Talking to Myself

Sitting at the computer lately, I often feel like I'm just talking to myself. Anybody out there? Anyone? (Silence.) Well, in that case, let the monologue continue. :)

I wanted to toss out a few more pictures from when Grandma Susie and Grandpa Charles came to visit.  Here they are with the grandkids in our living room:

And here they are during our morning craft session.  Turns out that Grandpa Charles is an outstanding wand painter!

Thanks to Charles and Susie's help, we churned out a dozen Harry Potter wands for a Young Women's activity.

Eli, on the other hand, dabbled in watercolors.

We turned Annika loose with the watercolors as well, but instead of painting the paper...

...she painted her face.  Silly gal!

As long as I'm playing catch-up, here are a few final pictures from fall before Christmas overtakes us all.

This autumn display comes from the Lauritzen botanical gardens.  I splurged on an annual membership back at the end of September as a birthday present to myself.  It's been pretty special to see the gardens change with the seasons.

My only complaint is that the big kids never get out of school in time to visit the gardens during the week.  On this day, I actually checked Brooklyn and Talia out an hour early so that they could enjoy the outdoors on the last warm day of fall.

Fortunately they just finished construction on an enormous new conservatory that will stay open (and toasty warm) all year long.

 Here's Annie Mae, checking out one of the newly planted flower beds.

Eli explores a colorful path.

A Bird of Paradise, aptly identified as a  "Plant of Interest."

Omaha's only tropical subclime.

I promised that this photo drop wouldn't get into the winter scene too much, but why don't we skip to Christmas after all--last Christmas.  These photos were taken last January at Papa Kay's law library.  While backing up pictures recently, I realized that I never shared them.

Cute, huh.  The best part is that in a couple days we'll all be together again once more.