Well, here it is, almost mid-january and I had a boat load of pics to post -- so I was determined to get it done tonight! We usually have lots of these pictures floating around that the kids have drawn of the light show throughout December. For those of you who went, I totally realize this was an old design and not this year's new design . . . but that is what Joshua remembered this year from last year:)
Kayla's preschool Christmas party
Joshua's Christmas program
Our small group ugly sweater Christmas party. The V-neck sweater on Bryan??
I married up . . . what can I say?
The kids of our small group!
Birthday candles for Jesus . . .I know He's not five years old, but didn't feel like any arguments who was going to blow them out:)
We acted out parts of the Christmas story -- and Kayla was acting out Mary riding the donkey to Bethlehem. I know -- the KU blanket only adds to the authenticity of it all.
It just went from sillier to sillier.
Somewhere along the line, we added live drama to the "reading" of the Christmas story at Grandma and Grandpa Varner's. Kayla loves to play the angel, or Mary.
We were short a few grandkids . . . so Johnny picked up the slack. We used these "masks" for our Christmas story for Sparks -- those 1st graders looked really funny with them!
Grandma almost had the shephard (aka Tyler) assembled when he decided he was too cool for this like Joshua was:(
A baby doll that actually sucks a pacifier -- crazy.
Pillow pets from Bem and Johnny -- Joshua has been inseperable with his. I always forget to take pics when we are there -- and I wish I would have.
Carly was three days away from giving birth to Westin!
It has been UNSEASONABLY warm here -- and we did some really unusual things! The kids were able to make use of their outdoor gifts -- skateboard, scooter, etc.
Bryan agreed to grill one night for me -- so bizarre.
Trying out daddy's new fire pit . . . with our neighbor's snow man in the background:)
We took advantage of our year-round zoo pass and spend some time there while Bryan had a few days off.
We come to the zoo to look at . . . pop machines, of course!
We walked into the monkey building (not sure of real name) and the orangutan
was perched front and center.
For those of you who have been around Bryan lately you will recognize the red hankie in his hand . . . yep, he did his magic tricks for the monkey. Seriously. It was a proud moment.
It was remarkable the interaction from the money though . . .at one point, he (she?) actually reached out his (her?) hand -- we all got a good chuckle!
The last two days before school started for Joshua, we went to Omaha to an indoor water park/hotel. This was our family's "we survived the light show" trip! Overall, the trip was fine . . . but we kept having hiccups along the way that kept throwing us for a curve!
The kids COULD NOT WAIT for the park to open the first morning (because it closed early the previous night -- yeah, bummer) . . . but unfortunately, the air heating system in the water park wasn't working right that day. The water was plenty warm, but the air . . . um . . .it was chilly. After about 1 1/2 hours, we decided that the kids' blue lips were probably a strong enough signal that we needed to stop as everyone was freezing.
This was Tyler's natural pose the entire time . . . he thought it was a bit loud.
The only time he wasn't holding his ears -- was when he was with daddy. Lots of daddy and Tyler time at the water park:)
And, my most blog worthy info that I have no pics of . . . TYLER IS POTTY TRAINED!!!! Totally of his own doing, too. Three weeks ago, he told Bryan "pee pee," Bryan put him on the potty, and holy cow, he went. We are totally diaper free -- naps, night, EVERYTHING. First time since 2004! Way to go bud!
Well, we've started some new things in our family the last several weeks! Kayla has been really wanting (REALLY, REALLY) to take gymnastics for the last year -- so we're giving it a try! So far -- she's loving it!
