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!

Christmas Recital

Tonight was our Christmas recital.  On the piano Little Guy played "Jingle Bells," BB played "Silent Night," and Little Lady played "What Child is This?"  Little Man and Little Lady also played a guitar and cello duet of "In the Bleak Midwinter."

The boys ran straight to the car after the recital, so all I have is a picture of Little Lady and their celebratory ice cream afterward.

Cookie Exchange

I've lost track of the number of years I've been doing a Christmas cookie exchange, but it's either 9 or 10 years.  Since it's with all new people this year I decided to bake two oldies but goodies.  I went with Orange Cranberry cookies and a soft gingerbread cookie.  I love molasses cookies and when they're soft it just makes me happy.

It was a great turn out for my first time here.  I was excited to get to know some of my neighbors and people I work with along with some ladies from church.  It was a lovely morning. 

More School Awesomeness

Little Man got to go with his Gifted class to the World War I museum in downtown Kansas City.  It's rated as the best thing to see and/or do in Kansas City for a reason.  It's pretty awesome!  He had a great time. 

He's also honing his writing skills.  He brought this home the other day.  I particularly liked his illustration.

Little Lady brought home some fun art as well.  George Rodrigue is famous for his Blue Dog paintings, and Little Lady got to try her hand at making her own blue dog.

 She used pastels for her leaf.