Christmas goodies

We didn't do a lot of Christmas baking this year, but had a few kid-friendly baking activities:

Sugar cookies during a Christmas-break play date, and a gingerbread house with Grammy and Papa.

Cute smiles

Every now and then I capture natural smiles from my kids.

Here's a few recent ones.  Love it!

Utensils

Cole knows how to use a fork and spoon, for the most part.

Every now and then he decides to switch things up and try out other utensils!

Kid close-ups

I had the camera out today, to put the regular lens back on.  The big zoom lens was on from Laine's school chapel (pictures to follow).

But before I could switch it back, the girls asked if they could take pictures of each other.  Laine got a great one of Mead - no cropping or anything!

Mead got a decent one of Laine, though I had to crop out the top 75%, which was blank wall :-)

And then I stepped way back and got a cute one of both girls in their Christmas dresses.  Not bad for a spontaneous photo shoot!

Christmas Cuties

Mead's class was extra small the other day.  And they all ended up wearing Christmas colors!

She is loving her time at school so much.

Redeeming all things...

... Including a nasty, old basketball hoop.

For over three years we've ignored the yucky basketball hoop that came with the house at the end of our driveway.  It was 10 feet tall, had fragments of a torn net hanging from it, along with a baseball-sized hole in the middle of the backboard, and was covered in black and green mold and fungus.  What's not to ignore??

Well, after seeing how much Cole loved his little indoor basketball hoop, I decided it was worth trying to fix up our outdoor hoop too.  Penny lowered it, I scrubbed it with soap and bleach, bought a new net and a couple of balls at Play It Again Sports, and it works great!  The hole is still there, but for less than $10 we redeemed the rest of it - not too shabby!

And it's been so much fun playing basketball with the kids and as a family, even on these cool December days.

Enjoying the Christmas Tree

We waited until December to put our tree up, but now that it's in our living room the kids have loved looking at it.

They all ended up wearing Christmas colors the other night.

Serious silliness!

There is something almost magical about a Christmas tree - even Cole knows to be gentle while enjoying it.

Chess

We've had several nights of this lately.  So excited for the girls (and Cole, too, eventually) to learn to play chess with their dad!

(Laine is not falling asleep, just deep in thought)

Already?

Does this mean Cole wants me to start potty training him?  I hope not... I just don't have it in me.  Not yet.  Sorry, buddy, I'm going to ignore your occasional interest in playing with the froggy potty and hope it's purely a toy to you.  Play on, little man!  Maybe in the summer we'll talk about this...

Thanksgiving chapel

Laine participated in the Thanksgiving Chapel at school for the first time this year.  Each year it is tradition for the kindergartners and first graders to put on a simple play about Thanksgiving.  

The students in Laine's class were pilgrims - she looks so cute here.  Perhaps she should dress like a pilgrim more often?!

The first graders were indians.

Laine practiced her line many times, and she said it nice and clearly with her classmate.

The play was a hit - enthusiasm and hard work paid off beautifully!

Lunch, learning, and laughter

The other day we had some more insulation blow into our ceiling.  (Thank you, Covenant Church!)  In order to do this the men pulled the big truck right into our front yard, got out their long hose, and climbed into the attic.

Mead and Cole were fascinated - so much so that they sat on the front step and asked to eat lunch outside so they could watch the man in the truck loading all the insulation into the noisy machine.

It was a beautiful day, and they thoroughly enjoyed passing the time watching, learning, and entertaining each other.

Basketball

Cole has thoroughly enjoyed his new basketball and hoop.

Eagerly watching it being assembled...

Time to play.

Score!

Trip to the pumpkin patch

I recently got to join Laine on a field trip to the pumpkin patch.  There are a lot of pictures here, so I'll keep the captions short.

The whole class - Jeremiah is hidden behind John.

Laine and Maggie.

Burlap sack slide.

Zip line swing.

Hay bale maze.

Another class picture, and one of just the girls with their souvenir pumpkins.

Pancakes and painting

Mead's class made pancakes at school the other day.

She was so excited to come home and tell me all about the process: 

measuring, mixing, and eating!  Yum, yum.

Mead has also been working on her painting skills, bringing home many wonderful creations.

Birthday treats

We didn't have a major celebration for Cole's birthday, but just did a few little things to make the day special.

Cole loved the card he got from Nan and Pop - an Elmo card that sang "Happy Birthday" to him.

He carried it around with him everywhere playing the song over and over.

Later that day, after Laine's soccer game, we went to Dairy Queen and got three blizzards to share between the five of us.  Cole was so excited!

Happy Halloween!

Just a few days after Penny's birthday and Cole's birthday is Halloween - what a busy time of celebrations!

We joined the Reels this year for trick-or-treating in their neighborhood and had a great time - cool evening, fun friends, lots of candy!

Such cute kiddos!

Happy Birthday Cole!

Cole turned two years old on October 27th.  Hard to believe he's that old already - he's certainly big enough though!  Here are his two-year check-up stats: 36 lbs (99% weight), 36 inches (88% height), 50.5 cm head (90%).  The doctor said, "I don't need to tell you that he's thriving!

We celebrated with chocolate chip pancakes that morning.

Trying to blow out the candles...

Success!  (With a little help from Laine)  

Yummy!

Fun opening presents...

Every boy needs a hammer to pound things!

And of course Cole was excited about his new basketball hoop.  More pictures to come.