DISNEYLAND!!!

While we were in California we went to Disneyland!!!  My parents condo is only about 30 minutes away and I never realized how close and how easy it was to get there!  It was awesome!  We left James with my parents (thank you, thank you!  Every time I saw a baby I was SO glad to just have Henri with us.)  It was SO SO fun!!!

Obligatory picture.  First, with my eyes closed.

Now, with Charles' eyes closed.

In front of the shields of each "conton" in Switzerland.  (We were almost at the front of the line and the ride got closed. Boo.

 Again, in front of the Matterhorn.  Charles actually remembered a lot of the shields from when he was in elementary school in Switzerland.

Teacups!

 The storybook ride: oooooooh.

Meeting Mickey.  This picture only took us about 2 hours in line.  But, Henri still talks about meeting Mickey... so I guess it was worth it!

This video shows Henri's little personality.  He was so shy to meet them and so excited afterward.  I love him.

 And Goofy

 I just read "Wind in the Willows" so that was fun.  I will have to read it to Henri before we go to Disneyland next time!

 Waving to Dad.

 The day we went was one of the busiest days at Disneyland.  (The Thursday after Christmas.)  We heard a lot of people say that they had never ever seen it that crowded.  I know I have never seen it that crowded either.  The lines were crazy.  Luckily we had talked about just having fun together in the lines.  For "Pirates of the Caribbean" we waited for a long time and we walked and walked and walked!  It turned out to be good timing for Henri's nap.

 Watching the Parade

 One of the books I read when trying to figure out whether Henri was at a good age to take him talked about how taking a 3 year old is really just to gratify the parents, because they won't remember it.  Well, first, that makes me wonder why we do anything- why go to the library, or feed the ducks, or ride the trolley, or do any of the fun things that we do.  Second, Henri was at a perfect age for Disneyland to  be magical!  He loved the characters!  He loved waving to Woody and Buzzlightyear at the parade!  It was really really amazing to take him.  I can't wait to take him again!

Huntington Beach- Christmas to New Years

On Christmas Day we flew to Huntington Beach where we met my parents and Jane.  The Bishop in our ward had extra upgrades that were about to expire to we got to ride in first class.  We were all pretty happy about it!

One day Henri and Charles built a huge sandcastle.

And then buried Henri in the sand.

Okay, they didn't really bury him.  He is just standing by a ledge that was made by the tide.  It made me nervous when I saw these pictures!

The boys on the way to the beach for a morning seashell hunt.

Henri and I had fun being chased by the waves.  I could watch those waves for hours.

One of the waves caught Henri...

...but Papa Lon was there to take care of him.

Two of my cute boys.

We flew kites on the beach with Aunt Janie.

We got that dragon kite up as high as it would go!  It was perfect kite flying weather!

We had so much fun that we were pretty tired.  Here is James cuddling with Papa Lon.

Henri didn't want to be left out of the fun, but we had definitely told him that he needed to go to bed.  So, he compromised and fell asleep on the stairs.

 We had so much fun with Grandma Grace and Papa Lon and Aunt Janie!  Thanks for letting us come to The Beach!

Christmas

This year we stayed in Houston for Christmas and then on Christmas morning we flew to California.  I loved having Christmas as our little family and knowing that we would be doing all of the traditions made it even more fun to decorate and enjoy the Christmas season.

One thing we did was to watch the LDS First Presidency Christmas Devotional together.  James, like Henri, responds to music and always crawled over to see what was going on whenever the choir started singing.

Here is James sneaking under the table, looking cute.

Here is James checking out the tree.  Doesn't that face just make you think that some kind of mischief has been managed???

Yep, mischief managed! 

Just after Papa Noel visited on Christmas Eve

 Christmas morning.  Henri surveyed the gifts before going in and waking James up.

It was really really hard to wake James up!  You would think after sleeping through the night he would have just hopped right up, but I guess he wasn't too anxious to see what Papa Noel brought him.

Still trying to wake up and looking like Quasimodo.

Okay, James is awake now

Henri the pirate eating his mint Milanos.

James and his mint Milanos.

Christmas was really great this year!  It was so wonderful to spend a lot of time with each other and to think of our Savior.  We feel so blessed to have the Gospel in our lives and to have the opportunity to learn and grow as a family!

Meeting Papa Noel

The week before Christmas we went to Waterway Square in the Woodlands to see some caroling groups, drink hot chocolate and meet Old St. Nick.  Our friends from the neighboring ward invited lots of people and so it was fun to go with a big group and get into the Christmas Spirit.  Later we went over to our friend's home (the Andersons,) for hot chocolate.

Santa and Mrs. Claus were great and I love this picture of Henri with the jolly old soul!

Christmas Eve

One of the great things about living in Houston is that our friends have become like family.  It is great to share traditions and holidays with people we love even when we can't be with our own family.  This year we had our Christmas Eve dinner with the Andersons and the Benches.  Dominic Anderson is a family friend that we grew up with, and Jen Anderson is actually my 3rd cousin!  Mark Bench went to Hillcrest Highschool and is two years older than I am, so it is fun that we all already had connections!

Jen has an amazing "nativity kit" so the highlight of the night is when the kids did the nativity.  Henri was one of the stars in his role as a shepherd.  After every scripture that was read we would stop and sing a Christmas Hymn and the kids would all climb up on the table to "sing."  It was so cute!

 Here is Mark helping out as a wise man.

 Final curtain call for the cast.  Henri is a shepherd, Iris is Mary, James is baby Jesus, Boston and Jimmy are wisemen and Rosie and Lydia are sweet angels who did a great job holding their arms out.

And, for good measure, here is our Jameser.  We had a great Christmas Eve!