Christmas Eve

This was the first year we have ever gotten Torrey a gift that needed to be put together before Christmas.  Oh, and the gift was BIG.  And, Dean couldn't do it alone.  And, Torrey couldn't be in the house when it was being constructed.  So, we called in reinforcements ...

This would be the boys BEFORE they started.  It should be said that it was COLD in Texas on Christmas Eve.  And, they had to do their building outside.  And, part way through the construction the wind started to whip up and it quickly became quite miserable.  Oh, and our backyard?  It was a swamp because we have had so much rain lately.  It was not easy, but Dean and Paul persevered.

Meanwhile, Linda and I had our own assignment ... keep Torrey out of the house.  It was a tough job, but someone had to do it!

We took her to the Narnia Exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science.  Fortunately it was at their new Sugar Land site ... easy in and easy out and no one was there.  We couldn't take any pictures in the exhibit ... but there was snow, the Queen's chair (very chilly to sit on), costumes and props from the movies (Narnia and Prince Caspian) along with snippets of how they shot the movies and make-up, etc.  It was very fun.

After we were finished in Narnia, we looked at the other exhibits in the museum ... it is small, but there were quite a few interesting things to keep us busy and away from the house.

This entire wall was made of ice.  It was freezing cold.  Duh.  It was ice.  Torrey didn't really want to touch it.

Linda wasn't as fearful of the ice.  It must be said that she was only pretending.  She was NOT going to put her tongue on the ice ... she shared a story of Glenn getting stuck to the freezer.  She didn't want his fate to become her fate.

Torrey was at this cool whispering thing.  I was across the room at an identical one.  She had to whisper in hers and I would hear her at mine.  I didn't hear her for quite awhile and then I heard "Did you hear me Mommy?" and I turned to tell her I couldn't hear her in the thingy.  Because I thought she was standing right behind me.  Um, no.  She was still at her whispering thingy.  She had whispered it into the thing and I heard her in mine.  Pretty cool.

And, what would be a trip to the museum without standing in front of giant teeth?  It wouldn't be a trip to the museum that is for sure!

Boys were still working, so we headed to lunch at Pei Wei.  I introduced Linda to yummy edamame.  We all laughed at our fortune cookie fortunes ... I got a dud.  "Everyone likes hot things.  Eat more Kung Pao."  Seriously?


We then took a trip to Hobby Lobby.  I saw these and thought they look easy.  Really?  They are covered in sequins.  And small beads.  They were 50% off, and the girl at the register didn't believe me and muttered something about "these are never on sale."  So, I did what any sane person would do ... I went back and got the other set because if one was easy certainly two would be easier.  


And, guess what I found out when I got home?  Five pages of instructions.  Or, would that be ten pages of instructions.  Oh my.  


And as for the boys?  They finished their project and started a game of Madden before we got home.  And, what did they build?  Stay tuned!