Our Life in the Yellow Brick House

I haven't been able to go to Kansas for Christmas in years. That's not intentional by any means. It's just hard to fit the trip in when we have multiple families to celebrate with. But I was excited to be able to go this year. So the weekend before Christmas, we packed up and headed north for the farm.  Mixels are Asher's latest obsession, but they have lots of pieces, so we had to leave the most valued ones behind. He had me take a picture with this one in case he got lonely for it while we were gone.   We arrived to a great surprise. SNOW!   It was pretty warm, so Asher braved it without gloves for a bit. That is, until his fingers were frozen. Then he agreed to put on some gloves.   It was the perfect kind of snow for making snowballs and building snowmen.  The kids could have stayed out FOREVER, so I relieved Zach after a bit.   The farm is a simple place that's so full of beauty.  ...

Zach and Maegan came to visit for three weeks this Christmas. It was great having them here for that long. This was Maegan's first Christmas in Hennessey, so we wanted them to be there for all the fun. That included decorating the tree. So, as soon as they arrived, we went to Hennessey to help deck the halls. Zach and Maegan brought their dogs, Lola and Sampson, with them, so things were a little more chaotic than usual. We thought about leaving Oliver at home, but we really wanted the dogs to meet, so we brought him with us. Lola had just had surgery, so we had to make sure they stayed calm, but they got along great. Even Kyle and Sampson tolerated each other! (long story)  Poor Lola was sporting an inflatable collar for a while. She looked a little sad in it but still so stinkin' cute.  We put the dogs away when the kids got there so we could actually get a little decorating done. Asher loved putting the ornaments on this year. Most of them landed in the same sp...

Like every year, we had a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Life hasn't gone exactly how we'd expected it to, but God keeps reminding us how blessed we are. One of our biggest blessings is our family. I was reminded of this on Thanksgiving as we gathered with the Fox clan. We had a great time playing with the kids, catching up with each other and eating WAY too much. Once the feast was over, we relaxed at Greg and Stacie's. The guys watched football and us girls looked over the Black Friday deals. I had never gone Black Friday shopping before, so I asked the Fox girls to go with me. Our husbands weren't too excited about that plan from the get-go, and their disapproval worsened with the weather. It rained steadily that evening and the dropping temps would make the roads icy by morning. But we were stubborn, and insisted on getting a least a little shopping in before things got bad. So, that evening, we headed to Wichita despite the trickling rain. We were go...