Fayetteville Lights

A tradition we started years ago is to visit the Fayetteville Square to see the lights and eat Tiny Tim's pizza. This year did not go by without that trip. Meredith and Connor joined us for the annual trek and we had a ton of fun. It was stinkin' cold and Kale was the only kid that willingly wore his coat, hat and gloves. Apparently it's cool to freeze your A off when you're a kid. Who knew. Kale took his first horse drawn carriage ride and none of the B boys were brave enough to ride the pony or a camel so Meredith had to join Connor for the camel ride. Thank goodness for baby A in the belly as I too avoided the camel ride. Steve and Meredith took advantage of having a DD and downed a couple of pitchers with dinner thus requiring a pit stop at Meredith's before driving around Rogers looking at lights. It was a really good time!

Kale is still very sad that big daddy didn't put up a single Christmas light. Apparently next year is going to be the year of lights for us. Hmmm...we'll see how well that promise holds up.

Santa Visit

Today we took on the anticipated trip to visit Santa. This is the boys big chance to tell Santa the one gift they really want. After carefully sorting through the options...fish tank with 20 fish, new bike, DS/Wii games, Roller skates, etc. they landed on the one choice item. Logan convinced me to allow him to ask for an Air Soft BB gun, Lucas was going in with a Scooby Doo DS game but upon hearing Logan he quickly switched to a Air Soft BB gun. I'm sure Santa was surprise, 'cuz mama definitely was. Kale presented Santa with his entire list but at the top was an Army Tank with a motorcycle in the box. Apparently, it's very important to K-K (It's ok to call him that again) that this all come together in the box. Now the waiting begins to see if Santa delivers.

Kale was very proud of him self this year for not being afraid of Santa at all. He may not of been afraid but the look on his face doesn't make it look like the man in red is his favorite guy.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving brought:

A trip to Kansas
Tons of fun playtime with Cousins
My favorite...Taco Pronto
Just a little shopping

Kids were most thankful for the chance to play with their cousins

Domination!

After hours of research and engineering studies, many prototypes and test runs. The dominating rocket was built to the tight tolerances of the final specs. The paint job was equally well thought out. We meant business this year at the space derby. Last year our rocket barely moved. This year it was like lightning. The minutes hours we put into it paid off big time. It began with quick defeat of his fellow den members. Then the wait until the other dens raced to be the one to compete against this 2nd graders rocket in the championship rounds. The first race of the championships...no contest. The final round was a photo finish with a collision at the end. The judges declared Logan victorious! The 2nd grader won the pack championships over all the grades up to 4th or 5th grade. All of Logan's parents hard work showed at race time. Logan was pumped to say the least. If we keep having these successful experiences I will never be able to get him to quit! Why, Oh, Why to we have to be so talented?!

So you know the biggest trophy measure 32" and goes up to Kale's nostrils. That measures up to an awesome trophy...that does not fit on the trophy shelf.

Always an Enigma

Yesterday ended in a trip to the ER. Why? Because Lucas was covered in hives from head to toe. Hard to tell in the picture from my cell phone but the kid was miserable. Very itchy and he was on so much Benedryl that I almost slipped into a coma just thinking about it. Apparently he and I metabolize that med differently as he kept on ticking. After the second major flare up of the hives taking over his body and the meds not putting a dent in the situation, big daddy took him to the ER. Thankfully it only took about 3 hours and he was home by about 11:00 pm and the kid finally quit. He got a big shot in the leg and took it like a trooper. Now he will be on steroids for 5 more days. Thank goodness he is going to school so they get the bulk of his roid rage there! Bad thing is we have no idea what the cause is. Thinking maybe shrimp. Always an enigma!

K-K is gone

Our little boy man is growing up and is shedding his "baby" nickname. He is not K-K he is Kale...and he is losing his patience for people that aren't catching on to his sudden change. When he was brand new Lucas started calling him K-K and we thought it was a hideous nickname. But for whatever reason, in no time we were all calling him that and have been for the last 3.5 years. We have actually become quite fond of the name. Well enough of that! He is done with the nick name so immediately cease with the K-K.

Hog Fever

Kale had the fever...hog fever...and I'm not talking about his passion for the razorbacks. We're talking H1N1. He survived it without passing it to anyone else in the fam (keeping our fingers crossed!). Hard to believe since he was all about snuggles and by the end had a hacking cough that made it into his elbow about 1/2 the time.

Spooktacular good time

A monkey, a ninja and Boba Fet all walk into a bar...I'll stop as you all have probably heard that one before. This year Kasey and I never got our act or creative juices flowing so we abandoned our annual Halloween event. Fortunately Meredith had Connor this Halloween and she loves Halloween. All I had to do was stuff some kids in their costumes and show up at her house. Steve and I took all the kids trekking through their neighborhood while Meredith stayed back and made kids cry. Later she had 30+ kids chasing her through the neighborhood trying to identify who was behind the mask. Thanks to some fence hopping and the B boys and Connors help she was able to avoid them for quite a while. Thanks to Halloween our daily calorie intake will be doubled for the next couple of weeks. Thank goodness I have a scapegoat for packing on the pounds!

All Saints Star

Lucas made his on stage debut as a kindergardner. He did amazing! He stayed on the risers the whole time. No huge distractions. He kind of participated in the signing elements of the program. Then the moment came when St. Nicholas (AKA Lucas) introduced himself to the crowd. He marched up there with confidence and spoke clearly in the mic and said,

"My name is St. Nicholas. I love children and I gave all my money to help the poor. On my feast day I might leave a treat in your shoes."

He gracefully climbed back into the risers and completed the show with a piece of his beard on his finger like a ring. That was nothing compared to Ryan (wearing brown and standing to the right of Lucas in the second picture) who was swinging his beads and giant cross that were around his waste like he should be working on a stage with a pole.

Sleep Over

Logan braved a sleepover for his buddy Logan R's birthday this weekend. There was a scavenger hunt, cook out, hike, movies, games, etc. From what we gathered from the grunts and growls when he got home, he had a ton of fun. He even slept some. Getting a kid back from a sleepover is usually a miserable experience for the rest of the day. Logan was only mildly unbearable that day but he had trick or treating to motivate him.