Boote Christmas

We attempted the ever-elusive happy cousin/grandkids picture once again.  Here are the best results:

Emily received her Campsite Lego set from my parents (see Santa letter).  Her reaction was priceless.  She almost started crying she was so excited.  I wish I would have had a video.

Emily tried out her new stilts while Cousin Saylor helped Austin unwrap his new yard tools.

Lincoln & Cousin Ryan got matching sets of mid-size Lego people.

Meeting Cohen

Our new nephew/cousin, Cohen James was born on 12-12-12.  We were excited to meet him!  Both kids really enjoyed holding him.

Lorenzen Christmas

Our Christmas travels began with a somewhat harrowing drive to Waukee.  We had a full-scale blizzard on Thursday with no school for two days.  We left on Friday afternoon because Austin's mom & I were planning to go to the Mannheim Steamroller concert that night at the Civic Center in Des Moines.  The roads weren't as clear as we had hoped.  What is usually a 2.25 hour drive turned into a 5 hour drive.  We had to get off I35 at Ames because of accidents that had shut it down and took backroads the rest of the way.  We missed the concert, but we arrived safe and sound.

After a good night's sleep, we opened presents.  Lincoln got a fun set of superhero costumes.

He also received the Imaginext castle and a fun race car track.  Dad & Grandpa had to figure that one out.

Emily spent the rest of the morning putting together her new Lego set.

Thankfully, because of the weather, Cheryl & I were able to exchange our tickets for the Saturday afternoon performance.  We enjoyed a nice lunch downtown and an incredible Mannheim Steamroller concert in better seats than we would have had the night before.  It was the perfect Christmas present!

Meanwhile, the kids spent most of the afternoon playing outside with Dad & Grandpa in the foot of snow that had fallen.  They went sledding down the backyard hill and even put together a little snowman.  Lincoln was all tired out!

We all went out for pizza at night and enjoyed the Holly Jolly lights display.  It was a fun-packed visit!

3 years + 7 months

Lincoln has taken some steps forward and some steps backward this month.  He has been practicing cutting with a scissors.  He has also figured out how to zip his coat by himself.  (Yay!)  He really wants to buckle himself into his car seat, but he just doesn't have the finger strength to snap in a five-point harness, let alone not pinch a finger off in the process.

Lincoln has gone backward in the eating department.  He has become increasingly pickier and would live off of noodles (mac & cheese especially), pizza (beef--a.k.a. "meatball") and fruit if we let him.  His eating has also slowed to a snail's pace.  Sometimes the only way to even get him to eat is to put individual bites on his fork/spoon and coach him through it.  I know I eat too fast and mealtime is supposed to be quality family time, but most days I just don't have the time or patience to sit at the table an extra 30+ minutes after I'm finished while one or both kids lollygag, or worse--whine, complain or try to negotiate.

Other than that, Lincoln continues to be a sweet, cuddly, compliant child.  His latest saying whenever you ask him to do something is an enthusiastic, "Of course I can!"  He also continues to often say, "Mommy, you need to hold me."  That is great unless you're desperately trying to pull dinner together or really have to go to the bathroom or are trying to get out the door in the morning.  I think he has also recently gone through a growth spurt, because it has becoming noticeably harder to hold him while standing up and almost impossible to do anything else with him on my hip.  Most of our cuddle time has to take place in a chair now.

Dear Santa...

This is the "Dear Santa" letter Emily made at school.  It was one of the ones featured in the special section of the Waverly newspaper.  The letter says, "The only thing I would love is a Campsite lego set at the Waverly Walmart."

 

**It's another blogging marathon in a desperate attempt to catch up, so keep scrolling and check out "Older Posts".

Dippin' fools

Today was dipping day.  The kids helped decorate with M&M's and sprinkles.  Emily declared that dipping pretzels was her favorite tradition.  I think she just likes to eat them. ;o)

Christmas cookies

After we got home from the train ride, the kids & I decorated cookies.  I frosted most of Lincoln's cookies and had to ration his sprinkles, but Emily did everything herself.  It was a mess, and definitely not Pinterest-picture-perfect, but it's a fun tradition for the kids.

Snowflake Express

"Magic Mix Kids" is a charity linked to a local radio station that takes terminally ill kids to Disney World.  This year, in partnership with Northern Iowa Railway, they put together a "Snowflake Express" fundraiser using the Hawkeye Express passenger cars.  There were five hour-long train trips from the Rotary Reserve to Shell Rock and back.  During the trip Santa & Mrs. Claus visited the train cars, The Polar Express was read aloud and each child received a beautiful gold sleigh bell.  Tickets were a hot item and sold out in a week.  We kept it a secret from the kids until we were pulling into the parking lot.

Both of them were pretty excited for their first ever train ride.  I hadn't been on a real train since my college days.  The kids had a great time.  I got pretty woozy.  It was foggy, and our window was dirty with really scratched up tinting.  The cookies and hot chocolate afterwards were nice, though. :o)

Gingerbread workshop

The Kindergarten classes at West Cedar have a "Gingerbread Workshop" in December.  I signed up as a parent volunteer.  We made reindeer peanut butter sandwiches for a snack, tree ornaments and a "gingerbread house" consisting of graham crackers and various candies plastered to the outside of an empty milk carton using lots of frosting.  It was a crazy hour of controlled chaos, but it was fun.  Emily & Lincoln ate the entire house creation after school before I could even get a picture of the finished product.

Christmas on Main

Tonight was the annual "Christmas on Main" in downtown Waverly.  The weather was decent, and it was packed.  The event features decorated storefront windows on an 8-block stretch of Bremer Avenue.  Many of them are live displays with actors, musical groups and other performers.  There are also "hot spot" stations handing out free popcorn, chili and hot chocolate.  The kids were in awe, and it was fun running into lots of people I knew.  Here is a picture of Lincoln with some elves and his favorite window display.