Wild Lights at the Zoo

It turned warm! in the 50's! So we took the kids out to St. Louis to see the Wild Lights at the zoo and got home super late last night. They kept talking about "last year," but it was 2 years ago that we went last. A lot was the same, but it was still a lot of fun!

I wanted to eat at Stefanina's on the way out. We got to the restaurant & the waitress asked if we were sick of Christmas food - I'm not! But we're also not eating it all up the way we did after Thanksgiving - two great big similar meals with lots of leftovers too close together, I suppose. The kids (James especially) was not used to waiting at a restaurant for his food! It's been forever since they've been out anywhere - we've kept up our COVID-era practice of weekly carryout with them. Leah and I played the game we learned on Daniel Tiger where you move one thing on the table while the other people close their eyes, and then they try to guess what's changed. 

It's remarkably hard to take photos of lights, and also children who don't care about photos: 

Sam liked these - I think they look like Dr. Seuss: 

We waited in line a bit for the 4-D movie (Sam joked that apparently the 4th dimension is snow) and then bailed and went to see the penguins (& a sleeping polar bear & a rouge opossum that scurried across the path up ahead of us). Then at the end of the night, we waited in line again to see the movie and were the last ones in for the last showing. 

A nice woman in front of us offered to get all of us together: 

At the penguin house (in the puffin portion): 

Selfies are hard, too: 

 We stayed at the zoo until the very very end. 

Christmas 2022

We started off Christmas early with a drive through the VU lights at the beginning of December. It took a long time for them to get the photographs up & I was afraid something was wrong with it - this year, Mom's face was the one cut off & Leah couldn't be bothered eating her rice crispy treat! I love it. L to R: James (10 years old), Amelie (12 years old), Grandma Doris (90 years old), Nana Jana, Cousin Camron, Me, Leah (5 years old). The lights were really nice! And no waiting in line since we used Holly's employee invite. In fact, I drove by the entrance the 1st time because I was looking for a line of cars & there wasn't one. They gave us hot chocolate at the beginning & I asked for 6 & Nana Jana yelled from the back of the car that there were 7 people in the car & I yelled back at her that I didn't want to try to drink & drive. 

Sam's been introducing the kids to all his favorite Christmas movies - he was especially excited about Ernest Saves Christmas. On the 26th, Leah got to pick the movie & she said it was finally past Christmas so she didn't have to pick a Christmas movie. Ha! 

Believe it or not, this is the best picture from Christmas Eve candlelight service at church. Sam said afterward that it was the best the kids had acted (during the service!) and the other Sam said, well, theoretically they just get better behaved every year from here, right? RIGHT?? 

As per tradition, we went to the magic tree afterward. It was incredibly cold & we didn't stay long, but James got to play briefly on the frozen-over water feature so he was happy. 

All ready for opening presents the next day: 

The mantle: 

I am including this terrible picture of me from Christmas morning because it's a picture with me in it! I didn't get any of Sam on Christmas morning - or Grandma either! Sam got up & made cinnamon rolls & bacon & grandma got a wearable throw & a fancy soap. Spark got a present - two actually but I only wrapped one of them. 

The kids made Nana Jana & Grandma Mary calendars again. I liked the idea for a cardinal bird handprint. 

Leah got a bowling set: 

And a nightlight that changes colors with her name engraved on it from Aunt Jenn & Uncle Joe in New Mexico: 

Also A LOT of candy: 

Amelie with one of her new books & one of her new pairs of earrings (strawberries): 

James with his stocking: 

James wanted to go to the mall the day after & spend his Christmas money, which was burning a hole in his pocket. He also wanted to ride the carousel, which despite what it looks like here, he enjoyed immensely. He kept looking up at the mechanism for how the creatures move up & down. 

We got Chinese food at the food court & he bought 2 Nintendo Switch Games & 3 books at Barnes & Noble & window shopped/browsed through several other stores (& he even has some leftover money). 

This was before Christmas - but we had a frigid cold snap - below zero during the day & Spark kept wanting to go in & out: 

There was not quite as much snow as they'd initially predicted (& like I said, it was VERY VERY COLD). 

Leah got all bundled up, though!

Here's the link to 2021 for comparison! 

