Dress Up

Amelie put on her too-small crocodile costume from last year, so James wanted to be a too-big Tigger.

St Louis Mini Trip

I got to meet up with some friends from college in St. Louis on Saturday, and we went to eat at Fitz's because it's kid-friendly (also delicious). They were bottling the rootbeer and you can watch, so it was hard to keep the kids in their seats. I'm sharing this photograph even though it's blurry.

Amelie said, "What is that delicious smell? *sniff sniff* What IS it? It smells delicious!" (and it did). When Emy asked her what the rootbeer tasted like she said, "I don't know. You can taste it." It must be pretty hard to describe.

Then we went to the zoo. It wasn't too cold (43, I think?) but it was overcast and gloomy, so I was able to score free parking and there were very few other people there. We spent a long time in sea lion sound, and one of the sea lions was playing with the kids, tracking a mitten they were tossing around. James called another one a dog, and I corrected him and said it was a sea lion, and the zookeeper corrected me and said it was a seal (apparently two seals live there, too). Ha!

The elephants and big cats were out even though it was cold, and then we spent a long time in the monkey house and the reptile house, which the kids like to do anyway.

Bead Toy

Amelie got a bead toy from her Uncle Jeff & Patti for Christmas. She was itching to play with it, but I didn't want to get it out until we were at home since there were small pieces. And then the day after we got home she saw it still in the truck and wailed, "We FORGOT to do the beads when we got home!" So anyway, we did them:

Dada and James coloring. He was jealous of the beads.

She did two different designs (these were printed on cards that stuck behind the trays). It's really similar to a bead thing I did when I was a kid, but with mine we baked them in the oven to set and these got misted with water and put under a fan.

Why, yes, we did let James play with the clearly marked "for age 3 and up" toy. He used the pincer tool and Amelie used her fingers.

The finished product!

Christmas in Columbia

Hey, we had a (somewhat more low-key) Christmas at home, too. The kids got a big bag of books from Scholastic. James doesn't look too pleased.

We wrapped up the dollhouse people. "Papaw!" he said.

We just put the dollhouse under a blanket. This is the dollhouse Grandpa Bob made for me when I was a kid. I wallpapered most of the rooms on Christmas eve when James was napping. When I had it, I played with it for a long time - maybe through 5th grade (and then used it as a bookcase until I went to college). I hope the kids get a lot of use out of it, too. They played with it for hours on Christmas day.

I made a video that I'll try to put up later. Unfortunately, I didn't catch on camera the time Amelie was saying, "Oh, no! The dada fell off the cliff!" when she knocked him off the coffee table.

Aunt Holly contributed the living room furniture and Aunt Barb gave us the spiffy buffalo head decoration. (It really makes the room, doesn't it?) I think the rest of the house needs some art on the walls, too, so that's my next project.

Their other joint gift was a traffic mat, and they played with it for a long time, too. (Both toys have now moved into the play room - more on that later.) 

Clothing-optional Christmas.

There was just too much excitement and James had to have his nap in the middle of the floor. 

We went over to the kids' cousins' house that afternoon and played with their dollhouse :)

And read books.

Two times the trouble.

Uncle Luke put the kids' food on their plates to cool off before we ate, so of course they started eating it and were done pretty much right after the adults sat down at the grown-up table.

The kiddie table is where it's at, anyway.

Group Photo

We try to do a big group picture every year at the Christmas gathering at my grandparents' house.

Back row, from left: Uncle Darrin, Cameron, Uncle Ken, Josie, Bradley, Uncle Kerry & Aunt Cheryl, Jess, Hayes (behind her), Brad (hiding), James holding Laynie, JC
Front row, from left: Marlee, Aunt Lana, Grandpa Leroy, Grandma Doris, Aunt Tara, Layla
On the couch: Aunt Helen, Nana Jana, Sam, Aunt Holly, Amelie
On the floor: Kendra, Me, James

This was supposed to be the "serious" photo. Hayes broke loose and I don't think we told JC what was up.

Harmonica

I bought a harmonica at Michael's to put in Amelie's stocking, and it turns out she's a natural. 

Christmas in Bernie

We took the truck down to the Bootheel for Christmas to pick up the dollhouse I had when I was a kid and two twin beds from my great-aunt Helen (more on those later).

James got a kid camera! "Cheese!" he says.

It should come as no surprise that Amelie talked JC into reading her a book. 

Aunt Lana made chocolate-covered pretzels & James enjoyed his.

Bradley playing the touch-screen game. What do you mean you don't play arcade games at your house at Christmas?

Holly & JC

Kendra & Miss Laynie

More cousins eating candy pretzels. Do you see how we just let them run all over the house with food? That didn't fly when I was little! I remember sitting right there on the step on the linoleum if I wanted to eat something (when I was older than they are, even). 

Hahahaha. Marlee is cracking me up.

Amelie has her game face on.

Grandma Doris and James have a chat (pretzel still in hand, if you notice).

James and Sam are all set to play Bingo!

Aunt Jess & Hayes

Aunt Helen & Mom are serious about their Bingo cards.

Aunt Cheryl is, too.

More Kifers!

Uncle Darrin listened to Amelie retell the entire plot of Frosty the Snowman and made friends with James, too.