CHRISTMAS SPIRIT

The kids and I are really getting into the Christmas spirit. Our shopping is done and the last of the gifts were wrapped yesterday. Our house is decorated inside and out. We visited Santa & had pictures taken with him. We've made our homemade gifts for the grandparents/great grandparents. Our baking is well underway, the Kiss cookies, fudge, peanut clusters, turtles, Oreo bark, Ritz cracker cookies, pumpkin bread & banana bread are done. There is a little more baking left, letters to write to Santa, holiday parties, Xmas concerts & family get togethers...I'm not sure who loves this time of the year more, me or the kids?!?

THANKSGIVING WEEKEND

We spent Thanksgiving Day here at home. I made a traditional Thanksgiving meal. After lunch, Allie and I started working on getting our inside Christmas decorations up while the boys went outside and put up our lights and lawn decorations. That took all afternoon, but we got it done.

On Friday morning, the kids and I jumped in the car early and headed to my parent's house. Allie spent the day with my mom while Jake & I went to Michael & Kim's house. Kim and I hit the shopping scene (& had a ball) while Michael & Jake hung out all day (they went to Chuck E Cheese's, walked down by the river, played football, and ATE). We went out to dinner with my grandmother & parents Friday night.

On Saturday, mom watched Ben & my kids while Mandy & I went to some gift shops. We came back to Mom's for lunch and a game of whiffle ball in the back yard. The weather was wonderful!! The kids and I came home Saturday afternoon.

Sunday was spent running a couple of errands as a family. When we got home, Allie & I did some holiday baking while Jake & Scott played video games & watched football.

Now we are back to our usual schedule. Allie has a birthday party this afternoon/evening so Jake & I will spend some time alone. We have tumbling, CCD & dance this week. I will be in Jake's classroom this morning and have lunch room duty later in the week. As always, we will keep busy!

Christmas Trees, Riding Bikes & Thanksgiving

The kids put up their own Christmas trees this morning. Both have little 3 foot trees in their bedrooms decorated with the things that they love most. Jake's is sports themed and Allie's is just girls (hearts, ballet, Care Bears etc.). They are both lacking ornaments, but we can add to it each year until they are full.

The weather was gorgeous here this afternoon. We went outside and rode bikes & scooters. Jake finally got up the nerve to have me remove his training wheels (it is about time). He did pretty good until he got frustrated. With another nice day forecasted for tomorrow, I'd guess he could be almost a pro!!

We are having our Thanksgiving dinner here tomorrow. Just Scott, the kids and myself. The boys are also planning to get the Christmas lights up while Allie & I get our holiday decorations inside the house done.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

BUSY WEEKEND

We had yet another busy weekend!! There is something going on every weekend from now until the end of February!! Maybe not something that takes up the entire weekend, but something (Christmas celebrations, basketball games, a play, b-day parties, a concert, etc.)

Michael & Kim came up for a visit on Friday night. We went to dinner with them and then just hung out around the house.

Mom, Dad, Mandy & Ben came up Saturday morning. The guys sat in the basement all day long & watched football. The girls went to the Festival of Trees at UNI & the Holiday Ballet.

Allie danced in her first ballet on the "big stage". She performed on Saturday afternoon at GBPAC at UNI for the Holiday Ballet. She did well for her first time on stage & looked adorable (I may be biased).

We celebrated my dad's birthday a few days early on Saturday night. We ordered pizza and had dessert. He opened his gifts and then we all sat around and talked. It was fun having a houseful!

This morning we had brunch here and then everyone left for home. Allie & I got dressed up and went back to UNI for more Festival stuff. We attended the Teddy Bear Tea together. Santa made a visit and Allie spent some time with her friends.

PACK MEETING

On Monday night, Jake's Cub Scout Pack had a meeting. The Pack invited a Sheriff & his drug dog to do a demonstation for the boys. Everyone had to leave the room while the officer got set up. He planted drugs in the room while we were gone. He then talked awhile about his dog & had the dog do a drug search and find the hidden drugs. It was pretty cool to watch. After the search, the officer put the drugs into his pocket & continued on with his talk...is that legal??????

WHINE

Allie announced this morning...

"I AM NEVER GOING TO WHINE AGAIN!!"

I had to laugh out loud at that statement...nothing could be farther from the truth!

SNOW

It snowed about .5 inches on Friday. There was no school, so the kids made a "mini" snowman and played outside for a couple of hours. The neighbor boy, Paul came over too for his first time playing in the Iowa snow (he is from North Carolina).



HOCKEY GAME

It was Scout night at the Black Hawks hockey game last night. The boys enjoyed watching the Waterloo Black Hawks beat the Des Moines Bucceneers 4 to 2. Jake's favorite part was when the players slammed up against the glass. The boys also got an earfull of yelling from the TRUE hockey fans...not always something nice came out of their mouths!! We had to explain to Jake the "You suck ref" isn't being a good sport!!

COLLEGE SQUARE

Jake & Allie each had a friend (Paul & Abbie) come to the mall yesterday for BK lunch, Santa's arrival, Fun Bunch art projects and mascot day. They loved meeting the mascots. There was Upper Iowa's fighting peacock, The Crash Test Dummies, the Sprint cell phone, UNI's TC, the Black Hawk (hockey) and the Texas Roadhouse Armadillio (Andy). The kids were ALL about meeting mascots!

CONFERENCE

Jake had his Fall conference last night. He is doing great in his subjects at school. He is reading above his grade level, does well in math & spelling and he really enjoys the science/social studies topics. However...he is a bit chatty!! I had to crack up at part of his comments on his report card..

"Jacob seems to have good leadership qualities and a large circle of friends. One thing he continues to work on is raising his hand and waiting his turn to talk. He likes to share and sometimes does a little too much talking with neighbors. Jacob is a neat kid. I enjoy having him in my class"

I don't know WHERE ON EARTH he gets talking too much from??? Mrs. Wyckoff told me that he has the "gift of gab"!! I think that is the nice way of saying that the kid talks WAY TOO MUCH!!

JAKE LOSES A TOOTH

Jake lost his first tooth at school this afternoon. He was eating his snack and it came out. He got a sticker that says "I lost a tooth today" and a small box in the shape of a tooth to keep his tooth in. He was VERY excited and had to tell every teacher he saw on the way out of the school.

Another busy night here. Allie has tumbling, Jake has his conference and both kids have swimming lessons. It's always something!!

SLEEPOVER

Jake went to his first sleepover last night at his friend Paul's house. Paul's birthday was a few weeks ago & he chose to invite 3 boys over to spend the night. They also got to go see "Santa Claus 3; The Escape Claus". Jake thought the movie was good, eating at McDonald's was good and spending the night with his best buds, Adam, Paul & Ben was GREAT!!