we made it up the Sunsphere

a beautiful day to ride at Worlds Fair Park

Ice, Ice, Baby

While the weather has been unseasonably warm lately, the kids have loved to play on the ice. They have tried ice skating and love it! We went a few weeks ago with a family who has kids both Miles & Audrey's ages. She didn't skate that time, just watched, but she really wanted to.Here he is making his ice debut.

We went back this week and all skated, even mommy and daddy. For the little ones (and I'll admit to doing this as well) they have little walker-like frames that you push along. We warmed up on those then took off.

I got a little carried away with the ability to speed and crashed once. I think we all hit the ice a few times, but all were brave and got right back up.

The kids were so into it that we're talking about lessons. Conveniently, there is a 6 week intro session starting soon so we might sign up for that to fill the winter months until soccer and swimming start up again.

Toepick!

Audrey with her friend Elizabeth at Chuck E. Cheese.

The Eye of the Tiger

Audrey got a camera for Christmas and Miles is so in love with it that he's bought one for himself with his Christmas cash (the one he got several years ago died).

This one takes video and pictures and the lens rotates for self portraits. It also has some pretty funny effects built in.

Miles took this awesome video of himself warming up today. We love it!!

And to all a good night

Another wonderful Christmas day has come to pass, and now we celebrate the birth of our Lord, Jesus! Otherwise known to the kids as the best birthday party ever, where we get the presents. I guess it'shad for most kids to grasp the true meaning when Santa and presents and wish lists are everywhere. We celebrated with family, so hopefully some more meaning came to the weekend.

When school ended we headed to Nashville to visit Wayne's family. I have been very lax with the camera lately so the photos presented do not adequately represent the joy of the week. Here is Miles with cousin Evan at our Christmas dinner Friday night.

Later that evening we exchanged gifts with Yaya and B. Audrey was ecstatic to open her very own Justin "Beaver" CD.

And Miles got lots of cool things, including great books. He has jumped the hurdle and has started working through some chapter books, so we're keeping him full of reading material.

Here's where the poor photography implementation occurs. We were joined Christmas Eve by Mimi and PawPaw for Mass and dinner out, but I forgot my camera. Then Christmas morning I took a few shots then set it down and forgot. I guess the better way of saying it, is "I enjoyed myself!" but I regret that we don't have a family picture for Christmas.  Oh well. Miles woke about 6:15 and we had to wake Audrey around 7. Both were happy that Santa heard their requests and got them much of what they requested.
Miles was thrilled to say he got four guns: a Boba Fett Blaster, 2 nerf dart guns and a wooden gun with a hammer/trigger mechanism. He also got the much desired Indiana Jones Legos from Yaya and B.

And Audrey got a new baby! She is as yet unnamed, but will probably be christened "Audrey" in a few days.

 Even without the photographic evidence, we had a wonderful holiday. Thank you so much to Mimi & PawPaw for driving over the river and through the woods to see us. Merry Christmas to all!

Wood shop 101

While I didn't build Audrey's bed entirely, I did get to call up all those skills I learned in Shop 101. Just kidding, I never took that. I guess it would be skills I learned in "Help Dad Replace Your Kitchen in One Week While 7 Months Pregnant" class 4 years ago. (Thanks again for that, dad! It's still awesome!)

I'd originally been looking at trundle beds for her, then our neighbor Angela mentioned a cute girly-bed she'd seen at Goodwill. Angela has an amazing eye for home decor, so I knew I had to see what she was talking about. Even after a few weeks it was still there, behind a couple of dressers and chairs. It wasn't in horrible shape, but it was pretty banged up, and the veneer was peeling away on the back of the foot board. So I grabbed it!

I didn't remove the finish, but I sanded it some and patched up the scratch and dents with wood filler. Then I primed it and started painting. I considered a color for the bed, but with her bright bedding it would have been too much. I had a great helper, too!

Sanding

 

Priming

Primed!

The trick with the bed was the missing side rails. And with the curved foot board and posts I couldn't bolt on the rails. So after lots of internet research I discovered this hardware that would create hook and pin connections without requiring me to learn how to mortise a board. Conveniently I still had some beautiful trim planks left over from the kitchen reno that worked perfectly as side rails. Since I have no table saw, our neighbor Mike graciously made the cuts I needed for the side rails and underbed support. It still required some good math and precise measurement to make sure everything was even and level. And I got to wield the power drill!

Foot board ready almost done

Solid!

And finally it was ready to set up! I even impressed myself with how solid it feels, nary a wobble or squeak. Maybe I've found a new hobby. I like this picture because you can see all the curves and appreciate the shape.

Ready for the mattresses!

And now it is made for the first (and possibly last) time! Yaya brought the side table last week and said we could paint it, but I think I'll take a break, at least until spring!

I finally finished Audrey's real big girl bed. Here's the after, I'll post the before too.

The Christmas Show (part II)

Thursday night Miles made his Kindergarten debut. He and his friends dressed as angels and sang for the lower school Christmas Show. It was a great show! Look for him in the back row, with friends Eric and Eli beside him, and Patrick in front of him.

He and Audrey (and we) send a great big thank you to Yaya for coming to see both shows.


And for a look back, here are all of his past years' performances: 2010

2009

2008 - (he's 3 here, same age as Audrey this year)

2007

2006

The Christmas Show (part I)

Audrey performed in the annual Christmas show again. When you hear the maniacal laughter at about 2:40, that's me laughing as two little girls lifted their dresses over their heads on stage. Sorry I couldn't get the camera on that fast enough!




