Outdoor fun

We had some seriously C-C-COLD weather earlier this week! Yesterday, though, was very nice. It almost felt like Spring! After lunch, Meghan and I took her school work outside while Kristen and Austin played on the swing set and trampoline. 

After homework was finished yesterday afternoon we all went out to ride bikes and play basketball.  I know I've said it before but I just love the lighting at this particular time of day right now. (Around 5:00 or so.)  The sun is just starting to sink over our neighbor's house and it casts the most beautiful golden glow over our cul-de-sac, while our gorgeous Organ Mountains are lit with the most stunning shades of purples and pinks at the opposite end of our street.  (I wish I had been able to get a good picture of them.)  We stayed out until Darren got home from work (with pizza, so we didn't even have to worry about cooking dinner!).  :)  I was feeling so down yesterday and really missing my kids.  Even though Christmas break just ended, I'm already looking forward to having them home again.  I wanted to count the days until Spring Break and Summer Vacation, but I never did have a chance to find our school calendar.  But, when I went to pick up Dylan and Caitlyn from school yesterday I was chatting with one of my friends and she reminded me that they don't have school on Monday (Martin Luther King Day).  YAY!  It's not a long break, but I'll gladly take a three day weekend!  :)

Loved the moon peeking through the basketball hoop!

Instagram Collages

My mom doesn't have Instagram or Facebook, but since she's lucky enough to have access to my (not updated frequently enough) blog, I thought I'd post some collages I made with PicMonkey using some of my most recent Instagram and Facebook posts.  Best of all worlds! Hope you like these, Mom!  :) 

January

My snow babies!

Watching "The Very First Noel" after eating our Rosca de Reyes on the Feast of the Epiphany.

I gave our learning cabinet a liturgically appropriate makeover after packing away all of our pretty Advent/Christmas decorations.  Since we celebrated the Solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God on January first,
I went with a Marian theme.  :)

Just a pretty sky pic.  I love the time of day during which this was taken.

A few of my favorite {Christmasy} things...

Darren reading Charles Dickens by light of the Christmas tree in our children's bedroom.  ♥

Our big beautiful tree, which presented a number of interesting challenges this year!  But I love it.  :)

One of our many nativities (my favorite!) awaiting the placement of baby Jesus on Christmas morning.

A Christmas book basket!  It doesn't hold all of my favorites, but I can easily change out our selection.

And finally... my current favorite Christmas song.  Caitlyn and I have been listening to it all day!

A visit from St. Nicholas

Dining room table set with our pretty Christmas table cloth and dishes, and little monogrammed stockings filled with real gold dollars (!!!), chocolate coins, and candy canes.  We also had clementines, hot candy cane cocoa, and
Butter Braid pastries that I specifically ordered from the kids' school fundraiser for this morning's breakfast.  :)

Our St. Nicholas statue, and a new wooden sign I bought at Hobby Lobby.  Love it! 
Also:  St. Nicholas DVD and (not pictured) some appropriate Christmas books.

Austin held up his candy canes and said, "Look, Mommy!  A heart!"  ♥

The kids were so happy to wake up this morning and find all their goodies.  Over breakfast, Dylan sighed and said, "I wish we didn't have to go to school."  With one look at each other, Darren and I made the unspoken executive decision to let them stay home.  We wrote notes to their teachers that we were keeping them home today for personal family reasons, which is true!  I'm so happy to share this special day with them.  We're listening to the David Archuleta Holiday Pandora station right now while deep cleaning their bedroom.  I've promised that if we can get it done today I'll take them after school tomorrow to buy a Christmas tree of their very own to set up in the big bay window of their shared room.  They don't realize it, but failure is not an option here!  Even if I have to do most of it myself, their room WILL be clean by tonight, because I am in love with the thought of Darren reading them their nightly bedtime Christmas story by the glow of Christmas tree lights.  Happy St. Nicholas Day! 

Spectacular Sunset

Darren and I stepped out into the backyard for a while yesterday evening to play with the dogs and to talk privately for a few minutes. I am so glad we did, or we would have missed the most spectacular sunset!  I stood on top of the kids' slide to take this first photo, and finally tried the panoramic feature for the second.  Absolutely beautiful!  Love our southern NM sunsets!