Last Week In Kingman

The week after Christmas was SO crazy busy.  We knew we had a ton to do in little time, but still underestimated it a bit.  We squeezed in a date, my Christmas present, and went to Vegas to see "O", which is a Cirque Du Soleil show, and it was AWESOME!  I would love to see that show again.

We tried to fit in a few short visits with family too.


 
 

 This 4 person diaper change made me laugh.  Devynn's putting people to work.

I even managed to sell one of my creations in my shop to someone I don't know!  Woohoo! 

 Mostly though, we woke up and got right over to work on our house, and were up til 2 or 3 every morning trying to get it all done.  It was a lot of hard work, but there were good things about it too, like finding cute drawings on the walls.  This was in naughty Caso's room. 

 I left that cute little man and his ship on the wall. 

Some days the kids came with us and hung out while we worked.

Caso drew this bomberman being attacked by a dinosaur one of those days.

 Those who were able bodied liked to help.


Several days they stayed with Dad and Trudi, or Cassie, while we worked.

The more empty the house became, the more real it all felt, and I did get a little sad to say goodbye to our home for the last few years.  Lots of very happy memories there. :(
 
 We'd take a break and go back to dad and Trudi's for meals though.   On one particular evening we checked on Colton's height.  Dad's reign will end very soon.

 Neely really wanted some wine that same night, but Grampa said no.  So she pouted a while.  She could not believe he wouldn't pour her a glass.

Christmas 2012

Even though we had so much going on around Christmas this year, the actual day seemed less hectic than usual.  Partly because by then we were living at Dad and Trudi's, and that saved us one trip in the morning.  We just woke up and got to opening presents.  


and eating cinnamon rolls.
 
We headed over to Veronica and Dan's house for Christmas with the Jacobs side.  We ate delicious food and the kids opened even more gifts. 
 
 
The little girls weren't that into it, as usual.  But they did have a couple of gifts they liked.


Now that I'm posting about Christmas, suddenly I'm reminded that I let moving and all that distract me and totally forgot to send THANK YOUs to the people we love who sent gifts from afar.  :(  Sorry.  I better get on that.

We had the usual Christmas dinner at the Cassons, which was fun as always, but I forgot to take any pictures there.  Scary Uncle Chuckie taught Neely a game she's now obsessed with, where you take her outside in the dark and look for a wolf or a "ghost in the bushes".  She loves it.  She's actually a little scared, but she's our little thrill seeker, so she loves it.

Alex and Faith stayed the night with us at Dad and Trudi's, and Cassie was already staying there along with our family.  So we had quite a sleepover.
 
 It even snowed in the morning.  Not that it stuck, but snow was falling.  Our crazy hot blooded little girl wanted to stay out there in this getup:


But we eventually got her dressed in something more appropriate.

 
 
 Caso was carried out to enjoy it for a minute too.

Tomorrow, a post about our last week in Kingman.

Polar Express

We've wanted to take the kids on the Polar Express for several years, but we always forgot about it until it was way too late to get tickets.  :(  This year, thanks to Aunt Mollie and Uncle Tim, we got to go!  It was a lot of fun.  We got the kids into their pajamas and left in the morning, and the older two rode with Grampa, Grama Trudi, Great Grama, and Coco.  Aunt TT rode with us and Neely. 

We had lunch,

 and then met up with the Cassons to get on the train.
 
We couldn't all get seats together, and Grampa, Grama Trudi, and Great Grama were in a totally different car.  Rumor has it they had fun anyway.

 The kids were all really good.  Neely moved around quite a bit, riding with different family members.

 

Caso hung out with daddy the whole time.  Paige loved it, but was pretty quiet most of the time.  Turned out she was about to get sick, we just didn't realize it yet.  She still enjoyed it and sang along with the songs.

She gazed out the windows a lot too.

There was snow the day we went too.

 She and Cason were named and applauded for their help getting the train to its destination.  They were happy but embarrassed of course.  They weren't the only ones getting into the spirit of it all though.

Neely really liked when Santa gave them a bell.  She tied one to Jingle's collar.  So now he has two bells.  I heard later that she stole Uncle Tim's bell too.

We all went for pie after.  We waited outside a while, but it was worth it, and fun hanging out together anyway.

Tyra photobombed me and Cason here and I didn't even know it.

 By this time it was becoming obvious that Paige was about to get sick.  She was so tired, but said she wanted to go get pie too.

We took up several tables inside.

Grama loved having her picture taken, as always.

Paige fell asleep in the chair and missed out on some deliciousness.

Neely did NOT miss out.

It was a wonderful day, and extra special for us, knowing we'd be moving soon.