Disney World Christmas

We surprised William with a pre-Christmas trip to Disney World.  The day before we left, we said we could each open a gift.  He gave us the adorable gift he made at school.  And we let him open an autograph book and a box of magic bands.   He knew what they were and that they would be for our next trip, but when I asked if we should go tomorrow, he looked at us in shock and kept asking if we were serious.   He was so surprised!  We had uneventful, on time flights, and wonderful weather!  It was a fantastic family getaway before the next tax season. 

 

 

 

Countdown to Christmas



Leading up to Christmas we had a lot of activities to get us in the Christmas spirit!  We put up our Christmas tree before Thanksgiving since we used only the artificial trees this year.  Then we did shopping for two angel tree gifts:  a 3 year old boy and a 4 year old boy.  William loved checking out the drums for the littlest boy before putting it under the tree.

December 1 brought the Star Wars Lego Advent calendar.  This was so much fun!  Each morning he had a little Lego to build.   One Sunday morning we helped this Cub Scout pack distribute the wreaths they had sold as a fund raiser.  What that really meant was that I tied the red bows onto the wreaths with another mom and dad while William and his buddy, Nathan, were exploring.  They found a hawk and were quietly tracking it.

Our only holiday baking was these white chocolate covered Oreo snowmen.   We delivered them with our Christmas cards to the neighbors.   William also wrote a letter to his teacher to accompany snacks and a gift card gift.

 December also brought William's Star Day at school.  He proudly showcased his Tiger Scout badges and Lego skills throughout the poster.   It also makes me smile that even though Rachel has been gone for three months, whenever he is asked to list his family members he always says, John, Lisa and Rachel.  She was also on the poster.  He also wrote me a lovely card one day at school.  I'm not sure the occasion but I sure do love it!

This last picture was part of the traditions unit.  For each season, he wrote what our family does:
Fall:  I go to my grandma's (accompanied by a picture of the cousins swinging from hay bales in the barn)
Winter:  I go to the Christmas Market (accompanied by picture of the ornament house)
Summer:  Each summer I go swimming (accompanied by a picture of him jumping off the diving board)
Spring:  I always celebrate my birthday at Chuck E. Cheese (accompanied by drawing of him playing the basketball game)

Thanksgiving at the Farm

We made our annual trip to the farm to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, and birthdays with John's family.  The drive was quick thanks to a combination of napping and reading a Magic Treehouse First Thanksgiving book. All six cousins were here this year, which was our last at the farm, since Grandma and Grandpa are moving closer to Indianapolis in January.  The 6 and 7 year olds had a blast thanks to 14-year old Carter devising a fun game of swinging from the barn rafters!

 

 

 

After eating all of our Thanksgiving foods (including the giant turkey that got stuck in the oven), the kids opened their Christmas presents from their cousins.  And then we had birthday cake for John's birthday which fell on Thanksgiving this year.  On Friday we took some pictures of the cabin before heading to the new house to explore it.  The weather was dreary, but the kids checked out the swing set in the rain!  Then we headed to Pat and Kelly's house for Friday night and Saturday fun including games, lots of laughs, a trip to the bowling alley for the kiddos and dads, and a trip to Kelly's spa for the ladies!   

 

We had a VERY quiet drive home since William slept for 3 hours of the 3 hours and 5 minute drive home!    Once we got unpacked, we headed to Granite City for another birthday dinner for John. 

Throwback Thursday

William wanted to sit in this chair at Target and it reminded me of his old baby seat.  While looking for that photo, I also found this boppy photo.  Cute, cute, cute.

Christkindlmarket 2015

We made our traditional family trip to Christkindlmarket Chicago on Sunday.  This was the opening weekend, but the crowds were very light.   I don't know if this was due to the weather (snow all day Saturday and cold Sunday) or because people aren't in the holiday mood yet.  But I loved it!  I also liked going in the daytime, since it was easier to keep track of one another.  Another bonus to going early was that they're not out of mugs yet!  I forgot to get a photo of the boot shaped mugs for the gluwein.  Kinder mugs are snowmen with a Chicago flag scarf.  Super cute!  Apparently we also forgot to take any photos of the Shields family - only William and Uncle Ryan made it into the pictures although John and I were both there, too!

After our ornament and snack shopping and eating and drinking were done, we headed to Macy's on State Street to see the windows and tree.   I am so impressed with the windows this year!   We saw Mercury, Venus and Mars before heading inside, but I may try to head over there in December to see the others. 

The Walnut Room tree looks the same every year (to me) but we have to see it anyway!  It's tradition!  We stopped to see Santa Land on our way and got lots of laughs as the path routed us through lingerie, then maternity, then toddlers.   At least Macy's departments are in chronological order!  I had to snap a picture of the floors on our way out.  Lingerie and Kids go together well.

 

Halloween

We were so excited to have Halloween on a Saturday this year!   People around here were almost giddy at the idea of a nice weather day for trick-or-treating after the prior weekend was in the 60s and 70s.   Unfortunately the weather turned cool and rainy so it was a bit of a let down.  But we still got in an hour or two of fun, and we managed to get rid of 400 pieces of candy (though it was largely unattended during the evening so who knows how much people were taking)!

John and William picked out four big pumpkins for carving, and we got out the Crate and Barrel pumpkin carving kit that I must have bought three years or more ago.    The guys both used the tools to carve their jack-o-lanterns but I also took advantage of the designs in the box to create a spider and web for mine.    I loved it!  And then I decided to paint it too!

John was very concerned that with the warm weather the pumpkins would rot quickly.   So, he put them in the freezer until Halloween.  BAD MOVE! Pumpkins are largely water and freezing them really messes with the composition of their structure (i.e. they collapsed when they thawed)!   Here is John's as it is thawing (see the frost?) and mine after it has had garden spikes inserts to try to hold it up!  Now we know!

Halloween night we went out between 5 and 6:30 with our neighbors.    William was Boba Fett from Star Wars and John and I had t-shirts but they were hidden under coats.  Of course John took his road beer with him in his Boba Fett mug!  And Ryan wore his Storm Trooper mask until the mist made it fog over.  The same thing happened with Boba Fett's helmet.  Somehow Boba Fett's blaster got broken after we got home that night.  So now it doesn't make noise.   It's like Christmas came early for mommy and daddy! Haha.