Kaiden Gets a Buck . . .

 

Kaiden and Kenny went hunting today, and this evening he shot his first official buck.  I, unfortunately, was not there to get pictures of the two of them together because I was at gymnastics with Kiersen.  Although he wasn't near big enough to go on the 'monster mantel' with Kenny's big ones, Kaiden was very excited.  

O' Christmas Tree . . . (The Decorating) . . .

 

The kids had a blast tonight decorating their trees!  Because we decided on a real tree this year, we also decided it would be fun if we did colored lights instead of our typical white ones.  It looks very different than our 'traditional' Christmases here, but I have to admit it was a lot more fun!  And this year, I have decided not to go back and move the ornaments so there aren't six of them per branch!  If the kids want six ornaments on their little mountain trees, then that's okay with me!  Ahhh....it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Santa's Helper . . .

 

It didn't take long for RJ to spot the fresh pine branches we would be decorating with....

O' Christmas Tree . . . (The Search) . . .

So this year wasn't an 'ordinary' year for us Echternach's!  Typically we put up our tree the first weekend of November...not this year!  Kaiden wanted to see what it would be like to have a real tree (something I swore I'd never do again...but I guess some times we do things for our children that we never thought we would!)

I researched all kinds of tree farms trying to find the 'perfect' place for our 'experience'.  Finally I settled on Elizabeth Farms because it had sort of a Hallmark appeal (I mean - horse drawn rides....hot cocoa....Santa...the works).  But about a week after I decided on my perfect place people started telling me how busy it gets there (we mountain folks aren't fans of crowds)....so, we ended up not going to a tree farm at all.  Instead we gathered up the kids and a saw and headed to the mountain for a three hour tromp through the woods to find the 'perfect' tree.  In the end, we couldn't settle on just one, so we got a big one for Kaiden and a mini one for Kiersen.  They were both excited that they would have their own trees to decorate....and even though the trees are not perfectly shaped and we didn't get a ride on those horses, the kids still left with smiles on their faces.

Maybe this real tree thing isn't so bad after all....

First 'Snow' of the Season...

Although it wasn't a big snow, the kids were still SO excited to get outside and play!  It's hard to believe it was almost 70 degrees outside yesterday and told it's COLD!   Kiersen though she had to go sledding (in fairness, she did get down the yard two times) and all Kaiden wanted to do was throw snowballs.  As for RJ...he just loved being out there with the kids!