...And November is Gone

The weather has finally turned colder here and the holidays are upon us. Everyone has their hands full, but still each of us helps out where they can.

Emma helps with laundry sometimes.

As long as there's a big pile of leaves to jump in, D and E will help with the raking. Hopefully the photo of the two of them buried in the leaves is big enough to make out. I know that the pictures on this blog won't enlarge, so I hope everyone can see it...it's a good one.

Desmond had his Thanksgiving program at preschool. Mom and Pops both were able to make it to this one. It was very fun. The kids had a short presentation of songs, and showed us some of their learning activities.

D did very well. After the program the kids had an opportunity to show their parents around the classroom and tell them about what they do at school. You can also see that Desmond made us a turkey painting. Super cool. And Desmond's was of the highest quality when compared to the other kid's...clearly the teacher's favorite.

We went to Nebraska for the Thanksgiving holiday. I have disappointingly few photos of our visit. Mostly I didn't think to take many pictures. There would have been several opportunities to take fun ones. The cousins played nonstop...sometimes the play was friendly, sometimes not. Usually the tone changed when Emma's pinching fingers were unleashed. For a time Kayden would flinch if Emma would even come near him for fear of a pinch. The kids got to play the Wii, bowling being the favorite, I think, though Emma did really like Let's Dance. She did very well too...almost beating her mother during "Girls Just Wanna have Fun".

We ate lots of food, and watched lots of movies and football. But mostly we just hung out and visited. When we got back to Wichita we put up the Christmas tree.

D and E were very helpful. Perhaps a little too helpful when it came to unpacking decorations and scattering them around the room. What's Christmas without a little chaos though?

Emma tried on the stockings while Desmond diligently helped his mother hang up ornaments. I seem to remember D being so thorough that there were as many as four ornaments hung on a single branch. Very festive.

This past weekend we visited the Botanica Gardens here in Wichita to see their holiday lights display.

Desmond's clear favorite was the model train.

Santa was there. As a departure from tradition, Emma was the one who gladly sat on Santa's lap and announced what she wanted for Christmas. It was surprising because in the past Desmond has been the one to participate while Emma is apprehensive.

We had a good time. It started to get late and cold, so the fun started to wear thin towards the end of the visit. Both kids fell soundly asleep on the ride home, and that was that.