Flashback Saturday

When we were just hanging out this morning, Christopher rested on Brian and I took this picture:

It reminded me of a picture I took on the same couch a little over 5 years ago. The most telling difference is that the little boy in the picture was about 5 years younger and 30 pounds lighter!

And while we're showing pictures of Chris resting on Daddy's chest…

The Nutcracker

Today we took Christopher to the Kauffman Center in downtown Kansas City for him to see his first performance of The Nutcracker. It was a great experience and he did very well! During the first act, he was very good about whispering any questions he had. The second act brought a few wiggles but he did well overall. It was a great way to spend a freezing afternoon!

Letter to Santa

Today Chris wrote his very first letter to Santa Claus! This was his Advent activity for today and he took it very seriously, choosing five things that he would like for Christmas…

Advent

This year, we made an Advent calendar with Christopher to countdown the days until Christmas. I put together an envelope with a number on it that represents each day until Christmas. Inside the envelope is an activity (either a service activity or a fun holiday tradition) to do each day. For example, the activity for Sunday was to visit a Salvation Army ringer and donate money in their bucket. For that one, Chris went to his piggy bank and took out the $3 he had in the "donate" section (piggy banks are pretty fancy these days--there's also a save, spend, and invest section) to give. We also found some loose change around the house to give. On Monday, we had a Christmas song dance party and yesterday we donated food to Harvesters. Well, today was a fun activity, one that Chris was looking forward to all day! I found this online and it was to make Christmas trees out of ice cream cones, icing and sprinkles. Here is our boy hard at work!

We made one for Daddy and then Chris and I each made our own. And this activity wouldn't be nearly as fun if we didn't get to eat the trees, so eat them we did! Here's what they looked like before they got "chopped down."

Chris is also having to bundle up now that the temperature is starting to drop! In typical Kansas fashion, yesterday was 64 degrees and we were outside playing with John, Katie and Mary Jane in the driveway with no coats while today we are busting out the down to keep out the cold. I give you the silly boy in his new coat...

Lazy Bones

Mommy's busy cooking dinner and everyone else is laying down on the job!

Go Blue

The Kansas contingent of the Michigan football fan club eagerly awaits a game-tying touchdown…

And it's good!!!

Day After Thanksgiving

Greetings! I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving. We spent the morning yesterday watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade (a tradition I am handing down to Chris) and in the afternoon, we ate dinner with the Grodens. Grammy joined us at their house and Chris played much of the time with Lahna and Liam. It was a great way to spend the holiday! Today, Daddy had to work a half day so we put up the Christmas decorations while he was out and also took the dogs over to our old trail. It was warm enough to be out there but cold enough to have to bundle up. Holly was a big fan of the trail and all its fabulous smells! After we got back, the girls crashed on the couch and Holly snuggled up with Kasey's backside…

Meanwhile, Christopher was working on building some fantastic Lego creations. Along with the Christmas decorations, I also brought up my old Legos from the basement. After a thorough soaking and washing aways of 25 years of dust and dirty, they were ready for action! When Daddy got home from work, the boys worked on a really big spaceship…

 Notice the concentration on Christopher's face!