Christmas Trees

On Saturday, after calling around to a few Christmas tree farms, we decided to take the leap and go for a real Christmas tree this year.  I had to let go of my frugality for the sake of evergreen smells and the experience of going to chop down our own tree.  Kyle also convinced me that it was more "green" and so I guess that's another plus.  The greatest part of our tree hunting adventure was the excitement of the kids and Isabella shouting how "proud" she was of herself for picking out our tree...and the living room smells so great!  We found our tree at Meyer's Christmas tree farm, off of the Paoli exit on Interstate 64.  It was run by some friendly folks and we actually paid about 15 dollars less than similar sized trees at Lowes.  So here are our pictures from that day.  We hopefully started a new family Christmas tradition!  

 Our tree...picked by Isabella!  She found it right away and after lots of searching we came back to this one!  

A cute smile!

Mom and the kids

Kyle sawing with the saw! :)

They gave us the hard sell on the Christmas puppies!  Actually all they had to do was take them out of the cage and we all wanted one...well, maybe not Kyle!

Vin enjoying his hot cocoa

The tree is loaded but the kids aren't.

Hauling it in the house!

A Thankful Turkey day

There was lots to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  We continued the tradition of watching the parade and cooking for our families.  The food was delicious and the kids had a lot of fun spending time with family.  Looking back at the pictures, I wish I'd taken more...but here are the good ones I did get.

Breakfast with an Indian girl

Vincent playing with his birds

Mom reading the newspaper

Great-grandma showing off Vincent's beautiful handmade stocking!

Toby nosing the turkey sandwich, while Isabella is goofy with the camera.

Kyle doing something in the kitchen!

Zachary playing break the wishbone with Vincent

Vincent sleepily enjoying one of Great-Grandma's cupcakes

Icing side up plastered on the bib.  Gotta love those cover-all bibs!

Say free!

Try to get 3 kids to pose for a Christmas card shot and this is the best that we come up with.  So much for everybody looking at the camera picture perfect.  I didn't even notice Isabella had her hands in her mouth in every shot.  I was too busy trying to pin down Vincent for more than 2 seconds. 

This weekend was teacher's appreciation weekend at all of the Louisville Museums.  Since we didn't have every minute of Saturday booked, we decided to cram 3 museums into one day.  I think I was the only tired one at the end of the day.  Originally we were just going to go to the Frazier Museum.  They had a toy story exhibit we had heard about.  The kids loved it, especially Isabella because they had a lot of drawing/art spots to go along with toy story the movie.

Here she is drawing Mr. Potato head.

   Connect 4

A tasty ornament! He has been doing well this week, despite a new back tooth coming in.

playing old fashioned toys at the toy exhibit.

 Next, we walked by the Kentucky Arts and Crafts Museum.  It was a real downer, because they had an art therapy exhibit from Kosair and there were lots of pictures of sick children and art related to kids with cancer.  The other 2 floors of art didn't contain very much at all and it was my least favorite museum.

Finally, we went to 21C which was really cool!  This museum is free, even on non teacher days, and the kids loved it.  Modern art, although sometimes creepy, can be really fun too.

This interactive piece was of falling letters that you could bounce off of your head and arms.  The kids had a blast with this one!

The red penguins.  Isabella looks a bit frightened.

Other stuff this week:

 Isabella shows off her own artistic skills by painting a pilgrim turkey pumpkin.

Vincent has really gotten into books.  I was a bit afraid that he wouldn't like to read because he was always pushing books away.  But now, he sits and "reads" on his own and even talks gibberish as if he is reading!  It's cute.  His absolutely favorite book is "brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?"

He also loves looking at the "Sibley's Guide to Birds"!  Don't ask me why!  He's always pulling it off of the shelf.

Other Vincent facts:
favorite activities - bathtime, dancing, climbing stairs, playing piano, brushing teeth
favorite words - Up, Mommy (directed at everybody), dog,
                         B (translated "I want that")
new words - Thank you, please, cookie, eye (and he points to his eye),
                    belly (and he tickles his own belly)
shoe size - 6.5

Zachary made a comic book and was so excited he wanted me to take his picture with it!

flip

I made this animation at school for my students.  It's a melting ice cube.  I just posted it on here so I wouldn't lose the link.  :)

http://www.benettonplay.com/toys/flipbookdeluxe/player.php?id=302223

Blackacre Fall Festival

Today we went to the Blackacre fall festival.  It's a beautiful nature preserve that is one of my favorite places to take the kids!  We've been there a couple of times on our own, hiking and picnicking, but this time the fall festival was going on.  My favorite part of Blackacre is the animal barn.  They have horses, goats, donkey's and chickens.  The kids can feed and pet the animals and you really feel like you are on the farm and not at a petting zoo.  A lot was going on today.  They had horse and buggy rides, doll making, weaving, wreath-making, pumpkin painting, musicians playing fiddle and banjo, sack and 3-legged races, and (Zach's favorite) hay stack climbing!  The kids were totally worn out when we left.  Isabella and Vincent fell asleep on the way home.   I've heard they have a wonderful Christmas fest and I can't wait to go back!

When we first arrived the kids immediately ran to the horses.  Vincent shouted "Hi Doggy!"..perhaps the first time he put two words together on his own!  Kyle avoided anaphylaxis shock by steering clear of the horses. 

 I can never get 3 kids to look at the camera at once and Vincent hates being pinned down for the camera. Isabella is holding the wreath we made.

On our hike, Vincent wanted to walk on his own.

After the hike they played in the leaves..try to bury the baby.

After the hike we played on haystacks and petted the animals.

This guy wanted a snack!

Climbing to the hay loft...or half way.

 

On the horse and buggy ride.

Vincent checked out the horse behind us!

Playing games after the horse ride!  Zachary and I tied in a sack race.

Stick and Hoop game.

Kyle..down on the farm.

The kids on the swing with my co-workers daughter.

If you want to find out more about Blackacre, you can follow the link here: http://www.blackacreconservancy.org/Content/Public/Default.aspx?cpid=2

Also this week, Zachary made his First Reconciliation.  It was a very nice ceremony at SSM.  It started with a communal examination of conscience, then the 2nd graders individually made their reconciliation.  Afterward, they had a washing of hands ceremony and then we had cake!  I had a little laugh when Zachary told me that he only had time to confess one thing!  I think most people really dislike going to confession...including me, I confess!  It is very uncomfortable, but strangely enough it does make you take ownership of your sins and the act of having to say them aloud to another person is very relieving.  I hope it was a good experience for Zachary.  In the spring he will be celebrating the monumental sacrament, First Communion.