The powder is gone, but Santa is near...

Last night when I finally came down from my snow buzz at 2 am, I set my alarm for 6:15 so that I could get some good shots of our blanket of white powder...well, instead this is what I saw when I looked out my master bedroom french doors this morning...I was a little disappointed, but then I remembered last night. Grace and I had such a good time. Jack much preferred watching from INSIDE the house, but she and I had the ice cold, red fingers and noses and toes to prove our love for the white stuff! No words can really describe her perfectly pure joy. I can still hear the pitter patter of her feet running down the stairs coming to meet me so we could play...I guess I'll never forget.

From the wind, I suppose, our angel fell forward, but here, it looks as though she is keeping watch over Lexie.

still pretty but nothing like last night...I;m guessing we had about 4 inches here.

From upstairs at about 8:45 am.

Ahhh...finally a spot of sunshine...

We let Grace play until about midnight, so I let her sleep in and when she finally woke up at about 9:30, she came in crying, "Mommy, the grass came back!" She was sooo upset that the snow had melted almost all away. If we weren't so fervently saving for a pool, I would have put her on a plane right then and taken her to Jackson Hole or somewhere in Colorado. But, after I explained that it was really a small miracle that we even got any snow at all and it was God's special present to us and that He sent us beautiful clear blue skies today so that she could go to her swimming lesson, well...all was better.

Since she slept in, she didn't really need a nap, so we went and took her picture with Santa. At 2 pm on a Thursday, we still had to wait in line for 45 minutes. She was so good though - she has really been looking forward to this , but when she finally arrived at the front of the line, she got all shy. Because the line was so long, the girl was basically snapping two shots and you better like one of those because you weren't getting any more :( So, her head is kinda angled down and her smile isn't very natural, but hey! She wasn't screaming her head off! AND we got our annual Santa shot. Check! We ran a few errands, ate leftovers for dinner and then....

The stand of trees just behind this sign backs up to our old home on Dickinson Bayou, so we used to be able to walk Grace over. That was really nice. But, we still bring her every year and she loves it more and more and the decorations keep growing...

My tired, but happy family...

The geese that used to live on our dock...probably still do, only it's not OUR dock any more.

Can you tell she's just a wee bit excited to be here?

me and my girl...

This guy, bless his soul, was playing his little heart out, but he needed some lessons...bad.

She is soooo tired of me taking her picture here...

OK, Popi, I took this picture just for you so that you would know that I really do know the difference between a mariachi and a maracha...although I may not be able to spell them!

Jack and I are pretty sure that the above two shots are all new decorations.

All in all, a busy, fun-filled day...