Holidays 2017

I think we celebrated holidays nonstop from Halloween to New Year's Day - and had a blast doing it!

And when we weren't celebrating... we were trying to get over some winter colds!

now that Bruce is reading and writing, we find little notes all over the house - so fun!

In November - this was the first year we went all out for The Day of the Dead - with great success!

we went to a festival, found some photos of loved ones we've lost, made some Day of the Dead bread, and set up an altar!

Next up - we went to a Fancy Nancy Party at the library that was really entertaining!  We love our library!

Abbs helped me get "fancy" by sticking fake flowers down my sweater!  Charlie broke out some old favs from college

 

 Abby trying to walk "proper" while balancing a banana on her head - Bruce was mostly interested in the snacks!

Before we knew it, it was time to head to Louisiana for Thanksgiving!

my sister-in-law signed us up to make Pet Rocks at the library!

We spent an afternoon with Emee and Aunt Mary in St. Martinville!

Emee gave Bruce a sketchbook for a belated birthday gift - perfect!

the first thing Bruce wanted to do was take his new sketchbook down to the bayou to draw a picture!

 

 

and continued drawing in his book for the rest of the day!

early Christmas!!!

Bruce checking out our newest robot!  We love the little ozobot!

one day we all went to the zoo!

 

After celebrating an early Christmas with our Kolarik side of the family, we really kicked things into gear when we got home!

 

 

We took our international students to see the Christmas lights in Chickasha!

we couldn't deny our horse-lover a ride through the park to look at the light displays!

Charlie's company was hosting a Christmas party, so we spent a long weekend in Kansas City, having tons of great family fun!  We had to make a pit stop in Topeka on the way so Charlie could go to a meeting.  The kids and I played for a few hours at a local children's museum!

 

  

we were able to stay at the company apartment during our stay in Kansas City - so nice!

we went back to Kaleidoscope - a fun play space sponsored by Hallmark

The company Christmas party had a "Gingerbread" theme - so some people around the office made a Royals stadium!

and we got to decorated some houses too!

we found out our OKC zoo membership gets reciprocal admission to Sea Life - so we spent a morning at the aquarium!

designing a virtual fish

releasing her fish into the wild!

 

And how could we not stop at Legoland next door?  Especially since we have a bazillion kids go free coupons in our car...

On our way home, we had to stop by Topeka again, so Charlie could go to another meeting!  This time, we hung out at the zoo (another reciprocal admission with our OKC zoo membership - woo hoo!)

 

 

 

we spent most of our time at the zoo exploring the prairie dog tunnels!

ok.. we also had to stop by Topeka because we had to pick up our car!!!  Eek!  We started having mechanical issues, so we left it there on the way up to Kansas City earlier in the week and took a rental car the rest of the way!  Then, we had to rent a U-Haul and and trailer to tow our van home...    

We held a small Christmas/good-bye for our international students.  We'll still meet with three of them throughout the Spring semester, but our Finnish friend returned home.  She will be missed!  

The following weekend we planned a fun get-a-way to celebrate our little family Christmas. 

We went to OKC for Devon's "Saturday with Santa"  - This is our fourth year to go for this and we always love it!

 

 

 

Afterwards, we headed to Muskogee, OK to check out "Christmas at the Castle" 

They had a "Father Christmas" there, and I was really excited about that!  Spending a few Christmas seasons in Germany while growing up - I've always loved Father Christmas!

 

Normally, we always pass on pony rides - but it was Christmas (for us) and we made this little girl's dream come true!

After visiting Father Christmas and riding ponies, we took a trackless "train" ride around the castle grounds to look at Christmas decorations!  Charlie had some hotel points saved up, so after we had our fill of festivities, we headed down the street for a night away from home!   

we also surprised the kids and played Santa at the hotel for them to wake up to in the morning!

"Mama I'm swimming in a pool of whipped cream!"

when we got home the next day - we surprised the kids again and let them open all of their Christmas presents!

Charlie made arrangements, as a gift to me, for our family to make ornaments at a glass blowing studio in OKC.  So much fun, and a great memory for a lifetime!

having a tour of the studio - here's the "glory hole"

choosing colors

To celebrate Christmas proper, we headed to Texas for another fun and family-filled week!

 

look at this gingerbread castle!

you can't visit Papa and Grandma without going for walks around "the block" - lots of deer this time of year!

Charlie and Bruce found some perfect "sling shot" sticks on one their walks - so naturally, Charlie had to make them into sling shots!

target practice with some pots and pans that they also found...

and some really cool fossils, too!

and of course some cacti!

Bruce made a ransom note/treasure map...

so much good food!

the kiddie table - but what happened to our Littles?  They're not so little anymore!

both of my mini-me's

Abbs took this photo of a game my mom had the adults play where we had to try to open this present with pot holders on - it was a lot harder than it looks!  And a lot of fun!

this was a game my family played sometimes while traveling when I was younger, and I thought we'd give it a try with our kids on this trip!  Each kid got a roll of quarters at the beginning of the trip, and every time they whined or did something rude - they lost one.  At the end of the trip - the remaining quarters were theirs!  It worked wonderfully!!!

While Charlie had a couple of days off from work, he made a trip to the Kansas farm to get some much-needed work with his sawmill done.  And help his dad with the cows.  Because, you know, Charlie can never really take a few days off from work!  And since we weren't quite Christmas-ed out yet, I brought the kids up and met Charlie at his parents' house in Ponca City for the traditional "Duck Dinner."  Three sets of Charlie's aunts and uncles, along with his brother and our sister-in-law, were able to join also - so it was a great afternoon!  It was our first time to make the trip and back home again in the same day - but it was worth it, and definitely doable now that the kids are getting older.  

And lastly - we went out with a bang, and had our first ever family game night to ring in the New Year!

we put a clock on the table, and I secretly bumped ahead the time every so often so that after two hours of playing, it magically was midnight!  We played with sparklers and cheers-ed with some sparkling cider!

not the best photo - but I promise we had fun!

and now I'm tired.  Last year was great, and I have feeling that this year will be even greater!