Ice Cream!

A quick visit to Sweet Frog that left G wanting all of A's and her refusing to eat. 

Christmas at Biltmore

We tried the Biltmore today and were successful. We got to see 30 trees in the house, which is around half of what they claim is there. We finished our trip with ice cream in the courtyard even though it is cold.

Ear Check

This weekend we tried to visit Biltmore. We had some discipline issues with A and didn't get far.  We may try again this weekend or we may have to go again next year.

We went to doc for G today. He has inflammation yet again. This was a check after his 12 month appointment showed what could be an ear infection.  We will be getting a call soon regarding an ENT visit. We are looking for alternatives to tubes and really don't expect a different result from giving him yet another round of antibiotics. The first two have obviously been so helpful.

We have been working and getting ready for the holidays around here. A will tell anyone and everyone that Baby Jesus's birthday is coming soon. For our nativity calendar, the 24th is when you put the baby in the manger. She so wants to put him there but is slowly realising that it is only a few more days until she gets to. Hope all is well with you!

Alpine Village

We went to a festival today.  A local church creates a village inside a gym and gives stuff away because Jesus came and have himself away. The kids and I went as my boss could only get four tickets. We did typical Christmasy stuff while there. The favourite shop for both kids was the chapel. A wanted to tell the kids coming through about baby Jesus and her black boots. She wouldn't let G play with the doll, though he tried to put his fingers in the doll eyes.

I had to work this morning before our adventure, and Chris got the Christmas tree up and sort of decorated. The pre-strung lights are almost all gone out but the tree is good so we are having difficulty getting rid of it. We just need to get replacement lights I suppose. We have an interesting advent calendar going as A has a pig in the sky right now. I like it though and don't want it to ever change really.
G is jabbering. He is determined to talk and is doing a decent job of communicating these days.

Here are a few pictures from our village adventure.

1 Year Check-up and More!

We went for G's one year check-up the week before last.  With the party and work I haven't been able to post vital stats.  He was 30 inches long which is about 60th percentile for his age.  He was 19 pounds 10 ounces which is about 25th percentile for his age. His head was around the 50th percentile though I don't remember the exact circumference.  He's following his own pattern it seems, and doing it quite well.  He will go back the middle of December to have a follow up ear check.  This is the third time we've gone in with a possible ear infection, so we may get an ENT referral.  :( We are against tubes or anything, especially since he never shows any symptoms of an ear infection. 

A has been doing well with playing with her brother.  They are even able to entertain themselves more and more.  The new toys from G's party help I'm sure as they got a blow up car with balls in it (think small versions of the ball pit balls).  They go to the airport, to the grocery store, etc. with A driving her little brother around.  I wonder if that will translate quite so well when it becomes an actual car. She too is growing and is already in 4T type clothing, seeming to skipped the 3T stuff. She is super skinny and that's a bigger issue almost simply because if there is no adjustable waist (even for skirts really) then clothes simply will not fit. As she has decided that she MUST wear pretty dresses (and a pretty skirt with a pretty shirt does work) to church and we go to church a couple of times a week, well, giving up is not something that she will naturally do.  She unfortunately has also decided to wear pretty dresses to school and that doesn't go so well with her teachers.  We've compromised and she will wear tunic type shirts with jeans and she seems to be okay. 

Despite all the toys, sticks continue to be a favorite pasttime of G's.  He will often not come inside, or try and sneak them inside, if it means dropping his sticks. We have quite the stick collection going by our door to say the least.  He prefers to have a stick in either hand and is kind of dangerous with them. He really likes banging things, so he may become the drummer that everyone says he has to be with his wild hair. 

Chris's semester is now over so it is a semblance of a normal life again for him.  Now if we could simply get him to remember his coffee in the morning, it would be even better. 

Work for me is busy as ever. We are expanding so very rapidly that it is difficult to keep up.  We have at least one person start a week, normally three though.  We've started a second shift and that's going well. 

G Stew anyone?

Finally gutted the pumpkins and she wanted to draw instead of carve this year...

Pomegranates have become our favorite snack.  They are great toys for the kids and they eat them well

Boy + Sticks = HAPPY!!

Shoveling snow Sunday before last at the coffee shop we went to

On a personal note though, we're looking at joining a church that is going through a denominational schism.  It is a good church that no longer aligns with its denomination.  The past couple of weeks have had conversations leading progressively from a "if we split" to a "when we split." We are uncomfortable with the denomination the church is affiliated with and it has been pointed out that we need to join because they will need our vote.  If we stay here very long I imagine it is where we would join, but we are having difficulty getting over the idea of joining the denomination.  Please pray for guidance and we figure out if we just continue to hang around there without joining as members, or go elsewhere. 

Birthday Week

Since this week G celebrated one trip around the sun we've had a bit of fun. We weren't really able to do anything Wednesday night, and therefore had to wait until Friday. We opened some presents then and had a lot of fun with a new steel Tonka dump truck. A decided that she could sit in the bed so naturally G tried that as well. He was much easier to push and had a blast being pushed around by everyone.

Today for the party we mainly had friends from work.  Or new neighbours and his teacher showed up though.  He was excited to see her in the sea of not so familiar faces at the very least. A liked opening the toys and helping daddy undo all the zip ties. We tried to make it into a game, but no such luck.

Here though are what everyone really wants: pictures! 

Interesting Developments

Last week was Halloween and we went out as a "Frozen" family. We had Elsa and Olaf, and A had suggested that we be Kristoph and Ana.  Since Chris and I sent always the best at coming up with costume ideas we went with it. We love repurpose-able costumes as I don't want to spend a lot of money on something the kids are going to wear one night.  I have trouble with the prices for the things kids wear for only a couple of months...  Chris and I were able to put out costumes together with stuff out if our drawers, and both the kids have at least a base outfit they can now wear.

As for our interesting development... A has started wanting to read "The Jesus Story" before going to bed. It started Tuesday and is still going strong. Chris has read for an hour most nights he is home and she just soaks up it all. She asks good questions about uncommon words. She will even pick the Bible over Narnia right now, which is weird as she adores the Narnia books.

We also have the interesting development of having G survive his first year. He needs a haircut (as does Chris) but we aren't sure when we will have either done. We will post some pictures on Wednesday, or possibly the day after. Next Saturday we are having a small party for him and hopefully it will be fun.