That Time of Year Again

Last week was spring break for Josh and the last week of the Houston Rodeo.  Although Josh worked most of the week, he did take Wednesday off so that we could go to the rodeo.  We finally decided to try something fried this year since it is most likely our last rodeo experience here in Houston.  We tried the fried cheesecake, which was good, but nothing to rave about.  As usual, we had some yummy barbecue. 

This was the first year that Eli complained about the smell of the animals.  Obviously, we're raising a city boy.  It took some coaxing for him to go to the petting zoo, but after initial complaining, he really enjoyed himself (he begged to go in a second time).  He especially loved getting up into the tractors, which he has loved every year we go.  He always says, "I wish I had a tractor."  :-)  He also got excited about "milking" the cows, and he enjoyed the carnival rides as well.

 

Bampa & Nana Visit

For Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend, Josh's parents came for a visit.  Eli loved playing with his Bampa and Nana.  We went to the Health Science Museum where Eli cried and begged to get out of the 4D bug movie.  Apparently my dislike of bugs has rubbed off on him.  They also had an aging machine, and we got to see what we may look like in 40 years.  It was not a pretty sight, especially Josh's picture, because he added what he'd look like if he were obese and a smoker.  Not recommended for him!   

We got out into nature and went birding.  Unfortunately, every time we seem to go birding, there are mosquitoes galore, and this time was no exception.  Though warm, it was also very windy, so Eli and I wore jackets.  Josh and his parents did not.  I bet you can guess who came out unscathed even though we all applied the mosquito repellant.

We had an enjoyable time, and Eli spent about 15 minutes hugging and saying good-bye to his Nana at the airport.  I didn't think he was going to let her go home.  But he finally did, and now he's already looking forward to her return in May for Josh's graduation.  

Christmas 2011

Though it's rare to get snow here in Houston, our colder weather did come right on cue..right in time for Christmas.  It was quite rainy and cold on Christmas Eve and Christmas (though you wouldn't know it by stepping outside today), and we actually have a real fireplace (which I laughed about when we first moved in), so we enjoyed a warm and toasty Christmas Eve by the fire.

Like many families, we re-enacted the nativity story.  Given that children are in short supply in this house, Eli got to triple up on roles--shepherd, Joseph, and a wise man.  He enjoyed dressing up, and he and I had even memorized some of the scriptures earlier.

 

 

I know many families (Josh's included) open up new pajamas on Christmas Eve, but since I love Christmas stories, I thought it would be fun to get a new Christmas book instead and then read it together.  So that's what we've done for the past two (and only) Christmases that we've actually spent at home.  It's a fun tradition, and Eli LOVES getting a new book--particularly a Christmas one on Christmas Eve.  This year's book was called The Gingerbread Pirates.  The only negative was that Eli wouldn't let me eat my gingerbread cookies after reading the book.  In the story, the gingerbread pirate cookies come to life and try to save themselves from being eaten by Santa.  Eli told me that the gingerbread boy cookies that we made were REAL and I wasn't allowed to eat them, and of course, we couldn't give Santa a gingerbread boy either. :-)

Josh's mom always sends us pajamas because that's the tradition in Josh's family.

 

These are the exact words that Eli wanted us to write.  Hilarious!  Do you think he's on to something? :-)  As you can see, we could only leave a gingerbread tree for Santa, not a gingerbread boy.

Christmas Day was a little different than normal because it was the Sabbath, and though it was different, I really liked going to church on Christmas Day.  It helped keep the day in perspective.  Our ward had an interesting program, which I loved.  We sang all the Christmas hymns together and had one intermediate speaker.  It was great!  Since our ward started at 11 AM, we decided not to open our gifts until after we got home from church so that we wouldn't feel rushed.  We did open our stockings and eat Christmas breakfast before we went to church, but leaving the gifts until later gave us some excitement to look forward to.  Eli was so funny because when he'd open a gift, he'd say, "Oh wow, I was wanting a ??? and now I got it!"  He even had a hard time letting Josh and me open our gifts.  He wanted to open them for us.

Christmas dinner was the usual spiral sliced ham.  I forgot to take a picture of my dutch apple pie, which was DELICIOUS.  

Thanks to everyone for the gifts!  We had so many packages coming, I'm sure the delivery guy had our apartment memorized.  We also enjoyed talking to many of you via telephone!

Christmas Cookies

Eli and I had fun making cookies yesterday and today.  Actually, Eli mostly ate the dough, frosting, and cookies while I made them.  But he seems to like wearing an apron and pretending he's actually baking them.  The key now is to keep them until Christmas, which might be hard to do since they are pretty tasty.  However, Santa needs a plate full of cookies, so we'll have to have some self-control!