Polar Express

Noah and I had a special mommy-son date to ride the Polar Express. Noah got new pjs to wear for the night, which he loved. The characters from the book/movie were around, and he got so excited when he saw the boy because he had a robe, too. It was cute. On the way there, I lost track of how many times Noah asked, "How many more minutes?" It was so fun to see him have such fun anticipation for it! It didn't disappoint. 

After we got our tickets, we spent some time at the "wish wall". After explaining what a wish was to Noah, he wanted to wish for a puppy for Lyla. What an incredibly sweet brother! (OR he knows the wish for him to get a puppy didn't come true last year so he thought he would try this approach!) 

Getting ready to go! (My favorite part was when the conductor came through to collect the tickets and punched an 'N' in his ticket with confetti falling over him just like in the movie.)

Noah loved his cookie and hot chocolate!

The train was very slow moving, and not much happened after the hot chocolate song, so Noah started to get a little bored. 

But about that time, we made it to the North Pole where Santa hopped on our train to give out the first gift of Christmas (which was Noah's favorite part...after we finally got the silly girl from across the aisle to get out of his way--Santa kept telling Noah to hug his sister for the picture but we didn't even know her! It took us a while to finally get Santa to understand they weren't together!)  (My only regret was not taking the good camera so our Santa pic is blurry. Oh well! Memories are better!) When I asked Noah on the way home if he would want to go again next year, he said, "No," which completely surprised me. But then he said, "Next year, Lyla can go, and then I will go, and then Lyla will go, and then I will go." Awww. (I don't think he understood that it would be possible for them both to go at the same time, but I thought it was so sweet that he would purposely stay home so she could have a turn. What a fantastic brother. Love him.)

Life Here

Playing with razors. Good thing Christmas is coming! (Just kidding, just kidding. I was right there and quickly confiscated them. No one was injured.)

Learning to do chores. Noah has gotten really good at sweeping the floor! 

Fall crafts

And fall breathing treatments. Lyla was pretty worried about him, but he's giving a big thumbs up. What a pro.

New building blocks at the Magic House.

What a good Daddy. (Painting Lyla's toes)

Noah doing my exercise video with me. (The cans were too heavy, so he switched to spice bottles. ha!) 

Noah got to write the daily message at school. 

This is apparently the only picture I took on Thanksgiving. Fail. My parents came for the day and we enjoyed a delicious feast. Lyla wanted grandpa to comb her hair after bath. Adorable.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Halloween

We made the most of our costumes this year! Two outings to special events at the Magic House, two school parties, a church party, and Halloween itself. Phew!

Excited face! 

These children LOVE puppies! Even fake ones!

Eric Carle exhibit at the Magic House

Fall Family Night at church. This is one of our favorite events of the year! 

First smore. Love at first taste!

Hayride! 

Waiting for Noah's parade at school. 

Halloween night. It was cold and drizzly, but the kids were so excited. We met Mark, Emily, Cole and Natalie at their house and headed out from there. The boys surprised us with how far they walked. Lyla did well, too, but we were thankful Emily's parents lived close--we stopped by to borrow a stroller so Lyla could keep going. :) In St. Louis, the kids all have to tell a joke to get their treat. We had been working with Noah on his joke and thought he had it down. The parents stood at the sidewalk and the kids walked up to the doors on their own, but after a few doors I thought I would go closer to make sure they were all saying "thank you". Noah: Why did Tigger look in the potty? Lady: Why? Noah: To poo. Lady: Oh! (A look of surprise.) That's really gross. (Not laughing.) Now, I know he botched the punchline (He was looking for Pooh!), but at least laugh politely!! He's only four! Poor kid. He didn't seem too wounded and mastered the joke by the end of the night. The kids all came home loaded. We took three pounds of candy to the dentist the next week for candy buy-back and still had plenty at home! It was a fun night. :) What cute kids! 

Family Pictures 2015

Our sweet friend Mattie (a high school senior at our church) took our pictures this year. As we pulled away from the shoot, I told Daniel, "You know we are just going to pay to have these re-done, right?" Because, no offense to Mattie, but we felt like there was no way a good photo was going to come out of it! We had worked so hard to get our children to smile on command, pose cutely, and cooperate, and while they were well-behaved, that didn't mean they were taking great pictures! But Mattie surprised us and pulled out several we were really pleased with. She's a talented girl! :)

Here they are, minus the few that will be on our Christmas card. You know, I couldn't ruin it for my five readers. :)

Stay tuned for a few more around Christmas! And thanks, Mattie, for a great