Magical Mr. Bear

First, read this post to catch up. Since that day at the Pink Shop, Mr. Bear has had many wonderful adventures.  He comes to the grocery store, preschool, church, and the library.  One night as we were going through the bed time routine we discovered Mr. Bear was missing.  After retracing our steps we were confident he had been left at the library.  So, as soon as the library opened the next day, we zoomed over to get him.  Josh and Halle had a blast making up stories about Mr. Bear's sleep over at the library. 

Sometime in Sept, the same thing happened.  Bed time came, and no Mr. Bear could be found.  We racked our brains, and hunted the house top to bottom.  But no luck, he was lost.  There were many sad nights, and days spent turning the toyroom upside down. 

About 1 week ago Halle comes charging through the door and shouts, "I have the most WONDERFUL news!"  (She had been on her first kindergarten field trip that day and I was sure she was bursting at the seams to talk about it). I said, "Tell me about your day!" She said, "No Mom, even BETTER NEWS.  I FOUND MR. BEAR."  What??? Had Mr. Bear magically made his way to the Children's Museum in Denver?  No, but he had ended up in the school's lost and found.  On her way to the bus, Halle had seen him sitting on the top shelf. As soon as Josh woke up from his nap we raced to the school to rescue him.  And there was much rejoicing. 

Blake's Surgery

On Dec 1st Blake had a little same day surgery.  He was born with something called Chordee, which basically means his little man part was crooked. And we all know crooked man parts are not a good thing ;).
The worst part was that I couldn't feed him before the surgery.  So we had to wake up at 5am, drive to Denver, and then sit around until 7:30.  But he was such a good boy--he was chewing on my fingers like crazy, but never got too upset.  They have a toy room for the little kids to play in, and it had a wagon. So I set him in the wagon and was pulling him around.  I look back at him, and he was totally zonked out, and had fallen flat on his face. I would have given anything for my camera at that moment.  Him in his little hospital gown, face planted asleep in a wagon.  So I picked him up and he just rested his little head on my shoulder until the nurse came to get him.  He was delirious, and when he saw the nurse in her funny scrub hat he just started to giggle.  And the anesthesiologist told me that in true Blake fashion, they put the mask on him to fall asleep and he conked out in mid giggle.  The surgery was a success, and the recovery not nearly as bad as one might imagine. 

The Nutcracker

The day of the Nutcracker was the self-proclaimed "best day" of Halle's life.  Here's why:

She was the Star of the Day in Kindergarten (very big deal)
We went to 7 Eleven after school for a treat (as is our Friday tradition)
She got to wear her new dress, get her hair curled, and wear a little bit of makeup.
We went out to dinner (Halle and I are alike in that way--we love to go out!)
We saw the Nutcracker and she heard the song she is performing in her ballet recital this weekend
We had "backstage passes" and got to go see the dancers warming up for the second 1/2, and even say "hi" to THE NUTCRACKER.  (swoon)
She got her picture taken with Clara
I bought her a Nutcracker of her very own.

Thanks to my friend Amber, we got FREE tickets to the Colorado Ballet and took our girls for a fun night out.  I'm so glad I have a little girl to do stuff like this with!  We had a blast and hope to make it an annual tradition!

Trim the Tree

This year I bought a little Christmas tree for the kids to put in their bedroom.  They LOVE it!  They got to pick out their own decorations, and as they make new little ornaments throughout the season they get to add them to their tree.  Thanks Anglea for the idea!

We also had the missionaries over to decorate the "Big" tree.  Everyone had fun, and we all ended up with scalded tongues from hot chocolate that was WAY TOO HOT.  Although you all must try making hot chocolate with Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa.  YUMMY. 

Half a year old

Blake turned 6 months on Thanksgiving day. He continues to be a little ray of sunshine, smiling and giggling at anyone who might glance in his general direction.  Halle was our screamer, Josh was our snuggler, and Blake is our giggler. He weighs a whopping 18 lbs 13 oz. All that weight must be in his cheeks, because in true male fashion, he has no bum.  Not even with a full diaper.  His nicknames included: Blakers, Blakey Boy, and Blake the Snake.  Sometimes shortened to just Snake.

Isn't it amazing that this:

turned into this:

Love you buddy!

Thanksgiving

Wow--I have about 100 things to post. I've been thinking about doing it for days, but I'm a little overwhelmed!  One step at a time Tara....

Let's start with Thanksgiving.  My parents were unexpectedly able to come out for Thanksgiving this year, and we were all so excited!  The day before they got there Halle said, "Mom, aren't you glad we don't have to spend Thankgiving all alone?"  And yes, I was indeed glad.  And Rusty was glad because I had been threatening Mimi's instead of a home cooked meal.

We did lots of fun things, but the highlight for the kids was that they got to stay in the hotel with Grandma and Grandpa.  They swam, made candy turkey's, watched movies, and ate delicious buffet breakfasts every morning. My kids LOVE LOVE hotels and there is nothing that makes them happier than a good bed bouncing.  We also got to go visit Santa at Macy's, see two reindeer, and go for a horse drawn carriage ride.  We are so glad Grandma and Grandpa made the trip!