Our December days...
Perusing the Target toy catalog.
A sweet note for her basketball team to hand out to each player after their last game of the season.
Seeing The Star to kick off the Christmas season right.
Girl Scouts fun.
Learning about cyber security...
...and working as a team.
Cadyn's class had an Elf on the Shelf named Jingle. Cadyn chose to write a note to Santa and Jingle and also take them treats.❤
My husband had a quick business trip to Waco and told me for weeks there was absolutely no way he was stopping at Magnolia Market, then sent me this picture. I thought he was pulling me leg, accused him of sending a stock photo, and told him that was a cruel joke.
Then he sent this one and I about died. He (and the two colleagues he was traveling with) went to Magnolia Market without me?! After my initial shock we then tried to figure out how to smuggle some of their signature cupcakes onto the plane. Then I asked him politely to bring me all the things.☺
While in Waco Caleb also visited the Mars Chocolate plant.
In the airport, as a faithful Husker football fan, Caleb immediately spotted Mario Verduzco who is the new quarterbacks coach under Scott Frost. Mario was on a recruiting trip and Caleb talked to him in depth about the current recruiting landscape. As luck would have it, these two were seated next to each other on the plane, so the Husker football talk was extensive and covered many more topics.
Advent calendar scientific experiments.
Oh so ooey gooey.
Four of my favorites in one video: hucker (sucker), mouse (mouth), iownoh (I don't know), and waiter (later).
Thanks to Grammy Nita for sending these adorable good deed Advent calendars from Trader Joes.
Cadyn's teacher sent home some extra fun homework to do on her own time. She said she has noticed Cadyn really enjoys this type of work so she wanted to challenge her a bit with researching ocean animals. Incidentally, testing for the gifted program was conducted in September. Those who score in the 99th percentile through the Raven test and subsequently qualify through other interventions go on to be in the gifted program. I recently talked with Cadyn's teacher and found out she scored in the 96th percentile. We are very proud of her!
Ballers.
These three never give me any problems getting up and getting ready for school, thank goodness. The Advent calendar makes mornings even more easy peasy.
Big kid with a tiny cart.
He was committed.
Wrapping siblings gifts.
Attack!
Snowball fight.
The volume of breakfast can sometimes be deafening.
Thanks to our thoughtful former Ottumwa neighbor Brooklyn for a box full of goodies and sweet notes to the kids.
Learning about flag etiquette during this Girl Scouts meeting.
The thing I love most about ME is: I am nice.❤❤❤❤❤❤
My cousin Nico sent some Huskers sweatshirts hand-me-downs from her son Finn to Teegs. He looks so good in red and they are just in time for the upcoming coach Scott Frost era which is going to ROCK. I went to high school with Scott Frost for anyone I haven't already told THAT story to ten times. Ha. He was two years ahead of me and I dated his best friend, so knew him and his family (who taught and coached me at Wood River High School) well. He is a great guy and will do amazing things with the Nebraska football program.
Soaking in more park days (albeit chilly) before the super cold weather hits.
Construction vehicles and huge holes equal pure joy for little boys.
Silly Putty and slime, oh my.
Dance party with MiP robot and Trace.
These short sleeves in mid-December were courtesy of a streak of 60 degree days in southwest Kansas. Strange. The high point was that all the outdoor play and fresh air had the kids 100% zonked my 7:30pm. Parenting win.
Maxin' + relaxin'.
Guitar Hero lessons.
A treat for her classmates.
I had a lot of nostalgia updating the gallery wall photos. While I could go on all day about how I miss chubby cheeks, little voices, and that intoxicating baby smell, these new days with bigger kids are (mostly) fun and interesting. Playing games that they occasionally win, having conversations about their deep thoughts where I can almost see the wheels turning, and them helping out without me asking are only a few of the many highlights. We are certainly in a sweet spot right now.❤
Mail boys.
More science experiments from the Advent calendar.
Cadyn came home beaming this day and could hardly wait to tear open her backpack to show me what was inside. All of the 2nd and 3rd graders in Dodge were given an iPad 2! Apparently, the devices no longer met the needs of the schools, so an upgrade meant some very happy kiddos.
Supervising big bro during martial arts class.
Belt ceremony.
Teegs moved up another belt to a yellow. We are proud of our Little Dragon!
[photos courtesy of Amy]
Girl Scouts all-city Christmas party.
Troop 60504
Quiet and focused kids with their new Christmas gifts.
[photos courtesy of Amy]
Girl Scouts caroling and troop Christmas party.
Play date with Nathan and Josh.
The kids and I had fun picking out special gifts for all of their teachers, coaches, and other special people in our lives. I adored their accompanying personal notes. Here are just a few of them.
After getting home from a play date with Trace, Tegan asked me for an apple, then a cookie, then completely zonked out.
I'm sure there will come a day when I don't take a picture of every sweet little note of hers I find. Today is not that day.❤ #herheartonpaper #sweetest #heartofgold #kindnessmatters
The much anticipated pajama day on the last day of school before winter break. To be clear about priorities of my sensitive, particular 8 year-old girl, the festive accessories on her stuffies took nearly 2 hours to get just right the night before. Oy.
Lego projects left on the kitchen table are fair game during the day for Cam (aka: destroyer).
Teegs couldn't wait to get home to open a Christmas gift from his teacher - the very silly Mooseltoe book.
Caleb and I adored the kids' gifts for us from school. An ornament from Tegan (above) and a special card, pottery, and a month's worth of writing from Cadyn (below).
One of my favorite Facebook memories to pop up every year.
I was actually on time with packing for our trip this time around and I walk out to see these yahoos start a new Star Wars puzzle in the entryway. Whaaaa? It was actually nice to not be rushed this year. They took their time to finish it and Cadyn told us about how she was honored at the school assembly at the end of the day. Each teacher was asked to have one boy and one girl stand who represented kindness and inclusiveness this month and Ms. Prater chose Cadyn.❤
The kids were concerned the fish would be alone on Christmas, so they decided to make the tank festive right before we left on our trip.
After returning from Nebraska, this was the first toy Tegan ripped open to play with. I guess they are called classic toys for a reason.
These Dig It activities are always a huge hit with my kids and keep them busy for multiple hours.
Pictopia for family game night.
Teaching Cadyn about the joy of cleaning, organizing, and decluttering to start a new year fresh. We had already finished her room, so it was on to her brother's. Next up is teaching her how to harness his help instead of telling him to go play and she will just take care of it. Ha.
New jams from Grandma Joni fit like a glove.
Barber shop time. These two have so much fun together.
A delivery of our favorite Williams Sonoma Peppermint Bark from Grammy Nita. The kids almost lost their minds.
Camden walked around in this new shirt calling himself, "Cute! Cute!"
It was a couch fort, college football, and comfort food kind of day on the last Saturday of the year. We were ten days into the nineteen day break at this point - the perfect point for Daddy to be home for 3 1/2 days.
Cooking all the carbs since a diet crackdown is looming come the new year.
I am thankful for one of the more fun and carefree December months I can remember. A great end to 2017!
