Drum Debut

Sam & Jim played at church - they'd done this before with Jim on the ukulele, but this was his debut on the drums. 

 Here’s the video (Sam wrote the song): 
It was during the burning of the grudges, and thus pretty noisy! You can see the flashes of light when the paper goes up in flames reflecting against the wall. 

Zoo Lights

I didn't think we'd be able to make the zoo lights this year - it was predicted to rain almost every day in St Louis - but the chance kept going down & there were only a few drops on the last day. I had (unfounded?) high hopes for this photo opportunity spot. 

The snow is fake! It was bubbles: 

We saw some sleeping sea lions and went through the penguin house. I thought this moltey penguin was amusing: 

We got hot chocolate & churros 

We walked around for about 3 hours!

We rode the carousel twice: 

And watched the 4-D movie - Rudolph this year. 

Here's the link to last year. 

Christmas 2024

Well, Christmas 2024 is in the books.

Caption: Hello Jim. It appears that you have been mean to your sister your whole life and I never gave you coal so be expecting it. Naughty list ....... James ........... PS (to Leah) you are not on the naughty list, that was a prank from your brother. 

Jim & Leah were arguing about how to make Mac & cheese for lunch on Christmas Eve & Leah whirled around to stomp off & ran smack into the door knob (or maybe door frame)? She immediately developed quite the black eye - and it gets ever more pronounced throughout the series of Christmas photos. They made up that afternoon & she regained her good spirits! 

We started celebrating with the UUCC Christmas Eve Service - we've gone I think every year since 2013. I took a before church picture of the kids: 

And an after church picture of the whole family. We've taken a photo in front of the ficus tree several years in a row. Why not the Christmas tree, you ask? That's a good question! Maybe it's too busy in the lobby? 

The candlelight service is very nice. I asked Leah if she'd hold an electric candle or a real one and she remembered and reminded me that This Was The Year I'd said she could hold a real one. She was careful! You can barely, barely see her and Amelie in this photo that Sam took. His folks attended the same (somewhat rowdier) family service that we did, but we didn't all sit together - it was quite crowded! 

Jim and Leah really, really wanted to open a gift after we got home on Christmas Eve. This isn't really a tradition that we've done - except maybe one year when we said they could open a book. Amelie didn't want to spoil any of the surprise. 

They drug out all of the gifts & sorted them into piles (so as to pick the best one?) Leah got her color chemistry set & we did experiment #4 with black ink. Jim opened Amelie's gift to him, which was smooth black tuxedo paper & special gel markers that would draw nicely on the black paper. 

Here's everything put back under the tree after the kids were in bed - all ready to go for Christmas - you might notice the bike-shaped lump under the blanket. Leah did not notice it! 

I heard Jim and Leah get up about 5:20am! They were talking downstairs & perhaps rifling through some of the packages. Sam went down a little after 6 to start bacon and cinnamon rolls that he'd prepped the night before & we were wondering when to wake Amelie up, but she came down right after 7. 

Sam made the kids line up for a picture with their stockings before they could get started. 

And they're off!

Amelie was VERY EXCITED to get this book: 

She spent the day reading it - The Book of Bill (from Gravity Falls) 

Leah was not impressed by the dime-sized amount of lip balm in the Bluey lip balm. 

Here she is working on her science experiment / chemistry set again - this time Experiment #7 (erupting volcano): 

Jim got 400 tiny plastic ducks & has named all of them Jamarion for some reason.

Here's Jim with his baritone ukulele - we were afraid it wouldn't come in time, but it pulled through at the last minute. 

We kept laughing because he kept making this face!

Sam also enjoyed playing with the uke! I think this is only fair, since Jim has completely co-oped the regular ukulele I got Sam for Christmas in 2019. 

The bubble wrap that was around the ukulele was a bonus. 

We spent Christmas night dinner with the Buffaloes - we'll get to see his younger brother & sister in law from New Mexico on New Year's. (& Someone should take a picture!!) 

And then the day after Christmas, Nana Jana & Steve came over & gave the kids even more presents. We did not coordinate on the brown clothing. 

Here's the link to 2023! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Eve

Well, it finally happened - one of the kids fell into the fountain at Cherry Hill (not pictured). They were a great sport about it (after the initial shrieking) and continued on to drive around and see some more lights & the unity tree. 

I'd heard the Magic Tree had to move & when we got there the new one was smaller & another of the kids said "Well, this is underwhelming." But it was still nice! And the weather was great!

Like mother, like daughter: 

Nutcracker

Nana Jana took me & Leah & James to see the Nutcracker. 

Leah was very pleased with her fancy dress.  

Jim wore his own fancy shirt. He's so tall! 

It was Jim's idea to take individual photos, too. 

Steve played chauffeur. 

I didn't know you could take drinks/candy into the theater, but Jim asked the workers at concession who said he could & then had 2 seven-ups. Leah wanted to stand up towards the end but was mollified by sitting on the aisle step - as you can see we were all the way up in the back. 

Here's a link to the first time we went - with just Amelie. 

6th Grade Holiday Concert

Jim is in the 6th grade band, playing trombone along with his cousin. I wanted to get a picture of them, but it was a madhouse after the concert & in the hallway switching between the 6th & 7th graders, so here we are in the vestibule.

He got exactly one (1) use out of the clip on tie. 

Amelie had commentary about all of the selections. 

Grover's mom sat up in the balcony & sent me some pictures. 

Sam was sick & couldn't go, so we got frosties from Wendy's and watched the concert again when we got home. I asked Jim what his favorite piece was & I'll just post that one:

VU Bright Lights

Aunt Holly hooked us up with the VIP employee pass to the VU bright lights display, even though she didn’t get to go because she was on a date 😂

I should have asked one of the workers to take our photo in the van!