Pre-Christmas Happenings

Laura's latest belt test

Grandpa Phil came to visit! 

Adam and I discussing ancestors and family trees

Christmas at Jim's parents'

We had a great time giving gag gifts for Christmas at Jim's folks' house. Most were from Goodwill and probably destined to return to Goodwill.

Jim found this great hat for his dad. It looked great on everybody who tried it!

Bob and Kate's gifts had a loose Sasquatch theme

Have I mentioned that Jim had pneumonia? His eyes are a bit dead in the picture because he was pretty sick at this moment. But he's almost back to 100% now. No more freeloading!

Laura got to sit on Sunshine for a bit

We joined the embarrassing club of people who have dressed up their animal and then photographed  it.

I was surprised to see a poem Laura had written last summer at Grandma's house. It was great!

There may have been a bit of cell phone slot machine playing :)

Christmas at Jenny's parents house

 In no particular order...

Would be a great picture of Adam if it weren't for the dog bum.

Laura was very generous with her loom

Photo by my mom or dad

Photo by my mom

Photo by my mom or dad

Photo by my mom or dad

Photo by my mom or dad

Photo by my mom or dad

Photo by my mom or dad

Photo by my mom or dad

Photo by my mom or dad

Photo by my mom

Photo by Jim

Photo by Jim

Photo by Jim

Photo by Jim

Photo by Jim

Weird dog

She regularly falls asleep with her head almost vertical

Weird Jenny

Did you know it has been cold here?

Water bottles left full in the car. Oops

Not the first time we left water to freeze in the car, but apparently the first time the bottles were full. 

Awesome

As the dust settles, the KidiJamz Studio has been the one present that has captivated the entire family the most. Here's a sample. Its coolness lies in its ability to change the songs in so many ways. You pick one of like 25 songs (like Old MacDonald) and then you can change the from Hip Hop to Rock to Regae to Jazz to Techno as the song plays. (I wish it had a Country option!) There are style specific fillers, voice changers, rhythms, instruments you can add as the song goes along and change the speed fast, medium, or slow. Or you can just play the piano. I think it teaches you songs, but I haven't gotten chance to investigate that closely. It has an iPod-like thing that you can record onto, then take it off and play your songs separately. Everything is intuitive and easy to use. It is just so very fun for all of us.

Fun at Grandma C and Papa's

So funny for so many reasons

Angel Choir 2013

Check out these Angels!

This was Adam's first year. There was lots of nail biting by Mom, but he didn't have even one problem. As far as I was told (and I'm friends with his teacher) rehearsals were fantastic, the performance was great, and he sat wonderfully during the other acts. What an angel!

An what is up with Laura's "Peace" sign? I think it works for her :)

He looks a bit nervous?

Trail Blazer

Clearly Laura prefers to draw her own pictures rather than trace or color someone else's. I knew this was the case since she started putting crayon to paper and she would turn over the coloring sheets rather than fill in the pictures of cartoon characters. But I was still surprised when I saw that she ignored the preprinted owl drawing on this scratch-off paper.

Sometimes I worry that she will be a pushover or get taken advantage of as she grows up because she seems to be such a pleaser, but little bits of independence like this give me confidence that she's going to be just fine.

Old Friends

Michelle came to see me! OK, I guess Odin and John came too. 

They stayed one night with us before going up north to John's parents' house. We had most of a day to play and I have to say that I was astonished at how well the kids played all day. The last time the kids were together, they were 5 and that was just a brief visit in a similar situation. I don't think there was one altercation the whole time. And as far as I was aware, they included Adam very nicely too. 

And need I say that Michelle and I clicked just find after 2 years too :) But I had no doubts as we keep in close touch. I'm so lucky to have her.