Santa in the Park

Friday was our town's Santa in the Park. It was a little rainy, but since Saturday, the rain date, was supposed to be even worse, the night went on in the rain.

You can barely see the tree and fountain on the lake.

None of the kids were very interested in standing in line to see Santa, so we enjoyed the other activities instead.
Niko and Jada were entranced by the bonfire.

Popcorn and hot chocolate were among the treats available.

Crazy boy.

There were 'snow' machines that sent out bubbles for snow.

And a train ride.

Thanksgiving and Birthday Weekend

We had a busy Thanksgiving weekend, without many pictures taken. Thursday we went out to dinner with Grandpa and Grandmom. These are pre-dinner pictures taken at home. The restaurant was so crowded, there was no way to move and easily take pictures during dinner. And the dinner ended abruptly as N threw up all over me as everyone ate dessert.

Friday we cooked Thanksgiving dinner at our house and also celebrated Rudy's (and Bill's) birthdays. We only took a few blurry pictures during the present opening.

Saturday we headed out to the tree farm to tag our tree. N was not happy with it from the moment we stepped out of the car. He cried and yelled and didn't want anything to do with it.

So we picked out a tree without his help.

Looks good.

Saturday night our town had a small fair. We walked down to check it out. Rudy was thrilled to watch the magician and help him out.

A snow machine (that actually blew bubble mixture) was a big hit.

And we got a picture taken with Santa, who arrived on a fire truck.

Christmas Celebrations and Cousins

Friday night our town had a small Christmas celebration downtown. Santa arrived on a  fire truck.

 

 

If you look closely you can see the first to greet him is a boy in a green jacket with a blue skull mohawk hat on. Yep, it's Rudy.

 

 

 

 

 

We ran into Rudy's friend, I, from school.

 

 

On Saturday we drove to Bill and Renee's for the great child switch. Chris and Patti had a Christmas party to go to, so we split the kids for the weekend. Lucy and Charlie came to our house and Max stayed with Bill and Renee.

 

Lucy was very intent on playing the piano- she wanted a book to read and follow as she did it.

 

 

 

 

This costume was Charlie's (very late) birthday present. Rudy had to try it out for him, naturally.

 

 

Paul and Charlie playing and singing.

 

 

 

Before dinner the pirate and the bandit raided our house. They searched the house for treasure and took it to their hideaway (as of last night, I was still getting treasures returned to me). They were a scary pair.

 

 

After dinner we went to a living nativity at a local church.

 

 

 

 

 

I think the chocolate chip cookies we got there were the biggest hit of all.



 

After the nativity, we went to see a local house that is always very decorated for Christmas.

 



 

The kids really enjoyed it.

 

Grandpa and Charlie took a walk through the blue arches.

 

Although no longer in their costumes, the pirate and bandit had many plans for the night. I think they involved staying up until Paul and I were asleep and then going downstairs. Fortunately, it's very hard for a 5 and 7 year old to stay awake when lights are out and it's after 9. When we left the room, Lucy and Rudy were in separate beds. When I went up to tell them lights out, they were both in the top and they told me they were both going to stay there. Rudy had his head one way and Lucy was the other way. Then when I went up to check again, Lucy was asleep and Rudy was still questioning what time we were going to bed. Some time before he fell asleep, he snuggled next to Lucy. Such a sweet pirate and bandit.

 

The next morning, the pirate looked a little different, the bandit was still around, and they were joined by a skeleton (although note the skeleton hands on the pirate- all he really wanted was gloves for his costume and the mean skeleton willingly shared). (I'm not sure who the bandit is calling.)



 

It's hard work being a pirate and sometimes you just have to get your blanket and mimi and relax.

 



 

After church, which was surprisingly easy with 3 kids, we stopped for lunch and then headed back to Bill and Renee's house. Rudy and Lucy were still a bundle of energy.

 

But Charlie was wiped out.

 

Rudy and Lucy had a lot of fun, and got along even better than usual. On the way home after returning them to their parents, Rudy said he missed both of them. I'm so glad he has fun with them.