Christmas is Blown Up!

Today was the last Sunday before Christmas.

Cathy dressed Hannah up real cute in a new Christmas dress (at right), and Mikey got all dressed up in a new red sweater. In the picture, Hannah is standing next to a little ceramic nativity set; Hannah really likes to hold the Baby Jesus. On the table you can also see the picture of Hannah and Mikey that we took at The Christmas Train a few weeks ago. Cathy and I dressed up pretty casual, because we were volunteering in the nursery at The Bridge for the first time. We were in the preschool class, and we had a great time telling the story of Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem and having Jesus in a stable to the kneebiters. :)

Tonight we did something a little different... we went out to The Castle at Muskogee for The Christmas Kingdom. The short version of the story is that for the cost of the short trip down to Muskogee (admission is free), you can drive through a field filled with over a thousand Christmas inflatables (the blowup Santas your neighbor has all over his yard). They have Santa Clauses, snowmen, snow globes, and then more exotic stuff like a whole choir of inflatable reindeer and an inflatable outhouse (!). Some of the inflatables are positively HUGE... check out this puppy, who is in front of a full-sized two-story building:



If you've been out to The Castle for the Renaissance Faire, you might recognize the building! According to the Web site, the largest inflatables are 20 feet tall!

At the end of the drive through, you can stop and visit the inside of the castle itself and get some hot chocolate. There is also a petting zoo, where Hannah made a new friend:



There are a few more pictures that we took here.

Hannah's Second Birthday

Last Wednesday, Hannah turned 2 years old! We met up with a few friends at Incredible Pizza for a birthday party the Saturday before, and everyone of course had a blast. If you have a little one and you haven't been in since they revamped the play area in the back corner, you need to go. There's a whole bouncy inflatable area for them to play in, plus a bunch of rides and stuff for them to enjoy:

    

When Wednesday came, we broke out some chocolate cakes with pudding inside (Cathy called them "lava cakes"), and sang happy birthday again (for the whole day people were telling Hannah "Happy Birthday", and she would say back to them "Ha bir-day, to yoo!" and then give 'em a kiss. :)

My mom and dad came over late (they had been at a meeting) and spend a little time with her too. I think Hannah REALLY had a blast! Here's a link to the pictures from the party, plus a few more from her birthday evening. I'll leave you with these images of the proper way to enjoy a chocolate lava cake when you're 2 years old:

 

Christmas Train 2009

Last night we engaged in one of our treasured family traditions: we spent the evening out at Dry Gulch, U.S.A. at The Christmas Train! The Christmas Train is quite an experience... Dry Gulch is a little faux western town (cowboy stuff) and at Christmas they outline all of the buildings with lights (beautiful!) and have Santa and the whole nine yards. They also have a real steam train that looks like one from an old west town, and you can ride it and hear the story of the birth of Jesus. It's SO much fun, and we've done it every year with Mikey (except for a few years when the Christmas Train inexplicably was not open).

It's a long drive to Dry Gulch... it's Northeast of Pryor, about an hour or an hour and a half from Tulsa. It's generally a good 5 degrees or more colder than it is in Tulsa, too; when we got there the thermometer in our car said 25 degrees (when we left afterward, it said 22!) And it seems like when our night comes every year, it's always REALLY cold, and usually windy enough that the wind-chill takes "freezing your spurs off" to a whole new level. But last night we were well-bundled and well-layered, and there was uncharacteristically little breeze this time, so we were pretty comfortable for most of the evening... maybe a few slightly chilled fingers and toes, but other than that, no complaints.

We got some chili/beef stew/corn dogs and had some dinner (my friend Joy was working the register... hi Joy!) then we went out to enjoy Dry Gulch. Hannah got to see a campfire for what I believe is the first time, she got to ride a pony, and she and Mikey got to hang out with the Jolly Red Guy himself, and we all rode the train, which Hannah LOVED! My favorite conversation of the evening with Hannah: "What are you looking at, Hannah?" "Dat!" "What, the train?" "The CHOO-choo train!" (Not that other inferior kind of train that they have elsewhere, I guess!)

The train ride goes right through the woods, but as you ride there is a soundtrack telling the story of God creating the world, the fall of Man, the coming of Jesus in the Christmas story, and then continuing on to Jesus' death and resurrection. There are beautiful paintings along the side of the train tracks that go along with each part of the story. When Hannah saw the picture of the angels at Jesus' birth, she said "I like dat!!" She also really liked the huge train-drives-through diorama of creation (which is just some big balls of something under blacklights, but it is kind of pretty) and as always, Hannah LOVED the part with the baby Jesus! At several points along the ride (the Nativity, the Crucifixion, and the Resurrection) the scenes are live, with actors and everything (there were live sheep with the shepherds coming to see Jesus!) It's a great opportunity to let kids experience the Gospel in a different way, in a very fun setting.

This year we did something we don't remember ever doing before... we stayed until they came on the speaker and announced that they were closing things for the evening! On the way home, Mikey chattered about what he had learned and some things God had been speaking to his heart, and then Cathy talked about what she was thinking, and then when she was done, Hannah babbled some baby-talk for a while! I think everybody had a GREAT time. I woke up this morning content and peaceful, but a little sore... you try doing 30-40 reps with a 30-pound 2-year-old over a three-hour period and see how YOU feel in the morning. :)

The thumbnails to the left are to some of the pictures we took; you can find the whole batch on this flickr page!

