Holiday Wrap-Up Part 2: Holiday Adventures

Our December is always full of plenty of crazy adventures. And this year was equally crazy - especially because Daddy was done working for Congress on December 16th and then we had him all to ourselves until after the New Year.

Parker knows that it is not really Christmas time until we open our first Advent Treat Box from Ma Pat. Everyone loves the special treats she puts inside - candy, ornaments, or sometimes someone lucky gets some money! About Day 15 Parker discovered $5 in his treat box so the next day we trekked down to Target and he picked out a new tow truck. Lucky kid.

 Mommy has always wanted a Christmas tree train, and of course it wasn't hard to convince Parker that we needed one also. So, when hunting for Christmas lights at Home Depot we scored with a big tree train on sale! $30 for endless enjoyment! Since we didn't have a tree yet Parker used Riley as his centerpiece. She didn't mind, they both loved the train. In fact, when we had to pack it up after Christmas Parker got a little teary-eyed. But we promised him it would be back next year and still as much fun!

Christmas shopping with Mommy has its perks! Happy baby with a blueberry muffin from Starbucks - and happy Mommy with a coffee!

With some help from Ma Pat I was able to complete one of my Pinterest projects this year. We don't really have a mantle and we needed somewhere to hang our stockings. Ma Pat was nice enough to use her Cricut to cut out the letters and snowflakes for me and the project was a success! Since Ma Pat and Pa Lar were coming to spend Christmas with us, their stockings arrived early with the Advent Treat Box.

On one of his last days of school Parker made reindeer ears and learned the Rudolph song. He also got to get a red nose just like Rudolph. He wanted to use my phone to take a picture of himself...

Then Mommy did one in front of the fireplace with Bernard in the stockings.

Daddy thought the ears were pretty cool too...silly Daddy.

Bernard doesn't often get into mischief at our  house, but when he does he knows how to party. He stole a bag of M&Ms from the treats in the cupboard, but he was nice enough to leave some for Parker.

One of my favorite traditions for Christmas is to take Parker to Hallmark to pick out a Christmas ornament. He of course has picked a train for the last two years. But, I will also usually let him get the newest singing snowman for our collection. The kids love the Snowmen and get to play with them and push their buttons all December long!

You can't have Christmas without a visit to Santa. Parker sat and chatted with Santa for a few minutes and told him all about the kind of things he would like for Christmas. Riley checked out the jolly man from afar. When we were ready for a photo we plopped Riley down on his lap, this picture was about 1 second before she lost it, something about babies and Santa...no thanks Santa, maybe next year.

With school out for Christmas break Parker was home to spend a lot more time with Riley. And what a good big brother, reading to her all about Thomas...

Holiday Wrap-Up Part 1: Thanksgiving

Yes, I will be going all the way back to Thanksgiving. I am a slacker and I have not been keeping up with the blog. Busy life and all. But, alas I will try to do better. That is the good thing about the New Year right? Fresh start. Except for when you have to look backwards to blog...
For Thanksgiving this year we were blessed with some awesome visitors. Helen and Joselyn Klatzko came down from West Point to spend a week with us!

First order of business? Head upstairs to Parker's room for some playtime - after 6+ hours in the car Joselyn needed to get the crazies out!

Mr. Josh is off doing the most important job of all - defending our freedom, so he couldn't make it this year for Thanksgiving. But he was here in "plush" form instead - and Parker wanted to get him a beer. Luckily thanks to modern technology we were also able to chat with him via Facetime from Iraq a few times, so he still got to be part of some of the fun!

The second day they were here we headed out to Parker's favorite place to take guests - BounceU! Riley is getting big enough now that she thinks she should be able to join in the fun!

Bouncing in the big bouncy house - Riley got to join in with this and some "knee bouncing".

Showing Joselyn how to climb the BounceU ladders.

Riley hanging with Miss Helen while the big kids play. She loves pretty ladies.

Time at the Navy Exchange. The kids wanted their picture taken with the big Christmas tree.

The lucky big kids got a trip to the movies while Joselyn was visiting. The move Frozen came out and we were there the day it opened!  Red Solo cups are good for more than beer - who knew? Mommy stashed some in her purse so we could all have our own mini popcorn!

Parker wanted to sit by Miss Helen.

 Which worked out well because Joselyn wanted to sit between me and Parker!

Parker's favorite character from the movie was Olaf the Snowman. And the theater had a big Olaf dancing that the kids wanted to check out.

Happy Thanksgiving! Good food (and Ben's spray cheese celery on the end there) and good company.

 Happy girl loves everything except the turkey. But the adults thought the turkey was awesome.

Post dinner resting...

The day after Thanksgiving we avoided the crazy stores and instead stayed home and got out the Christmas decorations! The kids wanted to model the Christmas hats from the box.

On Friday night the kids got to watch the new movie An Elf's Story which is about the Elf on the Shelf. Our own elf Bernard visits each year around Christmas and Joselyn's elf Cindy visits her house. Well, this year was extra special because the elves flew down together and surprised the kids at Parker's house after the movie with some little surprises to remind them that if they are good they may be rewarded with an awesome present or two from Santa! 

