Holly Jolly Christmas, Kate edition

Here's her version of the bridge:

"Oh Ho, the mistletoe, hanging secretly. Somebody catches you; you'll get kissed you see!"

Hutchinson Christmas

The closest we got to a white Christmas this year was our trip to Hutch. There was a small remnant of snow on the ground, which Sam immediately made plans to play with. Good luck with that.

The whole Brown family descended upon scenic Hutch for family Christmas this year. I thought it was such a treat to attend and not host, even if we did have to do a bit of driving to pull it off. We got showered with way too many gifts, as usual, but it sure was fun. Sam got a spy video watch and Harry Potter wii game and blu ray. Stu got Star Wars and gift cards. Kate received her big gift from Nanny (it didn't make the trip to KC as planned), her very own American Girl doll! What a hit! Mom and Dad gave her some clothes to go with it, so Kaylee changes clothes each morning.

We went and shopped with Phil and Molly in downtown Hutch, and ate at their favorite, Lone Star. After they left for MN, we went to Wichita and split off... Sam and Stu went to Exploration Place and Kate and I went with Mamaw and Papaw to see the Muppets and shop for jeans for Kate, who took an unexpected like to them this week. (The Muppets is such a huge hit around our house, even 6 weeks after initally seeing it. The reviewing kicked off a new frenzy of "Mahna Mahna" and "Man or Muppet" that cannot be stopped. Love it!)
We had a great time just hanging out a a family, watching movies, playing games, ping ponging, and of course, working on the trains. We may have to look into a ping pong table for the new house!

Leaving was hard, but as Kate told me, "Sometimes you have to do things that you don't want to do, even if they are hard. But at least we can visit!"

As Philip and I agree, the trains are much more interesting when one gets to actually touch them.

Sam at Exploration Place. Not the only time he was in time out this vacation...

Hanging downstairs.

Jack

Before we left for KC, we got our very own Elf on the Shelf. The kids named him Jack. For those few who are my privy to the Elf-lore, I will summarize: Santa has scout elfin who live with kids during the Christmas season and return nightly to the North Pole to report. He moves to a different spot each night, but he cannot be touched, or else he'll lose his magic.

Since we were spending Christmas away from home, the kids left Jack a very nice note explaining that we were going to Grandma's house and asking him to meet us there. And he did! When we arrived, Jack was waiting in Grandma's TV room. The kids were very excited, and it was all the better when Santa made it to us on Christmas Eve.

Santa brought a lot of toys the kids had asked for, so Jack must have given a good report. Sam got his Beyblade stuff and Kate got Barbie stuff. And he even brought treats for Stu and I too!

The kids are looking forward to seeing Jack again next season. He left us a note explaining that he'd be back after we set up the Christmas tree. Sam has already requested setting it up early next year.

Nanny Christmas

We went to great lengths this season to balance out the gift giving with Nanny and all of the great-grandchildren after some chaos ensued last year. So, at our appointed time on Christmas Day, Mom and Dad and our family all went and had lunch with Nanny and then back to her place for presents. We get all settled in to give Kate her BIG surprise, when oops. It wasn't there. See, I had ordered the present online and shipped it to Mom, who ordered a few things to go with it and would wrap and deliver for Christmas with Nanny. Only, the present was mislabeled, so instead of Kate's American Girl Doll, it was a present for Phylis. Oh, the tears. The agony. I'm not sure who was more disappointed-- Kate, who was really into the present-getting thing this year, or Nanny, who had the idea to give Kate the doll in the first place. Sam took the high road and offered to wait to open his present from Nanny (a very cool Lego set he wanted) when Kate did.

So, Nanny opened her presents, and the kids bucked up enough to get through the afternoon. We gave Nanny an early copy of this year's blog book (minus December) to entertain her through the year. Sam was particularly good about talking to Nanny and answering her questions. We left about 3 to go to the movies, and Molly and Philip were in town in time to go with us. We finished up Christmas day with Chinese food (again, very Christmas Story-esque. Love it.). Kate was concerned for days about being a Chinese dog or rat or whatever she was.

