Preparing for Christmas

A fun date night mixed with a little Christmas shopping (without the kids!!).

Jameson's first "concert".  During one of my Mops meetings, the kids were brought in and sang Christmas carols to us with a little bit of jingle bell action ;)  Jameson did great!

Checking out some Christmas present ideas at Barnes and Noble.  I love going to this place with the kids when it's a rainy day or slow afternoon at home.  I can get a coffee and the kids love the train set up as well as picking out other toys to look at and books to read.

We finally found time for baking Christmas cookies!

Hugging the mall Christmas tree while we wait to see Santa.

I think Jameson is trying to give Santa a "thumbs-up" as in he's been good this year.  As you can see, J just hadn't mastered it yet.

No fear of Santa for Jameson, just a full on hug!  When Santa asked Jameson what he most wanted for Christmas, Jameson replied "Chocolate coins!".  I'm still not sure where that wish came from, but hopefully they are this easy every year...hehe.  Dear sweet Ava isn't pictured because we are holding her.  She was very afraid of Santa and being that we visited Santa in our new mall atrium where there is quite the echo, we decided to hold her back.

The Christmas tree lot near our house - not our original plan, but we got a tree and that was the most important thing.  We planned to cut one down in the mountains, which we've done once before, but with all the housing "stuff" we just didn't have the time to get away and make it happen.  Next year!

Watching the tree's truck get trimmed.  Jameson loved the chain saw.  I'm pretty sure we overpaid for the tree, but at this point in the season (pretty much last minute) we were at the whim of the tree lot.

Decorating our Christmas tree in the house for the final time.  Jameson is putting on Dad's first baby ornament - a silver rattle.

A Christmas craft with Jameson.  They are both his trees (with a little help from me - he'd tell me where he wanted something and I'd help with the smallest pieces or with the glue, etc.).  He did the one on the right side first and then after learning that he could put them anywhere on the page, he spread them everywhere.

Merry Christmas Eve!!!  We went to mass this special night and followed it up with a Christmas Eve fondue dinner with friends.

December Visit from Grandma Lou-Lou and Papa

Grandma Lou-Lou and Papa came to visit and it happened to be timed with more of our house showings.  The trip was already scheduled before we ever even knew our house was going to go up for sale.  It turned out to be very helpful - keeping the kids out of the house for long periods of time can be exhausting!  We took day trips and with four adults it was far more do-able!  Here is a picture of Papa reading to Jameson at a bookstore in Old Town. 

A day trip up to Estes Park.  We just hung around town, no hiking this time but we still had fun with the outdoors - making and throwing snowballs.

The snowfall up there was so pretty.  On the ride back home, Rob spotted a big horn sheep crossing the road while we all slept soundly in the back of the car.

A night with Papa's homemade pizza.  This time he experimented with our go-to gluten-free pizza crust - and he liked it!!

Jameson got to learn some secrets of the trade.  Now, will he be able to remember them?

A relaxing morning with coffee, a "new" wooden train set (they brought Uncle Tyler's old Brio set) and some movie time with The Polar Express.

One morning when we had to be out of the house and it was around Ava's nap time, Rob and I took her for a long ride and Papa and Grandma Lou-Lou took Jameson to Cool Beans - a playhouse coffee shop.  They had a lot of fun playing and jumping.  Before sitting down to eat, Jameson apparently went up to Grandma and said "All the jumping's made me hungry!" 

Out for breakfast in Old Town - yum!

An excited Jameson as he waits for his pancakes to arrive.

The last full day of their visit was our second open house.  My parents took the kids to Ryan's, our local Packer bar, for the start of the game while Rob and I met with our Realtor to discuss an offer that we countered and they accepted - hooray!!!  We were able to join up for the end of the game and hear about how much Ava loves french fries (though she has to be the one to pick them and only wants the long ones) and how much Jameson loves the video arcade games - wait, what?!?!

For the next Packers game, Rob and I returned to Ryan's and we sent this pic to my parents entitled "Your influences...LOL :)".  Jameson also learned a little something about what makes the world go 'round: standing in front of the pinball machine, he told Rob "It needs money, do you have any money?" And at the claw machine "No, that needs money, too".

1:1 time with Jameson

This past fall marked Jameson's first official swimming lessons.  With having the neighborhood pool across the street and my own history of being a swim instructor, etc., I really didn't feel a need for lessons.  Even with these, it was more about getting that 1:1 time and doing something really fun that we both enjoy!  Not to mention some added swim hours in the off-season ;)  Don't want to lose that forward progress from our summer swimming.

Loving a little stop on our way out to run errands.  One of our favorite coffee/bagel shops, Gibbs, close to our old house.

A date baking chocolate chip cookies while Ava napped.  I love using food as a means of teaching!  It's a win in all ways!

Jingle Bell Run (December 5, 2015)

Ava and I ventured over to CSU's campus for the annual Jingle Bell 5k to support Arthritis research.

She was a great running companion - pretty quiet and relaxed the whole time.

Rob and Jameson headed into Old Town to meet up with us post-race for a yummy brunch at the Silver Grill Cafe.  This is Jameson and Ava watching the kitchen at work.  Why didn't they join us at the race?  Well, this weekend was the first weekend that our house went on the market for sale.  Rob was trying to rush through last minute preparations in order to leave the house ready for some late morning showings and our first open house.