Lucy’s ponytail

Her hair has grown, and her fashion sense is amazing 

Christmas lights

The Dallas zoo has a Christmas light display we had a blast at today

There were people in blacks suits with expendable lights so they looked like dinosaurs. Tessa was scared but nora asked for a picture 

There was hot chocolate 

Light Sabers

Max will not be ignored

More Christmas

The girls were excited about their market and mermaid tails, for sale here

We went for a walk

And there was lego assembly

Christmas morning

There was a lot of excitement 

Max was pretty interested 

And he loved the new farm

Christmas Eve

We went to Mass. They looked cute

Brothers

Fire station

We toured the fire station with our homeschool group and had a great time!

Kids got hats 

Crackers

I thought she'd finished that snack pretty quickly, but actually those pockets just came in pretty handy. "Saving some for later," literally, Grandpa Jeff.

St Lucy’s Day

I sewed this from a kit for our own Lucy

And then we went to a local bookstore that had St Lucy crafts and were surprised to find Lucy's friend Cecelia!

Don't believe Charlie's face, he had fun 😉

Soup

It's pososble expecting a baby to eat soup with his hands (since he hates spoon feeding) is a messy idea. Possible.

And look how long his hair is, when stuck out with soup gel

Max goes for a ride

Truck

When it's your turn with the truck, you guard it with your life

Gingerbread

We constructed a simple house in honor of Our Lady of Loreto, the Blessed Virgin's house which was possibly moved by angels to Italy. Ours did not survive even simple movement, so no finished product 😂.

St Nicholas

Happy (optional memorial) Feast of St Nicholas, bishop of Myra!

We set out shoes and it's possible St Nick spends all year buying cool Catholic stuff for this very day. Chocolate coins, as no one needs a dowry here.

One of the coolest things is this Lego set of Father Leo saying Mass. James is loving it. 

It only comes with a priest, so his other legos are the parishioners. Batman said the first reading, and Bruce Wayne said the hymn, and Alfred is the Eucharistic Minister for the Blood. 

They can't kneel, so they're prostrate. Super holy legos around here 

Your Christmas cards are coming

And they are sealed with love and tv bribery

Max is paying attention

It cracks me up to see that Max is watching us

He got some illicit headphones and he knows what you do with those!

So close!

And he sees what we do with brushes. He has hair too!

Family picture

Walking

Max has priorities, and one of them is blowing in the recorder. Can't set that down to crawl

Max is so big

He is delighted with his new ride

He got his first ice cream

He gobbled that birthday cake. Max is 1! Happy birthday baby

Tessa’s Art

One of these is "big like mama"

My feet ARE connected to my head, so I see the resemblance 

Could she be any cuter??

Deer

Charlie, after several days of watching and waiting, killed a deer. All by himself!

It’s a good idea. Really.

Max has confidence this was a good idea. Or that I'll rescue him, anyhow

Snowmen

I sent the boys to make snowmen, but it turns out they didn't know you were supposed to roll the balls, so they're small.

Here's a snow family

And Bumblebee 

More friends

Tessa likes to take pictures with Max. He's getting in on it too

Nora

This pic is dark, but check out Nora living her best life

More bovine babies

The bottles are hard to hold, because they pull hard to get the milk! These babies only stay with their moms for a day and then they're bottle fed.