Christmas in Waunakee & Church School Christmas Programs

 Last weekend we traveled up to Waunakee to do some celebrating. We celebrated Christmas, Uncle Tyler's birthday and most importantly the arrival of baby Cashin.  Everyone knows in the Kies/Knowles household you can't have a celebration without cake!! So we traveled with a Hawkeye cake in the back of Sienna.  This was my first 'out of class' cake and I was really happy with how it turned out AND, most importantly, it was surprisingly efficient to make.  

  

 The flowers on the sides are a tad gaudy, I will admit, but they served two purposes…using up frosting in our fridge as well as more frosting to eat!! We love our frosting in the Kies/Knowles family. 

 Friday evening we joined the Knowles family and Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jean on the Polar Express train to the North pole. I got the kids new matching Elf on the Shelf PJs for the event.  We all had a great time!! 

Grandpa Jim, Uncle Tyler with Reid on his lap, Carter and Aunt Brooke with Cashin on her lap…right across the aisle from us. 

 Maddox waiting for the conductor of the train to punch her golden ticket. 

 Kennon with a little bit of a hot chocolate smile. The ride included 'hot hot hot' chocolate and cookies…just like in the movie.  ( it wasn't really hot…just the perfect temp for little mouths! ) 

 Maddox and her train shaped sugar cookie….

 The kids anxiously waiting to see the North Pole out their windows…. Kennon, Maddox, Carter…

 And there he is!!  If you look to the left of Maddox's head you can see Santa. There was a real live Santa in a 'set up' North pole along with a sled, reindeer and some elves!!  The kids kept their faces glued to the window to see the sights for quite a long time.  

 On our way back from the North Pole Santa arrived in our train car. He posed for pictures with all the families and gave each child a silver bell…..just like in the movie. This Santa was rather friendly and motioned to Aunt Brooke to scoop Cashin up so he could get his own solo picture!!  I think Santa has done this a time or two…It looks like Cashin is smiling.  How sweet! 

 Our family with Santa and his elf. 

 Saturday afternoon we celebrated Christmas at Tyler and Brooke's house.  The kids posed quite nicely for this picture!!  

 ….got Cashin in this one…you can see he was severely concerned about being included in the photo….!! But his mama was looking out for him :) 

 Maddox and Reid reading books with Grandma Jean and Grandpa Jim…a favorite pastime.  

 Maddox was so happy to finally meet Cashin.  To her…he's like one of her baby dolls…but REAL!!  She snuggled with him multiple times over the weekend.  

 Birthday cake time!! Happy birthday Uncle Tyler and Cashin. 

 Both Kennon and Maddox had their Christmas programs at church school this week.  They both did soooo well…  both kids were super animated singing the songs with big smiles and doing all the actions. This is Kennon's post program smile…so proud of himself! 

 After the program in the sanctuary, they have a birthday party for Baby Jesus complete with brownies and milk….!! You can see Kennon decided to wear some of the party goodies home :) 

 Kennon, Brecken, and Grace!! His two friends are in the 2 year old class, about a year or so younger than Kennon.  These 3 kiddos have been kind of growing up together through playgroups and neighborhood activities since they were infants!!  They all look so old here….man how time flies. 

 Daddy always takes time out of his busy schedule to make it over for both the kids' programs.  They are always at 10:00am…not the most convenient time for a working dad but he makes it :)  The kids are always happy to see him out in the audience. 

Mrs. Lindauer and Kennon.  Mrs. Lindauer is one of two of Kennon's teachers.  We are really happy with Mrs. Lindauer. She keeps us abreast of Kennon's behavior and what educational activities they are working on in the classroom.  Both Mrs. Lindauer and Mrs. Powell commented to us after the program that Kennon is such a sweet boy.  As a parent it is always nice to get that positive feedback about your kids.  Especially since KTK had a bit of a rough couple of weeks back in October and was being kind of naughty in class….a parent's worst nightmare..!! So we are happy to hear those positive comments.

 Maddox after her program…with HER proud smile!!  She was so cute during her program. I was beaming from ear to ear watching her perform. She is our little singer/actress. In fact Kennon's class came in to watch the big 4 year olds perform their program. Mrs. Lindauer and Kennon's classmates sat right behind Eric and I during Maddox's program. Even Mrs. Lindauer commented that 'Maddox needs to be in show biz!!' as she was super into being on stage. A great gift from God…we'll see where it leads.

 Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jean got the kids nice soccer nets and cones for Christmas.  We took them over to The Planning Center and they were put to good use yesterday.  Maddox worked on her soccer ball dribbling…and Kennon and I took turns scoring goals in the new nets.   Then Kennon came up with the brilliant idea of roller coaster bowling with the cones!!  Both kids took turns running into the cones.

