Christmas Parties and Celebrations

We've had some fun times leading up to Christmas. We attended the last half of our city's Christmas parade this year. They also had a really great fireworks show set to Christmas music. This was the first year we made an effort to get in line to see Santa. Our kids have never sat in Santa's lap before this year. I said this out loud while we were waiting in line, and the family in front of us turned around at once with horrible looks on their faces. I laughed so much and tried to assure them we weren't awful parents. I guess I never knew how 'important' it is! After the Santa experience, we swung by Starbucks Drive-Thru to get some kid temperature hot chocolate to warm up. 

Kid-temp was still too hot for our boys

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The Christmas celebration this year for my office was unexpected. Our doctors had us meet up at a big mall and handed each of us a nice bit of money. Our assignment was to spend a certain amount on ourselves (not our family, etc) and then a certain amount as a gift for one of our co-workers. We drew names for who we were to buy for and had a little less than 2 hours to complete our mission. It was honestly a little stressful for this bargain/sale shopper, but it was really fun. I bought some things for myself at full-price (!!) that I have really enjoyed, and my person (Andrea) seemed to like the comfy house shoes I chose for her. I do have to admit that in a small moment of stress, I called John Mark to ask him what I should buy for myself. :) After our time was up, we met back at The Cheesecake Factory for a really nice meal and cheesecake compliments of our docs. I work for some great people! 

Our whole office. I really appreciate each one of them.

My dear office mate, Pearlene.

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Both boys had their class Christmas parties on the same day. For Curtis it was a PJ day. Wesley had two PJ days the week before Christmas - one for his Polar Express field trip, and one on the last day of school. 

Curtis in his robot jammies
ready for school!

Curtis' class with their books from their
book exchange game. Curtis got Frozen. :)

They had grapes and strawberries on a stick and warm
cocoa with marshmallows. 

The boys of Wesley's class playing their
gift exchange game

They also made a reindeer light bulb
ornament and had some fun party foods.

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We also attended a Christmas party at John Mark's dissertation supervisor's home. His wife went all out with food. We met some members of the PhD program. Wesley had a pretty amazing cough that night, so we didn't stay long. We also didn't take any pictures.

Thanksgiving 2014

We got to have time with both sides of the family for Thanksgiving. We got together with Golly, Granddad, Kevin, Sara, Sadie and Micah the weekend before Thanksgiving. I had spent a few days with my Mimi beforehand, so I missed the first day of fun when the boys got to try out some archery with Uncle Kevin and Daddy up at the church gym. I'm glad they got some pictures. 

Thanksgiving meal at the big new table!

We went to church the next day all together, and then went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant downtown. We missed Paul and Christi who couldn't make it down from Maine.

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We headed to Mimi's house a couple of days later to spend Thanksgiving time with Gin-Gin's family. Mimi's house always has a plethora of leaves to sweep up, so we enjoyed some nice weather and spent an hour or two sweeping together. It went a lot faster with such a big crew!

The sweeping crew

Gin-Gin reading Charlotte's Web to Curtis.
He was loving it.

Mimi skyping with Mavy and Eliel

Snuggling with Mimi one evening.

Curtis' Birthday Part 2

Curtis had Pre-K on his actual birthday, so I brought some cupcakes up at the end of the day to celebrate with his class. They prayed before eating their cupcakes. :)

After Curtis' school was over, we headed over to pick up Wesley from school and then we went to catch the matinee showing of Big Hero 6! Very cute movie, even though Wesley (not Curtis) got scared a few times.

After the movie, we asked Curtis what he wanted for his birthday dinner, as if we didn't know what he would pick. He chose his favorite burger place, as everyone had anticipated. It was a fun afternoon/evening of family time.

Curtis' 5th Birthday Party!

Curtis is FIVE! Wow. He is a sweet and funny guy that keeps us laughing. He and Wesley are best buddies. They can play together for an entire Saturday without any fighting or conflict, which is so amazing. That is not always the case, of course. :) Curtis is always watching Wesley to know what the "cool" thing to do is. I have a recent picture of Curtis watching Wesley as he does a thumbs up sign for the picture and in the next picture, Curtis has his thumb up as well. Any time John Mark or I leave the house while Wesley is at school, Curtis asks if we can just go get Wesley and bring him back home. They love to play with Legos and super hero figures mostly. When they play outside, they are usually taking on a lot of bad guys together. Curtis is also our little doorman. When anyone leaves the house, he rushes to the garage door saying, "Wait! Wait! First...!" and he kisses our hip or gives a hug before opening the door for us and then shuts it behind us. He also likes to let Angus out and feed him. 

For his birthday party, Curtis wanted a Batman theme. He had been asking when his birthday party was going to be since Wesley had his in August, so he was so excited when the day finally arrived. We had his party the Saturday before his birthday. We invited two families from church, and had 5 little guests. 

Wesley made an awesome welcome sign to hang on the front door.

Wesley also decorated a whole package of cups with Batman scenes. He
was with me when I bought the cups, and he asked if he could
decorate them all.  He did lots of pictures with robbers going
 to jail and Batman saving the day. They were so great.

Super hero poses

The guests' goody bags had all things Batman:
disc launchers, pencils, tattoos, and "magic towels"
that expand in water.

Couldn't get a real smile. 

Singing to Curtis

Curtis got a Lego set, some hero figures (including a Batman), some
games, and an umbrella.

Golly and Granddad came!

Misha and GinGin came, too!

Wesley geting to play with Daddy. So cute.

For his real birthday, we will bring a treat to his Pre-K class, and we are going to the afternoon showing of Big Hero 6. Curtis will get to pick where we eat, which I'm almost sure will be his favorite hamburger place.

We love our Curtis Teezer. He is a sweet blessing to our family.