St. Luke's Christmas Pageant

One of the nice things about staying home for the holidays this year was that the kids got to be in the Christmas Pageant at St. Luke's, where we go to church.

Alice was an angel (of course) and Louis was a shepherd (I couldn't believe they gave him a staff either, but he was very well behaved with it).

The angels were the first to come in.  Alice did a special angel walk.

Mary and Joseph (and their donkey) with Baby Jesus.

The angels heralding to the shepherds.

More heralding.

The kids were all super cute.

Especially this handsome shepherd.

The ensemble.

Christmas Tree Farm 2014

Since we ran out of decently-sized trees to cut down in our own yard, this year we went back to the Christmas tree farm.

Here's everybody warming up by the fire before heading out to find the perfect tree.

Found it.

Hector did the cutting...

and Louis did the holding.

Timber!

Warming up by the fire again while waiting for them to wrap our tree up.

Making sure it doesn't fly off on the freeway.

The Thanksgiving Afterparty

Here are some pictures of the family hanging out after Thanksgiving dinner.

Angie and me.

 My guys.

 Brooke.

We tried to get a picture with all the kids, but they didn't quite fit.

 Wishing Cody a happy Thanksgiving.

 Louis didn't want his picture taken.

 Alice was tired.

Me and my pie.

Thanksgiving 2014

I hope everybody had a happy Thanksgiving.  We had a quite celebration at our house with Hector's family. 

My flowers from the Harvest Farmers Market.

Alice enjoying some appetizers.

Alice and Grandma Angela.

Hector's parents.

Louis and me having appetizers.

This was my first time cooking a turkey all by myself.

I think it turned out quite nice.

Halloween Fun 2014

We all had a fun Halloween this year.  We bought fancy ghost pumpkins for carving.

Louis worked very hard on his design (it took a few tries to get it right).

His final design.

The finished product.  Alice wanted a "happy face" jack-o'-lantern with goofy teeth.  Louis' turned out quite spooky.

My fancy night shot.

They were both super excited for trick-or-treating.  Louis went as a wizard, and Alice dressed up as a cowgirl.

Caterpillars!

While working in the yard earlier this month, I found some caterpillars.  Louis and Alice had fun playing entomologists. 

Louis made the caterpillars a habitat.  Unfortunately, his mom is so mean and wouldn't let him keep his new friends.

Alice said hers was "so cute".

Putting the caterpillars back in the yard, so they can "live free and in the wild".