Look closely and you'll see two sticks of butter in Maddox's arm pits!  Aunt Brooke got me Ina Garten's new cookbook for Christmas last week and Maddox and I have already been putting it to good use. We made her oatmeal chocolate-cherry cookies yesterday…so yummy!! The recipe called for 'room temperature' butter and eggs ( which most all baking recipes do..it helps everything combine together much better) but I didn't get them set out in time so Maddox decided to warm the butter herself :)  We are making chocolate cake tonight and goat cheese mashed potatoes and are following her recipe for a big roasted turkey for our holiday dinner on Thursday.  So love to cook. Ina has taken a slight front seat to my other favorite chef, Giada. Thanks Aunt Brooke for the great book. Merry Christmas everyone. 

O' Christmas Tree

 Last Saturday we took advantage of the rather warm sunny temperatures and headed out to get our Christmas tree. We tried a tree farm that we had never been to called Mumma's. It is owned by an old couple who has been running it for 60 years. All 5 of their grown children were there helping to shake, wrap, cashier and carry trees to patron's cars.  The farm was really well taken care of with beautiful frazier fir trees and spruce trees. We learned, as I was chatting with one of the sons, this is likely going to be their last season and the farm is probably going to be for sale. Eric and I are actually considering buying it…!! More to come on that at a later date.  We are really happy with the tree and the kids had a fun time decorating it with all our ornaments. 

 Sunday we went to the Family museum and attended their Winterfest. The highlight of the afternoon, after snacks, crafts, and games was meeting Santa. He was a really silly Santa and kept teasing Kennon, as you'll see in the pictures.  Maddox asked for a bigger bike and Kennon asked for a bike without training wheels!!!???  Lucky for Maddox we DO have a new big bike for her…as for Kennon well…he has a bike that has training wheels but he has been defiantly refusing to allow us to take them off. I think Eric will just take them off before we go over to his office to ride on Christmas day and poof that will be the end of the training wheels. We KNOW he can ride without the training wheels, his balance is amazing and he has mastered pedaling. It'll be so cool to see them both tearing about The Planning Center basement Christmas day.. 

 Santa had a fan on him….I think it makes Maddox look like a model…blowing her hair!!!  

I had to throw this picture in for Grandpa Jim and Uncle Tyler and some of the Kies family. We got some of our Christmas decorations out Friday night before we actually got our tree on Saturday.  Kennon quickly grabbed a long piece of garland and started 'fishing' with it over our balcony!! How priceless is that??  He'd yell out as Eric and I were decorating…'Dad I got a big one!!'  all enthusiastically.  So cute! He eventually talked his sister into fishing with him and found her a nice 'pole' to caste too!!  They both do enjoy fishing although KTK a tad more…probably a boy thing. So thankful they've been able to fish with Grandpa Jim as well as Uncle Jim and Uncle Bryan, Eric's brothers down in Keokuk in Uncle Jim and Aunt Lora's pond.  A great pastime.

I took Maddox for her 5 year check up a few weeks ago. I forgot to post that she was in the 98th percentile for height!!! Neither of our kiddos have ever been in that high of a percentile!!  She does appear tall compared to her classmates. She is in the 48th for weight.  She still naps during the afternoon and is our 'sleeper' unlike her little brother. She loves her big girl full sized bed and most mornings we have to wake her about 7:15 to get ready for school. She is starting to read and is getting very proficient at sounding out words. We do need to work further on sight words to make things easier for her.  She is really growing up and her behavior is paralleling the aging as well…less tantrums and more understanding of the word NO!! We do have a rather simple sticker chart going for both the kids to encourage following directions the FIRST time and having a kind and loving heart with all activities/interactions. It really seems to be working, although there was a learning curve the first week :).  Morning chores and cleaning up are also on the chart.  The kids are very interested and soaking up the Bible stories surrounding the birth of Jesus. We have a daily Christmas devotional that is kid driven but reads certain verses from the Bible to help them become more familiar with the details leading up to and after the birth of our Lord and Savior.  We are so blessed as a family and are trying to drive home the idea of gratitude although sometimes not an easy task at this time of year.  But Eric and I keep persevering. We have picked several 'angels' from trees about the community to buy a present for someone in need. I know Maddox is getting it…we still have some work to do with Kennon…but he is only 3 1/2.  Have a great rest of your week!! 

Thanksgiving, Beautiful Ballerina, Holidays at The Planning Center

 I attended my last Monday night of cake class last Monday ( before Thanksgiving) and this was my fourth and final creation.  A triple layer white and chocolate cake with twinkie cream and chocolate butter cream filling.  I had a ball doing the class and hope to be able to continue to work on my skills. I still haven't perfected my butter cream frosting recipe and certainly have more learning to do but for now I'm happy with my skills. Thanks to Carolyn Maddox and Eric for pushing me out of my comfort zone to take the class!! 

 Last week we had our first official snow.  The kids were super excited to help me clean off the driveway. They literally worked their hearts out till it was mostly clean.  The snow froze to solid ice before we had a chance to get out there the day that it actually snowed so it took a hoe to break it all up.  We switched off every now and then, two of us with shovels and the other with the hoe.  Kennon kept saying to Maddox and I 'keep working…keep working..' It was so cute. The goal was to get the driveway cleared off for Daddy!  They were good little helpers. 

