Cemetery Walk

After we took the Christmas card photos on Saturday, we stopped to get R's neighbor friend and took Charlie for a walk to the cemetery near our house.

E is getting so brave with Charlie, she loves to walk him on his leash.

They are such good friends. I love to watch how they hang on each other's words and die laughing at each other's stories. A best friend is so important when you're 7 and 8.


The late afternoon light in the winter in Colorado is golden and lovely.

A lot of bobby pins went into her Christmas picture hair!

We walk in the cemetery a lot with Charlie. The girls are so interested in the headstones, and they always stop to say a Hail Mary and an Our Father. They make up stories about the lives of the people who are buried there.

They wanted to climb in Jesus' lap like he was Santa. I think that's more sweet than sacreligious. I hope they feel that way about Him.

Saying goodbye and comparing treasures they found on their walk. A long pheasant feather, and some pretty rocks.

Clothespin Ornaments

We had a party last weekend with our little neighbor friends, to make clothespin Christmas ornaments.

A big mess and a lot of fun.


R's best friend is her little neighbor E. E used to be afraid of dogs, until she met Charlie. Now she goes on walks with us, and is brave and holds his leash.

When they got tired of making things, they roasted marshmallows.


We had so much fun with the ornaments that we played hooky from school on Thursday and made a bunch more. That was such a fun day. We were burnt out from all the school and church activities. We needed a day to sleep in and just slow down and spend time together listening to Christmas carols and glueing and cutting.

These are my ornaments.

R was much more prolific. These are hers.

Look at the detail on the little faces! Pretty good motor control for a seven year old. Once she figured out how to use a Sharpie instead of a paintbrush.

Christmas Card Photo Rejects

Harder than it looks, getting a seven year old and a border collie puppy to take a photo where they are both sitting still with appropriate facial expressions.











Is that enough pictures?

Can we be done now?

Seriously. I want to go play.

Everyone is over it.

I am going to give you this look until you release me.

Daddy comes to the rescue, making funny faces behind me.





A helping hand from Daddy.







I do love living in this crazy house, despite the noise and the toys and the dog hair.

High School Friends and a Luminaria Walk

Last night my high school friend Jennifer had a party for two other high school friends who live in or near Denver, and our high school friend Andrea, who was visiting from Albuquerque. Andrea has been my best friend since we were in kindergarten together at Our Lady of the Annunciation in Albuquerque. Jennifer made posole and tamales, and we went for a luminaria walk through her wonderful old Washington Park neighborhood. The kids had a ball running through the park and around the lake in the dark, and the houses at night all lit up for Christmas were so festive.

The kids range in age from ten to four.

Catching up with old friends.



Who knew back in high school that all these beautiful kids were in our future?






And last weekend we had a birthday party for my high school friend Tom at our house. No blessing in the world like old friends. We are all so lucky to live near each other and have our kids play together.

Basketball

When there hasn't been a blog post in awhile, I feel like I should break the spell with something that is not very dramatic.

There's a basketball court tucked away near the trail behind our house. Today we took our ball and R tried to hit the regulation-height hoop. The hoops at school are quite a bit shorter.

R is a tongue-concentrator. I used to be too.

Beautiful, bright clear November day. The temperature starts to drops as the sun moves lower in the sky. Charlie always seems to be involved in something much more interesting and high-stakes than we are.

7th Birthday Part II

On Sunday, her actual birthday, we had her small family party.


She asked for popcorn chicken with honey for dipping, sparkling pink lemonade, jello, and a Funfetti cake. She's never had jello before. She took one bite and said "This is not very good. It kind of tastes like sugar and color. Is it pretty junky?"

She asked for some furniture and Calico Critters for her dollhouse. I think she was happy.