Merry Skylanders Christmas

 All this little boy REALLY wanted for Christmas was the video game Skylanders Swapforce.  Santa bought it back in October when it came out and it has been hiding in my closet at school every since.

 To play the game properly new video chairs wer a must.

Here's what the rest of Christmas break is going to look like.  JD playing his new game sitting in his new chair.

Trail of Lights

 After several years of being AWOL the trail of lights is BACK!!  We tried a new strategy this year and got our parking pass online early.  We were there before dark to enjoy the Christmas tree and beat the crowd.

 Once it was completely dark we started our hike down the trail.  The entrance is my favorite part.

 Lots of the displays have been around for YEARS - some probably since I was a kid when you used to drive through the trail of lights.

 There was a spot for you to take a picture with the Austin skyline in the background.  JD can't just stand in a picture and smile he has to make a silly pose.

 I liked this display sponsored by our favorite Mexican restaurant.  If you aren't from Texas you may not be familiar with the Jackalope.  It is in the same species of animal as the unicorn - pretend.

Being Austin, you have to have a free speech zone.  JD stood in front of this sign and started, "I have a dream . . ."  It was a proud moment for his social studies teacher mother!

Memphis and More

 Our family went to see the musical Memphis.  YEA - JD is standing in front of the M in the sign.

 After two "fancy" events (his school class went to see the Nutcracker) JD said he wanted a suit.  We went to the mall and tried on this suit coat.  I took a look at the price tag and told him little boys don't need suits.  He did look handsome though - so I'll do some shopping and see what I can find for him.

At our last cub scout meeting of 2013 the boys tied knots.  I'm really not sure why boys need to learn this skill but it is a long standing boy scout tradition and who I am I to question that?

Christmas Traditions

It's time to bring out our December traditions.  JD still loves the Elf on the shelf.  Every night it reports to Santa and then returns to our house in a new location.  Dad helps him with this since JD and I go to bed way to early to monitor where our Elf is going.  The Elf has found himself in some interesting locations.

The Lego advent calendar is fun.  Every day you open a door and build another part of this Lego city scene.  By Christmas it turns into a regular village.

We decorated a Gingerbread house which was fun -- BUT -- not as fun as watching Gumball figure out that the house was edible.  She quickly removed some of the decorations.

Next, with a little help she discovered that the roof tiles were actually yummy cereal and that plucking them off and throwing them on the table was great bird fun.

Santa says, "HELP, a giant bird is biting me."

 

 

 

The Patience of Gumball

It is easy to see why Gumball is JD's best friend.  She is the only one who will sit and watch him play video games.

No Bullies

JD had a speaking role in the 3rd grade play - No Bullies.  He did a great job and had fun working on his lines.

Thanksgiving Visits

We were very happy to have the Ridings come visit us over Thanksgiving.  JD was especially happy to play with Uncle Keith.

 We visited an arcade where Uncle Keith was patient enough to play to the very end of the shooting Giant bugs game.  I never get past round one!

 We went to the Wildflower Center with Nina. 

The Wildflower center is always fun but this time we had a plant expert along.  JD and Aunt Nina inspected things closely.

Sickness!

We have had a sad week.  It started out fine with a trip to the book fair at Kiker.

 BUT, teacher work day wasn't so fun.

 Little did we know that would be the good day this week.  Starting Monday night JD was sick and just couldn't get over it.  He did finally recover on Friday!  Just in time for the weekend.

 Good thing too - because it was Grandpa's birthday and we needed to celebrate.  The boys got together at Uncle Tommy's ever expanding shop.

JD and George inspected all the banged up RVs that were in the shop.  They had a few dents but were still pretty fancy compared to our tent!

Cub Scout Camping

JD's cub scout pack spend the weekend at Enchanted Rock.

Opening ceremony is always a little sparse.

 But more and more scouts start rolling in to the park and by the evening festivities there is a great crowd. 

 JD and his classmates spent a good part of the weekend defending this log fort from aliens.

The rock itself is quite impressive.  We weren't ambitious enough to try to hike to the top.  The people doing that looked like SERIOUS hikers, not just kids with tennis shoes.

 One of the leaders helped the boys earn their astronomy belt loop. 

 At closing ceremonies our cub master recognized all the veterans.  He started the introductions when many in the crowd started asking "where's George?"  Just then - George comes out of the restroom for his 2 minutes of fame.

Football and Lunch

 I can't believe we are at the end of October already and JD and I haven't been to a football game yet.  For being in the middle of a drought we have had quite a few rainy Friday nights.  Here we are - enjoying the game and the nice cool, clear weather.

I had lunch with JD and then took him to the book fair.  JD always brings home his lunch box with all the food still in it.  When I bring chicken from Wendy's it gets gobbled up. 

Fire Safety Month

I have proof that Americans are bad at geography.  Someone in George's office decided he needed to be in Laredo on Wednesday and Odessa on Thursday.  WHAT?!  Whoever did that needs to get a map.  George's travels left JD and I to do cub scouts by ourselves this week. 

 This is fire safety month so the firemen (and women) came to talk to the boys.  Just watching someone put on all that gear made me hot! 

 Everyone went outside for a photo op. by the fire truck.  JD is in there somewhere.  JD got his first 3rd grade report card on Friday.  This is the first  year it has letter grades that make sense to my high school brain.  ANYWAY, he got all As and a couple Bs.  School has never been his favorite thing and he does struggle at times so we decided a celebration was in order.

We let him pick, and JD choose Dave and Busters for food and games.  The food was fine and he had a great time shooting giant video game spiders with dad.

A New Belt

JD has been working hard at his martial arts class to get a new belt.  He finally made it and passed the test.

 The ceremony they have for the students is very nice.  First, one of his teachers takes off his old belt.

Then, they tie his new belt for him.

Here is a class picture of everyone who was promoted.  JD now has a green stripe on his yellow belt.

Helper JD

It takes some prompting from me - but JD is a good helper.

After church (usually while I'm still playing postlude music) JD takes down the hymn numbers.

Yesterday while he was with me at teacher work day JD picked up all my textbooks and put them on the bookcase.  It was a job that had to be done!

Zoo Campout

 JD's cub scout pack spent the night camping at the zoo.  We fought through the Friday afternoon traffic to make it to the zoo ALMOST on time.

 I love our new instant tent.  We got it up in no time.

 After dinner we were able to go behind the scenes where the public isn't usually allowed. JD was able to feed the Giraffe.  She had a VERY long and VERY purple tongue.

 We got up close and personal with the Rhino.  I took this picture while the zoo keeper told us how dangerous Rhinos are.

 THEN he said - do you want to pet it?  My picture isn't the best -- but JD stuck his hand right in there with it.  By the way, he said Rhino skin is very rough.

 We also got to meet the lions but were not allowed to pet them!

 After spending the night in our tent (George said there wasn't much sleeping) we were able to spend the next day seeing all the animals from the front.  It is a small but very well kept zoo with enough animals to be fun and not overwhelming.

 George and I have lived our whole lives in Texas and now our dreams have been fulfilled.  We have been to the Dr. Pepper museum.  We had a sample of real Dr. Pepper made right there on the spot.

JD was able to spend some time with his cousin Alexis on Saturday night.  Alexis is only 4 so JD was able to show off his reading skills for her.  They played together and had a GREAT time despite the age difference.