Getting Ready for Christmas

I'll split this into two (or maybe more) posts - but here are some of the lead-up things to Christmas. We went to Westlake to pick out the tree, as usual. We got a spruce, which Sam was unsure about, and had to cut off the top a bit so it would fit in the front room. 

The mantle looks about the same as last year! Though we did have to replace the command hooks for the stockings & got in several more cards after the photo was taken. 

Leah studied every single page of the toy catalogue for many days in a row. This is before school one morning. She also circled approximately every other item. 

We went to see the magic tree - and Sam took the kids back with their cousin Levi when he came up, too. 

These two did not want to make a good picture - and Amelie didn't want to be in a picture at all!

We went through the drive-through lights at Veterans United, too, and wore our festive hats, but they didn't take a photo this year (we should have taken one on our own!) It was not too cold. Grandma Doris came with us & had a good time, too. 

Band Concert

 Amelie had her winter band concert at Rock Bridge High School - Jefferson Middle School 8th grade went first and then one of the high school bands played. I was impressed that the high schoolers all had matching black band outfits (it looked like long bridesmaids dresses & tuxes) but Sam tells me this was a thing even when he was in high school - not for me in Bernie, though!

Playing the clarinet: 

We played the videos for my Grandma Doris. 

And here's the link to the winter concert last year. https://babybuffaloe.blogspot.com/search?q=band+concert

Thanksgiving 2023

 We had our Florida cousins up for Thanksgiving! We took a silly picture: 

And a regular one: 

Here's the food - it wasn't a ridiculous amount! Or anyway, we did a good job eating it over 2-3 meals. We also took plates to Holly and Nana Jana (& dessert for Steve). 

And the pie: 

Sam's about to carve the turkey: 

And Leah put the marshmallows on the sweet potato casserole: 

James peeled the regular potatoes for mashed potatoes (not pictured).

Leah and her same-age cousin got in a lot of playing, though we forgot to watch the Peanuts Thanksgiving Special. 

Throwback Thursday: Cowardly Lion

This has apparently been in my drafts folder since 2019 - so I guess it's time to officially publish it. 

Amelie was the cowardly lion in the school play of The Wizard of Oz. (I went to see MU's performance of The Wiz with a friend few days prior and *really* should have taken her along!)

Nana Jana came through big time on the costume! This was after the performance and it looks like she's rubbed her eyeliner nose off:

Here's Goldilocks watching -- she was very interested (for the first part of it!) 

James and Sam were likewise super interested (note Nana Jana on toddler duty).

I liked this shot with the pointed foot and upraised arm. I don't remember what line it was, though!

And here's another bit of inspired acting/enthusiasm: 

Her good friends Hattie and Alex were in the show as well: 

Crystal's Birthday

Mom got me tickets to see Snow White performed by the Grand Kyiv Ballet at Jesse Auditorium - except she thought up until the dancers came on stage that we were going to see Swan Lake. Anyway, Amelie, Holly, Mom & I went - 3 generations!

Sam & Leah made me my favorite cake - homemade carrot cake with cream cheese frosting (Spark didn't get any). When the kids sang, they said "Happy Birthday dear Crystal," and when I protested that it should have been "dear mom," they had the nerve to argue with me about syllables. 

Nana Jana brought me these flowers & Sam picked the last of the things from the garden before the frost. My cousin Brad & some of his bunch was up to visit Grandma Doris & they bought some lovely smelling candles from the mall for me, too. 

Sam got me some glasses! 

I dug around on the promotional materials for the dancers that performed when we saw it. I liked the evil queen the best. 

We lost the car (really came out the wrong way from Jesse Hall) at the end & Holly & Amelie ran ahead to find it. It was cold!

Happy Halloween

Once again, the kids chose weird obscure costumes! This year, they made good on all of their group-costume brainstorming & picked something they could all dress up as together. They are the calamity trio from the cartoon Amphibia. Inspiration photo: 

The leaves in the hair (of the middle character above) seem very on-brand for Leah, as does the one missing shoe. Nana Jana bought them armor, cloaks and weapons and we scrounged the rest from things we had. Since it was a school night, we skipped the hair dye. (& James is blonde anyway.)  This is him putting things together for a practice run. My boots, Sam's vest and belt, a giant t-shirt cut into a tunic from the clearance rack at walmart & a headband worn as a crown (type thing). 

Very, very unfortunately and super disappointingly, we had to cancel last-minute with our friends who've come to eat supper (soup) and do the neighborhood Halloween stuff for ages because Leah'd had a cold earlier in the week and then Sam came down with it worse & we didn't want to share germs with their toddler - if it wasn't so blasted cold, the rest of us could have just walked around with them outside. Probably because it was so cold, we got a steady stream of trick-or-treaters starting really early in the day - we ran out of candy about 8:30 and turned out the light. 

How'd they do recreating the photo? 

Here's James in his final product. We put his flashlight on a loop around his belt. 

Amelie wore her flashlight duct-taped to her wristlet. 

Leah drew the felt leaves for her hair & stuck them to hair clips. She also wanted to wear just one shoe & a sock (to match the character) and I said absolutely not. So then she came up with the brilliant plan to pull one of dad's socks OVER her shoe, so it just looked like she had one sock foot. She's wearing about 3 layers of clothes (to avoid putting a coat over her masterpiece) and said she could hardly walk. 

We also carved pumpkins and roasted the seeds. Amelie's pumpkin:   

Leah's pumpkin (she carved it herself, but then asked me to "fix" the eyes and help with the hole-poking and the teeth, which she had this weird strategy for - I think she'd watched a video about it). 

James did some fine work here - and all 3 kids were much more creative than the grownups. 

Mine's on the far left & then Sam's. 

Sam wore my spider hat from last year & I bought an LED light up hat with orange tentacles (somehow not pictured) in order to be visible while walking around the neighborhood. 

Several of the houses around us go ALL OUT - including the yard of the month right around the corner from us:

They have an instagram page. The kids also wanted to make sure to go visit their music teacher from school, who passes out cookies and treat bags to her students who come by. I'd made chicken chili for supper, which James wasn't a big fan of, but he ate a bowl of chili at one of the houses that was throwing a neighborhood party. He went on trick-or-treating after the girls gave up/got cold, wanting to fill up his pillowcase maybe. I saw one family riding around in a golf cart. Oh, and also, James got a CAN OF SODA from a house - not sure if that was totally planned or a last-minute fix. He also got a fistful of Korean candy from some international students having a party.

Link to last year for comparison. 

Sisters at Grindstone

 Sam took the girls to Grindstone while James and I were doing something else! Ha!

Leah made a rock pile: