Thanksgiving

I found these pictures from Thanksgiving on Sam's phone! I was looking for pictures from Christmas and saw these from Thanksgiving instead.

Here's Grandma Doris reading to Leah.

This is the "before" picture.

Don't these two look excited?

Yum!

James did go to the bootheel with us, despite a lack of photographs taken! And we visited with Uncle Jeff, too, and Patti made an impressive spread for Thanksgiving with several pies. I guess this is the only picture from their house:

Magic Tree

We went to see the Magic Tree out at Cherry Hill.

Sam took a picture of me and the girls.

And then James came back and another person said they'd take a photo of all 5 of us (then Sam returned the favor for their family).

Leah liked the lights.

She enjoyed them a lot last year, too.

James (and Amelie) wanted to spend the whole time playing over by the fountain, and then when we left he said, "But I didn't get to see the magic tree!"

 

Our selfies tend to look a little "deer in the headlights."

Warm Springs Ranch

We went out to see the Busch Clydesdales near Boonville and the lights/decorations.

Here's Leah - I think she may be tasting her coat.

The kids liked seeing the horses, though we didn't wait in line for the picture with one. Leah and Amelie petted a nose.

James was somewhat underwhelmed by the experience 

We had our free beers and the kids had hot chocolate and other treats.

Christmas Overload

I tried to whittle it down some, but not too hard. I went a little overboard with Christmas, both in terms of photos and in terms of presents.

Since they were up late for Christmas Eve, the kids all slept in for Christmas morning - they were up around 7:30 (their bus usually comes at 7:05). Here they are right before we let them have at it.

Reading the instructions. 

Amelie asked for a nesting doll after someone from Russia came to her school to talk about Russian culture. 

Cutting open an LOL pet ball. This seems slightly dangerous.

Leah got an Elmo, which was actually a toy that we already had that I just wrapped up for her since I don't think she knew about it. "Elmo" is one of the (many!) words she knows - from a Sesame Street book that we have. 

She also kept redistributing the gifts - deciding at random that "This Leah's" or "This Dada's" and passing presents and packages out again. 

Look at James's face when he opened the boomerang he asked for. 

Mayhem!

 

 

Sam made Leah a collage of family photos. She enjoys it a great deal - she kept going back to look at it all day long. She'd point to each person and name them.

Then we lost them to electronics the rest of the day (almost). James went out to play with his boomerang a few times and then Sam took the big kids to the park twice to hunt for Pokemon. 

Video footage:

Here's the link to last year for comparison. 

Christmas Eve

We went to the candlelight service at church on Christmas eve. Our friend Patty took a photo in front of the Christmas ficus.

I was going to include a link to last year's picture for comparison, but I guess it didn't make it onto the blog, so I'll go ahead & post it now. Believe it or not, this was the good one. (Same with the above.) 

The kids and I hung out in the nursery during the break between services, since Sam was playing the drums at the 8 o'clock one. (James said, "Is this allowed? Did you get permission?") There was also a cookie exchange and I took Grandma Wanda's date pinwheels - I remember that she used to make all kinds of cookies and candy - but the pinwheels were plenty of steps for me and they didn't even turn out quite the same (still good, though). 

Cookie Monster

I didn’t even know she knew the word “cookie” til she asked for one at Schnucks. (Usually I make a big sib share with her!)

The blue fuzzy jacket from Aunt Lana seals the deal.

Sailor

We went to Steak and Shake (because kids eat free on Sunday). Leah was the only one who would wear the hat. I think she looks like a drunken sailor.

Ice Skating

Amelie met up with some of her Ridgeway friends to go ice skating down in Jefferson City. I rented a pair of skates as well and was surprised by how bad I was! I thought that skating was the kind of thing you didn't forget - like riding a bike.

These walker things were very helpful for the kids - but it was super busy at the rink and we didn't have one for the whole time. 

Here they are having a race. 

James got frustrated and then we had ice cream at Central Dairy. I'd like to go back and get in the practice of it a little more - or maybe go over to Forest Park and use the outdoor rink.

Christmas Party

Sam's new office had a Christmas party. We got all gussied up and had our friend Sophia take a picture of us before we left. I like the sneaky photo bomber in the background the best.

We had a good time! (And the kids had a good time while we were gone, too! Sophia gave Leah some Pop Rocks and made a hilarious video that I can't figure out how to get out of facebook messenger and onto the blog.) 

Christmas Tree

I was up late the other night and couldn't sleep. James joined me on the couch around 2am and we both enjoyed the tree for a little while.