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Toadfrogs & Elephants

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Month: December 2016

31 Dec

High School Reunion

My good friends from high school – Johnna, Jenny, and Amy came over today to visit and to let the kids play.

(You might ask why in this picture all of the kids are smiling – which never happens? Wade was standing behind the camera making the best faces!)

31 Dec

December 31, 2016

Saturday morning cartoons.

31 Dec

December 31, 2016

Helping Gram with breakfast.

30 Dec

Christmas with Gram

The kids were so excited to wake up today for their last Christmas. After a breakfast of Red’s donuts (a must have when at Gram’s house), we got down to the present opening. After Kaitlyn’s nap, the cousins arrived and we started presents all over again! (It is possible that we encouraged some iPad use in the middle of the day to give the adults a little quiet time.)

30 Dec

December 30, 2016

My three.

30 Dec

December 30, 2016

I’m pretty sure she would consider it a successful Christmas.

29 Dec

Thursday

Just a few random pictures from the day.

Here you can see the before and after lengths for Kaitlyn’s hair. She has been begging for a haircut for months and got it for Christmas!

29 Dec

December 29, 2016

Pajamas and a new comic book.

29 Dec

December 29, 2016

Family time.

29 Dec

December 29, 2016

First haircut.

28 Dec

The Dress

I was at my Mom’s house about 6 months ago (sometime over summer) and on my bedside table sat a picture I remember well from childhood. The frame has a picture of my older cousin, myself, and my sister all wearing Grandad’s (my Mother’s father) baby dress. On this particular visit the wheels started turning and I asked Mom if she had the dress. I knew Kaitlyn and Mackenzie could still fit in the dress, but I wasn’t sure about Harper. My Mom had no idea what had happened to the dress after my Grandmother died. She checked with my Aunt Beverly and my cousin. Nobody knew what had happened to the dress.

Fast forward to September. My Mom found the dress in a random drawer and over Christmas break I took the pictures. Below are all three great-grandkids in Granddady’s childhood dress.

28 Dec

This And That

Today we did a little of everything. We played with new Christmas toys, visited the horses, took the kids to see Moana (first movie for Kaitlyn), played some more, and ended the night with a cousin sleepover!

28 Dec

December 28, 2016

Cousin sleepover!

27 Dec

Christmas in KY

We left town EARLY and then decided to stop for Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits about 10 miles down the road – Priorities! The drive was awesome. The boys played on their iPads and Kaitlyn loved her new headphones for the car. (She got a “princess” movie from Santa.)

Then we arrived at B’s house just in time for dinner, snowball fights, cousin-time, and presents.

What are the holidays for if not new things? Kaitlyn spent her first night in a big bed at B’s house.

27 Dec

December 27, 2016

Christmas at B and Mary’s.

26 Dec

Winding Down

Our Christmas celebrations in Chicago are winding down. Everybody (us included) leaves tomorrow. Today we hung out, played, and generally had a good time.

26 Dec

December 26, 2016

These boys got new Nerf guns for Christmas.

26 Dec

December 26, 2016

Just watching the new 3D printer do it’s thing.

26 Dec

December 26, 2016

Fixing a hurt puppy with Pop’s help.

25 Dec

December 25, 2016

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Merry Christmas!

25 Dec

Christmas Is Here

The kids were awake and ready for Santa at 7 am. Judy and Jerry arrived minutes after the kids made it down the stairs. We opened packaging, played with toys, and read books until it was time to get ready for church.

We all took nice long naps and then played some more before opening the stockings Judy brought. Definitely a successful Christmas!!

(In case you are wondering, Kaitlyn is sitting in front of the 3D printer the boys got for Christmas. They were nice enough to make me a frog for the first print. Then it was on to cars and Pokemon.)

24 Dec

December 24, 2016

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Making cookies for Santa.

24 Dec

December 24, 2016

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Kaitlyn was so excited to get her own popcorn bowl made by Pop.

24 Dec

Christmas Eve – Let The Craziness Begin

We decided to switch things up this year and have most of our nominal Christmas Day activities on Christmas Eve. We started with the last basket present, then a big breakfast, and moved on to games and cookie making.

After an early dinner, we got to the presents! Before we knew it, it was time to put cookies out for Santa and get the kids in bed.

My favorite funny moment of the day – I got new dishtowels for Christmas (a lot of them) and asked Kaitlyn to go put them in the drawer. After everyone was in bed, this is what I found.

