This Was the Year…..

That at some point, both children warmed up to the guy in red.

That I got over my fear of making sugar cookies.

That we trekked out on a snowy day to cut down our own Christmas tree.

That we made most of our Christmas ornaments (many with applesauce & cinnamon).

That both kids really like playing the snow, wherever we were.

That MaM was geeked to help with stamping the Christmas cards and wrapping gifts. She also got into hiding gifts for her dad and brother. “They’re in my dresser drawer, Mommy, because they won’t look there.”

This was the year…

That MaM explained Christmas to Junior through song, quoting “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” almost daily as Christmas approached.

That Junior became obsessed with The Grinch, and “his green hands!”

That we watched The Wizard of Oz together during a cold snowy night during the week before Christmas.

That I showed MaM what my Little People Dollhouse looked like when I was a girl, via gingerbread (part of this year’s display at Conner Prairie).

That we played in Jolly Days, and Celebration Crossing.

That MaM discovered Cole Porter during her “Mom and Dad” day during the week before Christmas.

That MaM got dressed up as an angel for the 4:30 Children’s Mass.

That the four of us took a second to take a family photo (we don’t do that often enough….perhaps a goal for 2011 in the making…).

Ah, it’s been a good long run, this Christmas Season.

Merry Christmas (a few days late) and Happy New Year,  Friends!

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Fall Break Wrap Up…

I am sitting here, listening to RAIN pour down in central Indiana, something I haven’t heard for any amount of time in ages. Oh wait…it’s over. Oh well. It was nice while it lasted.

We had two of our five days of fall break disrupted by vomit, but overall, we were able to have a lot of fall fun these past few days. Wednesday we visited the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, including Skeletown, their haunted house (during friendly ,lights-on hours), which the kids loved. Actually, Junior was excited to “see halloween!”, MaM was more confused as to why we’d want to see all of the skeletons and gore and what not. But they gave out just enough candy that she stopped asking questions and rolled with it.

Thursday was disrupted by Junior having a mild stomach bug. Bah.

Friday we packed up and heading down to Brown County State Park for a day of outdoor fun. We had a great family day of hiking and exploring and just being together. To mix it up, instead of coming home, we spent the night a few miles down the road. I’m pretty sure the hotel lost money on us — the kids watched all kinds of cable tv, we visited the breakfast buffet multiple times, the kids had multiple baths, and we went swimming and tubbing all between the hours of about 6:30am and 11:30am Saturday morning.

We then packed up and headed to Columbus, Indiana, home to Kids Commons, a fun hands-on museum for kids. There are three levels of fun for kids of all ages. The four of us played for three hours — climbing, exploring, rolling balls, shooting baskets, playing with the interactive light board and, get this –rock climbing. MaM was geeked to try the climbing wall and she climbed up the wall and rang the bell at the top THREE times. It was awesome to watch her be so confident and excited in herself.

The kids (and grownups) were exhausted, and our ride home was a quiet one. It was funny to think that we were only about 70 miles away from home. It was a great escape.

Today is the last day of MaM’s official fall break, but she’s getting a “bonus” day — it’s her turn for the stomach virus. She’s finally keeping food down, but wasn’t earlier today, so she’s taking her first sick day of the year. She’s bummed about being sick — she’s missing a birthday party, and a trunk or treat event today. And, as she pointed out, her school friends will now have to wait until Tuesday to see……..that she got glasses over fall break!

Climbing the Fire Tower

He actually sat still for a few portraits!

Here she is....five going on fifteen.

P.S. There’s still time to enter my 1800Flowers giveaway — see the previous post to enter!

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A Mile a Minute

Junior’s been talking for awhile now, and suddenly he’s entered that phase where he just doesn’t stop talking. Driving down the road, he points out cement mixers and dump trucks, driving by the refinery near the quarry is his favorite road. He’s obsessive about following the Conner Prairie hot air balloon in the sky, and likes to say, “My Conner Prairie! I go there now!” When we drove by today, he said, “No Conner Prairie, it’s closed”, which impressed me (I’m his mom, of course he impresses me)

A few minutes later thought,  my boy made a real  leap — he commented on something his smelled, rather than saw. We were driving by the water treatment plant and he said, ” Smells like poop, Mommy!”

Why yes, yes it does, little boy. What an observation…..

Are your kids saying anything cute lately? MaM was whispering “Liar liar, touch your tire” tonight, which made me smile.

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