Horseback Riding and Winter Snow play

One of our Christmas gifts to Abby and Piper was a horseback riding lesson. They both love horses and let me know quite adamantly that they knew how to ride. Still, they were very excited to go ride horses and let their teachers know that they knew how. :) We all had such fun watching them and they did great! So cute and sweet! Meanwhile, Farmer Ben hung out with the goats and got up close and personal with the dirt. Piper really wanted to play in snow, so J,P, Piper, Captain and I drove up to the Crest and sledded in the snow! WooHoo!! Scary! Lastly….one more Christmas story for Abby - Corgieville Christmas, my personal favorite. And then…snoozeville. What a Christmas!

Christmas Dinner…..and bedtime back at Little Bird Farm

We enjoyed such a beautiful time at Podge and Melli's house on Christmas Day! Seriously silly cousins!!

And so that was Christmas…beautiful Christmas!

A smattering of our Christmas preparation, Christmas Eve and early Christmas morning pictures here. Abby helped make the tamales. Sara too. Piper helped make the filling for our Christmas Stollen. Everyone helped with the Luminarias! Do note the picture of Ben with his dad, Nate, folding his own luminaria bag…custom work, that! And a special visitor on Christmas Eve when Amber and Aaron's crew joined us, along with Young Tim and Stevieh, Granny & Papa, and Podge! And then…Christmas morning stockings! Even Fred's stocking was filled! (Thank you Josh, Paige & Piper!) After our Christmas morning at Little Bird Farm, we all headed up to Podge & Melli's for a beautiful Christmas Dinner. So many little kid GIGGLES and funny, funny kid stuff!!! Christmas and kids….such a blast!!

Sunday SNOW

The weekend was so relaxing. Something about waking up to actual snow inspires relaxing by the fire, reading the Sunday newspaper, whipping up a nice bit of nourishment. That's what we did. Then, we took a long walk, which totally wore Fred out! He had to have a bath when we returned, so that may have contributed to his exhausted state. (He rides pretty low, so the snowy-muddy path of the acequia pretty much came home with him.) We prepared a nice casual dinner; homemade pizza, a colorful salad, and a Peanut Butter pie; friends joined us, which was so nice! Now it is Monday and the snow is just a memory. But a very nice one.

A doozy of a road trip!

eg99niTiL1M/UpDNwDFMEyI/AAAAAAAACEw/N90KqYVs6DA/s320/DSC_0206.JPG" /> Ten wild & wonderful days! There's nothing like a great Roadtrip! We had a terrific time, saw our precious kids and grands, some awesome friends, and traveled through 14 states! Fred was teased by the Gulf Coast shore in Port St Joe, Florida - an event we didn't record in pictures since we were so in-the-moment! It was pretty entertaining! Here are some pictures, however, of our dear littles (Abby & Ben) in Ft Worth, some romantic sites in Savannah, fun, energetic time with our dear Piper in Durham NC, The Mast General Store in Valle Cruces, NC (mandolin and guitar music on the old front porch), and finally…home (sweet home!). And a very pooped pup upon our return to Little Bird Farm. And this morning??? SNOW! Just a little. THANK YOU, kids and friends, for taking good care of us and having fun with us everywhere we went!!! As Thanksgiving approaches (and always!), we are so very thankful for each of you!! PS I apologize that the pictures are kind of..mixed up. As in, out of order! I don't have the patience today to take the time to remove and reload! (How did they get out of order anyway??? I'm pretty sure I know; it was me, messing around to "fix" things, and it didn't quite work out. Oops!)