The holidazzle parade!

A few weeks ago we took the kids to Minneapolis to see the Holidazzle parade.  This was the first trip there for the two little ones and they were excited for a few things:  taking the light rail into Minneapolis and seeing the parade.

It was a bit of a rush to get there on time after work, picking up kids from preschool, making snacks, getting into warm clothes, finding the light rail station, etc, but we made it just in time to print tickets and jump on the train. 

The kids LOVED the train. That may have been their favorite part of the trip.  I always love their expressions when they see the tall buildings in Minneapolis and their wide eyes looking at everything.  The parade route wasn't overly busy when we got there, so we laid out our blanket and got settled in for the parade.  We were conveniently sitting right by a Caribou Coffee, so Tim graciously got us some hot coffee and HC for the kids.  Funny that the kids had absolutely no idea what the HC was that Tim kept referring too (hot chocolate) but they were pretty adamant that they needed it and got impatient waiting for the HC.  At one point Emma or Evan said "Mom! Just WHEN is Dad going to get back with that HC of ours."

Then - the parade started and they did like it. I wish the floats would have been a bit closer together, but overall, it was fun.  One highlight of the parade was the Peter Pan float.  The kids loved seeing captain hook and peter pan and REALLY liked it when the ticking alligator came up to Evan and opened his big mouth over Evan's head.  It was hilarious and he just looked up and smiled.

patiently waiting for the HC

Santa 

Pinocchio

The first float

Evan made a little friend right next to him at the parade and they were excitedly watching the parade together.  Emma enjoyed showing me all the twinkling lights and drinking her HC.


One of the funny parts of the whole night was Evan acting as the "expert" on the light rail and telling Emma all about it.  He took the train a week prior to the Monster Truck Rally in Minneapolis and really was the utmost authority on the light rail.

Christmas decorating

The first weekend in December saw us decorating the house for Christmas.  I had went to Michaels the Friday before and spent more money than planned on neat little Christmas decorating ideas for the kids and I.  I pulled them out earlier than planned as Evan got up around 6am that Saturday and was ready to start the day.

So, we headed downstairs to turn on some Christmas cartoons, make some coffee, and to start with the Christmas decorating. It wasn't long before Emma woke up as well and was eager to make some things as well.

I bought random branches, glittered items, poinsettia's and other holiday things from Michaels and we ended up with these:

Evan's creation

My bird table center - made from a simple living or other idea from online.

Emma's poinsettia creation

And Evan's flower creation

The kids really got into it and had a lot of fun decorating the house for the holidays. They get excited for any holiday and love it when I pull out the approriate house decorations.

That afternoon I was outside finding sticks for the bird creation I made and Evan was outside helping.  It was still not snowy out at this point so he was out driving his gator and putting every stick he could find in the back.  As I was looking at the sticks and cutting them to length, I noticed he would take a stick and run off.  A few second back he would come out empty handed and would grab another stick and run off with the same ending.  Back he comes with no stick, to just grab another one and leave.  Curious, I follow the little boy to find this:

sticks placed in corner of house

Sticks placed on metal post

Sticks placed on sill of door

And Evan by sticks

Come to find out, there were random sticks placed all over my yard... on the basketball hoop, in the garage, on the driveway.  Why -- One with a non- four year old mind may ask?? Well, he was decorating!!  And, he got mad when I accidentally stepped on one of the decorating sticks by the garage.

The next day was spent finding and decorating the Christmas tree!  We went to a different tree lot this year, one with no warming house, candy canes, or sleds, but that didn't stop the  kids from running around proclaiming that they had, indeed, found the best Christmas tree EVER!

More pics of the final product to come later!

Ice fishing

Evan has become quite fond of ice fishing the past few days we have been at the cabin.  He goes out with Tim every day and proceeds to chat his ear off, mess up a fishing pole, or drop something down the hole occasionally.  (today, it was a water bottle and we caught it before it sunk.)  Does Tim get frustrated?  Yes, but I can say that he truly enjoys having his little boy out there for amusement and for father-son bonding time.

This morning, we went out as a family.  While Emma doesn't get into ice fishing that much (other than the occasional - "Emma - I have a fish, want to reel it in?")  She now keeps herself occupied with her iPod touch, or visiting with the other ice fishing neighbors.

Very proud of her favorite Christmas gift!

Where is Evan?! With the camouflage shirt, snow pants and chair, it can be hard to spot the little man.

Tim putting a minnow on the hook. Something he does constantly while fishing with little kids.

Reeling in his minnow - to make sure it is still there.

Fishing with little kids takes patience.  They are never watching the bobber (or rarely are anyway) they are constantly reeling in their line to make sure they still have a minnow, they are constantly up and moving around as they get bored. Or - they feel the need to come in and out of the fish house and in doing so, step on fishing poles, drop things near the holes, or who knows what.  But, it is still fun. I remember ice fishing with my Dad when I was little and had fun.  The nice thing with the cabin, at least, is that we can come and go as we please.  We have a nice spacious fish house that comfortably seats 4-5 and that has a heater in it, so we are warm.  I try to pack snacks and bring out the movie player to keep the kids occupied, and if the fish are not biting, we go back in the house or do something else outside.

