and so the girls were ready to get out and stretch their legs.  And play on the stairs.  

  Dinnertime was an hour away so we unloaded and tried to help as best we could to get dinner on the table. The Forsyths joined us for dinner. We knew them when we were at Laughlin. Gosh, so much has happened since then. They moved a year and a half after we arrived, so we only had Kate when they moved. They now have 1 more kid and 2 foster kids. So we had 9 kids all together. The house was full of commotion and my girls were in heaven. Kate and Abby love running around after big kids. And no one got badly hurt. Success.
  Thursday morning Andrew and Jared took the girls to a park to get their wiggles out while Kristin and I worked on Thanksgiving dinner. They came back for lunch, naps, and crafts for the girls.  

  Dinner was wonderful. Everything turned out very yummy. I didn't think I'd eaten that much, just a little bit of everything, but come time for dessert I didn't feel like eating anything. That doesn't mean I didn't. Like, it's Thanksgiving. You have to have pie. So I served myself a sliver of pecan and lemon pie. I enjoyed the first two bites and pushed through the rest.  A successful Thanksgiving, even if I do say so myself. 

Even the dogs got a little taste of turkey with some help from Ellie.

Jared did some magic tricks for the girls, which they always love.  Ellie will try and copy Jared sometimes which gives us all a laugh.

  Friday morning we all went to the track to run and kick a ball around.  It was SO windy though.  If you didn't put a foot on the ball to keep it still the wind would blow it away.  Far away.  

There was some football equipment at the track. Ellie was the first to hop on and Aunt Kristin pushed her around, much to Ellie's delight.

Abby loved chasing the ball around, however, once she fell into the grass and got covered in pokeys she was banned from walking in the grass. Those things covered Texas and man, they were awful.  Don't miss them one bit.

 Once Kate and Abby saw how much fun Ellie was having, they wanted in on it too.  Andrew and Jared had one girl each and pushed them as fast as they could.  Andrew beat Jared by 10 feet but both girls had a lot of fun. 

And then Andrew and Jared collapsed.

Kate and Abby decided they wanted a turn at pushing too.

 After pushing Ellie around, all three girls decided to race.  Ellie got a head start, then Abby, and then Kate.

After nap and lunch we went to the bowling alley and played one game, which was about as long as Ellie could last.

Gerald did well and only had one accident in the house while there.  Ellie loves playing with him and putting him in a choke hold to hug him.  

 Abby asked me to hold her "letters to Santa".  Bahaha!  So sweet and cute!

 Kate and Abby got to break the wishbone.

 Abby got the bigger piece.

 Ellie loves helping with Becca.  I was changing Becca's diaper when Ellie came onto the bead.  As soon as she saw Becca's bare belly she started blowing raspberries. 

 Ellie watching Daddy load up the car for our ride back "home".

  We are so grateful we got to spend Thanksgiving with family.  We had a great time and survived the drive back to Albuquerque just fine. 

Santa Fe

  Two weeks ago was our trip out to Santa Fe. We stopped and grabbed lunch first at a local restaurant called Cowgirl. The food was yummy but a bit pricey, especially for lunch. My favorite thing about Cowgirl was that they had an outdoor playground in the middle of the restaurant that was designated for families. It made eating with kids SO much more enjoyable. The kids could play and then come eat and we could watch them while we ate and not have to chase them around everywhere. It was wonderful. 

Andrew's burger was HUGE.

   After we finished lunch we drove over to what we thought was just one Indian museum. It turned out to be a museum complex with 3 or 4 different buildings and a little restaurant. The courtyard had quite a few statues and monuments that interested the girls along with a 2D labyrinth to walk on.

  We only went through one museum and enjoyed what we saw. The girls were well behaved as we walked through and were happy to smile a dozen times for pictures.

 Rugs made from skins of small animals.

 Ellie was interested by what she saw as long as she was moving at a quick enough pace.  We didn't want her running around the museum so she stayed in her stroller for the vast majority of the museum. 

 A bunch of the artifacts were from a few hundred years ago.  A couple were older.  We went through at a fairly quick pace because of Ellie, and the other kiddos.  Maybe in a few years we'll be able to read the info posted in museums.  Until then we'll look at the cool things and keep on walking.

 The girls all liked the jewelry a lot.

 Once we were almost done walking through the museum, we came across the family room and had to stop in. There were drums, books, puzzles, and puppets. We all had fun playing with everything.

 Abby loved the drums and musical instruments.  Ellie's favorite was the puppets.  She totally thought they were real.  When Andrew made the puppet get close to Ellie, she would squeal with delight and maybe a little apprehension. 

 The cougar would roar at Ellie and she would roar back.

 The wolf howled just like Duke

 Sticking out her tongue and being silly.  

 Oh no!  Not a bear!

 Pow pow!

 We were able to convince the girls to pack up and head to the car, but then Andrew found the labyrinth and got distracted with the kids.  I was cold and headed down to the parking lot with Becca but had to stop to capture the beautiful view.

 Kate and Becca stopped to pose at this big statue right before hopping in the car.

  Because there is just so much to see in Santa Fe we will go back in a few weeks.  Still lots of places to go and see and eat at.