Christmas 2009

We had a great Christmas. We had a little Elf on a shelf that came to visit us each day up until Christmas that was keeping an eye on the kids and reporting back to Santa their naughty and nice activities.

We read the Christmas story, ate Jesus' birthday cake for breakfast, additionally Allie ate a package of Oreos from her stocking. (Photo 2)Tommy raced at opening presents while Allie then played with them. Sammie announced every present with screams of delight.

We made cookie cut outs twice they were so good. (Photo 1)

Tommy built a lot of lego spaceships, Photo 3.

Allie got a pet pterodactyl (Photo 5)and Sammie got a new metal shopping cart that everyone wanted to try (Photo 7).

We had a few rock concerts (Allie was the lead singer while Tommy played guitar and Sammie was on keyboards, Photo 8).

We had fun with Grandpa Francis (Photo 4) and Aunt Elizabeth (Photo 6) and finished a lot of puzzles (Photo 9).

Great memories and a great start to 2010.

Walk through Bethlehem

This year we were invited to a local church that takes you on a tour, walking to and through Bethlehem. My friends and sisters, Mary and Jeanne invited our family to join them in their annual tradition to walk through Bethlehem. Our photo below is at the end of the walk. They started us in the church singing Chrismas Carols. Then our small group was led outside by our tour guide. We were greeted by angles announcing a savior. We were then questioned by Roman soldiers about our business. We visited with some shepherds and their sheep (live animals) who told us about a new king. We journied/walked on to Bethlehem where we gave all our shackles to buy our papers for Caesers census. Roman soldiers greeted us again asking for us to prove we had papers. We passed through town (tents) with venders, listened to a profit who told us about the new baby king and then we finally followed a star that lead us to a stable. There we found baby Jesus, Mary, Joseph, livestock and angles. It was very moving, a fantastic production and great tribute to all the volunteers who stayed in character and made the experience wonderful. Thank you God for such a beautiful story about the birth of your son, our savior!

2009 Photo with Santa

So this years photo with Santa is not the loving image I had hoped for but it does capture truth. Tommy has become very confident over the past year and he is truly developing into a nice and active young man. Sammie is always excited about fun things however she can be extremely cautious in new environments. Finally, Allie is a Momma's girl and wants nothing less as you can see below. (Note: We have an album of photos with Santa year after year, nothing fancy as you can tell by the outfits. We want to document the moment, the end of 2009, it has been a good year.)

Gymnastics Makeup

Tommy and Sammie typically attend gymnastics class on Thursdays. I explained to them that this week we would go to gymnastics on Monday in addition to Thursday so that we could make up for Thanksgiving day when we would not have class. So in the parking lot at gymnastics as Tommy changed into his workout cloths and Sammie waited patiently. Sammie then asked if Tommy was going to wear makeup with his outfit. I said no and then she asked if she was going to wear makeup for class and I again explained no. She then asked why this was 'makeup gymnastics' and I finally clued in to where these questions were coming from. My brain cells are clearly fried and my almost 4 year old is starting to out wit me.

Tooth is already gone!

Its alraedy gone, the tooth fell out somewhere at preschool! Tommy rushed to bed tonight looking forward to his gift from the Tooth Fairy. I love sharing their over the top excitement.

First Loose Tooth

Tommy bit into a banana at breakfast today and came up with a bleeding tooth. Tommy wiped the blood with the sleve of his shirt and came to show me. It was his new batman shirt so we had to wash the blood out, get it into the dryer and back on before school. Tommy did not care about his loose tooth but his new batman shirt now that was a big deal. I on the other hand was shocked with the realization that Tommy is starting to loose teeth. He just turned 5, this is all happening too fast. I remember as a kid that time dragged on and on and on so then why are my kids years going so fast?

Halloween

We had a great night of trick or treating. We started off with a neighborhood parade and then visited house after house with friends and neighbors. It was fun to watch the kids excitement, Tommy showed me every piece of candy and he was thrilled when I could tell him, "Great, you can eat that one!" Sammie's candy bag grew leaps and bounds after we reiviewed all the candy at home so I have felt compelled to snack on some of her candy to help even things out. (I am not sure she will even get one of the kit kats, she does not yet understand the value of chocolate.) Allie and Daddy stayed at home and passed out the candy, Allie loved opening and closing the door but she hated her pumpkin costume. Tommy has worn his Optimus Prime costume Saturday, Sunday and again today. We are getting great use out of the costumes, the kids love to dress up.