Lamb Chops on choir tour

What have the Lamb Chops been doing all this time? Well, we have some delayed stories. First of all, Baby and Young and Agile Lamb Chop came with me on choir tour around the midwest. They mostly kept to themselves, but they enjoyed the adventure.

Baby Lamb Chop feels welcome at the first church.

Sleeping at a host home next to the radiator. I let them share the pop from the host family.

Watching the world go by through the bus windows. They spent most of the trip like this.

Sometimes they wanted to stay overnight on the bus, but other times they came to stay with the host family. One night, Baby Lamb Chop tried to make a friend.

She was shy.

Y&A Lamb Chop comforts her. It's okay, Baby LC! You don't need to be so shy!

But Baby LC was scared and didn't talk to the little lamb. The next morning, as we were leaving the room, Baby LC was pulling the door closed when...

The little lamb waved goodbye! She really did want to be friends!

They took a picture before we left. Nice to meet you, sorry to leave so soon!

And so, another choir tour came and went. New friends were made, and adventures were had. Now that I think of it, this wasn't the first choir tour Baby LC had been on. She used to come along with Mommy LC on the bus tours. How time flies!

Snow Day with the Lamb Chops

I have been waiting for this day. The Lamb Chops have been, too. Things haven't been too exciting around here. Although, Football Lamb Chop got pretty excited for the Super Bowl.

Wearing her uniform and her game face.

But the winter has been long, the cold weather harsh! Every day, the Lamb Chops stare out the window, longingly wishing to play outside. And every day, I test the snow to see if it is finally packable.

Thinking of all the fun things to do outside.

But today the temperature was a little warmer, and...the snow was packable! I immediately alerted the Lamb Chops, and we headed outside.

Climbing down the steps to the backyard. They all have wool coats, so they didn't need anything extra. Although, I thought Christmas LC should have a scarf since she has no pajamas. Original LC and Football LC charged ahead, eager to play in the snow. The only problem was that the snow was above their heads.

Football LC trying to climb up the snow bank.

WAAAAAAAAAAAH!

So I constructed some steps for all of them to get up onto the snow. Baby LC smiles at the camera.

Christmas LC got to work making snow angels!

I just had to show this, because I think that's the cutest snow angel I've ever seen.

Meanwhile, Football LC, Original LC, and Mommy LC had a snowball fight. It was two against one, but Mommy LC mostly just ate snow.

Baby LC and Y&A LC made a snow lamb! Didn't they do a good job?
Note: for a while, this snow lamb looked like a gremlin or Yoda.

Then, we all gathered together to make a snow fort before going inside.

Everyone (kind of) fits!

The Lamb Chops had a wonderful time, and we came inside and warmed up and had hot chocolate. But as much fun as they had, they can't wait for spring. It'll come soon enough!

Lamb Chops road trip

On New Year's, we drove to Wisconsin for a family reunion. I thought of taking only one of the Lamb Chops along, but since we were staying overnight, I thought there should be two to keep each other company.

Mommy LC and Original LC were all set to go in the car! They were very good travelers.
We stopped for dinner and then went to the hotel.

Room service! Bring us some candy!

The two of them built a pillow fort. They wouldn't let me in.

Exploring the room. Original LC stops Mommy LC before she eats the soap.

Let's play tornado! Hahahahahaha!

Sleep tight, Lamb Chops!
In the morning, we went to church with family and then got together for lunch. There was a lot of cheese. We ate and then went outside to explore a bit. While we have much snow in Minnesota, almost all the snow in Wisconsin had melted.

Good Morning, Mequon! What a lovely morning.

Mommy LC is less of a morning person.

But we got a good picture of them in front of the duck pond, anyway.

And now, I'm afraid that I will be gone for two weeks away from all of the Lamb Chops. None of them are coming with me to Nicaragua. I'm sure they will be in good hands while I am gone, though. This trip showed how well they can get along with each other and keep good company! These are good little lambs :)

Lamb Chops decorate the tree

As promised! The next morning after putting up the tree, the Lamb Chops helped with decorating it.

Christmas Lamb Chop initiated the festivities with a dance. Then, we started with the lights.

Original Lamb Chop thought she could untangle them all by herself. Again, we see that trying to put up Christmas decorations alone does not work very well!

Mommy Lamb Chop proud!

We always used to get ornaments in threes for my sisters and I. One year, I was really concerned about them getting mixed up, so I wrote my name on every side of the box. And...wait for it...

Good Lord. But at least no one would take mine!

But...whaaaaat? Where did it go?
Lamb Chops, have you seen my ornament?

"Not me!"
Hmm. I think you're hiding something, Original LC.

"Ta Da! Hahahahaha!"
Thanks, Lamb Chop.

I hold up Baby Lamb Chop to put an ornament on the tree.

The action shot. Lovely!

All the excitement caught up to Christmas Lamb Chop. She was okay after a bit of rest.

Picking out an ornament to put on the tree. Mommy Lamb Chop is hogging all the ornaments.
But wait, what's this ornament?

Awwwww. Shameless, I know.

Here are a couple ornaments I made when I was 3 or 4. I think they're funny. Christmas Lamb Chop doesn't want them on the tree.

We don't have a star to top our tree, but Christmas Lamb Chop is a special kind of star herself.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Lamb Chop on the farm/Lamb Chops put up the Christmas tree

Oh my goodness! It's almost Christmas! In all honesty, things haven't been quite as sluggish as the frequency of posts would imply. We've been making some videos in preparation for Christmas, and perhaps one day we will post those.

But first, we will go back to Thanksgiving. Baby Lamb Chop came along to the farm out in Appleton, MN. After we ate, we decided to go for a walk.

Lamb Chop was a bit sleepy from all the food.

We're heading down the road on our walk. Lamb Chop doesn't need a jacket because she has a warm wool coat.
Except...oh my. It is absolutely bitterly freezing out here. Oh no, Lamb Chop is shivering, too! We'd better turn back.

The view of the fields from the house. Beautiful. Ok, let's go back inside!

Abby came out of the garage right before we went in. Luckily, Abby didn't think Lamb Chop was edible.

We got Lamb Chop warmed up in no time.

But soon, December arrived, which meant that Christmas Lamb Chop could hardly contain her excitement. A couple days ago, we put up the tree.

Christmas Lamb Chop jumped right in the box with the branches.
Note: for all of you from the tradition of real Christmas trees, the following pictures may be a horrific awakening to the world of fake Christmas trees. I am just going to throw in the garbage all your idealistic notions that Christmas isn't Christmas without a real tree. We always had a fake tree, and that's tradition for me. We also never had pets, and you see how that turned out.

Christmas Lamb Chop directed everyone else on the tree branch fluffing crew.

Getting the next layer of the tree up. It's a group effort! Again, Christmas Lamb Chop directs the group.

Football Lamb Chop got a bit overexcited and tried to move the top of the tree all by herself. She had trouble.

Christmas Lamb Chop just chuckled, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. What are we going to do with you, my child?"
We helped her out and put the top on the tree.

The Lamb Chops admired their work. How peaceful they all looked with each other!
Stay tuned for the decoration of the tree.