The Accidental Boilermaker

The gang was back together yesterday. We invited the girls over for the day since we hadn’t seen them since school started. Everyone had fun and played nice.   Violet took an awesome nap so I let the big kids play with the Legos.  Today we went to toddler time at sky zone.  Jameson loved it this time. He was jumping and running around not at all hesitant like when we went for his 2nd birthday. 

We had a laid back Christmas at home this year. I made donuts for breakfast and Nate made Chex mix to snack on. We opened presents and watched some tv. There were a few tantrums and some whining too. I don’t know if Evelyn and Jameson were tired from a busy few days or if the excitement of Christmas is hard to manage when you are 2 and 4.  It was nice to have Christmas just the 4 of us but it was also a little strange not to see any family too. The hit present was two mini nerf guns that Santa gave Evelyn and Jameson in their stockings.  New Legos were also very exciting. Jameson waited very patiently for Evelyn to finish building her monster truck so he could play with it.  One of my presents was a bird feeder for the back yard. The birds didn’t find it today but Nate set up the spotting scope just in case. 

We had an early Christmas in Decatur. There were lots of presents.   Jameson really likes to make pillow-blanket mountains.  We left for Decatur late Friday night so we didn’t get in till midnight. And then we drove back Sunday. It was a lot of time in the car for Evelyn and Jameson but they did good. Too bad I made them eat their snack outside the gas station in the cold.  We thought Nate had to work today but then he got the day off late last week. So we were able to go out to lunch and then to the Christmas Eve service at church.   And we got uncle Jeremy to read Evelyn and Jameson Cajun night before Christmas tonight too.

Evelyn’s PreK class presented the nativity every day this week. Monday through Thursday they did it in the coffee shop located in the church. Students took turns being different characters expect for the one boy who always got to be Joseph. They recited Luke 2:8-18 and sang three short songs. Today was family chapel and the PreK students were asked to do their presentation for the whole school.  It was also pajama day. I saw the performance three times and each time it was so much fun to hear them so excited about the birth of baby Jesus. 

My parents came in for the weekend for Evelyn's ballet recital but also so Nate and I could go on a date Friday night.  I surprised Nate with two tickets to see the Fort Wayne Philharmonic perform Handel's Messiah.  It was a wonderful performance.  We went out for dinner beforehand and then went to the concert.  I never really listened to the Messiah until I married Nate but it's one of his favorites to play at Christmas time. Today was Evelyn's ballet recital.  I think overall she has improved compared to last season in that she does better with knowing the different ballet positions and what to do with her arms.  Her whole class did a great job with their recital piece.   Evelyn's ballet 1 class.  There was a total of 7; one was still changing out of her jazz costume and the other girl had stage fright and never ended up performing.  It was also nice to have a boy in the class.

This year for Christmas I asked Nate for two tickets to see the Fort Wayne Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker. I thought it’d be something special for me and Evelyn to do together.  The performance wonderful. I have seen The Nutcracker but never in person.  The music was performed by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic which I thought did an incredible job. It was also just fun to have an opportunity to get dressed up. Evelyn seeemed to enjoy the ballet. She was attentive and always clapped enthusiastically. The theater isn’t very large so any seat is a good seat and we had a perfect view of the stage. During intermission we chatted with the gentleman seated next to Evelyn and he remarked how well behaved she had been during the first act.  The ballet offers a Sugar Plum party after the show so Nate chose to add that to my present.  There were cookies and drinks and then you could meet the dancers. Evelyn had her picture taken with Clara and the Nutcracker ...

We don’t even have an inch of snow but Evelyn and Jameson still had fun running around and making snow angels.

We had a great Thanksgiving in Decatur.  Meredith and Jeremy came up from Louisiana so we took lots of family pictures. The weather was perfect on Thursday.   Evelyn and Jameson were excited to play soccer, frisbee, and hide and seek with Uncle Jeremy (who is probably hiding somewhere in the backyard). Evelyn got to climb a tree with Aunt Meredith and Aunt Katherine. Jameson took a pretend nap on the floor with Aunt Katherine. Evelyn played Outfoxed with Mimi, Uncle Jeremy, and Aunt Katherine. And Jameson narrowly escaped a trip to the urgent care.  He and Evelyn received umbrellas as a gift from my Aunt Martha.  It rained Friday afternoon so Nate took them outside for a walk to use the new umbrellas.  Jameson started running to catch up with Evelyn, tripped, and smacked his head on the pavement.  Thankfully everything seemed to look worse than it actually was.

Evelyn’s school had their thanksgiving feast today. Evelyn’s pilgrim hat was a little big.  Lots of yummy food. Evelyn actually ate her mashed potatoes this time. I ate her turkey and it was pretty good too.  Little pilgrim Jameson. He enjoyed helping Evelyn eat her chocolate cake for dessert. 

It’s opening weekend for the outdoor skating rink. We were downtown yesterday doing some Christmas shopping and drove by the rink just to check it out. Evelyn was so disappointed that we weren’t actually skating so we promised her we’d come today. Jameson had a really good time. He probably did the best he has ever done skating. Sometimes he doesn’t want to bear his own weight on the skates and it makes it really hard to push him around the ice. But not today and even he practiced marching a few times.  Evelyn did her own thing, flying across the ice. She’d fall, get back up and keep going.  The rink was crowded and the ice got carved up quick; I fell twice with Jameson but thankfully both times we were fine. 

We skipped church tonight to attend an owl event at Eagle Marsh. There was an educational presentation and then they brought out a few different owls. There was probably 100 people there which made it hard for Evelyn and Jameson to see the owls.  So we waited in line to get a close up view. There was also a hike to try and find an owl. We missed the main hike while we were waiting in line, so we did a short walk in the dark since Evelyn and Jameson insisted on hiking. Finally we stopped at Panera on the way home to warm up with a hot chocolate. 

Trick-or-treat time!  Evelyn went as Cinderella and Jameson of course as Spider-Man. So Nate was Gus Gus and I was Mary Jane .  We started out real strong, walking and running up to houses.  Jameson tired first. About 45 minutes in he declared he had enough candy and was done trick-or-treating. He happily rode in the wagon for the rest of the time.  Not too long after, Evelyn climbed in the wagon but she would still get out to go up to doors.  We made it back to our house with 30 minutes left of trick-or-treating but only had a few kids come. Our house had a total of 85 trick-or-treaters.