5 years, 2 months & 2 years, 11 months

Holy cow! We almost forgot monthly pictures! Dad was reading us bedtime books and it suddenly dawned on him that it was the 29th. We hurriedly took a few photos and then we cobbled together a list of quick questions.

Mom and Dad continue to be concerned about both of us growing up too fast. John seems to get taller by the day lately. As for me, I asked to go to bed at 7:00 last night. Winter break is tiring! I need my sleep!

Grandpa Rick and Grandma Candy were in Conifer at Jeff and Jill's this past week and Grandma Linda arrives on Sunday for a week. We are all having a ton of fun on break. Now we just need a snow storm so we can have some outside winter fun!

The questions:

Favorite Christmas present?

Tess: I cannot choose. Actually, all of them!

John: Trucks! (he received about 20 of them ranging from large garbage trucks to farm equipment to matchbox sized ones)

Who is your favorite superhero?

John: Alejo (friend at school)

Tess: Superman

What friends or teachers from school do you miss the most during Christmas break?

Tess: Abby and Maddie

John: Fredrick, Maria, and Amy (Maria and Amy are the teachers)

What's your favorite holiday dessert?

John: Cake (for the record, we have not had this recently)

Tess: Fudge

Favorite Christmas-related activity?

John: Going to church

Tess: Going to Jeff and Jill's the day after Christmas

Favorite movie watched during break?

John: Star Wars - Empire Strikes Back

Tess: Daniel Tiger (not a movie, but it was bedtime so we had to wrap things up)

Pageant preview

A shepherd chatting with Joseph while Mary smiles nicely.

Mary and Joseph sharing a laugh.

Tradition

Hockey

Mom got us free tickets to watch the Colorado Avalanche last weekend. It was amazing. We got the VIP treatment and went down to the ice before warm-ups. And then we got to watch the teams warm up while sitting in the penalty box!

One of the players (Landeskog for you locals) thought he would have some fun and flipped a puck right at the plexiglass in front of my face. Mom and Dad laughed. I cried. The player circled around expecting to see me laughing and he felt really bad when he saw me crying. So he flipped a puck over the glass for Dad to catch. That cheered me up.

When Dad asked about our favorite thing at the game, I said the blimps that flew around the arena between periods and the parachutes with prizes that they dropped from the rafters. To absolutely no one's surprise, John said the Zamboni.  

Along with Mom's friend from work and her family.

Penalty box.

Better than the zoo

The background: Dad and I took John shoe shopping on Saturday. It took us the whole morning. To celebrate, Dad took us to McDonald's for lunch. While looking out the window at McDonald's, Dad noticed some wildlife outside the Colorado BLM building across the street. We had to check it out...

Navigator

Whenever John is in charge of picking directions over on campus it's guaranteed that he'll lead us to the maintenance equipment area...

Tools

Uncle Jeff recommended the free monthly kid building sessions at Home Depot a few months ago, but it took us a while to try it for ourselves. We all loved it and are looking forward to going back next month!

We had to let the paint dry so stickers went on once we got home...

Basketball

We know you've seen a version of this shot before, but Dad wanted to document the fact that after watching the women's game on Saturday, I asked to stay for the men's game. That's a lot of basketball!

There may have been some popcorn bribing involved.

Ballet

We made our fourth annual trip to The Nutcracker last week. It was too dark to take decent pictures, but John was so excited to wear a button-down shirt that we had to document the occasion.

He hardly moved on Dad's lap during the first half and even pretended to play some instruments along with the real orchestra (violins and drums).

Snuggling

Tiger

One more from the zoo. This tiger allowed Dad to get super close before it started to growl at him!

Polar bears

From a trip to the zoo last week...

Lego help

Christmas, 1984. Jeff receives a new Lego set from Santa. Immediately asks Andy to assemble it so he can play with it. 

Last weekend: Big sister works on assembling Lego set. Little brother takes over with the playing.

5 years, 1 month & 2 years, 10 months

We took photos this morning, but Dad was busy all day. So here we finally have them!

John and I insisted on doing pictures on the porch dressed up as Super Girl and Super Boy. Keillor didn't need to dress up because he is always Super Pup.

A few updates from this month:

Grandpa Rick came to visit over our Thanksgiving break! We had a fun-filled five days with him - up to Conifer for Thanksgiving, the Zoo, City Park playground, Badger game on TV, Regis basketball and lots of goofing around at home. He even came to my physical therapy appointment on Monday morning!

Swim lessons continue. John is definitely ready for the older kids class (he needs to wait until he's three, though). I am getting way more comfortable with dunking my head and face.

Even though it's still very mild here in Denver, we're trying to get into the Christmas spirit. Our tree went up this evening with both John and I helping to decorate. Scrooge was strongly encouraged (or maybe forced) into putting lights up outside. It was worth the effort when he saw John jumping up and down with excitement when they were turned on. Tomorrow night is our annual trip to the Colorado Ballet's performance of The Nutcracker!

Question time!

For Tess:

1. Who would win in a fight between a Badger and a Buckeye? Buckeye. [editor's note: That was painful to type]

2. Describe yourself using only one word. Happy.

3. If you could build anything in the backyard, what would it be? A playhouse.

4. What do you like best about your brother? Playing with him!

5. What do you think your first job will be? Working!

6. If you were 100 feet tall, what would you do? Ummm...build...ummm...build a...no, no! I would step onto the roof.

7. What was your favorite Thanksgiving food? Turkey.

8. Would you rather have tentacles for arms or legs? Arms.

For John:

1. What is your favorite book? Go Dog Go (editor's note: This has been consistent for months!)

2. Who is your best friend? Alejo.

3. What is your favorite breakfast food? Oranges.

4. Regis Rangers, Colorado Buffaloes, or Wisconsin Badgers? Buffaloes.

5. What is your favorite TV show? Dinosaur Train.

6. What activity do you love to do at school? Something about "guys, cement, and a table." None of the rest of us know what he was talking about.

7. Who is your favorite teacher? Maria.

8. Why are you excited to go to the Primary classroom in January? Food and Alejo.

9. Would you rather have tentacles for arms or legs? My legs!

Video Tuesday

Catching up on a few videos from Dad's phone over the last week or so...

Our first video solves a long-standing mystery. The mystery of how the lights get hung on the giant White Fir on campus.

Having fun at my birthday party last weekend:

Enjoying the Badger game:

Boundary

Little brother was having some trouble coloring on his side of the paper. Big sister had the solution.

Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving!

Birthday party

Sunday was my official kid birthday party. We had 15 or 20 friends over to a place that featured a ton of indoor playground equipment. It was amazing!

Testing things out before folks arrive.

Friday

School was closed last Friday so it was just me and Dad for the day! The day started with my 5-year checkup. Dr. Coogan says I'm healthy and to keep up the great work. After the doctor we went out for lunch and then to the science museum.

Vision test! Both eyes are 20/20.

Dinosaur exhibit.

IMAX show in 3D.
I jumped when there was a snake coming right at the audience!

Thanksgiving lunch

Parents were invited to school last week for our Thanksgiving lunch! It was also my first time having hot lunch at school!