Holiday Season 2013

 Thanksgiving was at Jennifer and Jeremy's house, with the twins and Mimi and Jennifer's aunt and uncle.  Very low key, excellent food, and a beautiful table.

 Later I helped the twins decorate Christmas cookies.  Jennifer did all the work, baking cookies and making the icing, I just helped the kids spread the icing on.  They like THICK icing.

A few days before, the twins and I visited at the Durst's house and saw young Will Durst, visiting for Thanksgiving. He is such a happy boy, smiling whenever I see him. I don't think the twins were overly impressed, but he tried to make the walker go to follow them around.

 John went to Austin and the UT football game.  He got his game day face on.

 Bill's grandson William came to visit for Thanksgiving.  He helped Bill decorate the airplane Christmas tree.  I have given Bill an airplane ornament from the Hallmark "Sky's the Limit" series every year since it stared. So now Bill has 17 little airplane ornaments to hang on this tree.  He also has a few other airplane ornaments collected over the years.  William got a kick out it.

I had the twins over one evening and they helped me decorate my tree. They put up every last ornament, even the old kid-made ones that are almost falling apart. I helped some, but most of the ornaments on the tree are in the bottom 3 1/2 feet.

Then I started shopping for Christmas. Oh, not on Black Friday, but on-line.  Over the post Thanksgiving weekend I ordered nearly all my Christmas presents from Amazon, WalMart and a tech store. Oh, I did buy myself a new 5 disk DVD duplicator.  It was on sale through Amazon and I have already used it to duplicate nearly 100 disks! Lets me expand JanMa's Digital Memories capabilities.

 

 Then an arctic blast of air blew in, and I dug out my heavy coat, scarf, gloves and earmuffs! Yes earmuffs, I firmly believe in them.  If my hands and ears are warm, the rest of me is pretty much OK.  All I need beyond that is a nose warmer, and the scarf can do that job OK too.  I'm not fond of really cold air, but it did cause my camellias to bloom.

 It was also cold and icy in Dallas/McKinney area.  Jason stayed home at least one day from work and the roads were empty, at least as near as I could tell from the news. The pictures coming in from family, facebook and the news showed a solid frozen coat of ice on the roads and elsewhere.  Taylor bundled up so much to go outside, I wouldn't know it was her except for I know who sent the picture.  Only her nose is barely visible.

I started a new project for a client, with video tape that was nearly 30 years old. I had to take it apart, splice it a few times and put the tape into another case in better condition.  Finally got the footage onto a DVD.  Nice learning challenge.

The most recent event was Claire's dance recital.  Bill and Mimi and I met Jeremy and Jake there to watch.  Claire and her whole class were so cute.  Jennifer was the only backstage mom for that class, and she had her handsfull riding herd on a bunch of 3-4 year olds for several hours.  I brought here some glittery carnations, and she told me she also got roses!

Next weekend I'm off to McKinney to see Taylor's dance recital.

Disney Trip

I went with Jason and family to Disney for a week.  We visited Hollywood Studios, the Magic Kingdom (2 days) and Epcott.  Great trip, I never knew there were so many princesses! John loved the rides and Taylor rode everything she was tall enough for, even the Runaway Mine Train.  I sat with her on that ride and held her down tight! The only ride John did not like was the Haunted Hotel that had ghosts inside and you sat in an elevator car that dropped down, rose back up, down again and so on. It was a great time to go, the week before Thanksgiving.  We never had to wait more than about 15 minutes for any ride. Plus the weather was great, mostly overcast, not too sunny and hot.  Still humid, but since we were on the monorail line, we went back to the hotel for lunch, naps, and back out in the evening.  Jason's room had a full kitchen with dining table, 2 bathrooms and washer and dryer.  Ashley had ordered grocery delivery so we were able to eat most meals in their room. My room was more like a hotel room, but it was nice to be able to have my own place in the evenings.

Before the trip, I had to get my Disney on.  I got a short haircut, to make it easy to shower and go each morning, and I also got my toes done. Minnie mouse on the left toe, Mickey on the right.

Disney is using wristbands now, with a computer chip embedded in it.  It opens the room door, and you can use it to buy food, souvenirs at the resort hotels and parks (tied to your credit card), and also for fast pass rides. Ashley could use her phone to go online (Disney has wifi EVERYWHERE) and change fast pass rides, park tickets, find out the wait time at a character signing, all kinds of stuff.  We each had one, even the kids,  it had my name on the inside and I got to pick the color.

 We caught an early flight (6:00 am) to Orlando. Bags were checked at DFW and magically showed up in our hotel rooms that night when we got back from our first day at Hollywood Studios.  

Entering the park on the bus from the airport.

 Ashley and Jason rented a stroller for the kids, a very wise investment. It could roll onto the monorail and into elevators.

 Ashley had made autograph books for each kid, so they could get autographs from all the characters they saw.  This is Green Army Man from Toy Story.

 Lightning McQueen and Mater were on John's list of characters he wanted to see.  No autographs, but lots of pictures.

 This is the Haunted Hotel elevator ride at Hollywood Studios.

