Silver Dollar City

Last weekend, we took an overnight trip to Branson with Grandma and Grandpa to see the Christmas lights at Silver Dollar City.  One word summarizes the trip very well:  FREEZING.  A cold front moved through as we were driving to Branson, and while we were thankful the rain ended as we arrived, it was so cold!  Friday night we enjoyed the lights and saw a Frosty the Snowman show, the Living Nativity and the light parade.  On Saturday, we went back to ride the kids’ favorite rides.  They shut down the rides at 35 degrees, and it was 36, so we got to experience Silver Dollar City at the coldest possible temperature.  Of course, it was nice and windy, so it felt much colder than that.  It was amazing how the kids couldn’t care less about the weather–they were so excited!!  Grandma and Grandpa enjoyed watching the glee on the kids’ faces and wedging themselves into the kiddie rides with them.  Here are some photos:

Rock’n'Roll

Christopher has a new favorite music genre–rock’n'roll!  Both Mommy and Daddy are guilty of letting them listen to an occasional pop song.  I went to NYC last month, and I got to see the New Kids On The Block with my friend Tara.  When I got home, I was singing “Please Don’t Go Girl” for the boys, and they loved it.  They both kept singing it, and I thought it might get me in a little trouble if Daddy heard it!  A few days later, we were all driving somewhere together, and Will had a lego man.  We asked him what the lego guy’s name was, and he replied, “Dave Matthews!”  (That’s what Daddy listens to with them.)  A few hours later, Will started singing, “please, don’t go girl” but after the Dave Matthews moment, I had some immunity. 

Yesterday Christopher set up an elaborate drum set in his room, and today he wanted me to play in his band.  I started tapping out Joy to the World, and he informed me that we were going to play rock’n'roll.  I said that song could be rock’n'roll, so I started playing and singing a jazzed up version.  Christopher said that was pretty good, but I was forgetting the “oh, baby!”  ‘Cause every good rock’n'roll song has a few “oh baby”’s in there somewhere–at least the New Kids songs do!!

A Preliminary Report

I went to the OB on Friday, and although my ultrasound isn’t for 4 more weeks, the doctor offered to take a quick look and see if we could spot any girl or boy parts.  I couldn’t turn that offer down!  So we took a quick look at my squirmy baby, and both the ultrasound tech and my doctor agreed–it looks like a GIRL!!!  I’m only 15 weeks along, so we’re taking it with a grain of salt, but we are excited about the possibility of some pink!  I’ll go back on December 11 for the full ultrasound, and hopefully we’ll know more then.

Will seems pretty obvilious to the gender news, but Christopher was thrilled!  (After all, he spent months asking God for a baby sister.)  The ultrasound tech had printed out a picture for me and typed “GIRL” on the image, and so when Christopher saw it, he said, “It says girl!!!  It is a girl!!!” and was jumping up and down.  I tried to calm him down, saying, “Christopher, it might be a girl.  We’re not sure yet.”  He looked at me like I was crazy and said, “Mom, it says right there–GIRL!  That means it’s a girl!”  It’s hard to explain the subleties of ultrasound gender identification to a 4-year-old ecstatic big brother!

Happy Halloween! (A little bit late.)

The boys had a blast with Halloween this year.  Christopher seemed to remember very well what happened last Halloween, and he got Will excited about trick-or-treating.  Christopher and Will both had opinions about what costumes they wanted.  I ordered Christopher’s costume online, and when someone asked him if his mom bought it for him, he answered, “No, it came in the mail!”  He seems to have a problem understanding online shopping.  (Who can blame him?  I love it when things come in the mail!)

Below are pictures of the boys in their costumes.  (You can click on the photos to see a larger image.)  Christopher was Diego, a Spanish-speaking animal rescuer from Nick, Jr.  We also took pictures at Nana and Granddad’s house with the boys’ cousin Caroline.  As you can tell, it was tough getting all the kids to stay still for a photo!  Halloween evening, we went trick-or-treating in our neighborhood.  There is a picture of the kids trick-or-treating at their friends Ruth and Iain’s house.  And a photo of Noel and Will when we met up with a bunch of neighborhood kids and Will was afraid of some of the costumes.

Finally, there is a photo of the kids in their new bunk bed!  It was delivered on Halloween day, and the boys were so excited.  Right now, only Christopher is sleeping in it.  But in a few months (that is, when Mommy works up the courage), Will will move out of his crib and into Christopher’s room, so that we can use Will’s room for the baby.  On the day the bunk bed was delivered, I let Will spend part of his rest time in bed in Christopher’s bed, and Christopher read to him.  It was so sweet!