Catching Up!

Hello!

It has been a good week here at the Carlson house. The kids are back at school, Brandon and I are in our routines with work, and the weather is cold enough to freeze just about anything.

Brandon graciously downloaded pictures off of our cameras and phones, and I realized I have a lot of catching up to do. So, here is a gallery of our November-January. :)

Our holiday season began with a trip to the vet. Buster had gotten himself all cut up while he was let outside to go potty. I let him out and then heard this horrendous yelping. I went out and found him bleeding with rather significant gashes on both sides of his face. We ran to the vet, me panicking and yet trying to comfort sweet Connor, who was convinced that Buster was going to meet the same fate that our yellow lab, Winnie, did (she was put to sleep in March after suffering from gastric torsion...yet another great Chapter in the dismal year of 2008 Carlson saga). Buster stayed the night with the vet and we picked him up the next morning with about 8 new stitches. Since they were so expensive, I thought we should at least document their appearance with a photo:

Brandon and Connor have been taking karate together at a local Dojo here in town. Brandon took lessons before Connor was born and then took a sabbatical for a few years. When Connor expressed an interest in learning the art, Daddy was happy to oblige. The guys recently tested for new belts...Connor receiving a black tip and Brandon moving up another degree with his brown belt. We were so proud of Connor especially as it took lots of courage to get up in front of everyone and demonstrate what he'd learned. Here are some pictures of them on test night:

Connor showing us a part of the kata that he demonstrated for his test:

Kylee, not be left out of the fun, showed us some karate moves of her own (notice the striking similarity of this to her "I'm a rock star" pose in an earlier post):

Then we move to Thanksgiving. Kylee had a party at her school. All the kids dressed as pilgrims and they moved around to different stations...singing, playing games, drawing, and even making muffins and fruit salad. Here's Kylee and Abby at the food station:

When asked what she was most thankful for, our daughter said she was grateful for "flowers".

We celebrated Thanksgiving in Lindsborg with the Carlson family:

Grandma Carlson brought along some fun crafts that the kids had a great time working on. Above is Connor showing off his handiwork with Grandma and Great Grandma.

Kylee and Grandpa Carlson:

And then it was December...

The kids both had Christmas parties at their schools. For Connor's party, I was in charge of the "Dress the snowman" station (similar to pin the tail on the donkey). Here are Connor and several of his friends gathered around the snowman:

Kylee appeared in her first Christmas program. She was dressed as a horse.

She sang and did motions for each of her "Jesus songs" like a true champ. Grandpa and Grandma Lori were on hand to witness the event:

A special smile with Daddy and Mommy:

Kylee's class did a Christmas book exchange after the program. Here's Kylee with her new "Clifford's Christmas" book:

We began our Christmas celebrations by hosting the McKinney/Haneke clan at our house for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Here are the kids with their presents from Santa:

*A warning about Baby Alive...yes, she does ACTUALLY pee and poop. All over your carpet, chairs, wherever...if she doesn't have a diaper on. It is like potty training another child. Not a low-stress gift...it's like your own "Baby Think It Over" that they use in home-ec classes to teach teens the importance of abstinence. Yikes. She LOVES it, though.

One of our Christmas traditions is scratching lottery tickets. This year, I think we won a whopping $32.00, which is a pretty significant haul. ;) Here's Connor helping Uncle Jordan reveal his winnings:

After Santa visited us in Liberty, it was time to pack up and head to North Carolina. We spent a great deal of time waiting in the airport due to weather delays. Here we are hanging out in Atlanta. In this picture you can also see my SUPER COOL National Championship Jayhawks sweatshirt that my husband gave me for Christmas:

When we got to North Carolina, the kids had a great time with Grandma, Grandpa, and the North Carolina Carlsons. They really enjoyed getting to listen to bedtime stories with Drew, Amy, and Beth:

A special moment with Grandma:

We concluded our Christmas celebrations with some time in Baldwin City. Here's Grandpa McKinney with a lapful of Grandkids:

The four cousins:

Finally, we end our gallery of photos with a new experience for our kiddos: bowling. We attended Spencer Chase's birthday party and the kids got to try it out. Kylee wanted nothing to do with it, but after watching a bit, Connor dove in, and actually won the game:

Stay warm and thanks for looking!