Christmas with the Buffaloes

We visited with Sam's side on Christmas Eve at his brother's house. I took a picture of the curly-headed cousins, a club which James has (temporarily?) been kicked out of. 

Leah & Papaw & his Santa hat. 

Making food! We had a delicious prime rib & roasted root vegetables & Sam made rolls (& James & Aunt Barb had mushroom sandwiches). 

These two were impatient for dinner - but I think mainly because presents were after dinner. True to form!

Also unsurprisingly, these two spent the rest of the time reading. 

The kids distributed presents & we were deciding how to open them (I think): 

Opening gifts! (All at once.) 

Ellie opening her candy (I think). 

James!

They all got nice soft blankets from their grandparents - Leah's was an elephant print to go with her new elephant stuffie (she's got a whole family going). Believe it or not, this was the best we could do with all of the cousins. 

Barb took a much better one of the rest of the group - too bad she's not in it!

As a bonus, Sam recorded another Christmas Carol: 

Pomme de Terre

Here's another wayback post! 2.5 years ago, as Leah looks to be 3?? 

We spent a lovely restorative weekend in one of the  new camper cabins at Pomme de Terre State Park. 

Here's (some of us) on the way with the minivan all loaded down. James did not want to be in the photo & Leah was still rear-facing behind me at the time. 

 We stayed in this camper cabin: 

And our friends got the cabin next door!

They brought their dog:

This one had a bunk bed and a full-size fridge (different from the loft area and mini-fridge of Mark Twain). Here's Amelie in sun-protective swim gear with Sam's phone.

This might have been Leah's last ride in the baby carrier.

Here's Leah in a long-sleeved swim suit hanging out in the top bunk:

James roasting a marshmallow:

 

Sam's taken to capturing nature scenes with his iPhone. Here's a sample of some of the pictures from the short stay:

See the racoon?

Rock Climbing

I might be doing a few make-up posts from last year - depending on how well I can get my photos folder cleared out. This is way back! End of the summer 2021. 

Amelie’s Girl Scout troop went rock climbing for their final activity. The troop is dissolving & Amelie doesn't much want to continue if her friends aren't. We might reassess in the fall if there's another group going at the middle school. 

She did great! And this is super good for her - like way more fun physical therapy.