The Sky is Falling!

Well, not really, just THREE INCHES of snow in Georgetown, TX in February! Unbelievable! This may not sound like a lot of snow to some people, but I'm a South East Texas gal, and it was more falling snow than I have ever seen in my life.

No doubt, Olivia stayed home from school to play in the snow; it might be another 10 years before this happens again, and I didn't want her to miss sharing in this experience with her little sister.

Blooming Guitar Players

Olivia participated in a guitar concert on Sunday playing "A Gift to Be Simple". She did a really nice job and her hard practice showed. She has come a long way in a year and a half of lessons.

Genevieve decided to give us her own guitar concert (Laurie Berkner style) with her sister's old toy guitar. She says she would like to learn to play piano, but she might have a guitar in her future too.

Happy Valentine's Day

The girls made melted crayon hearts for Valentine's Day again this year.

It's always interesting to see how all the different colors mix so beautifully.

Olivia designed a coloring sheet to go with the crayons.

Eve also sewed a lacing card heart all by herself for the first time.

We hope you had a lovely day!

The Banister Happy Theater

Brian's mom made Genevieve a puppet theater curtain for Christmas, and it has proved to be one of the best presents the girls have ever received. They love using their puppets to create puppet shows for us. Here is one of their shows, and we expect to see many more!:

(Do you notice Eve's costume jewelry? They are beads from Grandmother Ferrell. Eve had to get decked out before the puppet show. Olivia even created tickets that she handed out to me and Brian.)

Can't shake that Christmas Spirit!

Forgive me for not getting this Christmas video made and posted until Feb. 11!

(The RC plane was Olivia's present from Santa. Brian is teaching her how to fly it and I'll post pictures of its first flight. Right now, they are just working on taxiing the plane.)

Banister Family Christmas Lights Contest

Another new Christmas tradition we are starting this year is the Banister Family Christmas Lights Contest. Normally, one night in mid-December we drive around different neighborhoods to see how families decorate the outside of their houses for Christmas. This year we have added a twist by buying four prizes, one for each member of our family, to give to the households of the four light displays that we like the best. Since we knew it would be a late night, the girls dressed in their snuggliest pajamas, brought a stuffed animal along, and wore their Santa hats. It was lots of fun listening and singing to Christmas carols as we drove around and looked at the displays. Each person got to choose only one house to win his/her first place prize. Two prizes ended up going to friends and the other two to people who we didn't know. It was fun leaving a surprise prize (an inexpensive can of Tootsie Rolls) on someone's doorstep, and it sure made us feel the Christmas spirit. Next year, we would like to figure out how to bring my mom with us because I know she would love seeing all the lights with the girls.

Sharing Christmas with God's creatures

This year we made a wildlife Christmas tree for the birds and insects that live near our home after we read the book, *Why Christmas Trees Aren't Perfect* by Richard H. Schneider. We dried sliced apples and oranges and threaded popcorn and frozen cranberries on yarn. Even Brian had fun stringing oranges. Then, the girls hung the edible ornaments on the tree in our front yard, and we had enough left for several trees in the back. The red yarn was supposed to attract birds, but the birds seemed to be scared off when the ornaments blew in the breeze. The popcorn disappeared the fastest, and we saw several butterflies on the oranges. It was fun sharing Christmas with God's creatures, and I think we might make this a Banister holiday tradition.