NYE 5K

Remember, I write the blog a year in the past. This is about New Year's Eve 2015. :)

Sweet Daughter continues to love running. She wanted the chance to run back to back 5Ks with me. We did a 5K on NYE and another 5K on NYD. It was cold, but so much fun. Here are the photos from NYE.

P.S. I love races that give free photos!

Throwback Thursday

I don't know that I have ever posted these photos before. These were from Sweet Son's physical therapy when he was younger. He was 3 when these photos were taken.

This ladder swings - side to side and around in circles. Those wooden dowels also move up. This is much harder to climb than it looks. (He was not cold, he just loved his hat.)

Here he is near the top! You can see how it spins and swings based on the construction.

Wordless Wednesday

They are both asleep and in a bed. I call it a win.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning with just the four of us! I love having a small family Christmas. Yes, the big celebrations with family out of town is exciting, but this helps us focus on each other and the things that are important. We don't give many gifts, but we really try to find things we will all love.

They each started with their biggest boxes, of course.

She got a doll that can walk. He finally got the accordion he had been asking for since our trip to Poland over the summer. Within just a couple of hours he was playing songs for extended family over Skype.

She had asked for a garden to grow food and help people. We went with this herb kit that works in the window. It is still there, though everything has been dead for a long time!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve they both opened one gift. It was a kit to build a metal helicopter.

Step 1: Dump out all pieces

Working together to build

Finished!

(We tried many photos, he couldn't stand still.)

Christmas Card Photo

Like many families, every year we do a Christmas card photo.

Official photo for the 2015 Christmas Card

*Remember the blog is a year behind

Happy Holidays everyone!

We didn't pick this one, but it was tempting...

Christmas Characters

Wonderful Husband's work offered a chance to take photos with various characters. Then line for Santa was hours long, so we skipped that one, but here are the others.

Elsa and Olaf were both real and talked and walked, etc. They were having camera problems so we had plenty of time to pick out the perfect props - Wonderful Husband and I went with hats while both kids picked a penguin.

The Grinch! The kids picked out their own hats here.

A gingerbread man!

Wordless Wednesday

They thought these hats were hilarious

SNOW!

Another fun activity in our town square is the snow! Every weekend they have snow machines that go on at the top and bottom of the hour. They play Christmas music from speakers you can hear throughout the area. The lights are also synchronized to the music.

In case the attire of the people confuses you, it is about 60F or 15C outside.

Snow is always exciting. Especially when it doesn't cause any safety or traffic issues!

Christmas with Family

We tried getting photos of everyone together and failed repeatedly. We will keep trying!

 Pictured: Me, Sweet Son, Sweet Daughter, Uncle B., Uncle B's friend, Dancing Great Grandma, Oma, and Papa T. 

Missing: Wonderful Husband, Oma's kids and their spouses

Pictured:Grandma, Sweet Daughter, Gentle Great Grandma, Sweet Son, Great Uncle R, Great Aunt K, Me

Missing: Wonderful Husband, Uncle B

Christmas with Grandma

Another day, another Christmas celebration!

Opening presents at Grandma's house

Visiting Great Grandma

All 3 (great-grandma and great-grand kids) were given the same stuffed bear, haha!

Christmas with Papa T.

We always love getting to celebrate Christmas over many days. Here is just one day of the celebration. We were with Papa T's side of the family.

They have this thing about stealing hats...

Opening gifts

We go around the room opening one gift at a time. She is waiting patiently in her new chair.

He got a Lego set!

Wordless Wednesday

Biking in December

More Fire Station Christmas

These are more photos from the Christmas celebration at the local fire station.

Walking home they decided to hold hands. Every time they do this I take a photo. I know one day it will stop and I will miss it.

Emailing Santa. They neither one asked for anything, haha.

Cool light fixtures

In front of a firetruck

Christmas at the Fire Station

Our local fire station does a Christmas event every year and this is the first time we have been able to go. It was awesome!

Sitting in a firetruck

Decorations

They were trying to pretend it is cold.

More fun backdrops to pose with

Parachuting Santa!

Every year our town hosts Santa and an elf as they parachute into the town square. This is the story of 2015 or How Inconsiderate People Ruin Everything. (*Note, this is a dramatic title. It wasn't ruined, but it could have been better.)

Here he comes!

The Elf lands first

You can see the crowds surrounding the landing field. We were held back by ropes and a sense of community - at least in theory.

 The elf lands!

Shortly after this, people rushed the field. I'm not kidding. It was no longer safe for Santa to land here. Santa ended up landing in another field, out of our sight, where he wouldn't hurt anyone. It was a great decision based on the safety of everyone, but needless to say we were less than thrilled that we didn't get to see Santa land.

There he goes

Christmas Crafts

December really does seem to be a month full of crafting! Here are just two of the many projects the kids worked on this month.

Decorating their own foam gingerbread houses

Tiny tree!

This was a really cool project. The tree it self is a wooden dowel with silver pipe cleaners wrapped around it. The tiny ornaments are Shrinky Dinks! In case you don't know what that is. There are outlines of pictures on plastic. You color in the pictures then place them in the oven. They curl up, flatten out, and are now tiny hard plastic ornaments. So much fun!

Wordless Wednesday

He asked for a photo (She photo bombed).

Guitar, not a recital

Sweet Daughter started a new instrument this year and wasn't ready to perform in a concert. Being our child who loves performing, she wanted to put on her own concert at home.

Watching Sweet Son's recital with Grandma

Her own recital at home

Piano Recital

Here are photos from Sweet Son's piano recital.

While playing

Posing for pictures (front row corner)

Trying not to smile

Yup, he's 6. :)