UPDATE: I forgot to say that we played Bingo with the Kifers in Fort Smith via Zoom & used up the last of the Bingo money that Grandma Leroy had given to Tara to continue the tradition. Grandma Doris, Leah, Sam & I all won 2 games each & Amelie and James both got bored with it & wandered off after the first couple of games. Leah kept going up to the camera to try to talk to the cousins. I think Mom & Steve both won one game. Holly didn't play this year because she put a brad nail through one of her water pipes while renovating her basement apartment for Grandma & had to babysit the pipe so her house didn't flood (again). 

Artwork

 I cleared all this artwork off the fridge & recycled it, so here it is documented for posterity so I don't feel so bad about throwing things away. 

Sunshine?

Nana Jana did these dots with her - they're like a bingo dobber.

A blue bird

I wasn't sure about the direction on this one, but her name is (mostly) this way

Hearts & rainbows

Abstract? 

It's a portrait of me!

Schoolwork / spelling / handwriting (in Kindergarten!) 

And James did this one: 

Nice Drawing

Leah brought me this drawing that James had made for her & taped up in a square. And then she wanted me to take a picture of it & send it to Nana Jana. 

They've been home sick together all week (& missed the big school field trip to the MU basketball game on Friday). 

7th Grade Band Concert

 Amelie had her 7th grade band concert. She got a new concert outfit: 

Nana Jana came over to sit with Grandma Doris, so Leah and James elected to stay home this time with them. Sam & I sat on the left-hand side of the gym/auditorium at first, but her music stand was blocking her, so we scooted over. 

I took these pictures & then a very tall boy sat in the chair on the end & blocked the view again. Ha!

She got upset towards the end that we weren't recording for Grandma Doris to watch when she got home, but I did get one song. Here's the video: 

And link to the end-of-year 6th grade concert for comparison: http://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/2022/05/band-concert.html 

Ear Piercing

Amelie hatched a plan last weekend and called me from school to ask if her two friends could spend the night (that night). I said OK & they slept over with only minimal interference from James. Then the next day, they wanted to go to the mall and walk around & eat lunch there. I said that was okay with me as long as it was okay with the other parents & one of the girls informed me that she already told her mom yesterday! Ha!

While we were there, they came up with yet another plan to get their ears pierced at Claire's, but as I was the only parent present, Amelie was the only one who could go through with it. 

Here she is looking nervous: 

Marking the location: 

All done!

She spent a ridiculous amount of money on stuffed animals - excuse me, squishmallows - this one was 20% off with the coupon we got from the ear-piercing.

Then the girls wanted to ride the carousel, which turned out to be free because the machine wasn't working for cards & it wouldn't take our wrinkled bill so the attendant just waved them on. 

I did make a video of the procedure, but I'll refrain from posting it - at least at this point. 

Halloween!

 I never made a Halloween post!!

I bought a last-minute costume at Walgreens & Sam found his skeleton shirt. 

Leah wanted to be an elephant & I found a too-big homemade elephant costume for her on facebook marketplace (I guess we're in luck if she wants to be an elephant next year, too, or the year after! At least she didn't trip over the feet!)

Nana Jana took Amelie costume shopping and they bought this witch outfit, which Amelie kept hacking pieces off of so that it would be easier to walk in. She went trick-or-treating with her friends (and not us!!) for the first time, but we at least got a few pictures first. They didn't get home until almost 10pm! On a school night!! 

And James wanted to be Mug Man, who's a character in the videogame Cuphead. His straw is a pool noodle wrapped with duct tape & his mask is a poster board & the eyes are some of the black see-through fabric we used on the hollow knight costumes last year. 

The only problem was that he kept taking off his head & then he looked like he didn't have a costume on! I was telling this to my coworker at the library, and she pulled out her phone to show me a picture of her grandson, who went as Cuphead himself & wore a very similar homemade costume. Too bad they didn't run into each other out on the street! That would have been epic! 

Here's an inspiration photo:

And the lovely group all together: 

As is longstanding tradition, our friends came over & had vegetables for dinner & walked around with us WITH THEIR BABY! Sam stayed home and passed out candy this time & Aunt Holly babysat Spark at her house. 

Sadly I got no true picture of the very impressive giant squid costume as it wouldn't inflate all the way inside the house & might have run out of batteries by this point - & her adorable lobster sidekick & original Aqua Man. 

Jack O Lanterns from Left to Right: My pumpkin, Leah's, James's, Amelie's (lightening bolts). James and Amelie did theirs all on their own but then Amelie let me widen up some of her cracks at the very end so that the candle light would shine through better. 

And I picked this decoration up at the $1.25 store when I was looking for my last-minute costume. 

Here is the Link to last year!