 Kennon posing with his 'new' but old PJs from my hand me down friend Katie.  He loves these with the snowmen and they are a super warm fleece.  He's holding a Wii remote. The kids are emphatic about the Wii and play almost everyday in some capacity!! Both kids' coordination has improved drastically since we started with it this summer. It's actually pretty fun to watch…and a perfect energy burner now that it is cold outside.

 Maddox and Kennon helped me make crock pot applesauce last week. We took it to Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jean's house for Thanksgiving. It was super easy, relatively healthy and REALLY GOOD!!  

 So this is what you do with left over frosting when you run out of cake. My class is now over which means I'm not actually baking currently but I still have stock piles of frosting left in the fridge from all my projects of varying colors.  It lasts a long time as long as you have a lid on it and it stays cold. We happened to have some graham crackers!!  Maddox requested three colors for this particular cracker.  Luckily she has forgotten it's in the fridge now and hasn't requested any lately….her teeth are thanking her!! 

 Kennon and Maddox in our whirlpool tub!!  We don't do this often so it is a very special treat.  We thought the night before Thanksgiving was perfect for this activity! 

 We traveled over to Grandpa Jim and Grandma Jean's house on Thanksgiving day for a big feast.  Great Grandma Reta, Aunt Veta, Uncle Mark and cousins Jaci and Alex were there to join us.  We had a great time…. the kids were well behaved and there was lots of great food…including BOTH turkey and ham!! Way to go Grandpa Jim. Grandpa Jim showed Maddox and Kennon how to break the wishbone the morning following the big celebration.  Kennon got the long end!! Thank you to Grandma Jean and Grandpa Jim for hosting AND for keeping the kids overnight for an extra night to get Eric and I a kiddo free night. 

 This year we will have two Christmas trees in our house. We have Eric's mom's artificial tree which we put up last Sunday in the basement. The kids had a blast decorating it once Eric and I finally got the lights all functioning….  This is the first artificial tree I've encountered. It has the lights already attached to the branches, which is new to me.  You have to have all the plugs hooked up just right and in the right sequence to get all the branches lit….I"m sure you can infer that after what seemed like forever, and probably WAS in kid time, we gave up and just added our own string or two of lights to make the lighting look relatively even. I"m pretty sure we'll spend less time this weekend stringing up the lights on our real tree!!  :)  HAH!!  I thought those artificial pre-lit trees were supposed to be 'easy'!! But, we are sure happy to have a little of Eric's mom's spirit celebrating with us in the holidays.  

 Aunt Kelly sent the kids each a Christmas advent calendar. They get to pull open the tab each day and find a little piece of chocolate behind the door. So fun!! You can see the excitement in Maddox's eyes below.  You can also see she has on a dress.  Eric and I purchased a Sonos sound system for the living room this past weekend. We are having dance parties NIGHTLY now which require Maddox, or so she thinks, to have on a dress!!  It is super fun.  We are thankful to Uncle Tyler who helped us sift through speaker technology and recommended this device.  It is fabulous!!! Thank you!

So Maddox is really loving her Wednesday afternoon ballet class at the museum.  We, as parents, only get to peek at her work one time per month for only 10 minutes at the end of a specified class.  Yesterday was PEEK day.  I was so happy with her improvement from October's peek class.  She has perfected her gallop and her skip and is more appropriately alternating use of her legs, which has always been a challenge for her. I absolutely think the videos are adorable ( especially the little girl to the right of Maddox with the pigtails in the second video).  I am really proud of her and you can see in the videos she is really loving it with smiles and looks of appreciation on her face.  She is getting a high FIVE after one of her routines from her little brother who is always happy to sit and watch his big sis dance up the floor. She has her recital in May and her class' routine is Winnie the Pooh. She will have a consume that resembles a bee!!  How cute. 

 Tonight was The Planning Center's annual holiday client open house.  We get all dressed up and head over for food, fun, and hanging with the other Planning Center kiddos.  I get to chat with some of Eric's clients…..and run after the kids. Most of you know The Planning Center is big and there are lots of nooks and crannies for the kids to run in and out of.  

 All The Planning Center kids managed to sit still for a few seconds while I shot a quick photo.  Maddox used to be the oldest of them all but the daughter of the primary owner of The Planning Center started dating and is now engaged to and having a baby with a nice fella who has two older children. Maddox is just a year or so younger than Madison so they play well together. From the left Mason 2,  Michael 8, Madison 6, Maddox, Christopher 4, Lily 3, Kennon….phew. We are only missing Graham who is Lily's 1 year old little brother and was home in bed.  So cute!! The all had a ball running, racing, and riding all the toys in the basement while the adults/clients hung out upstairs. 

 You'd think that we all decided on what the kids were going to wear but we didn't!!!  They all totally matched.  

 Happy happy happy kids. 

Happy Holidays everyone.