 Jason cautioned me about the elevator drops, and I read the warnings.  That should have been enough to turn me around, but I was going to be brave and go with John.

 John didn't like the ghosts he saw, Jason covered his eyes.  I didn't like the drops, but at least it was in the dark, which somehow made it better than if I could see the ground rushing up at me. I felt how John looked afterwards.  We made a pact to never go on that ride again.

 Hollywood Studios had a fabulous Christmas light display, over 3 million lights. The lights also blinked in time to various Christmas songs.  Very impressive.

 The second day started off with the Princess breakfast at the castle.

 Cinderella greeted each guest and posed for pictures.

 Then at breakfast, which was excellent, other characters came by, signed autographs and posed for pictures.  Here is Snow White.

 Then came Taylor's favorite princess, Briar Rose.  And who is that, you ask?  It is the name given to Princess Aurora by the fairy godmothers who took her to live with them in the forest in order to hide her from the evil witch who planned to have her prick her finger and die before her 16th birthday. You may know her better as Sleeping Beauty.

 Taylor and Princess Aurora, AKA Sleeping Beauty.

 Princess Aerial, who started out life as a mermaid.

 Rapunzel, the princess from Tangled movie.

 These characters are so patient and sweet to the children, lots of hugs, and conversation in character. 

 Cinderella's mean step mother and step sisters. They asked John if he were single, they were looking for eligible bachelors. And they did look pretty ugly!

 Another of John's must see, Buzz Lightyear.

 John and I drove the racecars on the track.

 The castle lit up at night with thousands of white lights.

 The 3rd day started off with breakfast at Chef Mickey's, a buffet restaurant in the hotel.  Lunch and dinner were also available, but we opted for breakfast.  The characters come by the tables for autographs and pics, just like at the princess breakfast. I was able to snag Goofy for a picture with me.

 Waiting with the kids for the Disney Electric Light parade.

 Prince Charming and Cinderella.

 Belle from Beauty and the Beast, at Epcott.

There is a lot of music at Disney, and both kids can get into the dancing mode. Taylor surprised us by bowing whenever the music ended and people clapped.

 

 Ready for departure to the airport Friday morning.

It was a great trip, I had a wonderful time.  I had been to Disney with my boys, but I focused on the rides, not the magical characters. The boys were older, didn't care about the princesses, only Space Mountain. This time I saw another side of Disney, how dreams really can come true for the kids who have grown up watching Cinderella and other princesses, Mickey and crew, and other favorite movie characters.

Marble Slab for ice cream and twins dancing

I picked up the twins at lunchtime from their pre-school and we had a grand afternoon.  First to the park, where they climbed up various playscapes and came down different slides.  There was a dragon fly see-saw, a spider web they could climb on, and a sandbox.

 They probably got sand in their shoes and other places, but they had a fun time.

 Then to Marble Slab for ice cream.  After much deliberation and a few sample tastes, Claire decided on pink bubblegum ice cream with gummy bears.  Jake had vanilla with M&Ms.  JanMa had dark chocolate with Heath bar pieces.

One evening I had the twins for a few hours.  I fed and bathed them (now I know why they started bathing separately) and dressed them in my t-shirts.  Then we started the Wii dance.

I was surprised at how much Jake gets into it now.  He was just as involved as Claire.  And they were very excited to get the stars for their dancing!

Politics, Halloween and TBall

The twins got an early start on their political careers, or stage careers, or whatever, when they got to lead the Pledge to the Flag at a political fundraiser.

Here is a Youtube video of their presentation.



The weekend before Bill and I visited Cedar Park and Burnet.  Bill spent Friday watching William, all by himself.  Diane and I drove to Kerrville and Fredericksburg to visit the Hill Country Builders parade of homes.  The next day Bill and I visited more homes around Burnet and Marble Falls. I'm starting to get ideas and find a builder.

Bill and William

We all went to Denny's Classic Diner for an early breakfast.

One of many homes I saw, but I did like the vaulted ceiling of this back porch.

 Here is the inside of the house, looking out to the vaulted porch.

 I definitely want a walk-in shower.

 One evening, Jeff and Jaime and William visited us at the hotel and we all went for a swim.

 Another night Bill and I visited Diane and Richard and watched the sunset from their front porch.

Elvis visited the CISD Admin building on Halloween,  I was working that day.

 Jake and Claire get ready to score some chocolate.  

Jake is a fighter pilot and Claire is a fairy princess with butterfly wings.

 John made an awesome Captain America and Taylor was a princess, of course.

(Less than 2 weeks til we see some real princesses at Disney)

 The sky cleared to a beautiful sunset Halloween evening.

I helped out at Jake's TBall game, mostly watching Claire but also helping out on 1st base.

 Jake got the Sportsmanship medal this week.  Claire came over to him and said, "Jake, I am so proud of you! You played so good!" Then he gave her a great big hug.

Although I haven't seen John and Taylor since Taylor's BDay party, I get so see pictures of them.

John looks so grown up with his jeans and boots.

 Urban cowboy cool. And so precious.

Less than 2 weeks til Disney!  Yay!