And a happy new year

Here's hoping your 2-0 2-0 is as awesome as ours is going to be. 

Christmas 2019

We got up the tree in time for the big day

Then Christmas came and blew us away

There were presents everywhere for both of us

And grandmoms nearby to make such a fuss

Hope you all had as great a holiday as we did.

The waiting is the hardest part

Maybe if I stare really hard I can make Christmas get here already...

Peabody and Jonathan

It's hard to tell who is playing with who here, but I think we're both gonna be exhausted in a little bit. 

Yeah, it's definitely time for a nap right now. 

Crazy time

I'm sure there was a game that we were playing that could explain this, but I really can't remember any of the rules.

Teaching Henry about playtime

Our neighbor Baby Henry (who isn't really a baby anymore, but anyway) came over for us to babysit this weekend, so we showed him a bunch of our toys and taught him how to root for the Eagles. His mom is a Packers fan, but they wear some green too, so I'm sure it's OK.

Santa's visit to school

Jonathan and I both got a chance to visit with Santa last week as part of our annual Christmas bazaar -- I got a picture with my friend Riley because we wanted to say hi to him together. 

Jonathan is getting a little big for Santa's lap, but he was still happy to give him a high five. I promised we'd leave some cookies out on Christmas, but honestly I'm not sure this guy needs to eat more sweets.

Kindergarten Christmas play 2019

You've never seen a true actress bring to life the role of an apple onstage until you've seen me.

This week was our big Christmas play, where each of us played roles of different items trying to go on top of the Christmas tree. We sang a lot of songs:

And we did a little dancing too, even while sitting down: 

And then came time for my starring role: 

Next year I hope we do Frozen. I think I'd make a perfect Elsa. 

Sleepover

I think Aunt Beth and Uncle Tom will be fine sleeping on the couch tonight. 

Soon, my pretties

Enjoy your frolicking while you can, gummy bears. Your destiny awaits in my belly. 

Christmas tree decoration

The stockings were hung on the wall with great care

Because they really couldn't fit anywhere.

But the ornaments were nestled all snug in the tree

Because that's where all these crazy knick-knacks should be. 

Movie rehearsal

Over Thanksgiving, a bunch of us started to write a new movie that is sure to be a blockbuster. Here's our first public read through.

Sure, it needs a little polish, and also several more acts, but I'd invest now if you want to get in on a real hit.

Story time with Jonathan

He doesn't know as many words as Mom and Dad, but he's still a really good story teller. 

Leaf gymnastics

Our somersaults need some work, but at least it's a soft landing spot. 

So many holiday specials

Maybe if we stay up all night, we can watch every single Christmas special before Christmas Eve gets here.

Turkey hunt

For cub scouts this week, we practiced our turkey hunting skills with nerf guns. I'll be honest, if we're in charge of getting dinner this year, we might just be eating potatoes. 

Holiday wrappings

There's getting dressed up for holiday dinners, and then there is crushing it when it comes to style. We're in the second group. 

Fourth-grade thanksgiving play

We had our fourth-grade Thanksgiving play this week, and I got to be an arbitrator trying to make a deal to get the turkeys back for Thanksgiving. It meant I got to dress up like Dad. 

Here's the opening song: 

And here's my big scene:



We pretty much crushed it, as you can see. It was a ton of fun.

Fun with static

You know, if I got a haircut, this wouldn't be as dramatic. 

Homework time

I understand why Jonathan has to finish his reading essay, but why do I have to start working on your taxes? 

Slide surprise

There's always a way to make the playground more fun. 

Swarming grandmom

I mean, if she's just sitting there, she must want us all to come over and use her lap. 

Ollie party

Ain't no party like an Ollie birthday party because and Ollie birthday party has laser guns.

Also, there are post-laser tag princess dance parties. 

Seriously, though, Lexi and I pretty much are Disney princesses.

Fall camouflage

It's comfier in those leaves than you think. 

Halloween 2019

Say hello to Rapunzel and ... Indiana Jones? Snake charmer? Boy with a snake problem who doesn't seem to notice? Whatever, be both looked awesome. 

Jonathan and I hit the town with some of the other local superheroes and bagged a ton of candy. Remind me again why we don't do this every weekend? 

Magic nails

It's kinda like nail polish, but I can also use it to play board games or pretend that my fingers turned to stone. Wins all around, really. 

Piano lessons

Well, at least we learned appropriate music for Halloween ...

Central Park dance

Doesn't matter where you are, you just can't keep the dancing in.

New York, day 2

Our hotel in New York was pretty fun too -- we were on the 40th floor, so we got a pretty good view of everything around Times Square. 

But even cooler was the rooftop view the hotel had. It's 54 floors up, higher than that New Years Eve ball. 

If you look close, you can see Freedom Tower in the background. I've never been this far up before outside of an airplane. It was pretty awesome. 

We spent the rest of the day running around Central Park, which had such cool rocks to climb up. 

Seriously, that's a pretty cool view with a pretty cool climb right there. 

We also sampled the New York playgrounds. Not bad. They could use more grass, but A for effort. 

It was a great time, and even better since Grandmom could come with us. We'll have to do it again soon. I hear Lion King is a lot of fun...

New York, New York!

It's not every day you get to travel on one of these high-speed trains, but it's not every day you get to travel to New York City for a weekend trip!

Times Square was bigger than I ever imagined. I couldn't even imagine buildings went up that high. 

Emma and I got to see where the big ball drops every New Years Eve, and must have passed by about 90,000 people in just a few minutes. Seriously, this place was so crowded, I don't know how we walked through. 

Dad said he has a few friends who work in this building, but when I asked if we could go inside, he said something about security and "enemies of the state" and we just decided to keep sightseeing. 

The best part was probably our trip to see Aladdin. This was the only time Emma wasn't smiling, and it was only because Dad said she had to take a picture in the theater before the show started.  

But after the show, we got to go around back and meet the stars! Here's Mom and Emma with Jasmine. 

 

And here they are with Aladdin. I wanted to meet the genie, but apparently they put him back in his bottle at the end of the performance. Seriously, though, they had a flying magic carpet and for the life of me I can't figure out how it worked. 

Cross country team pic

Not a bad looking crew. We took this before Dad made us run a 5K at practice. Our faces were not as happy afterwards. 

We also took a silly picture before our run, because we wouldn't have enough energy for that afterwards either. These practices can be pretty rough. 

Pumpkin picking 2019

Pumpkin time!

Emma and I took Mom and Dad on our annual pumpkin patch visit this weekend, picking out a few of the best ones to help decorate for Halloween. Emma is bigger than most of the pumpkins now, so we have fewer jokes about leaving her decorating her for the holiday or picking her from the patch. But we still had a few. 

We had a pretty good haul this year. I thought we needed about 30 pumpkins to really be in the holiday spirit, but Mom said something about paying for college. 

And this year we got to go on a hayride too! It made up for them not having a corn maze ready this year. The ride was pretty short but extra bumpy, so I think we got our money's worth.