IT WAS A VERY GOOD YEAR

Six adults, two children, and one dog, for three days, in a two bedroom house? Believe it or not, we actually had a blast.

 

His Doing, Not Mine!

Wiggle Butts!

        Only Oculus VR could get John Lane dancing, by himself, with a roomful of people staring and laughing at him!

 Aunt Areej gave Calvin an accordion for Christmas...

and revealed a hidden talent we never knew about!

Best find of the season? Well, we decided to give Calvin a few accessories for his bare bones Brio train set, but those tiny little things come at a very dear price, so he wasn't getting much. So, imagine the Happy Dance I was doing, all around my favorite consignment store, when I stumbled upon this outfit, still in it's original package, for less than ten bucks!

Complete with a working pocket watch, schedule card, radio, and bandana!

Oh Happy Day!
 

THE WONDERS OF WONDER WORLD

Little Goobs came over for another sleepover this weekend. So, of course, I felt another Christmas Adventure was in order. This time we took him over to the college town of San Marcos -- the same town where we took him on his first real adventure a good while back, the glass bottom boats. This time we were headed for Wonder World Cave and Adventure Park, home of the Holiday Express!

My first impression left me feeling somewhat underwhelmed. In fact, it reminded me a lot of that movie Adventureland, where the teenagers are working at a derelict amusement park that had seen better days. For one thing, the Holiday Express isn't really a train. It's just several carts hooked together, and there are no tracks. Also, the animal park it drives you through is pret-ty tiny! Then there was the gift shop, which had definitely seen better days.

However, once I started looking at it all through Calvin's eyes, I realized it was just about perfect for him. For one thing, he's not a fan of crowds, long waits, and loud noise. Not a problem here! He's still at the age where you don't even have to put any money in the video game for him to be happy.

And, even Papa and I got pretty excited when we realized our "train" was headed straight for that waterfall you saw above!

Careful on the right, you just might get wet like Calvin did!

Papa was a bit sad that we didn't buy any of the food packets for the animals, but I think Calvin was quite content to let them poke their heads through the bars and pester everyone else, instead of him. Those guys were aggressive, and likely to steal the whole bag right out of your hand if you weren't careful!

Best of all, coming back through the tunnel it was Papa John who got all wet! 

All in all, I think Calvin had a wonderful time. Plus, I think it was only about $6 each for John and I, and Calvin, being only 3 yrs. old, got in free! How's that for a bargain? We will definitely be coming back when he's a bit older, to do the cavern part of the tour.

LOST AND FOUND

When we first bought this house, I thought it was pretty cool that we had these great storage cabinets above the two closets in our bedroom.

Then I realized that they couldn't be reached with our indoor step stool. Nooo, you have to haul in that big fella, from out in the garage. Which, as it turns out, means that you go so long without ever opening those cabinets, you can totally forget what's up there! I did remember that there was one big red crate up there, which meant it probably held something Christmasy. Lights maybe? Or garland? No! Something much, much better.

 I found this guy...

and all of his little friends! When our kids were young, and we lived in houses with indoor staircases, they took great pleasure in arranging them, one on each step. But, with our only staircase being outside at this house, I had to settle for grouping them on my grandmother's cedar chest.

Which works out pretty well, since Hubby has been much better lately about not tossing his belongings there at the end of each day.

Know what else I found in that cabinet? I found these lovely little candle rings which go on my dining room chandelier...

this wonderful basket which hangs on my front door, instead of a wreath...

and all of the festive florals and greenery I used to rotate in and out of it, according to the season!

You have no idea the angst I felt, when I thought all of these cherished things had been lost in the last move or tossed out. But now, all is right with the world!

Happy Holidays, Y'all!

 

THE MAGIC SLEEPOVER SOLUTION

As soon as we got back from our little Thanksgiving trip, we invited grandson Calvin over for a sleepover, hinting at a special "Christmas Adventure" we had planned for him. We picked him up in Austin, stopped for lunch at "the orange stripey place", aka Whataburger, then took him straight to one of his favorite playgrounds at a church near or home. He got about a five-minute nap going from there to our house, then spent the rest of the afternoon running from room to room, pulling out and playing with every single toy he could find. Then it was time for dinner and our surprise adventure -- his first trip to the Wimberley Trail of Lights at the Emily Ann Theater!

Turns out, that kid just looooooves face holes! He insisted that both he and I stick our faces in every one we passed, so Papa could take photos. Who knew there could be so many?

The biggest surprise was when this kid -- the one who wanted nothing to do with the mall Santa, both last year and this -- hollered for me to stop so he could go talk to Santa!

And, it wasn't even as if Goobs had a long list of "wants" to give him. When he was asked what he wanted Santa to bring him, he just smiled sweetly and said "A toy." Santa, a bit taken aback, asked "That's it?", then chuckled and replied "Well, yeah, I think I can handle that!"

As for the title of this post, we discovered something amazing this year. You see, ever since Goobs got too big for a baby bed, keeping him in any sort of bed at our house has been difficult.  We tried sleeping three in a king bed together, which was a bit of a disaster, since that kid changes positions at least 50 times per night. Then I offered to go sleep with him in the guest room downstairs, which worked pretty well, except for the fact that he wanted me to go to sleep when he did, at 7:30 or 8, and kept sneaking out of bed every five minutes, to tell me it was time for me to come to bed!

So, this time, I had a brainstorm. Between the time running around at the park, the time running around at our house as he pulled out every toy, and the time running around at the Trail of Lights, I knew he would be one pooped pitootie by the time we got home. I managed to keep him awake in the car, then, while I got him ready for bed, Papa opened up the sofa bed in the living room and cued up the new version of The Grinch on the TV. We all snuggled under a cozy blanket together in the sofa bed, and five minutes into the movie that boy was sawing logs. Seriously! And, he stayed there for ten hours straight, while Papa and I managed to tiptoe back to our bedroom, and both got a good night's sleep in our own bed for once. It's a miracle!

Now all I have to do is figure out other ways to absolutely wear him to a frazzle, once the Trail of Lights shuts down for the season.