December 2009 Update

Why has it been almost a month since I've posted an update? I don't know... all KINDS of stuff has been happening! Here's a rundown...

October 24 we went to Tulsa's Oktoberfest, which is one of the best-known Oktoberfests in the United States. We go every year and get a real imported German Christmas ornament. This year it was a little trickier... the people who we've always bought our ornament from (they have a store in Wichita, but they exhibit at the Tulsa event) were not exhibitors this year. We had to find a new booth with actual German ornaments! Several booths have ornaments, but we have a tradition of buying our family ornament actually from Germany... not Poland or another European country, and certainly not from the U.S. You can see all of our Oktoberfest pictures here!

Halloween weekend Mikey and I went with a few other Webelos from his den to Webelos Outdoor Weekend. We were hosted by Boy Scout Troop 8. The boys got to earn several of their Webelos advancement pins, and we had a great time! Since it was Halloween weekend, the boys from Troop 8 decked out the permanent castle building at Cub World as a haunted house. All of the Cub Scouts loved it! See all of our pictures from the weekend here.

November 5 we got to go with some friends to a Newsboys concert! Hannah didn't come, but Cathy and Mikey and I went with a friend of Mikey's and his mom and brother. I blogged about that concert here, and there are a few pictures that Cathy took at the concert here.

All four of us went out to LaFortune Park that weekend... it was a beautiful day, and Hannah and Mikey got to swing and play almost until she couldn't swing and play any more. :) The pictures we took are here.

November 17 I got a new Bible in the mail. It's a really nice, expensive Bible, and I was blessed with it by winning a contest! If you know me very well at all, you'll know what a big deal that was to me. You can read all about it (with pictures of the new Bible!) here.

Thanksgiving came, and with it came the Joneses from Fort Worth! My brother Kevin and his family came up to visit, and Mikey loves his cousins (five girls) to pieces. They stayed at my dad & mom's house the whole time, and as always, we couldn't pry Mikey away, so he stayed over there the whole time too. Cathy and Hannah and I went over to Cathy's brother Kevin's house (yes, we both have a brother named Kevin) and spent some time with them Thanksgiving evening, too. There are some pictures of Thanksgiving here. Check out the one of Hannah making friends with Theresa's purse-hound Tia!

That same weekend we took the kids (except the two babies) to see G-Force (Cathy didn't get to go to the movie either) and then afterward we picked up Cathy and the babies and went out to Rhema to see the Christmas lights, which were fabulous as always. They had a programmed light show set to music this year that was incredible! Pictures of those two expeditions are here.

Last night Mikey was at a friend's birthday party sleepover, and Cathy and I took Hannah to see Curious George Live. It was a very cute story about George helping his friend Chef Pasketti enter a meatball-cooking contest! The show was fun... all of those "Kid-TV-franchise Live" shows are great spectacles... and the actor playing George did some very convincing monkey moves! Hannah wasn't as mesmerized with it as we had hoped, but she had a lot of fun and came home with a Curious George Live flag banner. :) (Mikey had lots of fun playing Wii at Kai's birthday party, too!)

Today Mikey's soccer team played (and won) their last game of the season. It was REALLY cold... mid-30s and breezy... and several of the kids (including Mikey) were just wearing their regular uniforms with no extra clothes under to keep them warm! They were really COLD!

Finally, this afternoon when Hannah was taking her nap, we put up our Christmas tree and some other decorations. Here's the result:

Hannah REALLY likes a little ceramic Nativity scene that we always set out. She kept wanting me to let her hold Baby Jesus!

Soccer Double-Header

This morning Mikey's soccer team had a double-header... they played the one team in their league that beat them the first time around about a month ago. The first time Mikey's team went down I think 4-0... this time it was tied at the end of the game, and we barely lost in the shootout (what is a shootout, you ask?) final score 3-2. Mikeys team played MUCH better this time... the other team was frankly lucky to beat them!

In the second game, Mikey's team beat the tar out of the other team, I think 9-0 (I kind of lost track when it became clear that it was basically a rout). They did a great job!

I keep being impressed with Mikey's progress as a soccer player. He's gotten so much more confident and aggressive! He's not a superstar on his team quite yet... there are quite a few really good players on Mikey's team. On one of the weaker teams, he would definitely be a key player. But even on his team, Mikey gets plenty of chances to shine! We are SO proud of him!

Football

Sunday a week ago I was home with just Hannah watching the Dallas Cowboys game. She watched a good bit of the first quarter with me, and now every time she sees football on TV, she says, "Dallas Cowboys?" She said it last night at Applebee's when the Monday Night Football came on. How do you say, no sweetie, that's the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Denver Broncos. :-) I think I'll just let her think the game is called "Dallas Cowboys" for a while. Only time it would be a problem is if we're ever watching Bedlam with some OU fans... then I'll probably have some quick 'splainin' to do!

Major Cutie Here!

Hangin' out, enjoying her chocolate milk!