Christmas 2015

Christmas seems to be a six week event with our family!  We always kick off the holiday season by attending the Festival of Trees.  This kids  love picking out a favorite tree, eating gingerbread cookies (lots of icing please!), and riding the train.  Although that last one has sadly become a tradition for only Ethan - Olivia has declared  herself to be too old for the train!

We decided to pick our own tree from Bomke's Tree Farm this year.  Despite the mud, we had a wonderful time and this will become a new tradition for us!

Ethan decorating the tree with his new ornament - Bacon!

The selfie stick comes in handy for a family picture in front of the decorated tree.

And of course we decorated the Star Wars tree.

Another tradition resumed - a girls trip to see the Nutcracker.  We missed this last year due to our vacation to NYC.

We made a gingerbread village this year.

Fun at the annual Baima Christmas party.

Putting together a Christmas puzzle during dinner.  It didn't help that the puzzle was missing 5 pieces!

The kids dressed in their Christmas outfits before the church Christmas program.

Another picture compliments of the selfie stick!

Both kids had speaking and singing solos during the church Christmas program.

Another new tradition - Luminaria night at the Dana Thomas House!  Beautiful!

Cookie making.

And cookie decorating!  We do not always do traditional Christmas cookies - this year we made some cookies in the shape of a T-Rex, and took artistic liberty with decorating.  An upside down tree became a bunch of grapes, a bell became Darth Vader's helmet, a snowflake became a ninja star, and the winner was an upside down snowman that became a "lady who lunches".

Christmas Eve.  Although Olivia no longer believes in Santa, she did agree to write a letter to him and help with the cookies and milk job.  The sad thing this year was that there was no visit to Santa - Olivia has outgrown it and Ethan did not want to sit on his lap.  After 11 years of Santa visits, this was very sad for me.

Christmas morning!  And, yes, we have matching Star Wars Christmas PJs.  This was simply to be silly.  The kids knew that they had matching PJs, but they did  not know that Joe and I also had the PJs until they woke up the next morning!  The laughter woke up the household.

The aftermath of present opening.

Olivia very proudly showing off her Ugg boots.

Ethan with a Rudolph sucker and, yes, a Fart Piano (I thought it seemed like a good idea at the time!).

Grandpa teaching Olivia how to make the traditional fettucini alfredo.

Olivia and cousin Michael being bow twins.

And Ethan with cousin Nathan being Ugg boot twins.  Olivia was not happy with this!

The cousins on a Christmas day hike.  It was 60* outside!

We had Christmas #2 with Joe's family two days after Christmas.  Olivia is very happy with her Beats headphones.

And Ethan loves his new stuffed animal sloth named Steve.

We spent the day with Joe's family going to the Fox Theater to see Wicked.  It was wonderful!

Joe's mom was able to get us perfect box seats for the performance.  It is so much fun to sit in these seats!

The kids think that the desserts are the best part of box seats - a huge hot fudge sundae and mile high cotton candy with chocolates underneath.

Late Fall Activities

The time between Halloween and the Christmas season was busy with the usual kid activities, family gatherings, and sporting events.  

The kids and I were lucky enough to attend three family birthday parties in one day - cousin Nathan, Grandma Mildred, and Grandma Phyllis.  The first picture is a four generation picture - Grandma Mildred, dad, myself, and the kids.  The second picture is of mom and dad with all of their grandkids (some crazier and louder than others).

The birthday party for grandma Phyllis was bitter-sweet.  It was wonderful to be able to celebrate her one more time, but it was sobering to know that it would be her last birthday after having been diagnosed with late stage lung cancer.  She sadly passed away a few weeks after this picture.

Olivia had her first "official" school dance in November.  I say official since she has had 2 dances that happened immediately after school, thus having to wear her school uniform and those were more centered around games (like the limbo).  This dance was an evening dance and was solely focused on the dance part.  Olivia was excited to finally get to show off her fashion sense to her classmates!

The University of Illinois men's basketball team played five games in Springfield, and we had front row tickets to all of the games.  How often do you get to pose with Abe Lincoln in front of a U of I backdrop?

And while we are on the subject of basketball, Ethan has been kept busy playing on the fall/winter basketball league in town.  Here he is shooting a free throw.

Ethan having fun with classmates at a school Thanksgiving themed day.

I took a break from hosting Thanksgiving this year due to other obligations, so Kim stepped in to host.  She even decorated a "thankful tree"!

Olivia (far right) participated in her school's 6th grade choir concert - she even sang a solo which brought tears to my eyes!