FIRE

In preparation for girls camp the Young Women made fire this evening.
JD heard fire and instantly had his shoes and jacket on ready to go. OK - I know he isn't a Young Woman but littly boys can't miss out on fire . . .

AND smores -- YUM!!!!

Spooky Pet

JD says he wants a "spooky pet." Lulu doesn't count as spooky since she is fluffy and comes when you call.
We went to the exotic pet store just to see what all these spooky pets were about. This giant iguana looked interesting.

Mostly JD was interested in the snakes. I said DEFINITELY NOT to all the scaly pets. SO - unless you are afraid of curly tailed dogs, it is still safe to come visit.

Pizza

JD and I made pizza after church on Sunday. The dinosaurs are there to oversee the project. Notice that he has arranged the mini pepperonis to look like a smiley face.

Mini Vacation

I decided our family needed a mini vacation this week. We took Lulu to Petsmart (JD says that's where sad, lonely dogs get dropped off while their people go on vacation) and away we went.
I was a little surprised when JD came to the door with his hands full of dinosaurs and announced, "I'm ready to go." I guess plastic dinos need a vacation too.

Our first stop was the Witte museum to see the giant bug exhibit. JD wasn't too sure about this huge tarantula. We had to do the exhibit a second time before he was convinced it was safe.

You can't visit San Antonio without a stop at the Alamo. What interested JD more was the wax museum across the street.

He posed with his favorite star.

Normally, you eat Mexican food on the riverwalk. That is --- unless you have a 5 year old boy who sees the sign for the rainforest cafe first. We got to sit right by the gorilla who shook the tree and made threatening sounds every 15 minutes or so.

JD and his pet T-rex enjoyed the view from our room. Mostly it was a view of the neighboring building's room. JD still thought it was fun to look out over the whole city.

After all that fun there was nothing left to do but hug your new toys and fall asleep going home.

Christmas

JD left cookies and milk out for Santa. When I tried to get a picture with them it was too funny. He has become quite a posser.
Here's his "I'm too cool" look.

Followed by a couple of silly faces.

Notice JD and I have matching PJs. HOORAY

Christmas morning Lulu helped supervise the opening of the presents.

What can it be?

Beyblades were the toy of choice this year.

George was very surprised by his South Austin t-shirt.

Finally, it was off to Grandpa's house to play with another cousin.

Christmas Eve with Grandma

Christmas Eve with Grandma always begins with the making of the menudo.
George and Grandma prepare the tripe (cow stomach - yum) before adding the best part . . .

. . . pig feet. YUM YUM

George carefully stirs this culinary delight which has to be cooked outside because of it's lovely aroma. Even though I don't eat any, it is a fun process to watch. I'm happy for JD to be part of the tradition.

JD puts on a Santa hat to help Grandma and Aunt Sandra distribute the presents.

JD played with cousin Alexis. Alexis is super cute and like all of JD's girl cousins, REALLY into the whole Princess thing.

Nativity Animals

When I asked JD what he wanted to do for fun today he said, "go to the dinosaur museum." GEEEE, really???? What a surprise! (read with sarcastic tone).
When we got to the museum we found this unexpected surprise. The animals from the Rockette's Christmas show were camped out across the street. George and I went to the show last night. It is pretty cool - they bring live animals on stage for the final scene with the baby Jesus.

The camels were very friendly. They let us pet their noses and showed us their camel teeth. The caretaker told us to go on in and pet them. He and the camel had matching teeth.

JD worked on wrapping a few last gifts and we are now ready for Christmas.