ICE

janet and i surprised pierce and kate with a 'mommy date' this week.  we took them to grapevine to the gaylord texan to see ice!  ice's theme this year is madagascar - which just happens to be right up their alley.  they have seen the movies and were so excited when we got there.

all bundled up and ready to go in...

pierce, joanna, kate, and janet

the ice slide was probably their favorite part.

this is the only picture that i got.

but they both loved it and did both the big and small slide multiple times.

attempt at a mommy and pierce pic.

the nativity

on our way back to the car, we wandered through the hotel some.

it is amazing at christmas time.

at the end of the night...

way past their bedtimes

and super wired.  :)

what a super fun night out with my favorite little boy!

frisco fire safety town.

saturday night we enjoyed frisco's fire safety town with luke, aunt a, ma, and bob.  the weather was perfect and the kids loved it.  fun was definitely had by all.

it's a wonderful life at newman village

last night we went to newman village's "it's a wonderful life."

and the kids loved it.

our friend lauren knows how to throw a fabulous Christmas party. 

bella with mrs. claus

mr. ben and pierce

pierce and bella ready for the train ride

i love this next picture of sweet stella.

she was so excited to be with big kids. 

and the biggest hit of the night was the snow hill.

the kids didn't even mind waiting in line...it was that much fun. 

we ran into my sweet teammates from school - Kelley and Carly

sweet bible fellowship friends

more snow hill...

evie

ardyn and stella

and an attempt at a family pic.

santa.

well, we went to see santa last night.

pierce was a little upset that we weren't going to the north pole.

and he wanted to know where the reindeers were.

however, i think he was pretty satisfied with santa.

and he is convinced santa is bringing him the red power ranger mask.

stella on the other hand - was not a fan.  

merry main street.

we enjoyed a fun saturday night with the harlans at 

frisco's merry main street.

silly girl.

I love my silly Stella.

heaven.

heaven.

i want my kids to know all about. i want them to understand and accept how to get there. i want it to be something we talk about. excitedly talk about.

but if i am honest, i don't know all the answers and it overwhelms me at times. the idea of forever.

yesterday we were in frisco near the stadium. p saw a picture of bobby rhine and we started talking about him and that he is in heaven.

and p asked "how does bobby get out of heaven?" this one simple question led us into a conversation about heaven. and how perfect it is. and how once we are there with Jesus we won't want to leave because it is perfect. we talked about what is so perfect about heaven. it was a sweet conversation with my pierce. a conversation that i pray leads to many more about this most wonderful place.