visiting santa's workshop

A few weeks ago, the fitness center where Bart and I work out put on a Santa's workshop activity for the kids.  We all had such a good time!

The first activity was a drums class with Santa, Mrs. Claus and some of the elves!  I adore this picture of Kade drumming with Santa!

It was so much fun and it really was a great workout!

Krew learned very quickly who Santa was this Christmas season.  Whenever he would see a picture of Santa in a book, on TV, on wrapping paper, etc. he will say "Ho, ho, ho!"  It's adorable.  So, I was excited to see what he would do when he got the meet Santa.  When he saw him, he got so excited, said, "Ho, ho,ho" and ran toward him.

He did not, however, like it when he got this close to Santa.  But every kid has to have a crying with Santa picture, right?  Being scared to sit on his lap didn't stop him from repeatedly walking over to him and watching him from about 15 feet away all morning.

Kade and Ky got to decorate little gingerbread (graham cracker) houses.

Krew was fascinated by this dog!  If he wasn't walking over to look at Santa, he was walking around looking for this dog.  My older children, on the other hand, were paying attention to where the dog was so that they could stay on the other side of me from the dog.  It was funny to watch them.  They didn't ever say anything about the dog, but I could see them watching him and making sure I was between the dog and them so that I could protect them from the big, scary monster!

The boys were so excited to share their wish lists with Santa.  They both had lengthy lists and they took the time to explain the specifics of each item they were hoping for.

Here's a picture of when Krew got extra brave and almost gave Santa a high five!

Finally, at the end of the activity, we were able to get a picture of all three of the boys with Santa, and Krew didn't even cry this time.  He doesn't look particularly thrilled, but I'll take it! (I only wish the older boys had been wearing something a little nicer, but they insisted on wearing "workout" clothes to the gym!  Oh well.)

Merry Christmas!!!

mischievous

I think my third son is going to be my mischievous one.  That and we need to keep our pantry door closed tight.

 Trix

 Goldfish crackers-doesn't he look guilty?!

 Pancake mix

But how can I get mad at such a cute face?

we're going on a field trip!

Kade and Ky's first grade class went on a field trip recently to the children's museum.  Krew and I were lucky enough to come along.  They wouldn't let me be a parent chaperone since I had the little one with me, which ended up being just perfect because I got to hang out with my kids and I didn't have to feel responsible for any other kids!

Krew loved this slide!  As soon as he would get down, he would turn around and sign "more."  And since it's hard to resist a cute little boy using sign language, I helped him go down again, and again, and again!

I had to post the above picture!  Any of you who know Kade, know that he doesn't sit still for many things.  Not to eat, not to play video games, etc.  So, I found it a bit ironic that we were at a children's museum, with lots of hands-on, active exhibits, with all the 1st graders from school, and he sat down and read a book-the whole thing!  Not that he doesn't like to read-in fact he's been pulling out his chapters books at home and reading a chapter or two here or there, even asking to read while shopping at Target, but given his surroundings at the time, I thought it was funny!

I know Krew liked being there with his brothers and all the big kids, and I think Kade and Ky liked having Krew there with them too!

winter fun

We've been lucky so far that the weather this past month has been great.  It hasn't been too cold, but we've had just enough snow to keep the boys happy!  The first time it snowed, I took Krew outside to see the snowflakes.  They were huge and coming down softly (as opposed to the way it usually snows here--vertically!).  Krew thought it was awesome!  

If you look at the house in the background, you can see some of the snowflakes.  He liked to catch them on his mitten and watch them melt, but he was a little frustrated about trying to walk on the grass in shoes.

The day after Thanksgiving, we went to get our Christmas tree.  We found this really cute tree farm that you get to cut down your own tree.  Krew wasn't sure what to think about Rudolph!

We got to ride on a "train" to get out to the trees to select the perfect one.

Our family is getting kinda big to take pictures using the "reach your arm out and take a picture of yourself" method!

We found the perfect tree!  It's shorter than the ones we've had the past several years, but I was a little worried about the little guy pulling it over, so this one is just right!

After we got our tree, we came inside for hot chocolate and to warm up.  It was cold and windy that day!