Our December

December, a favorite of mine...A month full of Christmas decorations, Christmas music, and Christmas shows, I just LOVE it!

Breakfast with Santa at our church

Papa and Kieran post-pancakes

Cole and Kieran at storytime with Ms. JoAnn

Cole

Kieran

Caden

A visit with Santa

With Papa and Nana in front of the sanctuary Christmas tree

Annual photo in front of the sanctuary Christmas tree

Caden had his very first band concert. The fifth grade band is HUGE and very heavy on trumpets. They did a great job! All songs were recognizable, and only one was a struggle. After the most difficult song, the band instructor commented, "At least, no one got hurt." :)

Caden taking after his dad with the trumpet

And this isn't even the whole band!

Caden after the concert

Sunday School Christmas Program

Kieran waiting for his turn to sing

Cole looking super serious before singing his songs

Caden ended up with two roles in the Sunday School play, King Herod and the Innkeeper. Here he is as King Herod.

Kieran's preschool Christmas program

Kieran's class as angels...They were precious! The costumes were amazing.

Singing one of their songs

My angel...Oh my goodness!

We didn't get much/if any snow in December. Cole was thrilled when it was flurrying on his way out the door one morning before school.

Cole's classroom winter party

Marshmallow fun

Looking a lot like brothers

We were so ready for Christmas break!

Took the boys to Penguins of Madagascar

Afternoon of present wrapping

Our November

We started off November at Disney World, not a bad place to be. After returning from Disney, we packed a lot of activities into the rest of November. We were booked every weekend.

Caden ran the Titan Trek 5k with his friend, James on a very chilly Saturday morning. He finished in 27:53 minutes with an average pace of 8:59 minutes/mile. Not bad at all for his first official 5k! We were so proud of him!

Pre-race

Caden & James

Crossing the finish line

Recovering

The following weekend, we traveled up to Chicago to visit Shannon and Josh. We fit tons of fun into our quick, overnight visit. After lunch at Shake Shack, we walked to Macy's to see the Christmas windows. 

On the way back up Michigan Avenue, we stopped by the newly opened Dylan's Candy Bar. It was a madhouse in there! We stopped for a photo opp in front of this cool mural. 

Can't resist a visit to The Lego Store. 

After an Italian dinner at Francesca's, we caught most of the Christmas parade. 

Waving to Santa

After the parade, we stopped in at Bloomingdale's to see their gorgeous Christmas tree, and then we headed back to the hotel to veg out after a full day of walking.

The next morning, we met Shannon and Josh for a delicious breakfast at Sunny Side Up--cool old house with a fantastic menu.

Think there is enough sugar on those pancakes?!

Before driving home, we stopped at the Museum of Science & Industry to check out the impressive Christmas trees from around the world. We also visited the weather exhibit, a favorite of ours. We were sad to go after such a fun visit. We're looking forward to visiting again! 

We spent Thanksgiving in Rankin with Nana, Papa, Aunt Shannon, and Uncle Josh. 

Cole prepping the green bean casserole

Playing Don't Wake the Dragon

Silly games while waiting for dinner

Kieran claimed his spot at the head of the table.

We were amazed that it only took one shot to get such a great family photo!

Cole and Aunt Shannon relaxing

Not letting Uncle Josh rest

Cole LOVES pumpkin pie and whipped cream.

Caden at the piano, of course

The weekend following Thanksgiving, we visited the Festival of Trees.

The Avengers tree was a favorite.

Annual Santa photo

Giving their wishlists

Riding in the caboose

Gingerbread cookies for snack

We closed out November by decorating for Christmas.

Not sure what was so funny, but I love this photo of our boys.