The Platt Christmas Party

This is my attempt at taking more pictures. My family has a bad habit of not taking pictures once you become an adult. I have decided that in order to get at least one decent picture to be remembered by, I need to take a lot. I am not doing very well, but I have taken a picture with my kids before our Christmas party the past two years. Why isn't Trey in the picture? Oh, he was late!

Once we actually started reading the nativity, T decided he wanted no part of it. Luckily, Lucy was willing to fill the role of Joseph and leave us down a shepherd.

The Platt Christmas party is fun because there are so many cousins and they love running a muck in Grandma's house. We always eat green chile pasole with all of the fresh fixings, have a nativity, sing carols, and some years Santa even comes. This year was especially fun because Papa and Grandma brought floating lanterns from England and let the kids light and set them off. They really are the neatest things. Each and every kid loved watching those lanterns float higher and higher until they were out of sight. I am afraid the adults enjoyed the lanterns just as much as the children. We only had one incident with a tree in which Mike and Trey quickly ran to create some sort of long contraption to pull the lantern down and stomp out the flames. There was never any real danger of the tree catching fire as it was covered with snow. The entire night was a success and a great tradition for the Christmas season.

Sage has been losing her hair and a growing head has not helped matters. In fact, my mom calls her the Phantom of the Opera! Needless to say we love hats.

T mimics everything that Trey does.

I thought these two looked a little mischievous but never found any evidence.

T did a little decorating in Papa and Grandma's house. He colored down the entire length of the stair wall, down the hall, on the downstairs fridge and even on my red chair. After trying vinegar, hairspray, and nail polish remover we found that water worked wonders.

Mondays are always a little hectic and it seems that every meal is postponed as long as possible. After grocery shopping, I was putting away groceries and promising T that we would eat lunch in a few minutes. Sage messed her pants so I changed her, ran the diaper outside and came into the kitchen to find T feeding himself lunch. He told me over and over, "Mom, you are going to love this!"

-25F continued

The snow is always fun but it also adds some extra chores to a rancher's load. We enjoy going with Trey as he hays the cows and cuts ice (especially since Sage and I spend most of the time in the warm pickup!).

T loves working with his "Uncle Fence."

These pictures were hard to get because the snow blowing hard around us.

-25F

Great Personalities!

If there is one thing that my kids come into this world with it is a happy temperament. Both T and Sage smiled literally from day one and from that point on it has taken very little to get an ear to ear grin from either. I am grateful for their happiness but I am finding that happiness also means mischief later on!

Dads and their boys

The ranch provides a lot of opportunities and one of the best opportunities is to create strong ties between dads and their sons. Little boys don't love anything more than cows, horses, and working (playing) outside.

T is always teasing Trey, even at work.

Spence is teaching Hayes how to rope.

Spence lets Chase watch the action in the next corral.

Jay and Colten open the gate to let the worked cows out.

It took all the men to cut a horn off a grown heifer.