Before Christmas

Here are some pictures of things happening in Tucson before Christmas.

Christmassy things:

You can make some really fun Christmas decorations in kindergarten.


















Going to Winterhaven to see Christmas lights.















Non-Christmassy things:

Going to the park.















Working on Kevin's bathroom tile project.
















Pavers for the backyard of the new house.
Before















Mid-job





























almost done . . . to be finished after Christmas















Clean up time.
Kids in bathtub.














Christmas and after Christmas pictures coming in next blog.

'Twas the Fright before Christmas . . .

You have to admit, for children under the age of 5 who don't like strangers to begin with, a guy in a red suit with a funny beard and hat can be rather . . . terrifying.

But, for some reason we think it's cute to sit them on Santa's lap and take a picture anyway.

Here's what happened at the church Christmas party Saturday night.

One year old was screaming.


















Even giving her a candy cane did not improve the situation.














Three year old wanted an even quicker getaway.













Five year old was fine with Santa and even smiled and talked to him. Unfortunately, my camera malfunctioned at that moment (grrrr) and I have no picture. However, this post-Santa-visit photo of his reaction to the candy cane is somewhat humorous. I guess he thought he would get something more substantial from Santa.




He didn't say this, but his expression says:

"I sat on Santa's lap and all I got was this little candy cane?"

14 Tons

I know Ryan & Ashley will probably post a blog on this, but I hope they don't mind if I share some photos of today's fun rock shoveling landscaping activity at their house. Yes, it was 14 tons of rock to shovel and move to the backyard and we completed the job in one day! I have to say their yard looks very nice.

Some people shovel rocks and others just climb to the top of the pile and slide down.















The wheel barrow crew.















The back yard crew.















14 tons divided by 6 cubic feet per wheelbarrow load makes how many trips from the driveway to the backyard?

You don't even want to know.
















Before











After











"After" on the other side of the pavers.
















This was good practice for the rock moving I think we will be doing at the new house later this month. Just another reason why it's not a good idea to buy a new house . : )