Christmas fun

     December is such a highlight for us. We love celebrating Jesus' birth and all the fuss that goes along with the season. Except Walmart. Avoid Walmart at all costs during this month! Thanks to Eldon's work schedule we missed the parade and the Christmas programs that I could find. However, a gentleman from church told us about the festivities at the college and which streets to drive down. We were not disappointed!

     The college sets up a huge array of lights in their lawn and it's open to the public each evening to walk through. Food vendors were present and carriage rides were available too. The night we went it was perfect 60 degrees. 

Scrooge and Marley. We watched the original Christmas Carol for the first time ever this year. Such a great story!

Raggedy Ann and Andy. Most of my pictures are not so great and ended up deleted. Too much action!

Some of the scenes had so much detail it was amazing.

Humpty Dumpty

The pioneer family

The college consists of old buildings and they were all beautifully decorated like this.

The old woman and her shoe

There were in awe!

The Nativity scene was huge and ever so beautiful. 

     After walking around the college, we drove through the rich section of town and were amazed even further. We were told that many of these people hire a company (there is 3 in town) that put up and take down lights and I can see why. I didn't take pictures but we it was stunning. Some huge trees were completely covered in lights-all the way to the top! Another cool thing was lights hung so that it looked like a huge wall but in the middle they were completely solid in the shape of a cross.

We baked sugar cookies......

Such a mess but they loved it.

Sugar everywhere!

So yummy!

     The North Texas Museum has a train exhibit that is currently decked out for Christmas. The engineer told us that 20 trains run on tracks but there was lots of other things that moved as well.

So much tiny detail!

Antique fire trucks

My favorite sign :)

Monster trucks!

The White House

It was impossible to see everything.

The Egyptian display

     The Smallest Skyscraper in Wichita Falls is a tiny building with a big story. Back in 1919 when the oil boom was going on office space was a premium. J.D. McMahon offered to build an office building, drew up plans, and collected $200,000 (equivalent to $3 billion today) from investors. He proceeded to build the skyscraper attached to his current office as the plans were written - 480 inches high. Everyone has assumed it was 480 feet but J.D. was long gone before this was discovered. He never was caught but a judge did rule that it was all legal because they had signed the papers.

Isn't it cute?

We climbed all 48 stairs and had a look out the windows. 

Very narrow stairs but so cool!

The building is owned by a very kind lady that uses it as her boutique shop. She charges no admission and tells the story in such a way that even the children were captivated.

The children discovered a fort in the woods built by previous campers and have worked hard to improve it.

Stick fences!

     One question that people frequently ask is what we do for church. It seems to be the general consensus that it would not be feasible to find a new one everywhere we go but it's been one of our biggest blessings. We always pray about it then wait to see where God plops us. Lake Arrowhead Baptist Church is only a few miles from the State Park so we visited there on our first Sunday and loved it. Every place has their own way of doing things but it's such a comfort to to find others who worship and serve the same God we do. We're going to miss our new friends and feel blessed to have spent time with them.

A gift from a friend.

Fall Weather......

     Long autumns are a benefit to living in the South. Of course, autumn may not arrive until September or October but there is always a timeframe of perfect temperature. Unfortunately, this area of Texas didn't offer much in the line of gorgeous fall foliage but we managed. The last 3 years we've driven through Colorado when the leaves are in their prime so it does take a lot to impress us 😊.

     Lake Arrowhead State Park has a disc golf course and discs that we can use. We've never played before but it's a fun way to get in some exercise and family togetherness. There has been some definite improvement in our skills since we started but still room for growth. We've managed to not lose any discs yet, which is a wonder!

     Eldon had off 3 days over Thanksgiving so we left the camper here and drove the 3 hours to my parents for the holiday. We all had such a fun time! Eldon and dad did some projects in the chicken barn. Mom and I cooked and one day my sisters and I unpacked 8 boxes of decor and used a bunch of it. She's been waiting until the remodel is finished but finally gave up. A lot of it had been packed since they moved from Colorado - 8 years ago! I had a grand time pulling it out of boxes and it brought many memories with it.

