Oh my gosh, SNOW in Texas!!

Here's Benji trying on a beanie before we go to Texas.

Here's Kate and Ethan in the holiday spirit making a gingerbread house. Cleaning up after this was a .... a difficult task.
Christmas Eve, we flew to Texas, and it was snowing!!! There were about 3 inches of snow in Grammy's back yard. We attempted a snowman, but the snow was too powdery and didn't stick. This is the best we could do:
Not very impressive, is it?
The next day, Christmas Day, the snow had all stuck. It was a white Christmas! Here's Ethan running through the snow:
And who are these fine-looking people?
That afternoon, the snow was beginning to melt, so it stuck very nicely, and we made this fabulous 4 1/2 foot all fellow. Chad added ears to it, so it became a snow bear. Then he added antennae, so it was a snow-bear-alien:
Isn't he handome? His smile and eyebrows are made out of almonds and cashews.
Wow, that is an amazing snowman:
Two days after Christmas, we went to see some ice sculptures in Grapevine. My favorite was this amazing manger scene. You can't really tell from the picture, but they are life-sized sculptures. It was really cool.
Chad and I had our SEVENTH anniversary on the 28th. Here's a nice sign that Shonda and Amanda made for us:
One day, my family all went to a state park. Here we are having a jolly time, except for Ethan:

Here's my incredibly strange brother and his fiance Amanda. She's super cool.
Ethan turned FOUR on Jan 1! Here's Ethan wearing one of his birthday presents.
And Shonda and I created this impressive gingerbread clock tower with connecting cobblestone bridge.