If you want to look back, here are her shows for the past few years:

2010

2009

More to come after Miles's show tonight!

they each wrote their own names, Audrey 's first time to do it!

Tree me!

For the first time since the kids were born, we went for the live Christmas tree. Wayne has always thought that they irritate his allergies, but we read that if we rinse it first it won't be a problem. We'll test the theory and see which way we go next year. But for now, Miles & Audrey had a great time picking out our tree!

Santa visit

We saw Santa at the Enchanted Forest in Memphis. He was so nice, and so smart! He made Miles limit his list to one item. Thanks Santa!

He's got a hole in the head

Miles lost his first tooth on the drive home from Thanksgiving weekend. He took a bite of a cracker and it fell out in his lap. After he blotted the blood, we called the grandparents and cousins to share the happy news. That night, the Tooth Fairy left him two gold doubloons (the gold president dollars) in his tooth pillow! His teacher celebrates lost teeth at school too. The kids draw a picture of how they lost the tooth and share the story with the class. Then the child brings home a bag filled with storybooks about losing teeth. He has his dentist check up next week, so we'll ask him when he thinks the next one will come out.

Watch out, Turkeys!

Miles's class had a Thanksgiving feast a few days before the holiday. He chose to be a Native American because he knew the pilgrims would wear black garbage bags. He and his friend Patrick were the narrators for the show, then the kids had a feast together.

For Thanksgiving break we traveled to Memphis to visit the family. We got to celebrate with both of the kids' great grandmothers. GG Crosby turns 96 in December, but we won't be back for the party. GG claimed the kids as her seat neighbors, and Miles claimed Aunt Megan as his seat buddy.

On the way to Memphis we stopped in Jackson for lunch with GG Kremser. She'll be 96 next September. How blessed the kids are to have these two women in their lives, both still going strong nearing the century mark.

Friday we took the kids to the Enchanted Forest at the Pink Palace Museum. It's a path through a snowy forest filled with magical woodland creatures and elves helping Santa prepare for Christmas. It has been around for over 50 years, although it's no longer in its intimate cave-like home at downtown Goldsmiths. While it didn't seem as enchanting as I remembered it, the kids loved it!

Up in the Smokys

We went on a last minute mini-vacation this weekend and stayed in a cabin in Townsend, TN (the peaceful side of the Smokys, as they claim). The area where we picked up our keys was hosting an Art Walk this weekend, with many crafters set up in tents among the galleries and restaurants.

The kids - as well as the fur-kids - loved our getaway! Saturday we drove into the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and hiked the trail to Laurel Falls. It was a paved 1.3 mile path that rose 300 ft in elevation. It wasn't difficult, but there were some steep drop offs on areas.

Everyone did great, even little Audrey with some helpful piggyback rides. Miles exclaimed that his two favorite things are "nature and coloring." Me too, buddy. Me too.

The falls were beautiful. We're glad we went early though, when we drove by again after lunch the parking area was overflowing.

We went into Gatlinburg for lunch and had to introduce the kids to Smoky Mountain taffy logs, yum!

At lunch the kids worked on their Junior Ranger workbooks, so on the return we stopped back at the visitor center to get their badges. They are now Junior Rangers at Hatteras National Seashore and GSMNP! If you visit a National Park with kids, I recommend you check out the program. It's a fun way to learn more about the area.

The owners of the cabin we stayed in (family friends) are building a new house near their current rental. We took several walks up the road to enjoy the new view. Hopefully we'll make the cut and be invited to stay in the new house too!

visiting Papa Stan on All Souls Day

Padre Pio

All Saints' Day was November 1st, and the kindergarten kids really celebrated. Each child picked a saint and dressed as that person for the day. They processed in at Mass, thankfully holding signs so we knew who was whom. There were many St. Patricks and St. Francis of Assisis as you might imagine. There was a great St. Michael the Archangel (the commander of the army of God) dressed in US Army fatigues.

Miles was going to wear his Jedi robe for his saint and originally wanted to be St. Francis. I suggested we wander the Paraclete and look for other saints in brown robes. When I picked up the Padre Pio story and read some to him, he was sold! Padre Pio has a lot of mystical {and controversial} occurrences attributed to him, such as ecstasy and visions of Christ, as well as bilocation - being in two places at the same time. But he was canonized for his devout piety and his ability to read people's souls and bring them closer to God. An episode of Unsolved Mysteries investigated him.   

Here's a video of his friends, Miles is not in this one though.

scary good fun

Halloween was a lot of fun again this year. Audrey knew what she wanted to be and all I had to make was the tutu. She is "Ladybug Girl" from the books by Jacky Davis. Yes, the real Ladybug Girl has a red tutu, but I foresee much more versatility with a black one, so I made the executive decision. Audrey didn't mind at all!

I steered Miles toward his costume a little, but it wasn't difficult to convince him to be a Jedi Knight. We borrowed the robe from a neighbor and used it again the next day for his school All Saints' Day activities. I love pulling together a costume from what we have. He thought the camo jammie pants and skull & crossbone boots lent a little extra fierceness to the look.

We started at a party down the street with hot dogs, homemade petro's and lots of other goodies. The kids had a blast with their friends and even made some new friends.

Later we hopped on the hayride again for a trip down the street. I think our crowd overwhelmed a few houses as the swarm of 30+ kids came begging. We wrapped up a little after 7 and sat down for the Halloween math homework: counting and sorting. We only had a few more knocks before it was lights out for our little ones.

Thanks to the Youngs, Hemricks and Ackers for the party and hayride fun!