Christmas Shopping With Aunt Josie

For Christmas, because Joanna is in town, we thought it would be fun if she went shopping with the kids to let them pick out what they wanted for their gifts from her and Kirk.  I had time today, and she doesn't leave until tomorrow, so it worked out great.  We went to Toys 'R Us in separate trips. We first took Hannah and Clara, and they are both not really yet aware that you can ask for things in stores and your parents can potentially get them for you.  So they didn't really get it, and we had to hold up things for them to gauge their response.  Clara, though, spotted a little Care Bear (Share Bear, who is purple) and decided that she loved it, so that settled that.  Hannah (riding in the cart, of course), showed at most moderate interest in most things, but we were looking for more of a reaction than that.  We then showed her Crocky (a baby version of Peter Pan's Tick Tock the Croc), and she beamed and immediately reached out to get it and give it a hug, so we knew that was the one.  When we took Joshua, he wanted everything it the store ("That's my favorite [whatever toy he's looking at]!").  We had to focus him on toys that were in his age range.  He was excited when he saw the section of Home Depot toys, and we settled on a landscaper set with a wheelbarrow, rake, shovel and lawnmower.  We then went back to pick up the girls and then went to lunch.  It was a fun time, and the kids really liked spending time with Aunt Josie.

I've had to replace a few of the pickets on the fence between us and our neighbor to the west, but yesterday I noticed that three more were broken.  We suspect that Joshua is responsible for this, as we saw him shaking one of the broken pickets.  They are old, so it wouldn't take much abuse to crack one.  Either way, I had bought some extra pickets last time anticipating this would happen, so I got three of them, and asked Joshua if he wanted to help knowing it's the type of thing he would love.  I had him put on his safety goggles from his construction worker outfit (and I put on mine out of solidarity) and get his toy saw and toy hammer.  Together we worked to cut the pickets to the right height and to pull off the old ones and hammer on the new ones.  I also had a talk with Joshua about being gentle with the fence, so hopefully I don't have to do this too often.

A Very Nicholl Christmas

Today we celebrated Christmas with the Nicholl clan at Mom and Ron's house.  As has been the case the past two years, Nick Schale, a former colleague of Ron, came over to take our family pictures.  He did a great job, and was especially great with the kids, and we got a lot of great pictures.

I snapped a few pictures of my own, including cute little Benjamin and an excited Joshua exploring his new book.

We had a great home-cooked meal, and thanks to Mom and Ron's house size and layout, we were able to have everyone eat in one of two large groups.

We later did gifts, and Mom received a violin from Grandpa and Grandma.  She used to play when she was little, but even though she hasn't picked up a violin since then, she immediately nailed some scales as if she still regularly played.  I was quite impressed.  Later, Grandpa received some food items that were branded with a certain sponge who shares his first name.  Grandpa is not counted among the sponge's many fans, and thus he was not thrilled to receive the items.  The perpetrator of this scheme was not definitively determined, but Grandpa had his suspicions, as this scenario has played out without fail for many years now.  Grandma, on the other hand, seemed quite pleased by the whole scenario.

Later in the afternoon and at night some of us played games, including a game called Say Anything that was a nice twist on Apples to Apples, and another new game called Wits & Wagers, which I loved, as it involved knowledge, estimation, and betting.

It was another great Christmas, and it was great to have everyone together (Elle was there for the pictures but had to leave after that) for the celebration.

Benjamin's First Birthday Party

Benjamin's first birthday was yesterday, and his party was today.  This was my first chance to see the finished product of the cake, and it turned out great!  I was really impressed by what Julie and Joanna had made.  The dessert options also featured blue sea life cupcakes for attendees who were more than 366 days old.

Joanna was in town, so she got to spend time with all four of her nieces and nephews in one place.  The other attendees included Mom and Ron; Grandpa and Grandma; Matt; Tom and Pat; and Wally, Lisa, and Natalie.

When it was time for Benjamin to have his cake, he wasn't sure what to make of it.  He was a little tentative at first and then panicked a bit when he got cake on his hands.  But he dug in a little further and then kinda realized he was uncomfortable with the situation and seemed to ask for help to clean up this mess that he was unexpectedly facing.  It's always cute to see how a kid reacts to the cake on their first birthday, and his curiosity followed by trepidation followed by alarm/disgust was super cute.

Our kids were delighted to get to eat the cupcakes, and the blue coloring made for some humorous visuals.

The parents and the birthday boy tried to get pictures, but Benjamin insisted on holding a green cup in front of his face, and he was pretty serious about his new-found possession. Attempts to remove it from his grasp resulted in what sounded like little verbal threats of bodily harm, so we let him keep it. We took a picture of our family with Benjamin, but our kids apparent obsession with their own faces resulted in the above picture, which isn't exactly what we had in mind.

