Holiday Happenings

Good Afternoon! My husband informed me the other day that it's time for a new blog post, so here goes!

Things have been crazy here at the Carlson house. We hosted the Haneke (my Mom's family) Thanksgiving here at our house last month. Grandpa and Craig came and stayed for a few nights, and we ate and watched lots and lots of college football. It was rough to see KU lose to MU, but now I'm just looking forward to the bowl games. :) Here's Grandpa and Connor preparing the Thanksgiving capon:

Cool Cousins, ready to go out and play:

Brandon has been busy with end of the year business at work, and has been spending some extra alone time with the kiddos due to the fact that I started a new job in November. I am working for Minute Clinics, which are the clinics located inside CVS stores. The clinics are completely Nurse Practitioner run, and we are able to treat minor health issues (strep throat, bronchitis, sinusitis, etc) and also offer immunizations, including flu shots. I have been orienting over the last few weeks and will be out working on my own beginning in February. I accepted this job because they offer a Casual Part Time position, which means I will only be required to work one weekend a month. So, Brandon can be home to watch the kids and I will get to stay clinically active and use my certification! They are saying my home base will be the new CVS opening on Armour and Swift in North Kansas City. It is terrifying and wonderful all at the same time to be back in the game.

Here's a pic of Connor and his accessories. Just so you can fully appreciate it, I'll tell you a little about what went into this. This outfit is comprised of a pajama top, his football pants from his Halloween costume, his Batman hat and gloves, Kylee's sunglasses, and, last but not least, his soccer ankle guards (in this case, worn on his wrists). Connor topped this ensemble off with our garage door opener clipped to his waistband:

Cowgirl Kylee "riding" Winnie the horse, er, I mean, dog. The kids INSIST that this hat is a cowboy hat, so don't try to convince us otherwise:

Connor and Kylee are so excited for Christmas. They ask almost daily if they can open their presents, and Connor loves to tell people that he is having 4 Christmases (this is one of the few perks of coming from a family that has been affected by divorce). They are doing a fairly good job of understanding that we are celebrating Jesus' birthday, and have really enjoyed doing the advent calendar on a nightly basis.

We celebrated Christmas at Connor's preschool today. He sang and did the motions for several songs, all while clad in shepherd garb. It was pretty cute (I swear when we dropped him off at school he had his shirt tucked in and his sweater zipped).

We baked a birthday cake for Jesus to take for snack time at school, and as we prepared it, Connor became disraught when he realized that in Jesus' time, they didn't have ovens, so "HOW on EARTH did Jesus get a birthday cake then?" I love 5 year olds!

Here's a shot of Connor and his teachers, Ms. Tara and Ms. Joyce, and one of his good friends, Paige. We hear that Connor and Paige are quite an item at school, always sitting by each other. Ms. Tara remarked that she might be concerned if they were a little bit older. :)

Speaking of true love, we celebrated our 8th anniversary on December 18th. Dad and Lori watched the kids for us so we could have a kid-free night, and it was wonderful. It is amazing to look back on the last eight years and see all the ways in which we have been so richly blessed.

Happy Holidays to you and yours.