Of all the things back home that I miss, being so close to Nanny is definitely one of the hardest. I enjoyed solving her phone issues, running to the store for her, and helping her around the apartment. I'm planning to try to call even more this year than I had before, and may take my friend up on her offer to Skype with her.

It was another wonderful Christmas. We are so blessed!

Christmas Morning

We had a terrific Christmas this year, even though it certainly marked a first for us. This was the first time we didn't have the kids in our own home for Christmas morning. Fortunately, Jack did a great job and let Santa know just where to find us, so we awoke to a living room full of surprises on Christmas morning. The kids were great about coming to wake us up first, and then patiently (or not so, in Kate's case) waiting for us to get up and around for the festivities. Grandma and Grandpa were prepared with all of the things we needed to open boxes and power up new toys. Grandma Mary made the breakfast casserole we always have, and Janet supplied us with enough cinnamon rolls for all 6 of us. We are so blessed!


We're just so excited! (Isn't that a beautiful Christmas tree??!)



Tangled Sing and Glow doll for Kate

Unwrapping mania!

Whoever came up with the boxing strategies for Barbies should be shot.

Wearing our new jacket (for me) while playing wiht the Beyblade we are really interested in

Christmas and a baby on the side

We had a new feature attraction for our entertainment at Matthews Christmas this year: Baby Tucker! Tucker, our great nephew?, is 7 months and a crawling nice guy. Aside from the usual food and gift opening, we basically just watched Tucker pull himself around. It was a great time.

We were all greatly blessed by family and gifting. Sam's surprise hit was a hexbug hive. The best way I can explain it is that there are these little rubber vibrating cubes that move around the hive based upon the layout that Sam configures. Kate liked her books and new red sweater too. The kids made these trains at Lowe's that we gave both Grandpa Matthews and Papaw, so that was a special treat.

Tucker on the move!

The Hive had many fans

Christmas Eve

Had another great Christmas Eve with the Whortons and Wilkersons. They did all the work this year and we just showed up and mooched off of them. It was so nice to just sit and be with them. Luke and Lindsay were both in town and they watched Elf with Sam and Kate. I'm not sure they are really equipped for wrestling with the kids all night, despite their big city lifestyles and fancy degrees, but we had a great time watching. Lindsay and her bossy friend Kate organized a rousing game of Celebrities, during which we learned about obscure public figures and watched our budding actor and actress at work.

And Christmas Eve isn't the same without a birthday cake (ice cream). Kate blew out the candles early, so we had to go through a couple of rounds to get everyone together. Happy birthday Jesus!

I wish this were a better picture, but the faces were too cute to leave out!

Pre Christmas

With this being our first holiday away from home, we're trying to adapt to the craziness of remote present-giving. I bought a lot online and shipped it directly to grandma's, but we had a few things that just didn't make sense to ship, namely an Easy Bake Oven that I couldn't find online and bought here locally. So, we did a Matthews Pre-Christmas and opened several things early. It was strange not having all the presents on one morning-- the typical Christmas Story-esque consumer orgy-- but it was so much easier to have some things that didn't require shipping. We opened on Saturday night, so the kids would have a day to enjoy before we took off for the Midwest. In retrospect, I do miss the family time for Christmas, but I'm not sure how we'll really adjust to that in the future. Maybe more gifts in Henderson? Maybe traveling home before or after the holiday? Who knows. I'm open to suggestions.

The kids used some of their own  money to buy gifts for each other this year, and they seemed to really appreciate it. A good tradition to start.

Video Games R Us

It's an Easy Bake Oven!

It's so hot in Vegas that Sam can't even wear his shirt inside!! (No, it's all that sweaty Lego building...)

Easy Bake red velvet cupcakes. They are Barbie-sized-- can you see them on the plate? Hilarious.

