A Special Picnic

Jr. Jr. and I had the opportunity to go on a Mommy-Son date today.  He picked for us to have a special picnic and he wanted to do it at the duck pond.  So we did.  I let him know it was too cold to eat outside so when we got there I parked the car and hopped in the back seat where we ate our lunches together while watching the ducks in the water. 

After we ate, we took a little walk to say Hi to the ducks and enjoy the sunshine that emerged while we were eating... until it went behind the clouds again.

It was a good Mommy-Son date.  I love that little boy.

National Maple Syrup Day 2014

December 17 is National Maple Syrup Day.  Why not make a smiley face with your pancakes and bacon and eggs? 

And put syrup on them after Mom takes a picture.

Nichole thought it would be fun to bring her new stuffed chicken in to be appalled that we were eating chicken eggs.  :Nice, Nichole.

12-13-14

Musn't forget that December 13 is Cocoa Day.  The kids were happy to have hot chocolate with dinner.

And Jr. Jr. went from being a wiggly 2 year old on 12-12-12 to a wiggly 4 year old on 12-13-14.

Happy Birthday, Frank Sinatra

December 12.  It's Frank Sinatra's Birthday.

So have a cupcake.

Open a present.

 

 

And play a game.

"Baby blue eyes" here knows how to celebrate the birthday of "Ol' blue eyes."

Riverwoods Lights

We took the kids to the Shops at Riverwoods tonight to walk around and look at Christmas lights.

They were more excited to see the different fires they had set up than the lights.  They remember that from a couple years ago when we went.  It was so cold that last time, we spent a lot of time around the fires.  This year is not nearly as cold.

The kids tried their hand at "water bending" and "fire bending" (we've been watching Avatar: The Last Airbender again lately).

Jeremy and I got a kick out of one spot we stopped at because two shops side by side had the word, "mountain" in their names.  And December 11 is International Mountain Day after all.

Santa was also at Riverwoods so the kids got to sit on his lap and tell him what they wanted for Christmas (again).

And Lucky slept through everything.  It was too dark to get a picture of him in the stroller.  There was a bit of a breeze so we kept a blanket hanging down on the stroller.
We did have fun tonight.  Good family time.

A Broken Tradition

Sunday, December 7, was the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.  Tradition says that someone in our family has to be sick that day. 
Guess what.  Nobody was sick.  Everyone got to go to church and everyone was able to watch the Devotional together... and answer questions about it to earn mint M&Ms since we are continuing with that good tradition of our advent calendar in a jar. 

Last year I put a list of the scriptures we use up on this blog.

December 7 was also Cotton Candy Day.  We planned ahead and bought some cotton candy earlier in the year so we would have it ready for December.  It's nice that cotton candy lasts so long before it's opened.
Jeremy gave the kids each some cotton candy in individual containers.  None of them finished it so they each asked for lids.  Jeremy of course labeled them so they would know who each belonged to.

 

He labeled them all "Daddy's Cotton Candy."  

The kids were unhappy about this at first until Jeremy pointed out that he drew little pictures representing each child so they really could tell who they belonged to.

Silly Daddy.

I'm really okay that we broke tradition this year and all felt well on Sunday.  I'd rather have the good traditions than the bad.

Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day 2014

Want to take a trip with me?  Let's travel back in time 30 years to the year 1984.  The movie, Karate Kid, came out that year (we're watching it tonight to celebrate the 30th anniversary).

Now let's move forward in time to my college years.  Jeremy and I were in the juggling club at BYU.  From time to time people would come to the juggling club who didn't yet know how to juggle.  We taught quite a few people how to juggle there.  Good memories.  Traveling forward to today, I was able to spend some time with one of my friends teaching her how to juggle.  It was so fun.

Now let's travel back in time just a few days to our ward Christmas party. 

We were encouraged to pick a name of a family in the ward (or a few) and during the Christmas season, we were asked to do anonymous service for that family.
 
Tonight there was a knock at our door.  On our doorstep was a plate of brownies with a note from our anonymous ward member friend.  They definitely know our family because on the note was written, "Happy National Brownie Day!  Merry Christmas!"  Besides Pretend to be a Time Traveler Day, today, December 8, is indeed National Brownie Day.  And we do like to celebrate.

Well, thank you for taking this trip through time with me.  It's been fun.