Since we are leaving for Hawaii on Christmas Day, things were a bit different before Christmas. We did Christmas the weekend before and opened presents at the farm. It felt a bit odd, but this whole year has been odd so it fit the theme. We had the tradition Christmas Eve party at DD and Big Johns with the white elephant gift exchange and lots of family. One special thing this year was lighting the candle during the Christmas Eve service at church.
Colton has really enjoyed being part of the Robotics team at Zion. Rebecca Hairston is their coach and she is so patient and kind. They practice 2 days a week after school and occasionally on Saturdays. Being on the team really helped him feel more at home at his new school.
Colton says, "I loved everything about it it was so fun and and one super cool thing I got to do was be on the varsity roboticts team because I wrote a short story about how I thought I would be better and have more fun on the older kids team then I sent it to our teacher. at the compotition we worked really hard we did not win but we did get 3rd place so we were still on the podiem. the hard part about being on both teams is that they compete at the same time so I had to pick one. most of the time I did choose the older kids team. another good thing about it is that I made a new friend his name is william and we had a fun time together. mrs. haristen was very nice and shi did a great job coaching."
Pictures:
Because of all the chaos with the 3434 Westminster remodel, I asked DD if she could host Thanksgiving. Of course she was willing too! It was nice to not have to organize an event and to focus on getting things with the house and the kids. We had a wonderful day at DD and Big John's with all the traditions like the Hamm bowl.
Then, we hosted the Mullens and the Westcott's at the farm! We had such special time together and I am grateful for this special place.
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By Colton Walsh, "On Saturday morning we went to mustang donuts to get, well, you know - donuts, then we got in the car for 30 min to go to the Minecraft experience. It was really fun they had a ton of projectors on the wall and these cubes that interacted with the stuff on the screens. After that we went to Grapevine Mills Mall and got an escape room booked and then went to build a bear. I picked out a wiener dog, but then I noticed none of the outfits fit him. So, I got a fox and a ginger bread man outfit but the stuffing line was too long and we had the reservation for the escape room in 5 min so we got a worker, Carla who was very nice, to hold our stuff because it was the last ginger bread man outfit. She held our stuff and we ran to the escape room and made it just in time. We went in the escape room and it was a cabin in the woods escape room with a cool opining fire place to a gold mine with TNT. We escaped with 10 min left then we went back to build a bear to stuff, name, and buy my fox. We named him Thomas Fink Walsh but we just called him Fink. After that we went to Rain Forest Cafe. I got a grilled cheese with apple sauce, apple juice and an ice cream sandwich. Then we went to the Gaylord TX and went to ICE featuring Rudolph it was so cool with these big ice sculptures. But it was freezing. After that we got Aunty Anne's pretzels then we explored and tried to find Cadie, but we could not. We watched the trains and once we were done we went to this cool playground (Oak Park I think) with a big net and watch tower with a giant slide. Then we went home and watched Inside Out 2. I loved spending this time with my mom and i had a lot of fun."
Donuts, shopping, Meow Wolf, escape room - time with this great kid is always amazing.
The concert was SO good and worth the wait. It had been rescheduled once or maybe even twice. We went with Courtnye and one of her friends and we had the BEST time!
What a crazy fall. Because of the leak we found in June, we had to move out of our house in August. It snuck up on us and I didn't realize how bad the mold was and how extensive the repairs were going to be. Our house was completely torn apart. The boys and I moved into Nina and Papas house, Cadie moved in with DD and Big John, and Grant floated around. It felt like our lives had been turned upside down and I was so grateful for family who took us in. It was hard to be apart as a family, but we also made some fun memories. Ranger stayed in the king guest room at Nina and Papas, and Colton and I bunked up in the smaller guest room. Ranger loved having his own room and Colton loved being with me. It was convenient for Cadie to be able to easily get to and from school, but I know it was hard for her to be away from us.
While the repairs weren't quite done, we needed to be back together so we moved back into the house at the beginning of November. The good news is that we got Ranger his own bathroom out of the deal and I love my new kitchen.
We also owe big thanks to Nick who came to our rescue and served as GC for the repairs. He is so wonderful to work with and we trust him implicitly. I am grateful that Nick has been a part of our lives for almost 20 years!