23 Dec

Santa – That Scary Guy

Kaitlyn loves the idea of Santa. She talks about him all the time. Before seeing him she agrees to sit in his lap. The minute she actually sees him she freaks out! I thought I had taken care of that today by promising fruit snacks, but that first glance still proved to be her undoing. I finally convinced her to stand by Teague and hold his hand. Teague would happily crawl into his lap, but that boy just loves hugs.

23 Dec

December 23, 2016

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On the same day a year later (see 2015), we found ourselves visiting the same awesome Santa. I had fruit snacks to bribe Kaitlyn and the knowledge from last year. Again, I ended up with a blurry picture – thanks to a sudden snowstorm (bad lighting), Kaitlyn refusing to sit in Santa’s lap, and general bad luck. Maybe next year!

22 Dec

Cookie Decorating – Messiah Style

Teague had some friends from school over to decorate cookies this morning. (Of course it was 95% playing and 5% cookie decorating, but that was expected.) The kids had a lot of fun and the mess was minimal.

(And funny story of the day: Wade and I both woke up about 7 am as our power went out. We aren’t quite sure what happened but it evidently affected about 450 people and took about 5 hours to fix. Thankfully I had baked the cookies yesterday and the house was warm enough we just carried on with no power.)

22 Dec

December 22, 2016

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Class Christmas Party!

22 Dec

December 22, 2016

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We had a cookie decorating party with friends.

21 Dec

December 21, 2016

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Paper chain maker.

21 Dec

December 21, 2016

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He may not have known all the words at his school Christmas performance, but he nailed the bow at the end.

21 Dec

December 21, 2016

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I looked over to find that Kaitlyn figured out a way to wash her hands “by self.”

21 Dec

Christmas Programs Times Two

Both Kaitlyn and Teague had Christmas programs at school for the parents today. Wade and I loved seeing the kids with their friends and they all did a great job!

20 Dec

December 20, 2016

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Alex started his wrapping tonight. His wrapping is truly a work of art. I can’t wait to see what’s inside.

20 Dec

December 20, 2016

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Today the boys tackled the “snow mountain.” Thank you parking lot snow plow.

20 Dec

December 20, 2016

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Helping Daddy with Christmas things.

20 Dec

Pure Joy

Give this boy a platter of cheese and he’s in heaven!

19 Dec

December 19, 2016

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Monday = Awana

19 Dec

December 19, 2016

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In this picture they were playing so well together. 20 seconds later they were screaming and there was moondough all over my floor.

19 Dec

Getting Big

Yesterday Kailtyn only wanted to drink from the “house” cup. (Thankfully I speak Kaitlyn and knew exactly what she wanted.) Thanks to Granny we have three of these mugs (one for each child) and Kailtyn used them all today. We’ll see how long this lasts.

18 Dec

Abram Is 9

Alex spent last night in Milwaukee with his besties. They were getting ready for Abram’s big 9th birthday party today! Teague and I headed up right after lunch. Sadly the football in the snow was out due to extreme cold temperatures, but there was fun chaos inside with pokemon trading and cake – always cake!

18 Dec

December 18, 2016

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Basket presets begin today!

17 Dec

Ho Ho Ho

Our neighborhood had “Santa at the Beach” today. Our neighbor is in charge of all kid activities and set the entire thing up. She asked Wade to play Santa and he was a great sport. We let the boys in on the secret and drove Daddy to the fire station a little before the event. The firemen let the boys ride in the firetruck too and I hurried to the beach.

Kaitlyn wants nothing to do with Santa – even when it’s Wade dressed as Santa. She watched him get dressed but as soon as he had the beard on she wouldn’t go near him. I have a single picture of him holding her in the fire station and I think she just hadn’t realized what was going on yet.

17 Dec

December 17, 2016

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Wade played Santa today for our neighborhood Santa event. The boys were in on the secret. Kaitlyn knew it was Daddy and still wouldn’t go near him.

16 Dec

Chocolate Kisses

You see that chocolate covered mouth?

Look what happened next.

16 Dec

December 16, 2016

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Spaghetti for dinner!

16 Dec

December 16, 2016

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Spaghetti for dinner!

16 Dec

December 16, 2016

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Reading a new book – Mickey Mouse!

15 Dec

Favorite Seat

We moved our tabletop Pac-Man game outside for the Halloween party. It was moved back inside and into the playroom. (This was supposed to be temporary but it’s still here.) The boys have decided it works nicely as a place to play and charge iPads. Teague has a reading program from school that he does a few days a week and he likes to sit beside my desk while he reads.

15 Dec

December 15, 2016

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Kaitlyn begged Daddy to play “cars” and how could he say no?

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