Baking with Daddy

This is what I woke up to this morning. Flour and dough everywhere. It's becoming a tradition on days that I get to sleep in late. Not that they do this all on their own, although that would be nice and would result in more days that I get to sleep in late. Steve's attempts at perfecting the pancake has turned into perfecting the biscuit. This probably works out better because after they are made there is dough left over that will keep the kids occupied for a little while.

Trying to sneak a little taste of the dough. So, who in this picture is hogging all the dough?
Yes, she's the culprit.
The biscuits must have been good because Lucas almost ate an entire one with honey of course. Just like Daddy.

Christmas at Caswell House

My mom, sister, Grace and I started our Christmas shopping early. Truth be told the Christmas shopping started last week---I just don't have any pictures of our trip to Michael's. Every year they fill the Caswell house with all sorts of Christmas type things that you can purchase. Lots of cute stuff, I have to say. I'm glad Grace came along because I used her as an excuse to take pictures of some really cute stuff that I want to buy, I mean that I want to make. Silly, I know.

She just had to take a pictures with this reindeer. I'm still not really sure why she liked it so much.

Now, with the white tiger downstairs. I don't think she realized that this tiger was for sale. Otherwise, she would have been begging me for it. Notice how the pillow in front of the tiger reads "Naughty". Coincidence?
Of course we couldn't resist a picture with Santa. I started wondering how she is going to do this year with her Santa picture. She did really well last year so here's hoping. Lucas, I know will freak out.
If the smiles on our face are a little strange looking then consider this: Grace took this picture and just before she snapped the photo she said "say table". She took a pretty good picture, I thought.
Grandma and Grace.
She was being really sweet here. I think because she was planning on hitting me up for a mint. She is a mint addict. Specifically, the Chik fil a mints. If you go, grab her a couple and she'll be sweet to you too.

With some pretty flowers that match her dress.
Today was also my Grandmother's 85th birthday. We were so happy to celebrate with her over seafood and chocolate cake. Not on the same plate. She had celebrated her birthday last week by going on a cruise to Cozumel. I only hope to be that active when I'm 85! Happy birthday, Grandma!

Landa park adventures

Several months ago Steve and I passed through this park on one of our outings and I immediately fell in love with it. It's right around the corner from Schlitterbahn and with it's many walking trails, various waterways, ducks, mini train and playground, I thought it would be perfect for the kids. I wanted to capitalize on the great weather we've been having so I called up some reinforcements (grandparents) and off we went.

I only wish I knew what Lucas was thinking at this moment. I imagine it would be something like "They're probably watching me. Well, let them. Let them see what kind of person I am........". Hope not, or I'm in trouble.

Checking out the water under the bridge. And before we knew it, it was water under the bridge. Ha, ha. Lucas's word for water is "lellow". I'm not really sure why, perhaps it's Danish?

A duck with funny hair. I'm not sure if she had a feather out of place or if this was how the feathers on the top of her head grew. Either way we laughed at her. She didn't seem to mind. Funny that I assume that the duck is a female.They enjoyed feeding the ducks and the fish and the squirrels. With that whole piece of bread, I think Lucas thought he was feeding hogs.Another funny duck doing a flamingo impression.
A nice fall picture from the pier. There were huge black birds on top of the tree. I can't remember their names. Cormorant, I think. Definitely not Sheila.
"Taking a break" with Grandma and Grandpa.
Up on stage to do a little program.
Ring around the rosies was the first act.
Over the bridge. Lucas went crazy for the bread to throw to (at) the ducks. Can't you see how anxious he is to get his hands on some of that bread. He was doing his little "gimme-gimme dance".
Picnic time.
Lucas has the funniest expressions sometimes. I imagine that he might be thinking "Yeah, I ate your pretzel, what are you gonna do?".
And to finish the adventure up right, we headed to the playground. A really nice and big playground with 3 different areas for different aged kids and a bar for the adults (kidding, but wouldn't that be nice?).

Driving a fire truck.
Riding a seahorse. By himself. He didn't want me to touching him or the seahorse. What a big boy and bossy just like his sister.
Sliding together.
And that was it. A lot of stuff to do in one area which is great for small kids as long as you're good at making sure they aren't being attacked by ducks or bees or leaping headfirst into the water. Not that any of that happened but I'm just saying. Sadly, the train wasn't up and running yet but it seemed like there was an extensive track throughout the park. I guess we'll save that and the paddle boats for next time.