Christmas Party

Though I did attend 3 Christmas, I mean holiday, events at school Friday, the most highly-anticipated event of the day was Stuart's Christmas party, and I do mean Christmas. Santa's helpers were there in full force, and Stu was happy to be included with the squadron regulars, which in this case meant hazing via an elf hat and fake pointy ears. We said no to the ears (we=me), but he wore the hat with pride.

I know, this doesn't really qualify as a cute kid story, but it makes the daily news anyway. Here's a rare picture of Stuart and I for the blog...

My fabulous student

We had our first parent/teacher conference today at the new school. We're overwhelmingly impressed with the school-- I keep thinking, and even said once, "No, we were at a really good school. Really. I don't know why there weren't any tests." But are they overwhelmingly impressed with Sam?

Of course!

Sam, who is making straight As (brag brag brag), also made the academic and citizenship honor rolls. He was so proud and wants to frame the certificates. Sure, why not? The only thing she mentioned was that he tends to rush through work sometimes and has some issues talking to neighbors because, as she said, he's "highly social. You know that, right?" Those issues are so shocking! The couple of times he's had trouble for talking at school I always think, "at least he's making friends!" You can see what we value here...

Anyway, we're really proud of him!

Go Sam!

Ice Cream Dancing

All it takes is an ice cream (or frozen yogurt) store and some tunes, and my kids are up dancing. Sam always used to dance at Custard's Last Stand in Lee's Summit when he was but a wee child. Last night, Kate was dancing to Christmas music instead of eating her yogurt. I guess exercise is better than calories, right?

The Lion King

We took the kids to see the musical The Lion King tonight at Mandalay Bay. It's ending a 3 year run there this month, and we got a great deal on the seats (yea, locals!). We saw it at the Music Hall in KC about 3 years ago, but Kate was too small to go. When I asked him afterwards, Sam admitted he remembers going, but had forgotten most of the show.

Naturally, Kate wanted to dress up and wore her Christmas dress. Sam complained about having to dress up and settled for jeans and a collared shirt. Where have I gone wrong??! (on a side note, today for church he chose dress pants and a sweater vest, so I guess it's all dependent on the day.)

We made a night of it with dinner and the late show. The kids were captivated and really enjoyed it. I was worried Kate would be scared in parts, but during one such scene at the end (good guys prevail!), I looked over and she was giving a big thumbs up.

Snow!

Yes, that's right. Today in the hills of Las Vegas we woke up to snow! We had this crazy windy storm overnight, but I didn't hear rain this morning. Storms not being the torrents of rain we're accustomed to in the Midwest, that's typical. But when I pulled apart the blinds, snow! Very fine, crazy, swirling snow. It lasted about 30 minutes off and on, and covered our backyard, the cars out front, and the mountains behind us. It was beautiful, but minimally intrusive. The kids were singing "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!" all morning. We were late getting Kate to school because of the school traffic, but what a joyful morning.

Our new home

I just realized there are no pictures of the new house on the blog! Oops!

Here it is!

Stu and the kids on the first visit to the house.

Obviously this is during Mamaw and Papaw's visit in October

Sassy

Kate was kind of in a mood yesterday. I think she was tired, but of course, she insists that she was not. When sitting at the dinner table to a meal of homemade turkey pot pie, she was refusing to eat the vegetables she didn't like. (She's starting sort of a picky eater phase, and I don't like it at all! She's always been my good veggie and fruit eater up until now.) I told her she needed to eat them with the bread and turkey and she'd be just fine. I was talking to her about how it was important to eat the veggies, etc, and she blurted out:

"I just don't like the carrots! Stop judging me!"

Wow, already persecuted at the ripe age of 5.

Our First Thanksgiving

Today marked the first Thanksgiving that I can ever remember spending apart from some form of extended family, either mine or Stuart's. That's remarkable, really. In 35 years, I can never remember spending it apart. I can remember wanting to be elsewhere, or counting the hours until I could meet up with friends. When I really think about it, though, thanksgiving was special because it was a day I spent with my family. I remember a year when my grandparents didn't come home from Arizona and how mad I was that they chose staying over being with us (me).

