Buddies

While Maggie goes to pre-school in the mornings, Henry and I enjoy having play dates and a little fun of our own. Last week our friend Claire came over for some hang out time. Her leg will be in a cast for the next few weeks, and lucky for us she was in a cast signing mood. Henry signed his John Hancock as Claire looked on in awe. It was a pretty cute moment so I thought I'd post a picture. We enjoy hang out time with all kinds of Buddies, so let us know when you want to hang out.
Henry and his buddy Andrew, can't you just see the love in Andrew's face? Honestly, who wouldn't want to hang out with this guy?

Christmas Partay!

Tuesday was our RUF white elephant Christmas party. We had such a great time and walked away with some hilarious gifts. Henry even joined in on the fun (for a bit).
Henry was especially interested in the Santa hat, and was curious as to where the jolly man actually was and why someone else was wearing his hat.
Tyler was given this handmade scarf by one of our talented students (um not this talented student..another one).
The gift exchange got a little heated, but all in good fun.
There were actually a few good gifts in a batch of crazy white elephants.
Here's the whole crew squeezing into our living room for the obligatory "crazy" group shot.

Three Amigos

A few weeks ago Tyler headed out of town for an RUF conference in Dallas. Usually I dread this time of year because parenting alone is no fun, this year was no different. Actually I dreaded it more so because the day before he left the kids came down with fevers and a little pink eye. But, we survived and here is our tale... Our first few days looked like this.
Then some precious students swooped in with dinner, crafts and distractions for us. At this point we were on the mend and feeling good.
We even did a little Christmas baking (please note all the beautiful blue sprinkles on the lone cookie).
But, of course I couldn't keep all the craziness out of the equation. Don't worry no one was hurt in the making of this hilarious photo. Now our precious Daddy is home and we are reminded yet again how irreplaceable and valuable he is to us.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Another one of our favorite Christmas events is the birthday party for Jesus our church puts on every year. This year wasn't any different, we enjoyed a live Christmas story told by a shepherd, birthday cake and lots and lots of crafts....which we love!Let's hear it for crafts!
And balloon animals...
and more crafts!

Little Turkeys

We tried to keep kids entertained on Thanksgiving with crafts and games, but sometimes you just have to create your own fun. Don't worry they took turns.

JWU tree lighting

This year, just like the past few years, we were able to make it to the annual JWU tree lighting. This year the actual tree lighting was in Gateway village, so the actual tree was triple in size. We might as well have been in Rockefeller Center. It was beautiful and the kids loved it, especially all the fun leading up to the main event. There were crafts, snacks and about four different holiday figures walking around such as Santa and the grinch.
Neither kid really wanted to talk to Santa, but we did manage a photo. Henry especially was afraid. He had just had a rough encounter with the Grinch and was just about fed up with these holiday figures.
But not Maggie, I think she prefers these make believe friends to real people.
My favorite part of the evening is hanging out with our RUF kids and spreading the Christmas cheer.
And being with these guys is pretty awesome too.

Thanksgiving before Christmas!

Before Christmas arrives, I thought it would be best to blog about Thanksgiving first. Sorry, the time has gotten away from me. I know there are some very antsy folks in Kansas waiting to see some updated pics, so I hope not to disappoint in these next few blog posts. We started our Thanksgiving festivities with a much anticipated visit from Dog and Grams. And, what's a visit from Dog without a trip to the piggy bank?

Grams was invaluable during her time with us here in the Carolinas. She taught me how to perfect the Thanksgiving turkey. It was fabulous.
She played countless games with the grandkids from ponies to cars to tea. She was the perfect playmate.
Henry received a new digger for his b-day and enjoyed driving it through the fallen leave piles in the back yard.
Maggie wanted to join in on the fun Henry was having in the back yard and so she wore this little get up to the fun.
Of course Grams wasn't the only fun playmate, Dog (not Bella...but Grandpa "Dog") was also up for some exciting games with the grands.
We couldn't have Grams and Dog come all that way to NC without enjoying some smores by the fire, a Dirks jr. favorite.
On the actual day of Thanksgiving we started off by heading to Uptown for a slightly damp Thanksgiving day parade.
Cousins Brody and Evan even joined us for the fun, and also helped us complete our color scheme.
And, of course what's more fun than one Grandma? TWO grandmas!!!
Sampling some turkey before the big event.
Cousin Trooper is almost as big as Henry, but Henry still wanted to make sure he knew who was older.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving we put up our Christmas tree and Maggie and Henry were very helpful in decorating it this year.
Sunday after church we looked so darn good we had to take some shots in front of the tree.
Before Grams and Dog headed back to KS we got some final fun in with a little reading.
And, a little legos. Thanks for coming Grams and Dog we had a great time. Love you!!!