This darn hat, he only takes it off when he's actually in the school building.
Grandpa needed to be taxi driver for gymnastics and treated Hadley to DQ on their way home.
Hadley finished up her recent gymnastics session and has a 6ish week break until it starts up again. We are sort of jumping for joy at the break, it'll be nice to take back two nights/week for a little bit.
I drove 3+ hours for a 5 minute appointment (took me twice as long to park), but was approved for Global Entry. I'm excited for two international trips this winter!
Snow literally blew in along w/ frigid temps, winter might officially be here and it looks like we'll have a White Christmas - we received more since this picture was taken and a chance for "significant" snow later this week.
Poor sweet Allie, she was recently diagnosed w/ Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes and was in the hospital for a few days. Hadley & I drove to Rochester to try cheering her up. Allie requested that Hadley come in her jammies too, she half-agreed. We are happy Allie is home now, but they have a long road w/ this lifelong illness.
Finley wanted to make "not sticky" slime. It was more than sticky! Thankfully, after he washed his hands and I really kneaded it, it turned out more like the "moon dough" he was after, almost a Pinterest fail.
We all have new gear to support our three favorite hockey players!
Hadley has two hoodies, one pullover, one tshirt and one long-sleeve tshirt and she wears some combination of Hudson Hockey to school 3/5 days each week...even her teacher commented to me about it!
Can't beat them, join them? Me too!
We geared up for Spencer's tournament, the kids & I drove to/from Hudson twice over two days to watch him play. As a bonus, Easton & Nolan skated afterward so we saw them for a little bit too.
Mrs. Schaller posted a picture of Hadley's class at school, they made self portraits. I spotted her in the front row by her untied shoes (second from right).
Finley's teacher posted a class picture w/ everyone holding their personal Elf creations. I love that their teachers share glimpses into their days.
The kids participated in a holiday fundraiser for Bob's House, it included singing and Santa!
All fall, the kids attended a weekly after school club for Language Arts. On the last day, parents were invited to see what they've been up to. Each group was led by college students, the "event" was kind of dumb, but the kids were happy to have family there. Patrick was traveling, so Grandma & Grandpa helped me be in two classrooms at once.
Later that evening, we returned for a holiday family night in the gym.
Holiday prep is in full force! Hadley kept herself busy writing special notes and wrapping them for everyone. Before I could get the tree skirt on, she had her presents underneath the tree. She's so proud of her notes and they are incredibly sweet.
I am a horrible wrapper, I don't have the patience for neat corners. Seems Hadley follows in my footsteps, I love this.
Finley & Hadley participated in our church's Christmas program. They both wanted speaking roles and were given the jobs of Shepherds.
They practiced their lines and had them memorized!
It was a cute program sharing the story of Jesus's birth. They had fun and next year Finley wants to be Joseph (he talks more) or the Drummer Boy (he has a drum).
Hadley was very excited that Ranger had a role too, she kept her hand on him the entire time.
Chippy made his own version of the famous painting, The Starry Night. If you look closely Santa's sleigh has been added in the sky.
Finley liked this so much, he left Chippy a note asking if he could bring the picture to school to show his art teacher...
...of course Chippy said yes. And his teacher texted me a picture :)
A few nights ago, Hadley wrote Chippy a note too...asking for an iPod...ugh, not happening.
I've had two Chippy-fails. One night, I forgot to move him and remembered mid-run the next morning. Finley was downstairs watching TV while I ran, I talked to him a minute and ran upstairs to quickly move Chippy - he'd said NOTHING about Chippy not moving. I finished running, come up again and Finley tells me, When I woke up, Chippy was in the same place. When I came back upstairs, he's moved! Crappy-crap-crap. For fear of saying the wrong thing, I just shrugged my shoulders and moved on...thankfully he's never brought it up again.
One night I went to bed and Chippy was happily crossing a bridge over a whale-filled pond (yes, there's a couple inches of water in the sink)...
...the next morning, the kids discovered Chippy IN the pond too. Shoot - darn packing tape didn't hold. I rescued him (gasp, I had to touch him while the kids watched) and he had to lay on the counter to dry out and the kids again used the Magic Elf Dust.
Chippy randoms, some nights I'm ambitious, some I'm not.
Maybe my favorite Chippy stunt. The kids & I had watched the exciting Packer game, they won in OT. Finley & Hadley were mimicking the famous Lambeau Leaps on our couch, so I created pictures of Chippy, Snowball & Ernie doing Lambeau Leaps.
Finley really thinks they are IN the pictures (in reality, they were cut out and glued onto pictures).
We visited Santa! Last year we had an awesome Storybook Experience w/ Santa and this year we did a shorter meet-and-greet w/ him. He's such a good Santa! His conversations and questions will make anyone believe.
I cannot believe we're headed straight into the Christmas holiday - school celebrations, the long-awaited Christmas Eve & Day and of course winter break! The kids are excited, I am too!