It was hard this morning, and at times later, thinking of family gathered around the table, or looking at pictures of my great nephew crawling around the floor.

In reality, the first thanksgiving was likely much like ours was today. The pilgrims, settling in a new land, getting to know new friends over a big meal of new and favorite food. And it was a really good day. Our day today was really good too, and honestly I'm probably more thankful for what have been given, and the things I miss and took for granted, than I ever was before.

Happy new Thanksgiving!

Kate's big girl room

We spent the weekend making Kate's room model-home-like. Stuart worked late Saturday night finishing it up. She loves it! We still need some wall hangings, etc, but you'll get the idea.



This is the en suite bathroom...



Kate's reaction to the finished product

Our own little drama queen!

Thanksgiving

Kate and I have had some intense discussion this week about Thanksgiving. Here are my favorites:

First, we were talking about how we aren't going home this year for Thanksgiving. "But MOM!", she said, "Grandma makes that special kind of chicken that I like!" I assured her that I too could make turkey, but she wasn't buying it.

Second, I was driving Kate to school when she started talking to me about God:

"Mom, you know when God used to be alive?" she asked. I didn't, but it was early and I thought it best just to play along with a undecided "uh huh."

"Well, when God used to be alive, these people wanted to kill him and so they put him in a room with a big circle thing on it and they crushed him with it and he died. But then, someone moved the circle and he lived again! So, Thanksgiving is when we celebrate that God died, but on Easter, it's for when he was alive again."

To translate for you kid-speak novices, Kate was thinking of that picture in most Bible storybooks with the stone that was rolled in front of the grave and then rolled away by the angel. Somehow, she's turned that into some sort of crushing.

"That's pretty close Kate. Actually, at Easter is when we remember Jesus dying and rising again, so you definitely got that right. But Thanksgiving, it really doesn't have anything to do with God exactly. It's a celebration of when America was founded and being thankful, to God, for the things He provided."

"Oh."

Indeed.

Earth to Dad

So we're sitting at Red Robin waiting for dinner, and the kids are working on a word search. Apparently there was a break in the action, because Kate waves her hand in front of Stu's face and says, "Earth to Dad!!"

It was hilarious.

Visitors!

We were so excited to have out first visitors this weekend! Mom and Dad came to visit for the long weekend. They had never been to Vegas, so the pressure was on to show them an extra good time. We tried!
Friday was Kate's birthday, but other than cookie cake, we really didn't celebrate until Saturday night, when we headed to Margaritaville (the pirate restaurant) and had dinner. Kate got a special birthday balloon and visit from one of the girls on stilts. They offered Dad a hat too, but he passed. Instead, we got him an official Tshirt. We went to the Bellagio and saw the Conservatory and also the fountain show. It was Halloween weekend, of course, so it amped up the freaky people watching a bit.
The rest of the weekend we just enjoyed family time. We shopped, went to church, carved pumpkins and made cookies.

It was hard to see them go, but we had a great time!

The ad on the baggage claim reads: "HINT: You aren't in Kansas anymore. Welcome to Vegas!"

Mom and Dad above the Strip.

Love this picture in the Bellagio Conservatory!

Bored in Las Vegas (Henderson, actually)

Halloween

What a day! I remember when I was a good parent, maybe a new parent, and I documented each holiday with fervor. Today, I didn't even take my good camera out trick or treating. Yikes.

Kate had a party at her new school and wore a cheerleader costume. She looked supercute. Mom and Dad were here still, so they got to see some of her classmates and her new school.

I didn't make either Halloween party today, but we sent homemade cookies for Kate's, so I should get some points for that.

We went out trick or treating with some friends, and the kids got tons of candy. I thought about weighing it for posterity, but really, why document such a waste! More than half will be thrown away anyhow.

They came home and were almost more enthusiastic about giving out candy than getting it, if that's possible. Sam even saw a few kids he knew from school, so that was good too.

I'll attach a couple of the pictures I do have. Bad mom.

Skyping with Grandma

Look at our haul!

