Love short school weeks. It is sleepover time!
Goodbye to the Elmo Chair
Today was the end of an era and yet another reminder that the kids are growing up. Today, I took the Elmo chair to Goodwill for donation. We bought that chair for Laura when she wasn’t even a year old. She, and then John, loved that chair. It got many, many hours of use and was the kids’ family room “recliner.” While cleaning out the kids’ room this past weekend, I decided it was time for the Elmo chair to be donated. It had been doing nothing but holding Laura’s Lalaloopsy dolls for the past two years. When I dropped it off at Goodwill, the woman who took the donation was excited to see it. She said, “I wonder if they will let me tag it and buy that. That would be a great Christmas present for my daughter!” I hope that they do let her buy it and that her daughter gets many hours of enjoyment just like our kids did.
Thank you Elmo for lots of sleeps, pictures, and fun. Here is to hoping you land in someone else’s family who will love you as much as Laura and John did!
Holiday Parade
Yes, folks, we have reached that point. Both kids walked in the 2015 Holiday Parade with different organizations. Laura walked with her Girl Scout Troop and John walked with his Cub Scout Pack. It was divide and conquer – Andy with John and me with Laura. To make things a little easier on the Cub Scout Pack, friends of ours lent us their trailer so that the Cub Scout Pack could both ride and walk. Boys need to be corralled sometimes…
Laura’s Girl Scout Troop made a float out of a wagon. It was very cute!
Walking with the girls was a bit like herding cats – okay, so a LOT like herding cats – but it was still a fun afternoon! Can it really be nearly the Christmas season?!?
New Artwork
Our new artwork is framed and hung! These Japanese-inspired works of art were created by Laura. She painted this one during a EEE art class. I remember seeing it for the first time and thinking, “I have to get this framed.”
Then, she painted this one during art class at Ridgeway Elementary. When I saw this one for the first time, I thought, “Now, I have to get this one framed, too!” Laura really wanted to hang this one in her room, but *I* want people to see it.
Not many parents can say that they have custom-framed art work made by an eight-year old. When we picked these up from Michael’s yesterday, a University of Missouri art professor happened to be getting something framed. She heard me ask Laura if she was ready to see her artwork. The professor was curious because not many people pay for custom framing for artwork made by a child Laura’s age. She asked to see them and, after seeing the paintings, she spent the next ten minutes talking to Laura about art. Before we left, she said, “Your daughter has talent. Real talent. Feed and encourage that.” Then, she turned to Laura and said, “I would pay a lot of money for those paintings.” Laura was beaming as we left Michael’s. Simply amazing.
Family Photos!
We received our yearly family photos from Tamara Dee Photography today! These were taken at Nifong Park on a beautiful, if windy, day. These are some of my favorites.
All of us (Let’s hope this is not shades of things to come with the kids “behind bars”!)
The kids #1
The kids #2
Laura
John
This is what happens when the kids are shaking their butts and dancing around behind Tamara while she is taking pictures…
And my favorite of the entire session – a beautiful photo of Daddy and his daughter
Now, to make Christmas cards and try to decide which photos to order for our hallway frames…
Raingutter Regata
It was Raingutter Regata time for John’s Cub Scout Pack! John and his team worked very hard on their boat with John even bringing the sail home to finish it.
Like the Pinewood Derby, the two teams race against each other in a series of races to determine the winning team. It was an exciting time and John’s team finished second overall. Way to go boys!
Fours
Laura received all fours for her work in her latest EEE (gifted program) major class, Boneheads. She has received some fours before, but never all fours. Great job kiddo! We are proud of you for working so hard!
