Bed Hogs by Denny Lynn

It is really cold and snowy! Since it is sooo cold, Nolie and Oscar get to come inside to sleep. They are suppose to sleep on their blanket, but I try whenever possible to get them into my room. Last night I succeeded! They take up more of my bed then I do - but I really liked having them with me!

Our Special Christmas Trees by John Lee

Mama doesn't like to get out the big decorations until after my birthday party, so she let Denny and I each have a small tree in our rooms! I was very excited to see the lights!

I even have special Mickey Mouse ornaments to hang on it! Denny helped me decorate it.

Denny got Thomas ornaments for his tree.

Mama had to make hooks out of paperclips, but they worked like a charm.

We were both proud of our trees, but they needed toppers.

Mama took the face from the lego Thomas and used it on Denny's tree.

That is my Mickey Mouse Pex dispenser! It was just right. I am excited for Christmas and all the time with family!

Build and Grow - The Caboose by Denny Lynn

The latest Build and Grow project is a train! My favorite thing! For 3 Saturdays in a row we get to make parts of the train. This Saturday was the caboose. I was very excited to get to work next to Holly! (the mustache is from my grape flavored water at the Christmas Party).

I am really good at laying our all my parts and hammering in the nails. I especially like looking at the "constructions".

You have to line everything up just right to get the finished product.

John is not as particular, but he does like the hammer!

Our cabooses came out super cute! I am excited about the next two parts - Grandma and Grandpa are going to take us before John's birthday party and then we will get to go to one in Oklahoma! Build and Grows are way fun and a great deal, especially since they are free!

Our First Christmas Party of 2011 by John Lee

Christmas season in here! We got to go with Mama to the Collegiate 4-H Christmas party while Daddy was in Albuquerque. It was at Mama's office. I really liked the water bottle and received several spankings for playing with it.

I was a very helpful fly hunter, however!

Denny participated in all the games - including making cracker snowmen.

I pulled all Mama's stuff out of her box.

Denny even got to vote on the best snowman and help pick the winner before we ate. - it was pot luck and there was lots of yummy food!

Denny also participated in the games that the college kids played.

I ate cookies and took more stuff out of Mama's box.

I stole the golf clubs from her office to bang on things.

During the gift exchange, Denny and I got our own presents to open! We each got a new train!

While Denny played trains, I swept the plant and sometimes the floor. Then I took the opportunity to whack my brother with the broom! It was a pretty fun party. I can't wait for more Christmas!

Adventures with Daddy by Denny Lynn

After we sent Mama off to Atlanta, we came back to Cruces with Daddy for our long weekend. We got to have lots of great adventures - including a picnic on A Mountain! Daddy also took us to the park every afternoon.

Me and John love the park! Mama took us back while we were "hiding" from Holly's chicken pox!

It worked out ok, because we got two extra days with Mama after she had been gone! We even got to go to her office and visit, but we like the park best!

Happy Thanksgiving by John Lee

This year was Mama's year to chaperone the trip to National 4-H Congress. We had to meet all the delegates in Albuquerque on Thanksgiving Day. We got to get all dressed up (which I was not happy about) in the suits Grandma got us and have dinner with the delegates. We got to stay in a really nice hotel. 

They even fixed a special dinner for me and Denny - chicken fingers and fries with a fruit cup!

They were yummy and my favorite part of the evening. Mostly I ran Daddy ragged while Mama took care of the group and gave her speech!

After dinner, Daddy and Denny played the big checker game!

I tried it out, but I didn't last long!

Denny did real good learning to play and follow all the rules.

It was a fun and different way to celebrate Thanksgiving, but it worked out ok. This is what we looked like when Mama left Friday at 5 am! She didn't even get to go shopping!

Our Thanksgiving Party by Denny Lynn

We missed being with family this November, but it was fun to get to be at the Thanksgiving party at Ms. Darcy's! We made special Thanksgiving crafts - like these cool paper roll turkeys - cards for Mom and Dad and placemats. 

We also had awesome pilgrim hats! Me and Patrick were the boy pilgrims.

John and Eli were the indians. After fingerpainting, John even had warpaint!

Holly was the girl pilgrim in the bonnet she made at school.

We got to hang our and eat the hat and turkey treats John and I had made.

John was more interested in eating than in sharing!

Then for our big activity we got to play in the leaves!

I liked shoveling them and filling up the wheelbarrow. Then Eli would steal the wheelbarrow and dump them out!

John liked raking them and them relaxing! We had a great party - we have a lot to be thankful for!

Thanksgiving Treats by Denny Lynn

For the first time ever, we got to be at Ms. Darcy's for the Thanksgiving party. Party means treats, so me and John got busy with making some fun stuff! John made pilgrim hats. He took fudge striped cookies and used peanut butter to stick on a peanut butter cup. He was more interested in eating the cookies than making hats, but Mama stuck with it.

Before the hat bands were added, John figured out he could bend over and take a bite of the peanut butter cups. He ate the tops off the hats! Mama caught him quick, or we would have been giving out pilgrim visors.

The bands are pieces of fruit roll up.

They were wrapped up and tied with a pipe cleaner.

Finally, it was my turn! I wanted to make turkeys! I also used fudge stripe cookies, but then I had nutter butters for the body.

Candy corn made great feathers and beaks. We had some mini chocolate chips for eyes (everything attached with peanut butter).

I worked really hard and my turkeys looked awesome!

John looked pretty awesome, too - he just kept eating all my chocolate chips!

I had just enough turkeys to share!