Christmas!

Here we are on Christmas day. Marc's daughter Jackie drove up from New Mexico to spend the week with us. It was great having all the kids here together on Christmas.

We asked everyone to "go easy" on gifts this year but, with three kids, it still seemed like a TON of stuff. Here's Fletch with his new Ice Age pj's from Aunt Lisa. She picked out the most perfect gifts for each of the kids. We could have stopped opening gifts right there and they would have been completely satisfied!


I love this look on Macy's face when she sees that it's a Barbie! (Another home run from Aunt Lisa!)


It was a long day with no naps, but the kids were real troopers. They opened a few gifts, then we sent them off to play while the grown ups opened some too.

And here's the whole family...

Sledding

Just when we thought it would be a brown Christmas we got a few inches of snow. Here's Fletcher sledding the day before Christmas. His great grandma sent these little sleds for each of the kids for Christmas.

Christmas programs

I've realized that I'm posting all of these photos out of order, but I just keep finding more to share!

Macy's class did a holiday program at school a few weeks ago. It was rainbow themed and about how all of us are different and that's what makes us all special. I thought it was a really nice show - fun songs, little skits, etc. - and a good alternative to the Christmas theme, which they're not allowed to do in school anymore I guess.


Here's Macy with her BFF Emma who is just the cutest. Emma narrated the whole play. She's an amazing reader already! Whenever Macy and Emma see each other it goes something like "MAAACYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!" "EMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!" and they run to each other with arms outstretched.


And here's the fam at Fletcher's little program. It was a potluck dinner with all 5 of the preschool classrooms. It was a zoo! Then the kids sang a few songs. Marc took some video which I have yet to download, but here's a cute photo from the night...

Happy Hanukkah

Well the kids are learning about all sorts of different holidays these days. Marc's family is Jewish, so we celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas in our house. At such a young age, I think the kids just like getting gifts for 8 days in a row, but we do try to teach them about the basics in the process.

Here are the kids lighting the first "candle" and opening gifts on the first night of Hanukkah.

Adventures in the Big City!

Each year the hotels in Denver participate in Mile High Holidays where they offer rooms for $52.80 per night. Last year we took advantage of this right before Christmas and took Fletch to see Zoo Lights at the Denver Zoo, then we stayed downtown. He had SO much fun and pleaded to go again this year. We thought it would be a nice tradition to start, so we went for it!

We went downtown early on Saturday afternoon and walked all around. The kids loved being in the city, riding the bus and just taking in all of the huge buildings and masses of people.



We had pizza at Mario's Two Fisted Pizza - one of our faves - then headed over to the zoo to see Zoo Lights. Of course we can't go there without riding the carousel.


We had a late dinner in the hotel. The kids were awesome and loved staying up "really late". Back in our room we had some hot cocoa...


...then settled in for the night. How sweet are they!? This photo reminds me of our "Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed" book.

The next day we went to the Museum of Nature & Science. Macy enjoyed playing the piano in the children's area.


Felix did puzzles, of course, that's his favorite thing to do these days.


We also got to see Sea Monsters in the Imax theater there. Macy was a bit frightened, but the both both loved it. Fletch is "very interesting in dinosaurs" as he tells me. I don't think he knew or realized that there were dinosaurs in the ocean. After the movie Felix was reenacting everything and telling me "AAAAARRRRRR, dinosaur EAT YOU!" So darn cute.

Stay tuned for more photos...I have a lot of catching up to do!

Felix the cat

Felix's thyroid seems to be improving with the medication he's been on. His T4 is now at 11.3 (up from 1.45) and his TSH is at 8.03 (down from 18.36). I actually have ZERO idea what that means, but the doctor seemed pleased. We increased this thryroid meds slightly and will test him yet again (because the last blood draw was such a pleasure!) in 2 weeks.

Although the last doctor was sure that this would be a life-long condition, our current doctor was very positive that he could outgrow this after as little as a year of being in the US and getting proper nutrition.

And just for kicks... I had to post this photo. These are a pair of the pants that we brought to Ethiopia with us at the end of April. We had to roll them up at the time. Think he's grown a little???


He looks like he's about to go wading in a creek. Thank goodness Christmas is coming up. I hope Santa brings him some new pants!

(Note to self: Must moisturize your son and clean the bottom of your fridge more often!)

Home Depot Day

On Saturday we stopped at Home Depot to pick up a night light, but found that they were doing one of their kids' workshops.

Macy girl can really swing a hammer. She did a great job.


(Excuse Macy's crazy hair. Like I said, I wasn't planning on a photo op. But, um, obviously never leave the house without my camera.)


At home we painted our wagons red and yellow. (Note to self: oil-based paints and kids are not a good combination!)


Wearing Daddy's painting shirt...


I've always seen the signs at H.D. advertising the kids events, but never took the time to bring Fletcher to one. I'm glad we happened to run into this one. It was a great {FREE} activity to do with the kids.

And on the way out, the hot dog cart man gave all the kids free hot dogs because he is an adoptive parent as well. I could see Marc thinking "Score! These kids are really paying off!" Hahahaha!

The Puzzler

I bought this 24 piece puzzle for the kids at the thrift store earlier this week. Felix took it out yesterday while I was getting Macy & Fletcher ready for school. The next thing I knew he was putting in the last piece!


He also likes this big iSpy puzzle. And being a little OCD myself, I love how he puts the outside together first.


Now I'm not bragging or anything but............He is SO SMART! ;)