Sneaking a bedtime snack. "It's like a date, grandpa, just me and you!"

The girls played doll nonstop.

Some of us went out and gathered mistletoe and hedge apples.......we never used it to decorate but it was still fun.

     Once back in Wichita Falls, it suddenly seemed as though our time here was ending very quickly. One of the places we wanted to go was the Nature Center. It was a neat place to visit. Sadly, it was run-down and could have been much nicer but we felt it well worth our time anyhow. 

The ferrets snoozing away.

Christmas decor!

Turtles.

The butterfly house was a favorite. We watched incubator where they were in numerous stages of hatching.

The man who worked here was super friendly and followed us around and gave us all sorts of information about the plants and animals. 

After touring the conservatory, we walked the nature trail. Ethan is starving (obviously), thus the long face. 

We did manage to find some leaves with color here.

     And if you need something to laugh at:

Ethan: How old are you?

Eldon: Old

Ethan: Oh. Like when the world was black and white?

*Blank stares and "Huh?" all around.*

Ethan: You know, like on old movies when the whole town is black and white. 

Emily's birthday

     Most of these photos have to do with Emily's birthday in one way or another so we'll just go with that for a title (always the hardest part of the blogpost!). She turned 7 on the 6th of November and reminded us daily for at least a month before. Our children always look forward to their birthday date with Eldon. Emily took it up a notch and even chose what clothes Eldon should wear 😂.

She chose Applebee's, because she wanted wings.

     The campground has 6-7 full-timers here right now but other then that it's fairly empty until Friday night hits. We were delighted to have the Tressel family (we met at the Balloon Fiesta 2018 and spent a lot of time together earlier this year) spend nearly a month here while working out the technicalities of a new job and move to PA. The children have ridden miles and miles on their bikes around our loop! It's been such a blessing to have them here.

Playing circus.

Emily's birthday party

She wanted a fruit platter so......

Presents are so exciting!

In addition to this, she got money from both grandma's and a Bible case from us. Also, a beautiful angel figurine and toys for our cat from friends in Montana.

Putting that cupcake maker to good use!

She did such a good job!

Sunday afternoon walk.

Time for a break.

Ethan has suddenly started playing doll again - so cute!

Birthday flowers from daddy-after the pink roses died.

Mrs. Tressel spent 30 minutes curling her hair one day, just for fun. It was so cute but only lasted a little while.

A swinging bridge in town. Slightly scary!

We were fascinated by these Hedge Apples.

Imagine that falling on your head!

The Wichita Falls of Wichita Falls, TX.

A common scene these days. We're working hard to finish 3rd and 5th grade by New Year's so we can swap out Teacher's Guides from our storage shed before we move to the next place.

We're on a coloring kick these days. I love it!

     We recently learned about dental colleges and their wonderful rates if you are willing to let a student work on you. Makayla and I went for a cleaning and it was so worth it! $40 for both of us and they did a fabulous job. They took their time but not once did I want to punch them in the face for jabbing me with a metal tool. Makayla was more excited than I expected her to be when we met up in the waiting room afterwards. The dentist had asked her what book she was reading then proceeded to take it and find the name Richard Cox. "That's my tenth great-grandpa that was the tutor of Elizabeth I." She was pretty happy about that encounter!

The book!

     Our weather has been gorgeous - most days in the 60's. But there was that one week that it dipped below freezing for 5 nights and stayed that low for 24 hours. All y'all from Montana are laughing right now but I don't care :). All that to say, we love the library here (except that they limit us to 15 books only) and can spend hours there. I even broke my no computer rule one day.

Emily was fascinated with paintshop.

     A huge advantage of neighbors is the ability to swap childcare. Eldon and I have LOVED the chance to go out once a week with no guilt at all that we are infringing on the babysitter. I'm more than happy to take my turn because our children really do entertain themselves (mostly). Most of the time we run all over town getting groceries and other necessary errands. We've had time to go on long walks and even go to a coffee house. It's so fun again!

Hook & Ladder Coffee is in a fire station that was established in 1887.

Last but not least, Eldon's birthday cake!