FIFTY-TWO

Happy Hanukka Latkes! I'm a big big fan of latkes. 

2019 week fifty-two

The entire clan took a train ride up to Denton to go get ice cream. 

We basically filled a train car.

And then filled the whole ice cream parlor. 

Jacob and Kaleigh stayed with us for a few days. And I found at least 10 photos on my phone of just Kaleigh. I don't even know when V snuck my phone to take all these photos. 

Theo just casually chatting with a utility worker over our fence. 

Prepping meringues for our 12 days of Christmas Eve dinner. I had nine ladies dancing, so I had to make pavlovas. Meringue desserts named after Anna Pavlova the ballerina. 

A little Christmas elf waiting on our doorstep for everyone to arrive for Christmas Eve dinner.

The kids table.

The grown up table that had to include at least three kids. 19 people in all.

 I didn't take any photos of any of the food but we had such a fun time preparing, eating, and singing through our 12 Days of Christmas Eve feast.

1 Partridge in a Pear tree -pear salad
2 Turtle Doves - turtle shaped dove chocolate topped cookies and ice cream
3 French Hens -potato boats with ham (french fry potato hams - french hams)
4 Calling Birds -2 roasted chickens and 2 roasted cornish game hens
5 Golden Rings -a round of gold foil topped Martinellis sparkling apple cider.
6 Geese a-Laying -deviled eggs
7 Swans a-Swimming -swan carved apples swimming in caramel
8 Maids a-Milking -cheese platter
9 Ladies Dancing -grapefruit and raspberry pavlovas
10 Lords a-Leaping -jalapeno poppers
11 Pipers Piping -zucchini boats (pipes)
12 Drummers Drumming -mini quiche drums with red pepper drum sticks

After dinner, the traditional Nativity Play

Christmas morning at Grandma's house (I'm not going to document the ridiculously terrible night sleep we all had. Someone may have loudly yelled and angrily moved to the couch at 3 am...)  Santa brought V her giraffe onesies that she has been living in, and brought Theo his grader tractor. 

After the first round of presents the Caldwells came over for the second round and sibling gifts. 

Theo featured here with a budding black eye from a Christmas Eve fall, a scrape on his neck from a different Christmas Eve fall, and the third bloody nose of the morning from head-butting his cousin on the trampoline. Not too beat up to take a silly photo though.

Saturday was rainy and stormy so most of the group got on a train and headed into Dallas to spend a few hours at the Dallas Museum of Art. V's favorite was a sarcophagus with a panel removed so you could see the mummy's foot. She also spent some time trying to decipher the hieroglyphics around the Ancient Egypt room. She's my favorite. 

Trying to make a bath bomb with Veronica. You can see from my face and Theo's angry elbow that it was less than relaxing...

Quotes

Theodore

"Did you hear how I was counting to seven but I almost counted to eight but I stopped myself! It's just so hard to stop talking sometimes. It's just so hard not to talk so loud and so fast all the time."

"*Gasp* I found these witch fingers in the marble run box! It's a Halloween MIRACLE!"

Theodore is very interested in road signs and other "warning" signs. Anything that has a circle with a red line across it he WANTS TO KNOW what it is saying you cannot do. He is perpetually asking me to tell him about all the warning signs. 

Veronica

"Boys are stronger, but girls are tougher." Apparently she told this to a boy at school because he relayed the message to his mom who laughed about it with me. She's such a little philosopher.

"I really want to sleep with Kaleigh, but Jacob has to!"

Trying to explain something to me that I'm not quite understanding, "I know, it's quite puzzling."

Singing (loudly) "I like to eat an onion like an apple! I like to eat an onion like an apple! I like it's spicy tase! And I like to blow my stinky breath in my Mama's face!"

Me- "AH! I just found a bug leg stuck on the inside of my pants!"
V- "Are you sure it wasn't just a french fry?"
Me- "Pretty certain."