Minus Two Front Teeth

Owen had his top two front teeth pulled yesterday (by choice--he was ready for them to come out). He told us he looks like a vampire now.

Visitor

Uncle Quint came up to visit for a couple of days this week. The boys leached onto him the whole time making him play games every waking moment--Old Maid, Zingo, Hyperbash. . . We did make it to the KSU game--really big crowd for a Christmas break game.

Engaged

Owen and I got to meet my great friend Amy and her fiance, David for lunch in Topeka yesterday. They got engaged over Thanksgiving and are busy planning their July wedding. It was great to catch up and talk about fun wedding plans. So happy that I get to be a part of it!

By the way--we had a great time in Atwood over Christmas. In my hurried packing, I remembered everything EXCEPT my camera battery which was charging. Michelle couldn't find her camera for most of the trip, so we all ended up using Rosie's. I guess we are dependent on her sending us some pics!

Princess and the Frog

Grandma Rosie, Grandpa Mike, and Aunt Emily were here this past weekend. While Adam and I shopped for Christmas, Grandma and Auntie Em took the kids to "Princess and the Frog." They all said it was good, although I'm not sure how focused Miles was. Rosie had to tell him that the movie theater only allowed two bathroom breaks :)

More Christmas Goods

My only Christmas baking this year were these oreo cookie-turned sucker treats. I found the idea somewhere--should have paid more attention so I could give them credit.

We adopted 9 and 10 year old boys this year. The kids had fun helping me shop for "big boy" stuff. It was rewarding to (hopefully) be able to make some other kids have as great of a Christmas as mine will.

Early Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with my family on December 13. We were fortunate that everyone was able to come and spend the day together. Thanks for the gifts and for being willing to celebrate early. It was a great day.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Meet Elliot

I've been hearing about "Elf on the Shelf" and decided it would be good for the kids. So far they really like him. Elliot leaves each night to correspond with Santa regarding Owen and Miles' behavior (also Edie and Newman) and shows up the next morning in a new location. The kids wake up and hunt him down. (Yes, he's a little creepy)

In the book that comes with him it says that no one should touch Elliot or he could lose his magic. Owen takes it all very seriously and constantly reminds Miles that Elliot is watching; Miles is catching on, although he still really wants to touch Elliot.

Sledding

We tried out Cico (not the main area--we thought our kids were still a little small for that) for sledding yesterday afternoon. The kids had a GREAT time!

Enjoying some hot chocolate afterwards (I think Adam is training him to become a coffee junkie like himself).
Here we come!
My eskimos!
Lots of kids were out enjoying the snow day. It's refreshing to see kids outside having fun without having to spend a lot of money on entertainment. (I'm pretty sure there were some adults out there too :)

Shopping!

"Family Picture" before hitting the town. Fun times in KC with the Papio crew.

The Artist

Since he's been in school (real school, at least), Owen has loved to draw, color, and write stuff down. He can spend hours recreating things I print off the Internet for him--typically this is NFL or college logos.

This fall he was excited to win the KSU Homecoming Coloring Contest for his class. He even received a T-shirt--which he proceeded to come home and draw the logo on the front.
And on Sunday he asked me to write down the 50 states so he could rewrite them on his own. He settled for a list from the Internet, and an hour later we had this. Probably not what his teacher was expecting him to make for her :)