Tis the Season...

...for nonstop busyness! It's hard to believe that it's been nearly a week already since I last posted here. Rich had a bad cold/sinus thingie Sunday through Tuesday but has gotten better and better since then. Here are just a few highlights of the things we've done in the past week, along with the typical shopping, wrapping, cooking, cleaning stuff.

Sandee baked last Sunday...

I had promised to do some today but checked out early, leaving her with lots of baking supplies on the island in her kitchen. Oh well, maybe the kids and I will get to that during the week.

The kids and I did make eleven snow globes using canning jars, distilled water with a splash of glycerin, glitter, and a variety of cute little tchotchkes glued in for their teachers and others. Here are three of them...

Tuesday afternoon, Rich and I took a load of gifts over to their house. They had been peeking in the back window before I got out there to unlock the car.

Wednesdays are turning out to be chores day for us. We didn't see the kids at all but Rich got the propane filled in the motorhome. It's pretty cold here at night, often in the 40s, so we use the furnace nearly every night. After laundry and cleaning we took a short drive north on Ironwood to the end of that street. This area is so beautiful and there is so much more to explore.

Looking to the northeast we saw this.

Looking to the west we saw this.

Thursday was the beginning of the kids' winter break so we took them to see ZooLights at the Phoenix Zoo last evening. They display 3.5 million lights throughout the zoo. Most of the animals are inside for the night but we did see a huge komodo dragon, zebras, flamingos, and Jengo, the talking giraffe!

Mine is not a great nighttime camera so sometimes I get these fabulously funky shots.

This was taken shortly after the kids had all zoomed down the 160 foot Polar Slide on snow tubes...what a blast!

There were light displays like these throughout the zoo.

But Jengo was the star of the show. He stands seventeen feet high and talks to the kids, answering their many questions on the spot, telling stories and jokes. Rich nor I ever did figure out how that was done and where the person was who was talking. The kids loved him and would have stood there until the zoo closed at ten o'clock if we hadn't eventually said "brrrrr, let's go home and make some hot chocolate." Here's Jengo and the kids.

Last night was the second time that the kids have slept over. We all conked out not long after getting home from the zoo last night but lounged around this morning making breakfast and talking. At their house this afternoon, I made pierogi for tomorrow evening's dinner. Rich's mom would be so proud...not only do I remember how she taught me to make them, but all three of the kids watched and learned and made some too!

There's more, so much more but this gives you an idea of how our winter in Arizona is going during this holiday season. I couldn't be happier. It is such an amazing gift, just being with the kids and doing all kinds of things big and small without an imminent date of return clouding our days.

Lovin' Life ~~ And Arizona Holidays