Christmas in New York (Part 3)

(Continued from Part 2)

On top of that, we got to take the Metro North and two subways to get to and from the museum. And of course Chris got to have his giant pretzel...

We had a fabulous time with all our family and friends in New York! We can't wait to come back soon!

Christmas in New York (Part 2)

(Continued from the post below...)

Christmas morning was delightful and it was fun to see the kids' reactions to their presents! Santa Claus even picked up Christopher's stocking and delivered it to New York--imagine that! Here are some pics from the day, including the grand finale of helping Grandma Jan make her famous baked Alaska...

And of course, they got to enjoy the baked Alaska as well!

The day after Christmas found us in Brooklyn where we got to hang out with the triplets again and see Aunt Dabney's fabulous new store! It was so exciting! After that we trekked over to Jersey (in a Nor'easter!) to see the Duren-Lubanski family and to eat more good Italian food including a second dose of pizza for the day and Mommy's favorite, eggplant parm!

This was a very exciting day for Christopher because in a matter of 12 hours, he got to cross the Manhattan, Brooklyn, Triborough, and George Washington Bridges, and he went through the Holland Tunnel. Unfortunately for him, he fell asleep as we sat in traffic waiting to get through the tunnel so technically he missed it. We took a video for him but apparently that was not enough. We had to hear about how "disappointed" he was to miss the Holland Tunnel (which he kept calling the Lincoln Tunnel). He's probably the only person on the planet who is upset to miss the Holland Tunnel! Anyway, the next day found us in Manhattan at the Natural History Museum. Because we live in Kansas, Brian and I don't get to always bring Chris places that we visited as a kid. Well, it was so exciting to do this at the museum! I was practically as excited to see the giant blue whale hanging from the ceiling as Christopher was!

(Again, to be continued in Part 3)

Christmas in New York

The Kansas Wogloms made the trip back to New York to spend the holidays with our family and friends who live out on the East Coast. It was a pleasure to be back and it was hard for Christopher to decide what his favorite part was. At the time the picture above was taken, that giant pretzel was probably his favorite part, but he pretty much enjoyed the whole thing! When we arrived in NY, we made our usual trip to the Mamaroneck Diner to have some real grilled cheeses. In fact, the whole trip was marked by our consumption of white bread, cheese, and cake. A good combination I'd say! Anyway, the day after we arrived, we went up to Grandpa T's house for some snowy fun. Chris got an accordion so he could join Grandpa in a duet. Then the boys went sledding down the driveway...

And when in Rome... You have to dress the part of an upstate New Yorker...

When we returned to Harrison, it was Christmas Eve. Not a creature was stirring... except for these four crazy kids!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDvNtK6IgNk

Yes the cousins were all reunited for some lively holiday fun. The kids all had a great time together and before bed, Grandpa Eric read them all "The Night Before Christmas."

Well, they are not letting me upload any more pics so I will continue this in the next blog entry!

First snow of the season!

When I was driving back home last night, it was pouring down rain and thundering and lightning. When I woke up this morning, there was about 4 inches of snow on the ground and the wind was howling outside! Christopher, who has been hoping like crazy that we would get more snow here than last year, was thrilled to see the white stuff this morning. After trekking over to Pawz at Play to drop off Kasey (and holding onto the steering wheel for dear life; it was so icy!) we spent the morning over at the Groden's house playing in the snow with Lahna and Liam and one of their neighbors. Chris was very happy to play with the "big kids." It was not until later that we got to spend some time in our first snowfall in our new backyard. Here is evidence of the fun that was had...

And of course, one must try to taste the snow to be sure it is real...

Lunch with Daddy

We love living so close to Daddy's office so we can take him out for lunch dates every now and then!

Gingerbread Houses!

We joined our friends the Titus' and the Eakins at Pizza West for some gingerbread house decorating and delicious pizza! Everyone had a blast and the above picture is the finished product built by Christopher (and Mommy). Here is Chris before construction and then starting to put it all together...

We even built a dog house for Kasey with a little "Kasey" inside!

Here is Chris with his buddies Tristan and Olivia...

And of course baby Mia, who has the best cheeks on the block!

Songfest

Today, Christopher performed with his class in his first ever live and official concert! Daddy, Grammy and I attended LUMC's little Christmas Songfest to watch Chris and his classmates sing some holiday songs with their teacher Ms. Becky. The kids did great and all the families enjoyed watching the performance. Here is Christopher when he saw us in the audience...

And at the end of the show, all the kids took a bow and were proud of their singing...

Here is a little sample of one of the songs. Chris and his class are doing their own version of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9gHC0wPRAk

Mrs. Claus

To top off a very busy and festive weekend, Chris, Daddy and I went to the LaBarge residence (friends Emily and Connor) for an evening of delicious eats and storytelling from none other than Mrs. Claus herself! So my friend Sarah (mother to Emily and Connor) used to be a teacher and worked with a wonderful kindergarten teacher who has since retired and now does storytelling on a regular basis. This woman was awesome and Chris and the other kids really got into the event. Here they are enthralled by her first story...

Christopher even volunteered to play a role in her telling of the Gingerbread Man. Check out his festive hat...

The evening was fun for everyone! Mommy had to leave early for the meeting of a committee I serve on but Daddy's skills were shown when he had to help Chris decorate an ice cream cone "Christmas tree" with green icing and jelly beans. I saw the finished product when I got home and it looks delicious! Oh and did I mention it was a pajama party???

Party time

Chris returned to his old gymnastics place (Elite) to help Liam celebrate his 6th birthday! The boy ran and ran and ran...

And then all the kids enjoyed some yummy cupcakes made by Ms. Danna herself! It was a very fun party!!!

And tonight we are honoring our Jewish friends by celebrating Hanukkah with Grammy! She gave Chris a Hanukkah gift which was a Cars snow globe...

Santa Claus, Kansas style

We ventured over to Bass Pro Shops this morning to pick up a pair of ear-protecting headphones for Chris (more on that later) and to visit their winter wonderland set-up. Now you may know that Christopher is a big fan of penguins, but he also loves the great moose! Bass Pro Shops is full of moose and Chris found them all today. First he got to ride one on this fun carousel...

Later we picked up a pair of moose feet slippers that have a recording of an actual moose call on them! This was in addition to the camouflage moose pajamas that we bought solely for Grandpa T to see when we go up to visit at Christmas...

At the winter wonderland, they also had a train set up and race car set up. In true Kansas fashion, the cars were Nascar and went around in an oval repeatedly.

The cool thing about these set-ups is that Chris was able to control them himself! Next he continued the theme by hopping on a stationary ATV, hopefully the only ATV he will ever get on.

After that there was a bear he had to fend off...

And finally he tried on some camo hats for when he goes hunting with Grandpa T...

A note on the headphones... although our boy can be among the loudest of children, he doesn't like when big groups of children scream really loud altogether. In fact, in the past, it has down right freaked him out. A friend of mine suggested getting kid-sized headphones to block out some of the louder noises as she had gotten them for her daughter who also doesn't like loud sounds. We picked some up today because we are going to a birthday party that was at the same place last year with a lot of children and Chris melted down after all the kids were screaming with excitement. We are coming prepared this year just in case!

And one slightly more cultural thing... Chris tried chopsticks for the first time last night. He did a really great job!