Christmas Preparations

As most families are this time of year, we are busy getting ready for Christmas, but enjoying the process with Joy A LOT! Her favorite Christmas things, so far, include:
1. watching two Christmas videos, Frosty the Snowman and The Crippled Lamb (nativity story)
2. listening to her Christmas CD with Jingle Bells, Frosty the Snowman, and Baby Jesus songs
3. singing 'Happy Birthday Jesus'
4. going to Christmas light display at local park
5. eating candy canes

Here are some pictures to highlight our Christmas activities so far...

Joy made her first batch of Christmas cookies.

Joy loved hiking out in the rain to get our Christmas tree. We met this very friendly reindeer at the tree farm.

Train display at Olbrich Gardens.

Decorating the Christmas tree (above) and house (below).

Our little golfer

Joy loves to play golf these days. You will see some serious concentration and good basic golf skills in the pictures below. Dada is really proud. But, I think we may have to move the golf clubs outside pretty soon because she can really hit them far and in the air. I also think it is so cute to hear her call the 3 clubs she has by name: putter, wedge, and driver.

Night Swinging & Sliding

Hi everyone. We are grieving the loss of our outdoor playtime before and after dinner these days. Joy asked to go outside while she was eating on Monday night. I started giving her our usual response, "It's too dark to play outside". Then Danny chimed in quietly & respectfully, asking for my approval, "you know..." My response, "if you want to continue allowing this idea past tonight, it is up to you". To his credit, they had a blast. Here is what resulted...