We then tried to get a picture of the four cousins, but there were too many straws, spoons, and yellow submarines around for the kids to care too much about what their parents were trying to achieve.

We then moved on to cards and gifts. Benjamin received several fun things, but nothing seemed to capture his interest as much as a toy lawn mower.

It was a really fun party, and Julie and Andrew did a great job of planning it and executing it well.  It's a little hard to believe that little Benjamin is already a year old, but he's cuter than ever, and we're excited to continue to watch him grow.

Tuesday Tee Ball

Joshua had tee ball tonight, and similar to how Joanna went to gymnastics yesterday with Clara, she wanted to go see Joshua play tee ball tonight.  The session is broken up into two parts.  The first half is practice, where the kids get to work on hitting, fielding, and running the bases.  The coach helps them, and here Joshua gets some instruction on hitting.

The second half is a "game" where they play another team. Each team gets to bat twice, each time going through their lineup with each player batting once. Here Joshua prepares to crush the ball.

And here he crushes it.  Well, no one really crushes it.  At this age they all pretty much just hit weak grounders, with the occasional line drive.

Here he plays on defense, waiting for a ball to come to him.  He's not as aggressive as most of the other kids on his team who will pounce on any ball near them.  Joshua pretty much hangs out, and if a ball happens to end up near his feet, he'll pick it up.  They are then supposed to throw to first, but that rarely works out.  Regardless, the runner gets to go to first and stay there.  With each successive hit, they move up a base.  Here Joshua stands on second, unaware that a ball has already been hit (you can see it in the grass behind him) and that he should be running to third.  This is not that uncommon, as the kids don't really seem to grasp baserunning.  They move one base for each batter, finally scoring by crossing home plate as he does in the last picture.  For the last batter of the inning, everyone rounds the bases.  So essentially everyone scores in every inning, so there's no need to try to keep score, because it's always the same.

In the previous scoring picture you'll notice some familiar fans in the background.  Joshua didn't originally know they were they until he crossed home plate.  He was excited to see family members there to watch him.

After the game, they get snacks and drinks, with today's being Capri Sun and mini cookies.  They then do their team cheer and line up to shake hands (well, it's a low five more than anything) with the other team.

So far it's been a really good experience for him as he learns some life skills (paying attention, following instructions, etc.) and some actual baseball skills, like running to a base, which is not something I had done with him while playing with his tee in the back yard, but I'll be sure to add that in next time we have another session in the back yard.

Guests for Gymnastics

Joanna is in town this week, so she's taking the opportunity to go to some of the kids' activities.  Clara has gymnastics on Mondays, so tonight she and Mom and Ron are taking Clara to her class.  Clara was very excited about this.  Here they are before they headed out the door, and then later Clara with her aunt.

Fun, Family, and Fireworks

For 4th of July this year, Meghan again did a great job of planning coordination outfits for the kids.

After naptime, we went over to Mom and Ron's house, where they were hosting a 4th of July party.  Uncle Brent, Joanna, and Kirk were all in town from Texas, so including those who were local, we had our full crew, short of Abby who was out of town for the weekend.  David brought Elle, whom most of us had either not met or only met once, so we all enjoyed getting to know her better. 


Joanna and Kirk took the time to help Clara sharpen her soccer skills using the new soccer ball that Mom and Ron got for the kids.

David brought his new drone with him and demonstrated it by flying it in the back yard.  I thought it was totally awesome, as it can fly up to a mile away from the base, but it's completely remote controlled while assisted by GPS when needed.  It also takes video and pictures while it flies, giving amazing bird's eye views of the world.

The kids enjoyed playing in the yard, and we were also able to get a family picture in our festive outfits.

The day was not only a celebration of Independence Day, but also a party to celebrate Mom and Ron's birthdays.  Ron's is today, and Mom's was a week and a half ago.  They had a cake, which the kids assisted in the blowing out of the candles, but more importantly (from their perspective) in the consumption of it.  Hannah liked it so much, she considering alternate methods of acquiring more.

After the party, we went to the Olathe fireworks show.  For the past five or six years, we've watched them from the parking lot of the Great Mall, but it's always such a pain to get out of there.  This year I decided to find a new location for us, and earlier today I scouted out a place that I thought would allow us to have a much easier exit AND allow us to be even closer to the fireworks.  It worked out perfectly, as it was a great spot with excellent views and plenty of space to ourselves, all while allowing us to quickly leave the area after the show.  Also, all of the kids, while seeming a little concerned during the biggest booms, enjoyed it overall, and no one cried this year, which was a plus.

It was a full day of activities, but it was really nice to get to spend so much of the day with family and then to cap it off with a great fireworks show.