Evan was fishing with Tim on Friday afternoon (without him having a nap) and when Tim looks over at him, he notices that Evan's head has dropped and that he feel asleep while holding his fishing pole.  A few minutes later, he hears a thud and down goes the fishing pole while Evan is still sleeping!

All-in-all, we have fun fishing at the cabin and do it at least once a day. Thank goodness for a nice warm fish house!

a special visitor

Christmas was fabulous here!  The kids opened presents, ate candy and goodies, and laughed to their hearts delight. The holidays are so special with them. It is nice to be able to experience the holidays through a child's eyes AND to know that all the planning, shopping and wrapping is appreciated!

Christmas Eve night was great (more on the day festivities later).  But that night, after the kids were nestled all snug in their beds, Tim and I woke them up to a special surprise- Santa!

Wouldn't you know it, after I put on my Kerchief and Tim, his cap, and we were settling in for a long winters nap, we arose to a clatter and sprang from our bed to see what was the matter.  And to what should to our wondering eye appear - but, well, Santa Claus!

We got the kids out of their beds just as Santa was coming in the front door with a jolly Ho Ho Ho and jangling his jingle bells.  Emma took a look at Santa and ran back to her bed and Evan unfortunately wakes up hard if he doesn't do it on his own and was lightly crying the entire time.  I ran back and got Emma and put her on my lap as we watched Santa from upstairs, being very quiet of course so Santa wouldn't know that we were awake.  Santa put presents under the tree, ate a few cookies, drank some milk, grabbed the carrots for the reindeer, and with a merry Ho Ho Ho left the house.

Emma was wide eyed the entire time she was watching Santa move about downstairs and as she ran back into her bed, when we assume, Santa was flying away on his sleigh with the reindeer, I went in to chat with her.  She was pretty excited to see Santa and gave me big smile, wide happy eyes, and happy kicks with her feet as she drifted off to sleep with visions of sugar plums dancing in her head.

Evan was laid back in bed with hesitation by me that he will remember anything.  I wasn't even sure that he was totally awake for the whole thing and hasn't said much about seeing Santa, well, other than the stories that Emma has been telling people.

For me, it was really cool to see Emma excited to see Santa - although I was a bit surprised that she was nervous about it.  I thought she would want to run down the stairs after he left but she ran back to her room and snuggled under the blankets to wake up excitedly around 6:30 to want to open presents.

Maybe we will be lucky enough to see Santa again next year :-)

Santa comes to preschool

Evan had another Christmas program at his preschool this week!  He was learning Christmas songs there, as well, in order to perform a 10 minute concert in front of camera/iPhone yielding parents.  He and his little classmates marched in proudly with their little red noses and reindeer hats and impatiently rocked back-n-forth waiting for the songs to be played.

I somewhat forgot to dress him up for this concert -
but I figured this was at the end of the day and he wouldn't wear his tie all day anyway.

 They sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and then received some bells to ring for "Jingle Bells" and then they got a special surprise - Santa Clause came to visit!

Santa looking for Evan in his book

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Santa was a big hit with all the kids.  He had a nice leather bound book that he was able to look up all the little kids names and write down everything they wanted to Christmas.  When it was Evan's turn, Evan very confidently said "I want teenage mutant ninja turtles and an iPod touch!"  (which made Santa laugh because all the kids asked for an iPod touch.)  And, because Evan said it so proudly, Santa exclaimed, "Oh, what a decisive little boy you are!" because he didn't hesitate at all.  While he wouldn't sit on Santa's lap, he did give him a big high five and Christmas card.  It seemed all the kids thought this was a good idea, as they were all going to their Christmas station and making presents and cards for Santa.

Next came snacks such as muffins, cheese and crackers, vege's and fruit and then home.  But, before he went to bed he asked me with his big blue eyes, "Mama, do you think Santa will come to school tomorrow too?"

More like Evan

And then.. shortly after his preschool concert, he went from this:

To this:

After church, he got home and went up to change.  I had to laugh when he came down looking like this.  No real surprise... his beloved tie dye, with an added embellishment.

The Sunday School concert

I have heard Evan singing Christmas songs for the past few weeks and didn't really think much of it, until we got a note in the mail from our church about the upcoming Preschool Christmas Concert! Ah yes, that explains the "Away in the Manager" sung by a little four year old. So, we practiced the songs and the hand motions and tried to get him excited about it. The day before the concert, Emma and I took him shopping. She was very excited about the prospect of dressing her baby brother and was excitedly showing him one Christmas sweater and then a Cars holiday shirt and a bunch of randomness. He chose a red striped tie. And, was pretty excited about it. I picked up a light blue button down shirt to wear with it and we were done. (and hoping he wasn't going to wear camouflage pants with them.) The day of the concert - he looked like this:      (sorry they are blurry)

The one thing I didn't catch? That he was wearing his black snowboots. Overall he did great. He didn't do the hand motions to the songs, but I was pretty proud of my little man.

