Friends in Town

Yesterday was not only my birthday, but we had a visit from our friends, the Titus family, in town for the holidays. The kids of course had a blast together, stayed up late, had lots of laughs, and made the most of their time together. They had a sleepover and got to hang out in the morning as well. It was great to see them all and it was nice to have them here to celebrate my birthday!

Chris and Olivia working on some art together...

My birthday cake--thank you Brian! A yummy cookie cake with chunks of Reese's peanut butter cups...

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone! Our day was great and the boys (still in their pajamas at 3PM) are enjoying their toys and watching "A Christmas Story."

Jonathan got his dream toy--a vacuum cleaner-- and has been vacuuming the house all day!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas Eve! We went to a great candlelight service at church and then came home to have dinner with Grammy. Chris wrote his letter to Santa and left some cookies out (as well as celery--we were out of carrots!). As you can see, Chris got in the Christmas spirit...

And the dogs were happy that Grammy is here, as usual...

After dinner, we started a new tradition and played a little Clue. It was Holly, in the library, with the candlestick!

Tracking Santa

Christopher is keeping an eye on where Santa is in the world. Currently, he is flying over southeast Asia. It won't be long now!

Another Revolutionary in the House

Northeastern Fan

Christopher is wearing his Northeastern sweatshirt from the Duren-Lubanski Family. He looks pretty good as a Husky!

Washington's Crossing

If you were wondering what Chris did over the winter break, he has been reenacting the major events of the Revolutionary War... in case you were wondering....

Pillow Fort

Chris is teaching young Jonathan the art of the pillow fort!

The Revolution

The Revolution has come to Kansas. Don't mess with the Wogloms because we have a soldier outfitted with a musket and bayonet!

Christmas Vacation

Christopher's school vacation is officially underway today and the boys had the exciting morning of going grocery shopping with me (some things have to get done!) and then we stopped for a snack at tLoft. Jonathan is acquiring a taste for green juice which may be the only way we get him to ingest green vegetables until he gets older! We all wanted to just keep our coats and hats on at the juice place because it is frigid out! By the time we made our stop, it was a balmy 12 degrees, up from 5 degrees when I let the dogs out and -3 yesterday morning. Winter has arrived in Kansas!

Hanging with Santa

Once again we planned our Santa time perfectly--right at the end of the Chiefs game! No lines for us! And it was a good thing too because someone in a green shirt did NOT want to hang with Santa. It is actually amazing that they even got this picture because Mr. J was not having it this year. Christopher at least got to tell Santa what he wanted for Christmas and he has a fabulous smile too!

The Winter Garden

The garden in winter... resting and waiting for spring!

Snuggling

On this very lazy, cold and icy Saturday, Jonathan and Daddy did some snuggling on the couch!

Gingerbread Houses

This morning it is cold and icy and since Christopher's basketball game got cancelled (they cancel things here when there is a threat of 3 inches of snow!) we decided to spend the morning making gingerbread houses. This is Christopher's third house of the season (one back east and one at school) but it was J's first and he discovered the joys of sneaking candy in between placing it on the house!

Here are the finished products! I obviously helped J and Chris did a great job on his!

Soccer!

Jonathan and the other kids at story time got a special treat! After stories and songs, a man from Sporting KC came and did amazingly age-appropriate soccer activities with these little guys. J loved it! We may have to get involved in soccer after all!

Quote of the Morning

Two things to know before revealing this quote. 1) Jonathan loves this song called the "Belly Button Song" from Sandra Boynton's "Philadelphia Chickens" book/CD. J calls it the "Beebo song." 2) Jonathan refers to "Hamilton" as "Hameeton."

As we were driving home from Christopher's landmark presentation this morning, the "Belly Button Song" came on the radio. Jonathan says (and I really wish I could have recorded the intonation of his voice because it makes it that much funnier), "No Beebo Song Mommy. I want Hameeeeeeton!!!"

KC Landmark Project

Christopher's class presented their Kansas City Landmark projects today! It was great to hear all the kids talk about their landmarks and we got to watch "tourism" videos that they made about their places. Chris studied the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. It was a lot of fun to see!

Union Station Christmas

Yesterday we made our annual trip to Union Station to check out the beautiful Christmas decorations! Everything looked fabulous as usual and even though the ride-on train wasn't running, the model trains were going. We never get tired of checking out the model train exhibit!

Now Listen to My Declaration

Ever since we started listening to "Hamilton" Christopher has been fascinated with everything related to the Revolution, the Constitution, and our founding fathers. While I was going through some boxes in the basement, I came across a packet of imitation documents from the Revolutionary era. Growing up where I did, Grammy took me to just about every major Revolutionary site that there is so we ended up with some cool souvenirs! There is a copy of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights as well as imitation colonial money and a call to arms by General Washington. Above, he made a "quill" and is pretending to write the Declaration. And yesterday, we stopped at US Toy to get something for Jonathan so I told Chris he could pick something out as well. What was his first choice? Obviously... a tricorne hat. 

Haaaaaaats!

They boys are sporting their fabulous newspaper hats, compliments of Grammy!

Reading together

Baking

When Christopher was a toddler, I really enjoyed having him help me bake and cook. Today, Jonathan continued the tradition and helped me bake some chocolate chip pumpkin muffins this morning!

Tea and a book

Chris has a little cold this morning so he took his tea while reading a little Harry Potter. 

Altogether

It's not often that you get both dogs on one chair and at least one of the kids too!

Thanksgiving Back East

We returned Friday from a fantastic trip back east to see friends and family. The cousins especially had a fun time together, with Chris having three sleepovers with Poppy, Elsie and Bennett and Jonathan getting to spend a lot of time with them as well. No sleepovers for him yet but that time is coming! For now, the "run game" (a.k.a. running down the upstairs hallway at Grandma and Grandpa's with the big kids) will have to do. Chris got to go to an Army football game and the Radio City Christmas Show. I also took the boys skating at Rye Playland and we saw Bennett play hockey. I also had a blast taking Chris over to New Jersey to see where I grew up and the houses I lived in over the years.

This trip was a lot of fun for me as well because I got to spend a lot of time in Jersey seeing great friends and visiting my hometown, which I don't get to see as often now that Grammy is not living there. We had our 20th high school reunion so it was fun catching up with dear friends and friends I haven't seen in years. I also got to visit with my softball coach/history teacher/mentor, Karen Kosch (second picture down). I even got to take Chris back to my old high school!

Food Coma

We had a lovely brunch with Grammy complete with a chocolate fountain and now we are all in a food coma!

Sunday Morning Wrestling

What better thing to do after church than to pin your big brother to the floor...