Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Clause!

Or, I should say, "yes JD." JD talked to this FABULOUS Santa at the mall this weekend. He was afraid but this was a great Santa who talked to him patiently and then convinced him to get his picture taken. THANK YOU SANTA!!!

Merry Christmas

We are very sad that Uncle Keith has to go home tomorrow. Before he left we exchanged some gifts and Keith read JD his new book.

Black Friday

Instead of shopping today we went to the Children's Museum. It was Nina's first time to go. JD had a great time showing her around.

Thanksgiving Day

JD rode his bike while we waited for our turkey to cook. YUM YUM - Turkey!!
Thanks to Keith's boss for getting us tickets to the hottest game in town. Here is George at his very first UT football game.

There were over 98,000 people at the game. The most people at a game in the state of Texas. WOW - that's a lot of orange!

The band and big flag opened the festivities.

Afterward the tower was lit for the occasion.

Dinoland

Today was part of our Thanksgiving holidays so we went to the botanical gardens. JD posed on this butterfly chair.

We hiked around the goldfish pond and skipped across the rocks to get to the waterfall.

The main attraction of the park was the Dinoland exhibit. Here are Keith and JD in front of the best dinosaur of all, T-Rex.

Nina points out one of the little flying dinosaurs.

"WOW, this one has a sail."

JD likes the BIG dinosaurs best.

One More Thanksgiving Song

JD's Song

Here is one of the songs from JD's Thanksgiving program. The kids sang lots of cute ones about pilgrams and indians. We'll try to get some more songs posted but the system is just being tempermental at the moment.

Sit

Lu Lu has been going to dog obedience class. She is making some really good progress. Especially when you consider where she started. JD has even gotten in on the fun and can usually make her sit.

Happy Thanksgiving

JD's school had their Thanksgiving program for parents this afternoon. Here all the kiddos lined up to go inside.

What would any kids program be without a bunch of parents taking pictures and video tape. I just had to take a picture of everyone taking pictures.

JD and all the boys were dressed as indians. All the girls were dressed as pilgrams. Everyone was really cute and did a great job singing Thanksgiving songs.

For some reason I can't post video at the moment --- watch for it in future posts.

Butterfly Art

I took my camera to JD's school because I wanted to take some pictures of his class's art work. You can't go into a pre-school and not have everyone pose for a picture. JD and his friends were on the playground but insisted that I take their picture before I went.

The class made Pilgrims in preparation for Thanksgiving. You can tell that the kids cut out their own Pilgrims because some of the cutting just wasn't very precise. JD's Pilgrim is the smallest one on the board. He is the littlest one in the class and I think maybe the youngest one too. His cutting skills are a little behind some of his classmates. It is appropriate that his Pilgrim is the smallest.

Every child decorated turkey feathers for homework. Don't ask me which one is JD's. They all look alike once they hit the turkey.

Our Boring Life

I have been a bad blogger lately because, frankly, we haven't done anything. We are just our same old boring selves doing the same old thing.
JD went to Primary today and while his classmates learned a new Christmas song he sang "I'm a Little Teapot." AND, he sang it with a lot of gusto. He was so tired when we got home from church he fell asleep almost immediately. Causing all that trouble really wears you out.

We continue to go to gymnastics on Saturday morning. Some days we are good at following instructions. Other days, not so much. JD always enjoys jumping around even if it isn't EXACTLY what he is supposed to be doing.

JD helped with lunch today. He made pigs in a blanket.

Little boys are already dreaming of Christmas. He wants a red motorcycle and a black train. Since he can't read yet I feel ok about telling all of you that we have those items safely stored away. This Santa is no fool. My motto has always been shop early.

Lu Lu's Ball

Lu Lu and I went to "dog class" on Saturday. One of the trainers suggestions was to make your puppy work for her food. That is part of a dog's hunting instinct. We got this ball and filled it with Lu Lu's dinner. JD just can't get over the fact that someone besides him has toys. Thankfully, he is not interested in her food -- only the toy.

What did you do this weekend??

Our family lounged on the couch and watched our new HULK movie. Ask JD about his Hulk impression sometime.

We also played with our leftover Halloween goodies.

We were at the Mall Saturday night and JD was VERY sad that we couldn't find spooky things anywhere. Well, he was sad until he saw this motorcycle for kids at Sears. He reminded Dad all weekend that he wanted the red motorcycle like spooky rider. (the character from Ghost Rider who turns into a skeleton -- apologies to anyone who is a real Ghost Rider fan. I don't think I've ever watched the movie for content.)

At our favorite neighborhood Mexican restaurant JD had chips with butter. YES -- DAD taught him that little trick.

I think it is funny that whenever we go in and say "three," they always hand us three menus. JD always opens it and pretends to read. I guess he doesn't want the hostess to feel bad.