The Heuer Nativity

To try to interject some of the true meaning of the holiday, we have been reiterating the Christmas story for the kids. We put up our nativity, read some of the story books we have about the night that Jesus was born, and talked about the fun of giving and not always receiving. For a few nights, it must have sunk in as the kids were constantly putting on Christmas plays. They were, uhhhh..... entertaining to watch. Especially when Mary would burst out in random songs, such as Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer or the Star Spangled Banner. Joseph has a bit part in all the plays, as did the camel. It was pretty much all about Mary. 

Meet Joseph - a very rockin' Joseph wearing tie-dye




The blessed couple with Baby Jesus (aka Mater).




The camel (Sage) just wouldn't cooperate.  So, Joseph tried to keep him in line.



Snow!

Of course, we were out in the snow last weekend. And boy did we love it!  It was exciting to wake up in the morning and see the ground covered white. Especially because we had the snowy forecast and we had the winter storm warning before we went to bed and to see the white beautiful snow in the morning and that the forecast was actually right?? Even better!

The kids were excited for the snow and to go and play and not all too excited to go to Sunday School. But, the fact that we got them up early and got to drive in the snow at 8:30 this morning seemed okay for them as they still jumped around a bit and trudged around the driveway before we made the drive to church.

When we got back?? It was a different story. They, upon arrival home from church, instantly got snowpants, boots, hats, mittens, and heavy coat on and were outside.  I had to make my coffee first and then slowly made my way outside to watch them laugh and jump in the inches upon inches of snow.  (now, the weather forecast confirmed what we thought - about 17 inches of snow and it is wonderful!)

The morning trip outside consisted of making the run down the hill for the tubes and packing it down.  It was slow going for the kids at first, but they enjoyed the journey.  They also got out their snowboards and made their way down the hills. Then, they both got out their little shovels and helped me shovel the sidewalk. Then, back to sledding, and back to tubing, and back to snowboarding, then off to the swingset and over and over and over.  And, the cherry on top - Hot chocolate!!

Happy boy

Little lady having fun in the snow.



Tubing.




Getting better at snowboarding




The snow




The snow draping on our swingset.




The same pictures as before - just a few hours later.  Where is the birdhouse?




Our deck.  It still hasn't been shoveled.



Unfathomable

You know... words just cannot express what happened today.  Normally, news about shootings doesn't affect me like this.  But I think it was the fact that it was kindergartners... an elementary school. where my Emma is... just an insane person affecting so many people.

This afternoon was rough for me, I am not going to lie.  I read about it at work and the rest of my coworkers and I just sat there, literally, stunned.  What do you say, really?  Other than thinking guiltily "Thank GOD it wasn't me" and then to think "God, what if it were me?" 

I started to run through the situation my kids were in.  Evan at preschool with a keypad to enter the building, but God forbid, he goes outside to play at least 3 times a day... what if?!

Emma at Elementary school with no school security and anyone can enter that building. Granted, visitors have to show an id, but that doesn't hold up against a person with a gun.

I don't know.  This is just constantly on my mind.  I have a heavy heart and I held me kids tonight until I got the "Mom, cut it out!"  They don't get it, which is good.  I don't want them to be scared like I am. Which.. is ridiculous, but still.

All I can say is I will pray for the victims and hope that bastard gets what is coming to him.  He got off easy, really. The coward committed suicide.

That's all.  As much as I want too, I know I won't be able to get it out of my mind for a long time.

To my faithful readers

Thanks for sticking with me during the dry spells of my blogging.  I just emailed my final exam and am done with my class, so expect a whole slew of blog posts (with pictures) coming up.

Hallelujah!!  Free at least, God all mighty, I am free at last!!

As if it weren't enough....

The kids put out their shoes for St. Nicholas!  We met with Evan's former daycare Mom Theresa and her family tonight to catch up.  The kids were so excited to see each and the adults were happy for happy hour specials - ha!

Of course the little kids got talking about Christmas and the elf on the shelf and that tonight is St. Nicholas night.  So we got home and what is the first thing that Emma does?  Put the shoes under the tree. St. Nick wasn't feeling overly generous though and gave the kids 4 quarters, an orange, and a candy cane.  I guess I don't feel as though I need to participate in every holiday tradition there is.  It gets too hard to keep up.

The real treat though was seeing them again.  Evan does miss going there everyday to play with his good friend Will and to receive the extra special care from Theresa.  She gave him a copy of his favorite book tonight The Ghost Train that she has read to him forever and he absolutely loved it!  We had to read it when we got home.

More to come later..... peace out.