It was such a great visit and we are so lucky to have such great friends. Next time we home Mr. Josh will be around to make the trip! Stay safe Josh!

Parker's Christmas Program

Today was Parker's Christmas Program at school. It was presented by the two 3-year-old classes. It was adorable to see all these kids sing their Christmas songs. Parker loved it! Sorry the video jumps a bit - I need practice!

Thankful Day 19

Today Daddy heard about a very special happening in our area - a Rocket Blast Off! A Rocket was set to be sent to space with satellites onboard that would launch into the atmosphere. We were really excited because NASA's website had information on how we could see the rocket from our house.

It was pretty chilly so we had to get all bundled up to go outside. The rocket was set to launch at 7:30, but apparently a guy in a sailboat near the launch site messed up their plans, so it ended up launching at about 8:15. Riley was a little frustrated with her cold clothes. Ever seen A Christmas Story? The kid who can move around because his jacket is so puffy? Yeah, something like that.

Out in the backyard getting ready to look for the rocket.

This is the photo from NASA of the rocket blasting off in Virginia. Through the miracles of modern technology we watched it blast off on Daddy's phone through the NASA video streaming channel, then we looked for it in the sky.

We finally spotted it going into the sky. It was mostly just a large light sailing in the sky because it was so far away.

This is a photo someone took from Downtown Silver Spring of the rocket sailing into the sky. 

Now Parker keeps asking when we will be able to see another rocket blast off -  not sure about that one. Maybe we should build a rocket. 

I am so Thankful for crazy opportunities like this - and even more so for a husband who finds out about these exciting things and says "don't you think Parker would love this"? 

Thankful Day 18

Parker is so very Thankful for the giant pile of LEAVES that has been accumulating in front of our house. The giant tree in the yard has started to drop it's leaves in abundance and we have been trying to keep up with it a little bit so our yard isn't too crazy.

The other night on our way home from the park Parker asked if he could go jump in the pile.

What Mom can resist allowing their child this timeless joy? He lept right into the pile. Unfortunately it gets dark pretty early around here now, so leaf play was a short adventure.

So, the next day after school he asked to play in the leaves and Riley decided to join in for a bit.

Parker flopped around and buried himself for a while...

Riley was less interested and decided it was time to head inside.
After only a few short days almost all of the leaves from the tree have now fallen to the ground. The pile is quite large, and scheduled to be picked up tomorrow by the leaf collecting truck, but for one last day I am sure we can allow some leaf play - and in Mommy and Daddy's opinion - be Thankful that we don't have to do leaf maintenance all year long!

Thankful Day 17

Every couple of weekends Parker, Daddy, and Mommy snuggle up on the couch for movie night. It is a special time with Parker when we get to have movie snacks and watch something fun (not Thomas thank goodness!) We have made it through many of our own movies (Shrek 1-3 were a big hit) and now we occasionally rent a movie for Movie Night.
Last Friday our Movie Night selection was The Croods. A funny little movie about a cave family on an adventure.

Daddy trying to block our Movie Night photo.

All snuggled on the couch with our movie night snacks and drinks! P-man even made it through the whole movie. It was pretty funny - with a monkey named Belt who wraps around your waist to hold up your pants, what 3-year-old could resist?
I am so very Thankful for our Movie Nights with Parker - all too soon I am sure Friday night with Mom and Dad will not be on the top of his list - but for now, he loves his special nights and so do we!

Thankful Day 16

Long before Parker and Riley were even born I would picture what our family would one day look like. Whenever I thought of our kids I would always picture a big brother and a little sister playing together. Of course, I am sure that is because I was picturing my own childhood, but I continue to be amazed at how lucky I am that the picture in my head is now played out in the everyday adventures of my life.

Parker teaching Riley about the magic of early morning TV. PJs, cereal, juice, and some Mickey Mouse - doesn't get much better than that.

It is not uncommon for Riley to have a crib bandit in her bed first thing in the morning. Parker will come down from his room and go to "check" on her - and this is often the site I see when I come in.

Adventures at the park - a boy and his sidekick.

Our own little race crew - Parker also like to do "pit stops" at various intervals. Riley gets off the truck so Parker can "change" the tires.

Teaching Riley all about the kitchen and cooking up some yummy food.

The only way to know what is really in the toy bins is to get to the very bottom - let's dump them all out and see what's in here - sometimes it is like we have brand new toys!

Waiting for Trick-or-Treat visitors. Parker showing Riley how to say "Happy Halloween"!

Playing legos. Parker gets the lego train and Riley gets the big car. He shows her how to build up her car with all the legos - then they go zooming across the floor back to find more legos - Riley gives pretty good chase to her big brother.

I am so Thankful that these are the everyday joys of my life. I hope that my kids will be lucky enough to have the friendship, trust, and love for each other that I am lucky enough to have with Uncle Jim.

The brother-sister bond is like no other, and I hope my little ones will always remember to be Thankful for one another.