Carriage Ride

We visited Bradley Fair here in Wichita last weekend after going out to eat and shopping on Friday night. Here are some pics from the big event:

Chase and Emily in front of the biggest tree in Wichita...

A great photo opp.......


Throwing coins in the fountain....

Waiting in line for our carriage ride...getting a little cold.....

AHHH...finally under the blankets. What a nice ride we had!

This definitely a must to get in the holiday spirit! Great evening.

A Surprise!

Do you like surprises? Well, I love to give surprises!! Last Wednesday I started to think that it sure would be nice to see my niece's Christmas program. So I had the crazy idea that the kids and I would drive up to KC on Sunday afternoon, go to the program on Monday and drive back. SO....Sunday afternoon, Chase, Emily, my mom and I packed into the car and started driving. The kids did FABULOUS on the drive (both up and back).....

Mom and I are ready to drive.......

I love to surprise....but sometimes the surprisee isn't always enthused. But when we were standing at Brian & Kim's doorstep, this is the reaction I got: "What are you guys doing here?" After the initial shock, we were welcomed with open arms and they even cancelled their dinner plans to hang out with us!


Aubrey was across the street playing at her friend's house so Brian went to get her and made her keep her eyes closed......she was a little puzzled when she saw us, but still gave us hugs. Abby was awoken from a nap to see us....BUT, it didn't take long for everyone to get into the groove of being together and having fun. Grandma and Abby are having fun playing together while the "big kids" are somewhere.......

OH....here they are....making a mess and being silly!

I was so happy to see my nieces....I hadn't seen them since September and Abby had changed quite a bit. She sat right down with me and played. She is so much fun.


We played, ate, visited and had advent devotions together. We tried to stay inside and be warm!

On Monday morning, we got to watch Aubrey's Christmas program at her church preschool. She was the angel Gabriel and had her own line. She had been practicing it for me on the phone, and she proved to do a great job.....announcing to Mary that she would have a baby and in a very nice big voice. Aubrey also did a great job singing all the songs. I love preschool programs.

Emily and Chase pose with their angel!

The travelers with the little girls!

We had such a fun little trip. Thanks for your hospitality Sommer's, and Aubrey, we were so happy to watch your Christmas play and once again hear the message about Jesus' birth. We love and miss you lots! Remember, only 11 more wake-ups!

Holiday Baking

I love holiday baking. It's one of my favorite things about Christmas. And the kids are starting to really enjoy it too....especially when they find out if they help, they get to share in the results!! In our devotion this evening, we talked about sharing Christmas treats with others during the holidays, but that we can share God's love with others all year long. What a blessing that we are reminded to share the message with others around us.

Emily loves to measure. She is helping to get the mixture ready for the party mix.

Chase was in charge of measuring the cereal, pretzels and nuts.

We also spent a night making peppernuts. Chase stuck with it for quite awhile and we actually got an entire batch done in one hour!

Emily loved helping also and tried to race getting her snakes cut before getting more!

Ready, set, bake!

I plan to do some more baking this week, but so far we've made: Chex mix, white chocolate pretzels, peppernuts and pumpkin bread. The only sad part about baking is I always have to sample.......I hope it doesn't cost me too many pounds!!

Unexpected December Weather

Last Sunday afternoon, the weather here in Wichita was great. It looked gray outside, but the temperature was around 60 degrees so I thought it would be a great idea to get outside for one last afternoon. The kids got on their bikes and we rode to the park in our neighborhood.

Emily loves to be a monkey!

And Chase also loves to climb!

Chase loves to pose for a picture (a scrapbooker's dream come true!). The entire time I filmed this video he is looking at the camera. I don't think he knew it was a video and he was waiting for me to take a picture. He's so adorable.

Watch this girl on these monkey bars...after the first couple, she goes SO fast. It's hard for me to do it and she'll do it 15 times in a row. She's pretty amazing!

Run Run Rudolph

Emily is enjoying another year in the dance program at our local YMCA. She is participating in the Tap I class and enjoying it for 1/2 hour once a week. This morning, our YMCA had the annual Breakfast with Santa. Santa arrives to say hello to all the children, there is a pancake feed and the dance and cheer teams put on a performance. Here is Emily posing with one of her dancemates and also a friend from school.

