Sunday, February 2, 2014

Letters to Santa

I usually wait until after Thanksgiving to have the kiddos write their letters to Santa, BUT Thanksgiving was so late this year that we wrote them the weekend before Turkey Day. We had been talking about what to request from Santa for a while beforehand, so we were able to write the letters pretty easily and quickly. The kids needed some prompting for including the niceties of letter writing...like anything other than a list of what they wanted! With just a little help though, I think the letters turned out well!

Gillian's list:
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Colin's list:
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We usually go to Macy's to mail our letters. They have a special mailbox for Santa and they give $1 for each letter in the box to charity, Make A Wish, I think!

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Off the letters go to the Big Guy!! Weeeee!

Gymnastics Update

Colin finished his first session of gymnastics in November. To celebrate the occasion, his teacher invited siblings and parents into the gym for class.  Gillian got to do all the things Colin does every week and she LOVED it.

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A blur of movement!
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More blur.
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At the end of class, the teachers had a little ceremony and all the kids got a little certificate and ribbon.
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We are nearly at the end of the next session of gymnastics and Colin is still loving it! He has made such nice progress in coordination and balance. I love seeing his new moves every week!

Dinosaurs and Turkeys

Colin had, once again, been begging to go to the dino museum for the day.  We finally had an empty Saturday afternoon, so off we went.

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Giant pickled lobster. He was NOT touching.
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For some reason, this trip they were fascinated with this pretend camp fire.
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Round 2 of digging:
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After we finished up at the museum we joined Uncle Willis, Aunt Leah, and GraGra for dinner at Uncle Willis and Aunt Leah's house.  Before dinner we crafted up our hand turkeys for Uncle Willis' First Annual Smith Family Hand Turkey Exchange.
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A very fun day!

November Randomness

Now that it's February, I can barely remember November. Nice, right? Thankfully I have random pictures to remind me!

G picked these and wanted to craft a centerpiece.  Oy.  She does not know her Mama well.  We did find a nice vase and make an arrangement.
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One morning we went for haircuts and then to play at See Saw Center.  Our hairdresser, Mary Ellen, ALWAYS curls Gillian's hair when we get haircuts.  G is so spoiled.  Once we got to See Saw, Gillian accessorized her fancy hair-do.
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My favorite part of those pictures is the pretend matzo in the back of the car.

Sharing a snack with Momo.  Momo comes for afternoon snack every day.  His favorites are cheez-its, ritz, and popcorn.
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When it got really chilly this fall, we shut up the guest room...where Weasel liked to sleep.  Poor kitty.  I felt badly.  But we needed to keep the door closed!  So, I picked her up a cat bed at the store, left the tag on it so she would be tricked into thinking it wasn't hers, and put it in front of the vent in the living room.  It's a HIT.
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Momo steals it too.  But he at least sleeps upstairs at night, so I know Weasel has a shot at it!
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We had a couple inches of snow at some point in November.  And it was still a novelty then, so both kids spent hours playing in it!
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It is so awesome that they will go out and play by themselves now!

More November to come!