The Night Before Christmas

Everything is so quiet and peaceful now- time to get to bed before my first wake-up call at 4:30 AM.

Christmas Eve at Main Street Bakery

Ever since our favorite Indian restaurant moved we have been going to Main Street Bakery for our annual Christmas Eve dinner.

And every year we always have a bunch of discussions leading up to it about trying a new restaurant out somewhere else.

And every year we still end up here :)

Christmas Eve Eve at the Peacock

Randy (president of Gearbox) and his wife Kristi hosted a free family Christmas show featuring the Circus Freaks at the Peacock Theater (which is located inside their massive house).

Everybody had a lot of fun, and it helped bring awareness to the great work that 'Clowns Without Borders' has been doing across the world.

http://www.clownswithoutborders.org/

Reading List

As 2016 winds down, I looked back and realized that I had read a lot of books this year. 

I always have my trusty Kindle nearby, preferably next to a nice warm bowl of Pho Ga (Vietnamese chicken noodle soup).

The year started off with me finally getting around to reading the complete Harry Potter series (in anticipation of the play that was coming out this past summer), and after a small run of Stephen King books I read a whole bunch of detective novels. My favorite book was probably 'Steve Jobs', but that might have been more about the subject matter than the actual book itself.

The New Yorker (weekly periodical)

Harry Potter: The Complete Collection (books 1-7)

J.K. Rowling

American Rust: A Novel

Philipp Meyer

End of Watch: A Novel (The Bill Hodges Trilogy Book 3)

Stephen King

Pet Sematary

Stephen King

The Dead Zone

Stephen King

The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger

Stephen King

The Lost Symbol: Featuring Robert Langdon

Dan Brown

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two (Special Rehearsal Edition): The Official Script Book of the Original West End Production

J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne, John Tiffany

The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three

Stephen King

Red Rising (The Red Rising Trilogy, Book 1)

Pierce Brown

Gone, Baby, Gone: A Novel (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro Book 4)

Dennis Lehane

The Right Stuff

Tom Wolfe

Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties

Ian MacDonald

Steve Jobs

Walter Isaacson

Prayers for Rain (Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro Book 5)

Dennis Lehane

L.A. Requiem (An Elvis Cole Novel Book 8)

Robert Crais

The Last Detective: A Novel (An Elvis Cole Novel Book 9)

Robert Crais

The Forgotten Man: A Novel (An Elvis Cole Novel Book 10)

Robert Crais

Chasing Darkness: An Elvis Cole Novel

Robert Crais

Babylon's Ashes (The Expanse)

James S. A. Corey

The North Water: A Novel

Ian McGuire

Welcome to Winter Wonderland

Keira has set up a Christmas store in our living room called "Winter Wonderland". She is selling snow globes and hand made snowflakes.

She is eagerly awaiting Grandma's visit to the shop :)

Christmas Mail

Here are some letters that Keira wrote to the all important Santa and Grandparents.

Dolls and Crafts

Katharine has an Instagram channel devoted to her doll photography. I would have opened with "little known fact", but she already has over 1000 followers.

Here is the link:

dollywood__

She actually knits a lot of the clothes that they wear in her pictures. She made these Christmas sweaters for them this week.

This Old Horse

The kids still play with Iria's childhood riding horse. 

At some point the kids will get too big to ride it or the toy will just fall apart- not sure which will happen first :)

Happy Birthday, Lukas!

Lukas turned 11 today!

I continue to be jealous of his hair..

Favorite foods - steak, noodles, oranges, spaetzle

Birthday presents - Titanfall 2 (Grandparents) / Titanfall 2 controller (Aunt Sue) / Electric guitar and accessories / plus some cash from Oma and Erica

Favorite school subject - writing

Least favorite school subject - math
Favorite soccer players - Messi, Robbie Keane
Favorite teams - Barcelona, Argentina, LA Galaxy, Seattle Sounders
3 things Lukas would bring with him to a deserted island - an infinity refrigerator that will not run out of food / electric guitar / Superman
Birthday present that he was hoping for but didn't get - remote controlled lambrogini
When Lukas grows up he wants to be a guitar player
Favorite video games - Titanfall / Halo / Battlefront
Favorite songs - 'American Idiot' and 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
Favorite friends - Aiden and Gwen
Favorite colors - anything neon
Lukas takes guitar lessons every week with his teacher Alex
Favorite class at Hogwarts - Care of Magical Creatures
Favorite things to do with Lennon - play video games, build Lego, everything
Favorite things to do with Katharine - play Wii-U
Favorite thing to do with Keira - hide and seek
Favorite thing to do with Kassidy - cars
Favorite thing to do with Mom - school
Favorite thing to do with Dad - play and go to places
Dislikes - gluten free food / losing in games
Loves - guitar / soccer / video games

Favorite season - Fall

Lukas is a pretty quiet kid and very chill

Lukas is extremely loyal

Favorite phrase "That's medically impossible!"

Solar Santas

Lennon and his team had their Christmas party at a bowling alley tonight, and posed for group picture on the way out.

Pajama Day

Kassidy's class getting silly on pajama day.

Ladies Man

Linda and Erica have been visiting from Germany this month.

Sherman barked at them for around 15 minutes when they first arrived, but now he follows them around all day.

Rocking the Xylophone

Lukas took to the xylophones after rocking out with Green Day.

Kassidy's Nest

Kassidy keeps more stuff in her bed than any of the other kids, but still manages to sleep there.

Current Inventory:

1 bag of markers

18 loose markers

1 coloring book

21 books

1 iron man toy

1 batmobile

1 tissue

1 old knotted up security blanket (in multiple pieces)

1 purse

1 Schleich tiger

1 plastic trophy

1 pink bouncing ball

1 boba fett action figure

31 stuffed animals

1 stuffed claptrap doll

1 purple face throw pillow

1 sleeping beauty throw pillow

1 pillow

1 pair of pajama bottoms

1 security blanket

3 lovies

2 soft blankets

1 cover blanket

1 toy action figure gun

1 bean bag ball

First Night

It was opening night last night for Katharine and Keira, as the Texas Ballet Theater kicked off their Nutcracker show at the Winspear in Dallas.

Here is a video that a friend took of Keira making her entrance in front of a full house (she is the first dancer out on stage at the start of the show):

Keira_in_the_wings

First Fire

The morning temperatures dropped into the upper 30's over the weekend, so we started up the fireplace.

Keira was a big fan, joined her stuffed animals and a real one.

Shake for Two

Fox and Lennon shared (more like devoured) a shake at Nerdvana last week.

Fun Running

The girls ran in their school's annual "Fun Run" last Friday. 

Keira ran over 50 laps, and Kassidy just over 30. 

Now I have to pay up :)

Back Seat Strumming

Lukas is getting good with the guitar, and he played me a song (from Nirvana, of course) when I was driving him home from lessons on Friday.

Choir Practice