Emily enjoyed watching (very intently) the other dances.


Ready to dance!

Here is a video of Emily's Christmas dance to the song, Run Run Rudolph! She did awesome....I'm SO proud of her.

Chase's Preschool Program

On Thursday night, Chase participated in his Christmas preschool program at our church. This is our last year of preschool and we only have one program each year so this was a special one. Doesn't Chase look handsome in front of our beautifully decorated tree?

Chase watches the teachers........


He's done and here exiting the stage with his birthday candle for Jesus!

Here is a video of one of the songs that we got to hear. The kids are so cute. Sorry if it's a little hard to understand....some of the kids were a little excited and singing (screaming) very loudly!

ENJOY!

A Great Saturday

Once again, we had a very busy day! We started with basketball pictures for both of the kids' teams and Emily also had a game. They won 34-20 and are getting better every game they play.

After we ate lunch, we stopped by the Sedgwick County Extension Office. Every year, a local radio station holds a "Stuff the Bus" drive to collect money and items for domestic violence shelters here in Wichita. I have listened to the radio about this for many years and have always wanted to donate and just never got it done. Well, the kids and I got some things together and we had our gift bags ready with baby clothes, toys and books. They walked up on the bus and got to catch a picture with Brett Harris from B-98 radio station.

Then they walked all the way to the back of the bus to deliver their goods.

What a great thing to share with my children. I hope that sort of service sticks!!

After that, I took the kids up to Maize for their PTO Holiday Shop. Emily and Chase both got a personal shopper to help them and they got to go shopping. I gave each of them some money and they went shopping for mom, dad and bro/sis. They had so much fun and got so excited and are really able to keep a secret! Here, Emily is looking around at all the choices......

Chase gets advice from one of the "sales" people............

After they wrapped their gifts, they got to have a cookie and got their first visit with Santa.

And now we have presents under our tree!

What a fun, full day we had. I'm loving his holiday season and being able to enjoy advent. Can't wait for our Christmas choir concert at church tomorrow and then a day of baking!

Teeth

Today was a memorable day in Emily's life. When we were at the dentist a couple of weeks ago, the dentist noted that there were 2 teeth that really needed to come out. We tried to wiggle, but they were very comfortable and didn't budge. We went to the dentist today to have him "help out figure out how to get them out." Here is Emily as we were in the waiting room playing video games!

Dr. Lashley gets started with medicine on the gums......


....and some more medicine......

...and the pulling begins......

...THEY'RE OUT!

Emily then got some guaze strips for her holes!

And here she is smiling when it was all done!

Emily did SO WELL. I was so nervous to take her to this appointment, but our dentist is so caring and gentle and did a great job with her. She was so brave and didn't flinch once during her little procedure. She was very excited about the ice cream I promised and she thoroughly enjoyed her vanilla shake from McDonald's on the way home. Her mouth hurt a little bit tonight but we got some Tylenol and hopefully we'll be good as new in the morning! I thank God for answered prayers for peace for Emily and Mom!

Happy Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING...from us to you. We hope you had a great day. We went to Pratt, where my mom lives and spent the day. It was so relaxing.

We did something a little different this year. We attended a community dinner that is held each year. We ate the wonderful meal and then volunteered to help by cleaning up. In this picture is our family, my mom and step-grandmother.

Mom and the kids being silly.....

Emily helps with the salt-n-peppers.....

Chad was gonna help with chairs....and then they said they didn't need it done.

I helped Chase keep his tray level while clearing cups and plates...

After we got back to my mom's, the kids wanted to ride their bikes. We rode over to the neighbor's house......

.....to see their six-week old puppies! What a fun treat. It was so much fun to watch them. Emily absolutely loved playing with them and would've brought one home in an instant.

We also took time for playing games and lots of toys.

When we did get the least bit hungry, Emily was our waitress and took orders.

Now it's bedtime....with lots of us tired out.

Anybody shopping tomorrow? Not me...at least not before 8am. I might miss some good deals, but those deals aren't that great by myself with 2 kids! We'll take our time and see what we can find. Hope you had a blessed day and took time to relax. Now it's time to start Christmas!