Snow Day Fun

As of today, we no longer have a back deck to sled off of.  While Mike sawed off the old blue-gray painted deck boards and hauled them away, the kids and I played in the snow surrounding the pile of new mahogany wood for our covered deck coming soon.  Mike and I can't wait, we frequently scroll through outdoor deck furniture images dreaming of what next summer will be like.  Until then, Let It Snow!

An Early Christmas Gift

Aunt Kim's blog produces some fun surprises occasionally.  She was asked to review a Fisher Price Thomas the train track and write a blog about it.  She needed a kid age 3 - 6 who loves trains to give it a trial run and Jak was the man for the job!

 
 Of course, that meant much assembly required for poor Uncle Ian.  But we all pitched in (including the 4 kids) to "help".

 I think Aunt Kim can report in good faith, that the train track is indeed awesome, fairly easy to assemble and going to produce hours of fun for lots of little engineers out there. 

 Jak never got dressed and played with the train all day and into the night. 

 Lillian did convince him to take a quick break to hang a few balls on the Christmas tree.

 But he quickly returned to the train set!  Thanks Aunt Kim!

The Nutcracker with the Village At Lowry

I kept Lillian out of school today and brought her on a trip with the residents.  We saw the Denver Dance Conservatory perform the Nutcracker, and Lillian sat on the edge of her seat the whole time.

 The ballerina's were available for a quick photo op right after the show!

Second Visit with Santa

 Covenant Village invited all Wooden Shoe families for a visit with Santa and a reading of Twas the Night Before Christmas.  This "go-round" Jak asked for the same 3 things, a dog puppet and a duck puppet, a race, race, race car and some new games.  Only this time he upped the anty, he requested his puppets be half duck and half dog.  Santa looked at me and said, "I don't know if the elves can do that, can they?"  I said, oh I bet they can...

Maryland Friends

 If you think the house is loud when the Hanou's get together, you should hear it when the Raia's come to town.  And with a little luck and some pre-planning, we will have a Hanou-Raia gathering here in 2016 that will be the most joyous, chatty gathering in the history of family get togethers!  No the Raia's aren't technically family, but good, old family friends often blur the lines and the Raia's are close "non-family relatives" of ours! 

 Joseph 3  1/2, Lillian 4  1/2 and Nora 1  1/2

Santa at Mia & Zoe's House - Again!

 Mia & Zoe won a visit from Santa through the city of Westminster again.  Lillian, Hannah & Mia changed out of their pretty Christmas dresses to wear pretty Princess dresses almost immediately. 

 But Jak kept his preppy sweater vest on!

 The stampede to the front door when the firetruck pulled up could have knocked me over!

 The men found another way to stay entertained!

 I have this same picture from last Christmas - well maybe not the same picture, a few things have changed!

 But Santa's lure isn't one of them.

 Jak surprised us all and told Santa he wants a dog and a duck puppet that is half dog and half duck.  And a race, race, race car and some more games.  Lillian surprised us all and forgot what she wants entirely!  She must have gotten stage fright.  She just said she wants puppets like her brother, but we know better, don't we?  And so does Santa... 

Amy has some Good Ideas!

On a cold winter day, it sure felt good to escape and enjoy a piece of summer.  Amy and I bravely took 5 kids four and under to the Apex indoor pool.  I think we made the life guards nervous, but thankfully the pool wasn't crowded and our brood stuck together.  It was great!