The Zoo and Kid Leashes...

Ever been to the zoo or the mall and seen someone with their toddler on a leash?  It always makes me laugh, and at times (when my child runs off) I think "That person has it all figured out!"

Not that I would actually subject my children to something like this, but sometimes it has been seriously tempting!  This last summer at the zoo out in Utah I saw a whole bunch of children on monkey leashes.  Gracen is not fond of holding my hand, or staying in a stroller, or staying by me.  Whenever I grab his hand, he turns into a limp noodle, flops on the floor, and won't move!  A leash sounded pretty good that day!

Back when Brynlee was small, just after we moved to Des Moines, some of our family traveled out to visit us.  We ventured up to Minneapolis to the Mall of America.  I remember really wanting one of those leashes for Brynlee.  Can't remember why I wanted it, but any time I see one it reminds me of that day!

Anyway, this past Friday we ventured out to the Cleveland zoo with a few friends.  First stop was the aquatics and primates building.  We walked in and I parked the stroller and let the kids out.  Most of the time they were good, but there were a few times that Brynlee went one way and Gracen ran off the other (at least they were contained to the building!)  I would track down Brynlee and then have to chase after Gracen.  My thoughts wandered to those parents who were "smart" at the zoo and had their kids on a leash.

We had a great time.  Got to see the animals more active than I have ever seen them at the zoo.  The fire alarm went off in the aquatics and primates building and the apes and some kind of monkey went nuts!  So much better than seeing them sleeping!  We also got to see some snow leopards growling at each other, the lions, polar bears, and bears up and moving around.  The best part was getting out of the house in good weather with awesome friends!

I don't think I ever will buy a leash for my children, but is it bad that at times the thought actually crosses my mind???

SLEDDING

This winter hasn't been too bad.  We really haven't seen near as cold temperatures we had last year and havn't had too much snow! 

{Knock on wood!} 

For Christmas, Grandma and Grandpa Thompson got this for Brynlee and Gracen...

...unfortunately we didn't have any snow for them to test it out on.

About a week or two ago, Nate got done early :)  That always makes me happy!!  He came home and said we should take the kids to a park in Milan to go sledding!  (We had snow at this point)  Once they woke up we headed out.  It was so much fun!  There was a good variety of hills, they weren't huge, but just right for the little munchkins!

We are those mean kind of parents who put our kids on the sled against their will, while they are screaming and saying they don't want to.  We make them try it at least once anyway!  Both of them LOVED it!  Brynlee screamed the whole way down her first time and was giggling by the end!  

Trying to get back up the hill!

Gracen's favorite thing to do is pull the sled!

They also enjoyed sliding down the hill on their snowpants!

Me and Brynlee going down!  

I love the look on her face in this picture!  I can't remember if she was excited or screaming because we were making her get on it!  

We found a little hill and sent both kids down by themselves.  Brynlee went down a lot, they both loved it!

It was so nice to have some snow, good weather, and a day off early to go out and spend some time together!

~Celebrating Christmas~

{Playing Catch-up...Again!}

The thing I love most about the Holidays is that there is so much all at once!  We start with Halloween, move right into Thanksgiving, and before you know it, it's Christmas.  Each year seems to be busier than the last, and this year was no exception!  To keep things simple...lots of pictures with small explanations...

We started our celebrations by putting up the Christmas tree!

He was a great helper, it was hard to keep up with him!

At times, it was a challenge to keep little fingers off the tree!  He loved helping decorate, and seeing the lights on the trees!  We have a timer so the tree just turns on and off on its own, and Gracen would get so excited every night when the tree would light up!

Brynlee loved being able to put decorations on by herself!  She ran straight for her own ornaments and it was hard to keep her out of them while we were getting everything ready.

She thought it was funny that she could see herself in the ornaments!

Our Family Tradition!

Every Christmas, we have made ornaments or some sort of decoration together.  Brynlee was really excited about making her own.  We headed to the store and everyone picked out what they wanted, then we got to work.

Gracen was more interested in painting the table cover!

2 Cute little snowflakes.

Nate's anchor.  He wanted to make an anchor to represent our time spent in Sandusky.  I had a hard time picturing an anchor as a Christmas tree ornament, but he made it look great!

I made a little snowman to sit on our shelf.

Gingerbread Houses!

We decorated houses with our friends Owen and Leanne.  The kids just got their own plate of candy, frosting and a house and went to town.  Gracen ate while he randomly stuck every piece of candy that didn't end up in his mouth on the roof of his house, and Brynlee actually tried to make it cute with little patterns!  It was fun and all they wanted to do was eat more candy!

Gracen's house, Brynlee's house, and Owen's house.

Lights, and Santa!

We made a trip downtown to see Santa and the lights.  Here the kids are waiting by the door to go in.  While we were waiting, Nate thought it would be funny to tell Gracen that when Mrs. Claus opened the door for us, he was suppose to say "trick or treat."  Well Gracen took that pretty seriously.  He LOVED Halloween.  I don't think Mrs. Claus heard him, but when she opened he was sure to say it.  He wanted a treat!

He was the first to sit on Santa' lap.  I had to pick him up and put him there, but he didn't really have a problem with it.  When Santa asked what he wanted for Christmas, he said, "A punkin!"  Santa was quite surprised by that request.  Right up until Christmas morning, if you were to ask Gracen what he wanted for Christmas he would say, "A punkin!"

Then it was Brynlee's turn, it usually takes a lot more work to get her on Santa's lap, but not this year.  She asked him for a barbie salon.  He asked what else she wanted and she told him that was all.  He seemed a bit surprised by that too!

After seeing Santa we moved on to see the lights.  Just outside of Santa's house sat this lovely little Christmas hippo, we couldn't help but stop for a picture!

Just a small sample of the lights!  I don't know if we were just really spoiled by how awesome the lights were done other places or what, but we were pretty amused by the way the lights were set up.  Our favorite was the bottom picture with the lights going up the trunk of the tree and out one branch!

Christmas Morning!

We stayed home for Christmas this year.  As much as we miss spending the holiday's with our family back home, it was so nice to spend the day enjoying time together!  Brynlee and Gracen didn't wake up until about 8 a.m.  They were excited to see that Santa came to visit!  We opened our Santa and family presents, got some breakfast and spent a lot of time talking with our families on the phone or on the webcam!  I love technology!  We seperated out the gifts from Grandma and Grandpa Thompson and Grandma and Grandpa Woolsey and got on the webcam so they could see the kids open the gifts they got for them!  

Brynlee grabbed the 2 things that Santa left unwrapped to show them off!

Gracen really got into opening his gifts!  It was fun to watch them both get so excited about each thing they opened!

Brynlee got her barbie salon!

Gracen sporting his very cool bike helmet!  He didn't even worry about taking the tags off!  Santa didn't bring him a "punkin" but he was okay with that cause he left some candy!

Playing the wii!  He wore this helmet around a lot that day!

We had a wonderful Christmas!  There is something about having the little ones that makes it so special!