Quad Monday and Tuesday's Party!

We woke up Monday morning to continued COLD!
Amber brought the other three quads over - Kailey was already here - and I was excited to show them the frozen fountains!! The kitchen pond was a layer of ice since the pump was turned off and no water was running.

The back pond was fun with its frozen water fall!

Harrison had been fascinated by their dogs' water bowls freezing - with a yellow leaf incased in the ice! We had FaceTime where he was showing it to us so I just KNEW he would love this!!

And he did! They ALL did!

Since it was SO cold, the kids arrived in their pj's and stayed in them all day!

They found that big can of Texas Trash and hovered over it until I had bagged and tinned it all up!

Now THAT'S a lot of Trash!!!

Granddad built us a good fire in the den and after lunch we settled down to some serious napping!!

When we woke up, June and Kimmy came to visit!

They brought their little Maggie and she is so precious!

And GOOD!!!!

June dearly loves my Fruitcake Cookies and while we were visiting I baked two cookie sheets of them and gave them to her still warm from the oven!

June says Kimmy likes them now, too, so I think she is rationing them!

Look what arrived in the mail!!!

This came from my friend, Jackie, in Missouri!!

Trystan and I opened the package after Mike had picked up the others.

She loved the tea light that shines inside. So clever!!

It was already nearly 9:00 when we mixed up the Sugarplum dough!!

You mix it up and then put it in the fridge to be rolled into balls the next day.

I have been making Sugarplums since 1966!

Tuesday morning we rolled them as we watched the movie Santa Claus.

Louis Dean said we had not had such a pleasant relaxing morning in a long time!

Behold! The Sugar Plums!!!

After the movie was over, we decided to do a few fun things before we had to take Trystan home.

First stop - the nail salon!

She was pretty excited to get a manicure while I got a pedicure.

She chose oink with silver glitter on top.

We went right next door for lunch at Empa Mundo for great empanadas!

If it's Tuesday we MUST hit up a Goodwill and we did!!

While I did NOT buy a basket load of debris, I did find some Christmas tins for the monster batch of Texas Trash!

From there we drove straight over to Quadville and traded Trystan for Logan!

They are enjoying this one-on-one time!

We had our work cut out for us because it was after 5:00 and I was giving a party that started at 7:00!

It was an easy peasy menu!

Chicken Salad with cranberries, chips, dips, cheese and crackers, veggies, Hawaiian dinner rolls, Croissants, ham and cheese and Texas Trash, of course!!

I set out the food. made the tea and lit the candles while Louis Dean started a fire in the den and put on a Fireplace DVD. I added some fresh lipstick and a spritz of perfume and we were ready.

The guests were former neighbors who lived across the street from us and then moved to a house just around the corner. They had two young children whom we love dearly before they moved to the other side of town. We remained friends although we didn't see each other nearly as often. Facebook helps us all stay in touch. The family had some life changes as happens to all of us at one time or another. The two 'kids' are now 18 and 20 years old and his youngest, who was born while they still lived across the street, is now 7!

Tim still brings his family over for Trick or Treating on Halloween night and this past October we promised we would pick up our Christmas tradition of having them over for an evening.

Well, Tuesday was the evening!!

This is Tim's girlfriend, Charity, and she is so sweet!!

We had the best time!!

Tim's parents were invited as well so we had a pretty good gathering!!

I've known Teresa for a long time but Louis Dean had not met them before.

He and Tim's father hit it right off!!

We visited in groups all around the house.....

in the gazebo, the kitchen,  the dining room, the living room and then we all gathered in the den.

Logan was my little hostess helper!

Here she is with Tim's youngest daughter and Charity's son.

Louis Dean brought out his guitar and we sang some Christmas Carols together.

It was truly an evening of Christmas Magic!!!

This fellow was such a sweetheart!!

If I had to choose one moment of that party to remember, it would be when it was time to leave, this darling boy (who happens to be 3 years old!) put his arms around me and said, "I don't want to leave! I want to stay here with YOU!"

He had taken a lot of pictures with my camera and had turned on the 'Creative Shot' mode.

Later that night when I was putting the pics on my computer, I found this one he had taken of me.

The next morning, Tim tagged me in a memory that popped up on Facebook:

"We just had the best evening with our neighbors and their children. After a session of angel making followed by dinner Louis Dean Chapman read 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas.' I think HE enjoys it every bit as much as THEY do!!"

December 21, 2011

The tradition continues!!