Kate's birthday

What? Kate had a birthday?

She did!

First she had a Chuck E. Cheese party with her new Las Vegas friends. We invited 9 kids, plus mine, and ALL of them showed up! I don't think I've ever had that happen before. Now, some of those were siblings, but clearly Kate is much loved by our new friends. Sam had a couple of buddies there too, so everyone had a great time. She chose a Barbie theme.

Then, Mamaw and Papaw showed up for their first visit, just in time for Kate's birthday. We picked them up LATE Thursday night, and honestly Kate was grouchy for the next 2 days (including her birthday). Oh well. Lesson learned. We got a cookie cake for home celebration and singing on the night of her birthday, but her real wish was to go to Margaritaville, which we affectionately refer to either as the Pirate Restaurant or the Volcano Restaurant. We just knew Papaw would LOVE the pirate restaurant! (Actually, the best thing about this visit to Margaritaville was finding out about the locals discount card for future visits! Go locals!) She loves the restaurant

Thank you to all who remembered Kate's birthday from afar. We had so many gifts sent from friends and family back home, and it was a great treat for Kate to see what came through the mail.

Who cares about the writing??? Here are the pics!

The Birthday Girl with Leilani

Dancing with Chuck E Cheese was a big source of excitement.
This is Bailey (from new preschool), Kate, and Jaeden (old preschool)

Montana and her mom Anna take games seriously!

Kate and Jaeden. I'm not sure what they're doing.

Opening presents!

Barbie birthday cake! (The boys especially loved the Barbie theme!)

Present opening could not wait for clothes, or for Dad to get home. (We held back a few gifts for him to witness, but it was hard to wait!)

A lamp from Uncle Lysle and Aunt Carolyn (no, they didn't ship it from Independence!) It's for her new room!

Grandma and Granddad sent the Barbie hair salon, complete with a working (questionable term) sink and markers for hair coloring. It took some real work, but we managed to get it up and running. It was a big favorite of Kate's. FYI, Moms love this type of gift. Really. Fun.

This is the October 28 birthday cake.  

Dance lessons, aka my deal with the devil

I had signed Kate up for a little dance class through parks and rec. I'd heard great things about their programs, and they do offer a lot for kids. Unfortunately, a half hour before we were to leave for the class, they called and cancelled! She was the only one in the class. Kate was upset, and I decided to just march on down to the dance studio down the street and see what I could find out. Long story short, we're signed up for a combo ballet/tap class. On Tuesdays. So we ran to walmart, bought a leotard, bought shoes at the studio, and made the 4:15 lesson. She loved it. Of course she did. She said it was "the best dance class she'd ever been to!" I asked if even better than gymnastics? Yep, even better. She has decided that she needs a dance bag for her shoes. I mentioned that she could use one of her old backpacks. Incredulous, she looked at me and said: "MOM! Those are BABY bags. And they don't even have dancers on them! It needs to have dancers."

Cosmic bouncing

Kate was invited to another birthday party (she's the party girl) at an indoor inflatable place. It was really pretty cool-- the most professionally organized of all the random party places we've been to here, and trust me, we've seen a lot. I tried a video in the dark of her sliding... here it is.

Party girl

Kate had yet another birthday invite this week. When I told her about it, she was bragging to her brother about all of her parties. "I'm the QUEEN of Vegas parties!"

Yep, that pretty much sums up my concerns about Vegas parenting...

My son, the author

Today Sam's class had an Author's Tea. It was an opportunity for parents to come see what they'd been doing in their daily writing time. 6 kids were chosen to read their story to the class and Samuel (his school name!) was one of them. He spoke loudly and clearly and used great humor and inflection when reading. Stuart and I were so proud!

His story was about our long drive from Missouri to Las Vegas. It was very funny and rather food-centric. My boy likes continental breakfast!

Stuart arranged to be there, which Sam was super excited about. I was okay too.

It is great to see him doing so well in class. We are blessed.

Showing dad his classroom

Sam at his desk

Speaking in front of the class