Visitors, Christmas Trees and a Birthday

One fantastically awesome thing that happened in early December was Chelsea, one of my best dancer pals growing up, drove into town as part of their move to Arizona. Her hubby and son opted to stay at the hotel, but Chelsea, their three girls, their dog and their lizard all came over for dinner and some chit chatting. It was way too short of a visit, but I was absolutely thrilled that she came. Very few people make their way to New Mexico, so it makes me incredibly happy when people stop to say hello. And it's Chelsea! We spent a million hours together dancing our hearts out, running over orange traffic cones, and squirting unsuspecting vehicles with our misfiring windshield wiper. So many great memories. :)

We made a return visit to the Festival of Trees this year. It would be awesome if it were bigger, but it's still fun and inspiring. Plus, there's free hot chocolate and Santa Claus.

This is as close as Devry would get. She only braved it for the candy cane.

Some of our favorite trees included the succulent tree, beach theme, snowman, and a lopped off Cheshire Cat Alice in Wonderland one.

More spectacular Devry fashion:

3 months old! Such a goodnatured, happy, wonderful boy!

Devry had a marvelous 3rd birthday. We started things off with decorations and chocolate/chocolate chip pancakes. 

She couldn't get the candles to go out, so she recruited help.

She got some new pjs, a dress, a big box of fruit snacks, and a Finding Dory make up kit. 

After the boys left, we watched Finding Dory while Devry applied lots and lots of lip gloss. 

Then we went to Chick-fil-A for lunch with friends. Darren has a magical sense about Chick-fil-A and always saves his most massive blowouts for that trip. And I mean the kind where you wish you had a hose. My goodness! Glad I had a billion wipes and extra clothes!

For dinner the kids made their own personal pizzas and we enjoyed homemade ice cream cake. 

It was a fantastic birthday. I love this spunky, fun, sweet, sassy 3-year-old!