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:


Colin's list:


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!







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.



A blur of movement!








More blur.














At the end of class, the teachers had a little ceremony and all the kids got a little certificate and ribbon.
 

 

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.









Giant pickled lobster. He was NOT touching.










For some reason, this trip they were fascinated with this pretend camp fire.
 



Round 2 of digging:


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.


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.


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.




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.


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.


Momo steals it too.  But he at least sleeps upstairs at night, so I know Weasel has a shot at it!


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!



It is so awesome that they will go out and play by themselves now!

More November to come!

Thankful Chain

We did a little family project in November.  As much as I dislike Halloween, I love Thanksgiving.  I love the food, the family, the decor, and the concept of gratitude.  After chatting with some friends on facebook, I came up with the idea of everyone writing down one thing at dinner each night that they were thankful for that day on a strip of paper and making a Thankful Chain.  It turned out GREAT!  The kids were really into it and asked to do it each night.  At the end of the November we took the paper chain and used it to decorate our little Christmas tree in the den!

 

I took a minute to write down what every one was thankful for this year:

Gillian:
My family and friends
Cuddly Bunny Jammies
Momo napping with me today
My favorite friend, Louise
My Barbies
My warm, cozy bed
My pink, fuzzy blanket
Dancing class
My cousin, Sarah
Both Weasel and Momo
GraGra
The Earth
WeeWee
Daddy
My friend, Sarah
Love
Our dinner
Aunts and Uncles
Ham
Friends
Me
Books
Food
My family
Mommy


Colin:
Family
Bacon
A nice, cozy bed
Noodles
Snow
Legos
Bread
Houses
Santa
Real friends
Plants
Bones
Tomatoes
School
Potato chips
Joshua's triplets
Dino Museum
Ham
Friends
Mustard
Trampolines
Carrots
Momo and WeeWee
Turkeys

Mommy:
Daddy, Colin, Gillian.  Momo and WeeWee too.
That Daddy's home
A warm(ish), solid house
A fun afternoon with Gillian
Pretty, new curtains
Fridays
A warm, cozy bed
The milk actually being in the car
Colin and Gillian
Hawaiian Pizza
Daddy's hard work
New paint for the dining room
Yoga class
See Saw and Miss Thelma
Kids doing gymnastics
Kids who play in the snow
Happy Weasels
Family dinners
Friends
Music
A beautiful, sunny day
A fun day with Colin and Gillian
A beautiful red tree on our way to school
A productive weekend

Daddy:
Health
Beef short rib ragu
Daylight Savings Time
Math
NPR
Umami
"GraGra and Papa distracting C&G so I could sleep in"
Strudelknot and Festerdoodle
Veterans
Cat snuggles
Noodles and red sauce
To not be in the Phillipines
Wallpaper removal professionals
Chinese food
Noodles
NSAIDs
Feeling well enough to run
No fear of public speaking
The weekend
Legos
New tires for winter
Lazy Sundays
Being 1/3 done with work this week
Moderation
Family

Finished product!  See we managed to get some curtains up in November too!

Halloween 2013

Halloween comes one week after the kids' birthday.  Halloween has never been my favorite holiday...even less so after a week of birthday crazy.  BUT, Colin and Gillian LOVE Halloween.  They love the creepy, the crawly, the (slightly) scary, the CANDY. So...off we go.

School party the day before!  No costumes (YAY) but books, games, crafts, and treats!


Halloween itself was wet.  Very wet.  BUT also warm!  I think when we stepped out to Trick or Treat it was 65 and drizzling.  Daddy stayed home to pass out treats and the kids and I hit the neighborhood!  I think we went to 15 or 20 houses, but it was plenty.




See my enthusiasm?


Momo thinks he wants to come along.




 

It was as fun as Halloween can get! Weeeeeee!

Wrapping Up the Birthday

The weekend after the kids' birthday we had Grammy, Papa Frank, Uncle D, Aunt Cedes, Dickiedoo, and Noonie for lunch.  The kids had a great time showing off their pumpkins, opening presents, and playing with their family.





















Tommy enjoyed the light saber very much!






We had a very fun day!  I think we celebrated five correctly!