David's Santa Debut

Christmas clothes

Since we are leaving this weekend we had to wear our Christmas clothes to church yesterday. David and Allison were so excited to wake up Sunday to more snow and then get to slide down the sidewalk to church. They were even more excited to be able to wear new clothes to church.

trains and fireworks

The city we live in celebrated it's 50th anniversary on Saturday. They had a big celebration at the community center with a HUGE model train exhibit. We had to go and see them. David was so excited. Allison got into them and found a train that was going around that she claimed as hers (it was all super hero cars). They gave each child a hat and a railroad crossing sign keychain. Along with that was free popcorn and hot chocolate. For some reason winter decided to come and brought freezing temperatures and snow.

Instead of going outside, we found a nice seat in the community center with some friends and watched the amazing fireworks set to Christmas music.

(Dave made sure I posted some of the firework shots, he thought they were great.)

David and Allison thought they were pretty amazing. I believe it was the first fireworks they have seen since they went off at 6:30 instead of the late summer hours. They loved them.

frost

The other morning the kids woke up EARLY and looked out the window and saw white "crystals" on the grass. They quickly ran upstairs and put on clothes so they could go explore what it was. They were fascinated that it could crunch and go away when you stepped on it.

They loved finding leaves and the frost that was on them.

Luckily they got cold and were only outside for about 10 minutes. I was still in my pajamas and was glad I didn't have to go outside to get them. Nothing like playing outside at 7:15 am.

a trip to santa

Santa came to our library yesterday and we HAD to go. We had tried to visit Santa the day he came to the mall, as we are members of the kids club and were invited to a special day. Well, we went, saw Santa and stood in line for about 20 minutes when David realized he didn't know what he wanted for Christmas and couldn't sit on Santas lap until he knew. We went right over to the toy store and only confused him more as to what he would tell Santa. Fast forward two weeks and he thinks he knows. So we head to the library with our cans of food to give them so we can get a photo opp. The line was HUGE already. So as the kids waited they played chess.

Allison was a bit afraid of Santa. She had brought her doll, of course, to show Santa. He held it and she then held her dolls hand. I think at first she thought he was going to take her doll. David finally decided on telling Santa he wanted yellow walkie talkies.

It was fun to go with some friends and all see Santa together.

going for a walk

Allison was collecting a bunch of things and putting them in her stroller. She went searching through the closet and kept asking me for something. I couldn't understand her and then she pulled out the fireman hat, smiled and stuck it on her head. She turned to her stroller, with her purse on her arm and said "see ya, me walk baby."

Gumdrops

I found this fun recipe/craft that uses gumdrops to make Santa, Snowmen and a tree. We tried it out, but found our sprinkles broke before we could stick them in for eyes or for the ornaments on the tree. Allison loved that she got make something with candy and David was mad I wouldn't let him eat all three shapes he created. I was trying them out to see if we needed them for a primary open house we are having, we will be passing on that one.

leaves

We were walking back from Allison's little joy school the other day and Allison and David discovered the pile of leaves I haven't bagged up yet.

They had so much fun running and crunching them, throwing them and trying to get away from them as they fell.

Allison got caught by one.

cooking with Grandma

The other day a friend of Allison's came over and was making hot chocolate in the toy kitchen for everyone. Allison thought that was pretty cool and since has been making us hot chocolate daily. She has added hot pads to the mugs so we won't burn our hands and will even spin the plate in the microwave to make sure our pretend cups are warm throughout. She requested the help of grandma while she was here.

David got into being a cook and waiter and once again grabbed his notebook and pencil to make sure to write down our orders and get dad his sushi and mom her blizzard. Thanks for playing grandma.

mini candy apples

David had seen pictures of his cousins make some fun mini caramel apples and dip them in sprinkles and asked Grandma to bring them so he could try it. It was so much fun...and a bit messy too. Allison couldn't figure out to not dump the sprinkles in the caramel.

With a melon baller we made a bunch of round apples and stuck toothpicks in them. They then went to town dipping in caramel and then into sprinkles of various colors and shapes.

Then the best part was eating all of them!

After changing clothes to wash all the caramel out of the shirts they settled in for a tv show and were instantly mezmorized.

Turkey time

We were so excited to have Grandpa and Grandma Jones here to enjoy Thanksgiving with us. We had lots of fun playing and making messes together.

David and Allison had fun making turkeys that Grandma and Grandpa Deskins sent them. It was also a lot of fun to eat them! Thanks!

Part of our Thanksgiving is the annual "I'm thankful for" game. We hide candy corns under the plates and after eating we go around saying something we are thankful for for each one we have. David and Allison found them before dinner and were amazingly excited to tell us what they were thankful for(or maybe it was the candy they were excited for!) They were both so thankful for family and each other.

Grandpa taught David and Allison the art of the "wishbone". They were really excited about seeing who would end up with the bigger end. They pulled and pulled,

but it wasn't quite ready and wouldn't snap.


A few days later we tried it again...

Ready set go.

Allison was a bit shocked that she ended up with so much. She didn't quite know what to think of it.

apple orchard

The other day we had the chance to go to an apple orchard and pick some apples. It happened to be one of the coolest mornings we have had yet. But for good apples at a good price we had to go. David and Allison were so excited to go with their friends too.

We had so much fun, we almost missed getting David to preschool. He and his friend ran around finding the trees with the biggest apples.

While Allison stood there shivering, putting "baby" apples in the box, and then ended up in the car having a snack.

Once again, we have more apples than we know what to do with. We were told how to store them so they would last all winter. We'll see how they do.

bug girl

The past few days Allison has been walking around with her hands up and growling like she is a monster. It is so funny to see her try to scare you and chase you while she has her little hands up and mouth pierced in a growl. So she found David's bug glasses and stuck them on, with her hood up, and was so pleased with herself. She gave me a scare when I came down the stairs!

mopping

The other day David had the chance to clean the kitchen floor.

He said "Dad, I'm a good mopper. I think when I grow up I could be a mopper. People could pay me to mop at their house."

Five minutes later, "Dad, I just don't know whether I should be an artist or a mopper."

turkey time

At play group we had a turkey party and made some turkey hats, made turkey cookies and played turkey games. Of course I didn't have my camera. When Aaron came home the kids put on their turkey hats for him. I had made one turkey hat that was different than the ones the kids made for one of the games. David graciously put it on to show Aaron. When I asked him why he wouldn't smile he answered, "Because I got cooked."

Allison thought that was funny, so she had to try.

Attempt #1

Attempt #2

So Aaron had to get in on the fun.