Half Day Extravaganza

I think they make the Friday before Winter break a half day, because that's about all the teachers can take.  It's pretty much a play day.  The 5th grade chorus and music classes perform for the school.  Little Man played his ukulele for it.  The class parties are directly afterward, and then they get sent home all hopped up on sugar.  Little Guy was in absolute heaven, because he got fed by every teacher we visited.  He knows how to turn on the charm when it comes to getting treats.  We rotated among the three classes.  It's crazy to think that these are the last of the class parties for Little Man.  He'll be heading to Middle School next year.   

Since we had a free afternoon, we decided to finally visit the Prairiefire Museum after school.  It's pretty cool that we have such an awesome museum only a mile away from home!

 Little Man was in nerd heaven.  He reads Every.Single.Sign.  The other kids are done in 5 minutes and he needs 50.  Gratefully, there was a virtual screen that kept them happily playing while Little Man got his info fix. 

You create a dinosaur and then you go out to the lobby and it appears with you on the screen.  The kids absolutely loved it!  They would have stayed there the entire time if I had let them.  They want to go back again just to do that part!

 The museum also has a great kid's discovery room where we spent the majority of our time. 

 The kiddos colored, played games, explored the animals, and dug for fossils while Little Man caught up on astronomy and geology.  He was disappointed when it was time to leave.  He was hoping we'd stay until closing.

 The dinosaurs are also pretty cool at this museum.  A lot of them move and roar.  Everyone loved it...

 ...except Little Guy.  He thought it was pretty scary, but as long as I held his hand he was fine.

We're fans of this museum, so we'll definitely be back.  We finished the day with Ninja Warrior class, so it was a fun-filled day.  The kids slept well last night, and they didn't even ask to stay up late.  I call that a win-win!

Littlest Helper

Sometimes it's hard when you have small arms, but you really want to help Mom take pictures.  Good thing it's a baby quilt!

 This is a scrappy quarter log cabin block that I saw at A Few Scraps.

An Alpaca Christmas

My husband likes to tease me about some of the random places I find and things that we do with the kids.  He loves me, so he still goes, but you'd better believe there are jokes and a lot of razzing along the way.  The Alpaca Farm in Missouri has a free Christmas event, so of course, I had to take the family to it!  All you have to hear is Little Guy's squeal of delight when feeding the Alpaca's to understand why I do it.  (He says it tickles when they eat out of his hand).   All of the kids loved it, and I secretly think my husband loved it, too.

 It was so pretty outside under the blue lights with the Alpacas. 

 I think BB fed them two entire bags.  He couldn't get enough of it. 

 I think Daddy's mostly grumpy, because he had to pull the sleigh.

School Pics

Little Man 5th:

 Little Lady 3rd:

 BB 1st:

Little Guy Preschool:  I forgot to order pictures for him, so I only have his proof.  Oops.

Preschool Program Cuteness

It doesn't get much cuter than a preschool Christmas program.  Little Guy said his favorite part was singing Silent Night.  He's in the middle section on the top of 2 rows. 

A Winter Wonderland

We got a good storm of wet snow and it shut down everything around here.  Church was canceled yesterday and school was canceled today.  Joel and BB went out Sunday afternoon to shovel some driveways for some people from church.  All of the kiddos went out today to play.  It's the first time in 4 years we've lived where there is a regular possibility of snow.  Gratefully, our old snow pants and gear fit BB and Little Guy.  Little Lady and Little Man are wearing a hodge podge of winter gear we found in a box, but they didn't mind.  All 4 of them loved the snow, and only came in after being tempted by hot chocolate.

 Look at that face!  He's so excited to finally be able to really play in snow!

 Snow angels were a must.

 The snow ball fights were pretty epic...until BB got hit in the face.  That put a stop to things rather quickly.  Gratefully, he bounced back and had a great time.

It's probably not going to be a white Christmas, so I had to take a picture with our Christmas tree and snow while it lasts!