Finishing 2012 with a bang

With just a week left in 2012 and a million items on my pinterest bucket list, we set out to finish the advent season with as much forced family fun as we could muster. We started off by getting around to making those ginger bread houses. First Mom and Moo took a trip to the neighborhood store and filled our bag with cookies, candies, and other delightful treats. Then Dad read The Gingerbread Baby by Jan Brett while Mom madly beat that feisty frosting for the requisite 7-10 minutes. Then Mom gave one house to Moo and one to Dad so that Dad would not insist that Moo's walls met at perfect 90 degree angles and other such grown-up nuisances. Moo was excited to simply have a train on his. He filled his front yard with gummy bears and took the time to put a few on the roof of his palace/cathedral. Dad's was symmetrical and lovely. Mom just tried to use up all the rest of the candy and frosting so that "none should go to waste".  We've spent the past few days being knocked out by the intoxicating fumes (aroma?) of gingerbread candy and frosting. When do we get to eat them?  

Oh, and Lu was content to just suck on all of the candy through the wrappers. She chewed all the bubblegum through the plastic and sucked on 3 candy canes through the plastic. Perhaps next year she'll make a house.  
 Our final products:

Our New Year's Day adventure was to go see the windows down our version of Michigan Avenue. Our first stop was Vakko - this department store puts fake snow on all their trees and building and then has "snow" (bubbles) come out of a snow machine on the roof to delight all the passers-by. We have only had one snow day this year...so this may be the closest we get to enjoying a "winter wonderland".

 We proceeded up the road to one magical window with rotating snowflakes and snowmen. A telephone store had these cool light-up deer and snowmen. And that was the extent of the decorations....as well as the moment the fruit snacks ran out and the kids declared it was time to go home for dinner.

Messin' Around

 I was having a bit of fun with Picasa photo fixes this week. So here are our cuteys.

 

 Moo - checkin' out his new Lego Radiator Springs.....in his mask from his school costume party.

Running out of megabytes...or something.

Blogger/google/the powers that be have told me that I am nearing the max on my space in cyber-space, and if I desire to keep sharing our lives freely with our family and friends, I'll need to start paying! Soooo, I'm trying to make all my holiday pictures as small as possible, and perhaps I will open a new google account and blog in 2013. :) That said, here is the whirlwind of our last couple weeks.

The weekend before Christmas we celebrated with several other families with a delicious meal, fun gift exchange, ornament making for the kids (with a little help from the moms), and all-around good time. Our kids were so enamored to see different toys, that they busily checked out all that was available and then Lu promptly collapsed on the couch.  Both kids loved the trampoline too!

Unfortunately, between a December birthday and Christmas, Moo has become totally aware of what all is out there in that big world. What do I get to open now? Why is it that they put pictures of other toys on the boxes of the toys you've just received? And in the back of books? Poor Lu was simply overwhelmed with all the Christmas blessings she received Christmas morning, so I think next year we'll try to spread out the gift opening over a few weekends. Or maybe she'll get used to it by then. Yikes.Thankfully Moo was just as excited to help other people open their gifts as he was to receive his own. May that continue.

Christmas weekend, we went to a parade - the first ever in our city. Most people here don't know that Christmas is celebrated on the 25th. They have combined the traditions they have seen in movies and on TV of Thanksgiving and Christmas and celebrate it all on New Year's! It is quite common to have  a big turkey dinner and a visit from Santa on New Year's Eve. We were excited to participate in a parade on the  22nd that concluded with a carol sing and a few local pastors telling about the true reason for Christmas. It was a bit cold for the kids, but a joyous celebration.

We went to a candlelight service at our church on Sunday with a delicious meal after for 200+ local believers and foreigners. On Christmas Eve we went to the church that we attended our first year here (closer to our old house) and heard the Christmas story told from a children's Bible. The kids were invited to go up and participate in the story as shepherds, angels, and wisemen. We didn't bring a costume, but Moo was zealous to participate....but definitely not without a costume. A friend of ours lent his scarf and after I tied it around Moo's head, he leaped over the pew to join his buddies up front. Lu was excited to participate and demonstrate her new word of the day....in her sleep-deprived state, she proceeded to yell out "SHEP - HERD!  SHEP - HERD!" while the narrator continued the story. Ah, children. Gotta love 'em.

On Christmas Day we hosted a few families at our house for dinner, and Moo & Lu delivered chocolate bars to all while singing and ringing jingle bells in their self-appointed Christmas costumes - Santa & the Christmas Fairy.

out for a walk

still no snow....

Will we have snow this winter? Not looking too likely at this point. But we are super thankful for the non-rainy days we've had to enjoy the small part of our park that is done being renovated. Some happy kids, riding, exploring, and eating fruit snacks on top of a pile of the neat ribbed pavers they are using to make trails through the park for blind people.

Happy b-day Moo!

4 year old!!

Our little buddy is 4!!! We can hardly believe it. After two weeks of near tears at the mention of a school party, Moo came home from school yesterday grinning from ear to ear with a birthday hat on and a body full of sugar. We celebrated again today with some family friends.

Just one of the many reasons I love my little guy:

Mom: What kind of cake do you want?
Moo: a round one...with sparkles (sprinkles)

and it's just that easy to please him (at least in terms of cake decorating)

Though we live right next to this place, we have withheld this joyful experience for over a year. For a birthday treat, Moo (and Lu) got to ride battery-powered cars through this traffic park. He loved it! And another reason I love this guy?

At the end of his 15 minutes, he happily jumped on his tricycle and rode home without asking for more time on the pay ride. :)