In an attempt to restrain myself from blabbing on and on about the rugrats, I've started a blog to upload photos and videos and the occasional story for your internet browsing pleasure.
We were able to have candlelight service at church on Christmas Eve, which was so nice. Last year we lit candles at home and watched on zoom. Leah was a tiny bit wound up. On our way outside to sing Silent Night, our friend Megan said, "That Leah is sassy!" and then, "I saw her rip your scarf off & throw it on the ground!" We sat in the back & she spent a fair amount of the time looking out the window and lying under the chair and playing with my scarf, which I guess she was offended that I picked up off the ground & put back on.
After church, we drove over to the Magic Tree, where Leah was fascinated by the lights and Amelie and James wanted to play in the water fountain.
We opened presents with Sam's folks Christmas Eve lunch and the kids got winter gear & books & art supplies. All set:
Here's us opening presents at our house Christmas morning - still no furniture in the front room, though!
James was a little bit excited:
Amelie got a dragon blanket & Sam wanted to take a picture.
"With your face in it," he clarified.
Leah's favorite present was a giant hatchimal from Nana Jana. Last night, James worriedly asked if we'd gotten her a hatchimal & was not mollified when I said no but maybe Nana Jana had.
Unicorn horn & hand-me-down PJ's.
Aunt Holly got her a library like the one she likes so well in the bootheel.
The aftermath - it looks like a tornado came through. I forgot to get Spark a present, but then we took a hike since the weather was so nice & I think he was happy with that.
The 10 year old neighbor got a drone - I know this because I saw it fly through the yard & then shortly thereafter I saw him hop the fence and follow it. I guess it got away from him & is lost! UPDATE: It was found 1 street over.
Sam recorded another Christmas carol video, too -- the first one in the new house.
Here's his video-recording setup in the basement:
I think they initially left us off the Williams family bingo/Christmas zoom, and I got a bunch of calls and texts right when we were making dinner & slime, but we hopped on & James & Sam & I all won a game. I don't think anybody got a screenshot this year, though.
The kids and I made Christmas cookies. Amelie especially enjoyed rolling the soft dough for the jam thumbprints into balls. Leah and James like to add ingredients into the mixer.
Looks like Leah's eating jam right off the spoon.
It was so bright that Amelie's transition lenses were dark inside.
Right after this picture, James dropped the cookie on the floor. Spark was well pleased.
Sam made a pecan pie and pecan tartlets (by himself). I forgot to get a picture of the whole array of frosted sugar cookies before we ate a bunch. We took the better looking ones to church so these are the misfits. James made a whole army of weird elves.
I sewed Amelie a dress with the fabric she picked out way back in the summer. When I had her try it on before I did the hem, she said, “This is not very Christmasy.”
She warmed up to it a little.
(According to the blog, Leah got hers in June.) There's enough of Amelie's fox fabric left to make a Leah-sized one, or maybe a shirt.
I made (somewhat lumpy) heart-shaped pillows out of the leftover from Leah's dress. Leah likes to put her toys in the "pocket" of hers. I really mistakenly believed that the heart-shaped pillow would be easier than making a shirt or a dress, but it definitely was more difficult. Oh well, they are homemade.
James has started back to gymnastics! He's at a different gym & is loving it - the old gym didn't re-start the boys class post-COVID for some reason.
I haven't been yet, so the videos are courtesy of Sam:
This one shows off his man bun:
Leah's actually enrolled in class at the same time, but I didn't see any pics of her in our shared file. Amelie asked why she wasn't in a gymnastics class & I asked her if she wanted to be in a gymnastics class & she said no. So I guess she just wanted to be asked!
I helped out with Sunday School & the preschoolers made festive candle centerpieces with clay and evergreen sprigs and other crafty supplies. Leah wanted a candle each for her, James, and Amelie, but then she didn't so much want anyone else to light the candles or blow them out.
And then I attended small group time at preschool Friday when they made "gingerbread houses" - which were graham crackers hot glued to their empty milk cartons from snacktime! She was very careful and precise in spreading the frosting on with a tongue depressor and then using every piece of provided candy for decoration:
Also, it tested every single ounce of their 4 year old patience to work with the candy with their masks on - they kept wanting/trying to sneak bites but the masks were in the way.
Amelie's English class did a recipe project, and for part of the assignment, she made a video (with Sam's help) about the process.
Here it is:
She was much more concerned with the video part than the writing part, but she pulled it off in the end/at the last minute. Sam was going to make it a private YouTube link to send to the teacher, but she requested that we go ahead and publish it, so enjoy!
We all walked through the light display at Shelter Gardens on Friday since the weather was so good. (James, of course, refused to wear a coat - even though it wasn't that good.)
Believe it or not, this was the best picture. They passed out candy canes at the beginning of the walk.
And then on Sunday, everyone plus Aunt Holly and Nana Jana but minus Sam drove through the big display that Veteran's United puts up. Since Holly works there, we got to go early with a timed ticket, so no waiting an hour plus in line. Also since she works there, they just kept stopping us and giving us gifts! A picture frame, an I Spy book, a fleece blanket, hot cocoa, kettle corn, cookies and brownies, hot chocolate bombs and a gingerbread house kit to decorate later.
I made the kids take a picture before we left:
And the whole bunch of us:
No photos of the lights since I was driving, so I pulled this picture from the promotional materials:
And they took (most of) our picture as we were driving through, too:
The kids talked me into going across the street after church to play at the playground. Sam went on to the grocery store.
Leah climbed so high!
Amelie made clover chains.
It was a little windy.
I picked up three jackets and about a dozen masks that the elementary school kids had abandoned in the nice weather & made a pile on the bench by the door.
I really need to be better about photos in the bootheel. I'll make a renewed effort next visit!
Here's Aunt Holly getting in the spirit:
We had a quick trip to see my grandma & family & uncle Jeff in the bootheel for Thanksgiving, since both mom and I had to go back to work on Saturday. James and Leah played hooky (Leah missed her preschool feast & James missed a spelling test) and drove down with me and Nana Jana on Tuesday and then Amelie, Sam, and Steve came down on Wednesday.
We took some of the kids & dogs out to the big nice park since the weather was good. The dogs had a BALL and did not want to listen one bit.
The kids had fun, too. (This was before Amelie got there, though.)
The rocket ship slide is older than I am:
Still fun, though!
Holly & I got up at 5am to preheat the oven for the 24 pound turkey. She'd placed the grocery order for pickup and that's what they sent us. We couldn't decide if they were out of the smaller birds she'd requested (10+ pounds), or if it was a mixup and some big family got the wrong thing, or if they just didn't care and threw the first one in the cart since I'm sure it was super busy for the holiday. All equally likely options, I think.
I'm thankful for Aunt Lana getting a picture of Grandma Doris with two of her great-grandkids.
Second cousins - their birthdays are exactly 1 month apart.
All ready for the feast & sitting at the folding table:
Aunt Holly has been practicing rolling my hair for a perm. It looked a little wonky right after it came off the rollers, so I sent her this picture after I'd fixed it a little (I'm in the passenger seat of the van)
When we got home, we made our annual trip to Westlake for a tree & Sam bravely bungeed it down on top of the van. I guess there was a Christmas tree shortage this year (along with everything else) and the smallish tree to fit our 8-foot ceilings was $60!
