Kansas City Museum

Friday morning we went to the Longview Mansion downtown.  It's newly renovated with a museum housed inside.  It's gorgeous and the history of Kansas City is also really interesting.  It's definitely a hidden gem in the city.  It's even free!

Hannah's been with us while her parents get a quick getaway to Branson.  It's been fun having her with us.

Copy Cat Dates

 We did actually get the December kid dates done in December, but it was funny because the little boys had a it of envy of the previous dates.  Little Man loves Cheesecake Factory and the little boys realized they'd never tried it, so this month they decided to rectify this lack of experience. 

BB chose to eat cheesecake while watching the movie Leo. (I haven't heard Joel laugh that much in a while- he really liked the movie).  Little Guy watched with them as well. Little Guy wanted the same exact date as his oldest brother.  He chose a trip to Barnes and Noble and cheesecake afterward.

Bonner Springs

We spent the morning in Bonner Springs, Kansas.  One of the first places we heard about when we moved to Kansas was Moon Marbles.  It's a cool old school store that does marble making demonstrations.  The marble making shows stopped when Covid hit, so we never did go.  They're finally open again, and I'm so glad we went.  It was a very interesting process to watch.  

We also went to the Wyandotte County Historical Museum located in Bonner Springs. The kiddos always love a good scavenger hunt.

Phones have changed a bit over the years...

Learning to Cook

 Since we're home for the holidays and I'm off work for 2 weeks, I decided to have the kiddos each take a day and meal plan.  They chose breakfast and dinner meals, and then I taught them how to make them.  

Little Guy went first.  He chose waffles for breakfast, and then he wanted to do a breakfast for dinner:  He wanted to learn how to scramble eggs, and then he turned it into a egg, sausage and cheese sandwich.

Little Man chose the next day.  He went all out with making pancakes for breakfast and then homemade lasagna.  

After Christmas Little Lady wanted to learn how to make french toast, and then made Chicken Cord en Bleu casserole with rice and green beans for dinner.  

The next day BB chose to make baked pumpkin oatmeal, and ziti and steamed carrots for dinner. 

They all did such a good job. 

Truman Library & Museum

I didn't realize that Truman was from Independence, Missouri until recently, so we decided to go to the Truman Museum with family.  It's newly renovated, and it's probably one of the most interesting museums I've been to in a very long time.  I learned so much.  His presidency spanned such a fascinating time periods. 

It's very interactive.  The lady encouraged the boys to touch everything!

I mostly knew Truman for the atomic bomb, but his presidency spanned all of the European and Asian reconstruction, the forming of Israel as a country, the Korean War, and the beginnings of the Cold War and McCarthy era in Congress.  

I highly recommend this museum to anyone passing through the Kansas City area. 

Christmas Day

Little Guy woke up at 3am for yet another painful wake-up on Christmas Day.  He checked the clock in our room everything 3-5 minutes all the way until 5am.  He woke up BB by about 4 and Little Lady by 5am even though we tried to get him back in his bed multiple times.  Ugh.   Let's just say he's a little enthusiastic about Christmas morning.

One of my favorite things is to watch them open their sibling gift.  They get almost more excited to watch their sibling open the gift they chose for them.

Little Man was particularly happy with the chocolate stash BB for for him.

Christmas breakfast had a bit of a setback with burnt bacon, so we had to air out the house...

Grandma and Grandpa Thompson and Aunt Liz came over in the afternoon, so the kiddos could open their gifts from them and watch the newest Grinch movie.  

Daddy helped Little Lady put together her bookshelf.  She's thrilled to have a place to put all of her books.

You know it's been great when no one had to get out of their pajamas for the day.  It was a lovely Christmas.

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was packed full of great things: we participated in the music program at church, baked and decorated cookies for Santa, had a big Christmas Eve dinner with family, and then had our Christmas devotional together.

This year Little Guy read to us a Charlie Brown's Christmas, BB sang his choir song "Winter Sleigh Ride" with his sister, Little Lay played "My Grown Up Christmas List", and Little Man played "Go Tell it on the Mountain."

The kiddos opened their Christmas pajamas and the family game.  This year it's Skyjo.