Christmas presents

I allowed Emily to "ditch" dance class last night to enjoy a night of crafting! She started work on a gift for Aunt Shawn and worked on another craft for her grandmas. She's REALLy into making gifts this year which has been really fun!

Gingerbread Houses

We've been talking about doing Gingerbread houses with the kids for ages! I happened to see some kits at Michael's for WAY cheaper than it would cost us to actually bake and gather candy decorations.

I think Emily did a GREAT job with her house! Mom needs a little work on her "piping" technique, but overall, her house looks great.

Adam's house - weeellll...he is 3 after all. We went with the minimalist approach due to his short attention span. Adam did direct me to draw a circle on one window which he then decorated with one gumdrop!

From Bob and Tom's website

Paul is a HUGE Bob and Tom Radio Show fan and has been listening to them for years. Today he saw this on the Bob and Tom website. Just thought we'd share:

Dear Bob and Tom,As part of teaching my fifth grade class in Pontiac, Illinois, I take the students to Springfield, our state capital, to see governmental and historic sites. In October of 2007 we were touring the state Capitol and the governor, Blago, stuck his head out and asked if anyone wanted to meet the governor. He took the fifty or so students and the teachers into his office. This is the picture taken of the teachers and the governor. I am the one holding the "job application."Paul Aplington

A Trip to See the Big Man

The kids went to see Santa at the Kirkwood train station last Thursday. We were happy to see that the reindeer, Bojangles, hadn't lost his antlers yet this year. The line was long, but not horrible. As always, it was fun to see the kids' eyes get bigger as they got closer to the front of the line. Predictably, Emily got nervous right before the big moment, but recovered in time to tell Santa what she wanted for Christmas this year.

Adam wore his shirt that said "I ate Santa's cookies" - needless to say this provoked a reaction from the Big Guy. We reassured him that there would be cookies left out by the fireplace unless Papa Jack got to them first.

Santa said that if Papa Jack took his cookies, there would be some trouble.

Read, Right, and Run Marathon Training

Emily is participating in the Read, Right, and Run Marathon this spring put on by the Go! St. Louis Marathon. The program involves reading 26 books, doing 26 good deeds, and running 26 miles over the months leading up to a 1 mile run the day before the Go! St. Louis Marathon in late April (we are running the half-marathon this year).

We took advantage of weather in the 50's this morning to get a mile in. Emily has plenty of speed, but not much endurance yet. We'll have her running 5K's in no time.

A few hours after our run, Emily had a basketball game where she played her typical style of relentless defense. After we got home, she spent time outside with her friends in the neighborhood running about with her favorite dog, Emmy.

I think she will sleep well tonight.

Adam's First Friend Party

Adam was invited to his first friend party yesterday. John, the birthday boy, is in Adam's preschool class at Glendayle Pres. The party was held at a train shop that had a room with a huge train set inside it. After playing with trains for a while, the boys took turns taking their stress out on a pinata.

Despite his allergies, Amy let Adam have some birthday cake - he was done after 2 bites. Good for his allergies, and good for him to feel like he was able to participate.

Happy Birthday Karen!

Happy Birthday KB - see you in a few weeks!