Between Here and There

Smooches for Jack. Playing in the front yard while Kyle works on the bunk beds. Reading the paper just like his Jaja does, down on the floor.

I'll steal a couple of photos from J/J so that I can finally update the blog. We had a great visit Dec 18 - 27 with them and wish they could've stayed longer. We maintained a good balance of low key and occupied. Of course, naptimes still had priority everyday so this left them with plenty of time to bake, run/walk, read, or other. Kyle kept busy most days working on the bunk beds and Lillian loved playing outside near him making saw dust castles. Taco Tuesday at Rosa's Cafe (yes, it's still $3.33 for 3 tacos plus rice and beans and extra tortillas) Mandatory visit to the zoo. This is after the elder Orangutan ran at the window right at Lillian. It was a bit scary. Christmas morning opening stockings. Some placement of your coffee Jul! The Christmas goose swinging in his new pajamas. Lillian and Aunt Juleenana. Cameron Park visit one cold day

A couple weeks ago over Thanksgiving weekend Kyle and I got away for an extended "date". We found a babysitter (the first time in history) to watch the kids from 1:30 - 11:00 pm! It was her first time babysitting for us and although she'd met me and kids briefly before it was going to be a new experience for all of us. Kyle and I (joined by David and Mandy) went to the Baylor vs. Texas Tech football game at the new Dallas Cowboys stadium (about 90 minutes away). We left with time for travel, parking and dinner before the game (travel took a little longer since it was Thanksgiving weekend). We were not hopeful about Baylor's chances of winning but were pleasantly surprise with a very competitive game (sorry I don't remember the play by play or even the score). Baylor did end up losing but it was very close. And we had a great time with some great seats. I decided not to check in on the kids until we were in the car on our way home. Everyone survived, did w

Lillian knows who Santa is. She knows that there are presents coming at Christmas - hopefully all "princess things". But she also knows that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus. On our walks she use to collect acorns and magnolia cones as potential presents for Jesus. However lately she's lost sight of this and is very focused on the "getting" of Christmas. I tried to talk to her last night about making some presents for our friends and family and neighbors and then presenting with a song. But she denied me right away saying she didn't like that at all. How do I teach my daughter to become less material at this time of year when so many of us get suck into it all? I don't want her memories of Christmas to be about the gifts she did or did not receive. I started thinking about some of the things in life that make me happy that can't be bought. Here is my list so far: 1) clean sheets 2) clouds that look like mountains in the distance 3) cle

I have no photos to post these days so I'm going back into the archives. This one is from our first Christmas together - without family (Dec 2003). We stayed in Vancouver for Christmas though later met up with extended Miner clan for skiing in Eastern BC. We were living in a huge house (with 3 other couples) at this time and had it all to ourselves for a couple days at least. It was also about a month after my surgery so unfortunately it was a pretty quiet Christmas. I didn't get to ski that year :( We are looking forward to staying in Waco for Christmas this year. Lillian and I decorated the tree last week and have been slowly adding to the decorations. It's been fun. She's definitely excited. Jim and Jul are going to join us next week, yeah! All for now - rushing off to the museum to meet others to play.

This is only a couple weeks late. Sorry for not posting lately. I've been dealing with a pulled something in my back and it's a bit of a pain to sit for long. Plus we've been busy as I'm sure many of you were over the past week. We had a great Thanksgiving here in Waco and now can't wait for Kyle to finish the semester and Christmas to arrive. The first picture is Jack licking the batter spoon - since I took a similar picture of Lillian on her first birthday. The second was taken on Monday, November 9 when we celebrated with others including Uncle Kevin, Dr Lewis (of our Vancouver/Regent days - visiting for a couple days) and Matt Mattoon (a student in the program with Kyle with also went to Regent and also worked for Dr Lewis). Jack was a bit hesitant in eating the cake or rather how to go about it. He does not have this problem with most other food though.