Thanksgivings

We enjoyed several Thanksgivings starting with the school versions.  Elizabeth had a nice lunch at her school that Mom and Dad got to attend.  She wowed the other parents with all of the vegetables that she ate.  It was her kind of meal!  Ben’s class had a picnic and small program the next week.  Dad was out of town, but Mom took Subway and enjoyed the singing and performance before enjoying a classroom picnic with the other classmates.  It was so fun to see how hard the kiddos had worked on their songs and routines.  The parents even got to participate in one of the songs!  Mom’s family celebrated before Thanksgiving.  The kids enjoyed a “country” Thanksgiving complete with learning to rope and driving a tractor!  Ben also learned to jump rope and Elizabeth enjoyed all of the animals.  It was a great time to be together.  On “real” Thanksgiving we headed up to Lawrence to visit Grandpa Larry, Grandma Elaine and Uncle Adam.  The kids brought supplies to make a fruit turkey and enjoyed decorating Grandma’s tree.  We had another great dinner and even enjoyed homemade farm rolls – yum!!  We had a sweet visit in Kansas and came home Friday afternoon to have some time at home during the weekend to start decorating and enjoy a couple of days off at our house.  The kids enjoyed all of the celebrations and travels and eagerly await being together at Christmas time again!  

 Fruit turkey the kids made in Kansas

 

Roping (while wearing pretend eye black like a football player - don't ask. . .)

 Jumping rope for the first time!

 Still loving the new picture smile - Eating Subway at school Thanksgiving

Mary Poppins

Do you know those mom moments where you are just trying to soak it all in because you think it is one of those great memories that will be filed away forever?  Well, Mom had one of those moments with Ben a couple of weeks ago.  Mary Poppins the musical was in town and Ben had been introduced to the movie recently.  Mom was not sure he could tolerate a nearly three hour musical, but decided to go for it anyway.  We got dressed up and left Elizabeth playing happily with Grandma Lyn and Grandpa David.  We headed downtown to the PAC .  On our way inside we saw a classmate of Ben’s (actually two) and Mom was relieved that other kids of that age were in attendance.  Ben did so well!  He didn’t get tired until about 2.5 hours into the show and was able to hold out when he knew it was almost over.  All of his favorite songs and scenes were included and the costumes were so fun!  Mary Poppins even flew and Bert tap danced on the ceiling!  At the end they were selling merchandise to raise money for charity and Ben asked if we could get something.  Some of the items were super pricey so Mom carefully asked “what were you considering?”  He wanted the spoonful of sugar Christmas ornament.  Sold!  So thankful he didn’t request the backstage tour or signed paraphernalia.  It was such a fun date and Ben is now asking when Peter Pan is coming. . . . he doesn’t know we already have tickets and that Mom might be taking Dad.  We’ve got a few months to think about that one. :)

 Loving our new camera smile. . .

November

This month has really flown by as the holidays are starting.  In our house we pretty much went from Halloween to Christmas.  Not exactly, but in some ways we started looking ahead to Christmas as soon as it was officially November.  The kids have enjoyed making their wish lists and doing some decorating so far.  We will start our advent countdown on December 1 and they can hardly wait.  Speedy the Elf came back to us after Thanksgiving and has been all around the house keeping a watch on us.  The kids love talking to him and telling him how good they were and what they would like to say to Santa.  Elizabeth especially just giggles uncontrollably as she talks to him as if it is one of her greatest joys.  So far Speedy has made an appearance in our nativity (riding the camel), taking a rest in a Kleenex box and flying around to various perches.  He even made a mess of Dad’s coffee one day!

The kids’ wish lists could not be more different.  Ben wants everything “boy” related in the catalog and then some.  We had to come up with a comparison test to rank each item so we could better articulate to Santa our most favorite things.   Elizabeth went through one entire toy catalog and picked out two small items that she wanted.  Her imagination is so big that she doesn’t seem to need many things.  We are slowly adding to her list though as we see commercials or ideas as we are out.  The kids are quick to remember others this time of year as well which is especially sweet.  We worked with our small group to take food to a local program that serves those in need.  The kids also cleaned out a bunch of toys to donate to make room for new ones and hopefully bless some others.  We are counting the days until December and winding up with anticipation of the season.  It is going to be a magical year at the McCullough house!