Seasonal Goings-On (Lots of photos!)

(side note: I tried to post this yesterday, but when I went to upload photos, it said that I had used my free GB of photo storage and needed to purchase more. Say wha?!? I did not know about this? I'm curious if other Blogger users have had to purchase more space with Picasa? I mean, this blog is important enough to me that I'm willing to fork over $5/year, which I did, but I'm surprised I didn't realize that this was coming...)

Shew! December has been cookin', hasn't it? Here we are just 2 days from Christmas and I feel like I'm coming up for air. The gifts are purchased and wrapped, the laundry is caught up, the menu is planned and the groceries purchased, I just need to clean the crap out of this house. Brian done with work until New Year's, so we should be good.

This year I stole an idea from Weed for our advent calendar. Rather than filling it with candy (that actually bored them by the 5th of December), I put in slips of paper with some kind of activity for everyday. Sometimes this was as simple as "watch the Dora Christmas special" that I DVR'd, and on busy days I did put candy in. But they have really gotten into it and I hope it will be a fun tradition to continue. To summarize what we've been up to lately, some photos:

The massive Christmas train display at the downtown library was even bigger and better this year. David was beside himself. And it's free (even parking for up to an hour!). Afterward we drove around and I could not believe how much the downtown area has changed in the past year. I used to be down there a lot and it is really different.  

Some of the trains were even Thomas!  

 Chillin' with the candles in the fireplace. It isn't fire, but they're happy with it.

I wanted to involve the kids in the gift-giving this year, but taking them shopping makes me queasy. So I bought Christmas color tissue paper and a bunch of foamie stickers, and then I wrapped the gifts in the plain paper and let them go to town. Katy spelled the recipient's name with foamie letters. I'm glad that they know what we're giving everyone and got to help out.  

It took several "sessions" to complete, but I was really happy with how they turned out!

Brooklyn and Maddie joined us for another foamie craft, which went so well that I it gave me new hope for craft-feasibility (David is able to participate now, but the baby must be sleeping).

We used the resulting cuteness to make Christmas cards for Katy's 4 teachers.  

He's fishing, and I didn't stop him. Does that make me a bad parent?  

Don't be fooled! This kid is wild! He got his first tooth last week, and he is up on his hands and knees rocking back and forth. He's 6 months today, but I will save the "Holy cow, he's 6 months!" post for his well visit in January.

We had the first round of Christmas with my Dad and family this past weekend. The kids had so much fun and the theme of the year is games for Katy and Disney's Cars for David. Oh, and we need to practice the "thank you" routine again before Saturday.

My grandma really does have a great lap. I've spent many hours in it myself.

Grandma Sue is making the gingerbread house an annual tradition. What's not to love?

Finally, one more story about my daughter. On the last day of school before break, I went to pick her up and her teacher said, "Don't go anywhere until I can tell you a story! All my relatives are going to hear about Katy over Christmas!" and I knew instantly that I was going to be embarrassed. So I guess Katy had a conversation with her teachers that went like this:

Mrs. M: What are you going to be when you grow up?

K: I'm going to be a doctor when I grow up!

Mrs. M: Oh, Katy, I think you would be great doctor. Will you take care of Mrs. H and I when we are older?

K: Oh, no, you'll be dead by then.

Lovely, Katy. Good thing your teachers have a good sense of humor. (I swear, it all started at church talking about Jesus dying on the cross, and ever since she asks a lot of questions about death. Yikes.)

Merry Christmas, everyone!