The Polar Express

Riding the Polar Express

We have enjoyed a wonderful Christmas season. We spent all our time with visiting family and weren't able to keep up with the blog during the holidays, so now we'll catch up. One weekend in December, we drove to Branson, MO where we could take the Polar Express to the North Pole to see Santa!

All aboard!

Katarina on the train

Bella (and Lily bunny) waiting for Santa

Gabi sitting on Santa's lap

Annabelle didn't want to sit in Santa's lap, nor did she accept the bell from his sleigh. Once Santa left, she changed her mind and wanted a bell. Luckily, Daddy had one for her!

In addition to a visit with Santa, we enjoyed cookies and hot chocolate on the train, sang Christmas carols, and watched Christmas lights through the window. There were more lights decorating the train station, too.

Before our evening Polar Express ride, we had the day to enjoy Branson. We took a tour through Talking Rocks Cavern, which was the perfect activity for our family.

A nativity scene in the cave

Look how the cave is "growing" and taking over the stairs that Gabi is standing on!

Bella's defiant three-year-old attitude may bring a challenge to life, but it also allowed me to catch her in this model pose.

We spent a couple fun hours crawling (and slithering) through two "simulated cave" 3-D mazes as well. It was quite a trick to squeeze through some of those twisting tunnels!

It was a really cold weekend, but we had a great time! The chilly weather made hot chocolate at our hotel even more appealing.

Christmas Frolic Downtown

Our friends Joel and Cinthya visited from Honduras, raising funds for their missionary work. Their kids, Linda and Lisa, are the same ages as Gabi and Bella. We enjoyed a day in downtown Little Rock, riding the trolley and touring the Heifer International Village and playing at Peabody Park.

Lisa loved seeing baby Katarina

Lisa and Bella on the trolley

Gabi sightseeing on the trolley

Kati petting one of the Heifer goats

Bella checking out a duck up close

Linda and Gabi at the park

The next day, we went to the Christmas Frolic at the Historic Arkansas Museum downtown. We had gone to the Territorial Fair there in May and enjoyed it.

Katarina and Daddy looking at the pioneer quilts

Katarina playing with old-time blocks

Bella building with Lincoln Logs

Gabi watching the Lionel train -
not quite from pioneer days, but always a hit

Mommy helping Bella walk on stilts

Bella says, "Giddy-up, horsey!"

Gabi tries her hand at rolling the wheel with a stick

And the girls favorite activity of the day:
Dancing with Daddy!

Thankful for Godparents

We spent the week of Thanksgiving in Texas. My cousin Mark (with his family) lives in Dallas, and so Mark's sisters Ashley (and family) and Anda came down from Colorado. We look forward to seeing more of them next year when we move to Denver! Ashley and her husband Patrick are Annabelle's godparents. On Monday, we all went to the Dallas Zoo together.

Gabi and Bella measuring themselves at penguin-height

Bella's godmother, Ashley, helps her ride the elephant statue

Bella the monkey

5-month-old Katelyn in the baby front-pack

Cousin Mark helps 16-month-old Lily slide

Gabi petting the goats

3-yr-old Joseph in the goat corral

Bella chasing goats

Gabi caught a lizard!

Giddy-up, turtle!

Gabi and Kätchen take a rest on a bench

We also enjoyed play-time with our cousins at Mark & Liz's house and at Gramma Jane's house. Over the course of the week, we saw two cousins named Katelyn (Ashley's baby is Katarina's age, and on Grampa's side of the family, Jennifer's youngest is Bella's age), a newborn friend Lily and a cousin Lily (Mark's daughter), plus cousin Lily's twin, Hannah, which sounds like Annabelle. Very popular names!

Great-granddad Leo, Gramma Jane, and baby Katarina

Cousins Bella, Katarina, Katelyn, and Gabi

We lunched with Allison and met two-month-old Garrison

Whenever Gabi says her leg hurts, we jokingly offer to cut it off, and she always protests that that would make it hurt more. It never occurred to her that someone might actually need a leg cut off. The girls were a bit unsure of what to think about Great-granddad only having one leg, especially seeing that it doesn't hurt him now. Since returning home, Bella has mentioned on a few different occasions, "Some people have one leg cut off, and some people don't." I laugh at what her teacher must think when she gets reports from the three-year-olds at school!

Great-granddad and Gabi

Of course we watched the Texas versus A&M game on Thanksgiving Day. Uncle Stephen was outnumbered as Gabi and cousin Joseph both sided with Aunt Alicia and Great-Granddad in rooting for the Aggies. Gabi excitedly declared "Look! We have more points!" no matter what was happening on the field at the moment.

Aunt Alicia taught Gabi to say, "Burnt orange?
Who would want to burn their colors? I wouldn't!"

For Bella, the most exciting part of Thanksgiving was seeing her Godmother. I think she considers her own Godmother to be just as magical as Cinderella's fairy godmother!

Bella with her Godmother, Ashley

Gabi playing dominoes

Lolo and Lola joined us in Texas for Thanksgiving Day

Uncle Brian made pizza with the girls

Kati cut her second tooth that week

Gabi reading a book to Uncle Scott and Bella

Sliding down the slide and through the hula hoop with Amy

On Saturday, we met up with my cousin (and Katarina's godmother) Jennifer (and three of her kids) at Chick-fil-A. Jonathan and Gabi were in Stephen & Alicia's wedding two weeks before Bella was born.

Jonathan is five months older than Gabi

Katelyn is just three months older than Annabelle

Katarina with her Godmother Jennifer