Day After and Onto Christmas

The day after Thanksgiving, we met up with some of our friends (Kevin's friends from high school and their families). It was so great to see Clara and Amelia again and to see Colin and meet his adorable twin sisters, Julia and Caroline!

Smiley Amelia! 

(with 3 teeth coming through)

Balloons!! They had some leftover and cut them apart so Lewis, Clara, and Colin could toss them around:

 

 So much fun! 

 Group picture

The group of kids doubled from 3 to 6 in just a year!

Hugs goodbye from Clara. :)

Sunday we decided to go out and get a Christmas tree! We have things the next few weekends, so (for once) we decided to go ahead and get it up and ready early.

 

 Picking just the right one!

 Ready to take it home!

I totally took the backroads because I kept thinking of the time a few years ago when I saw a car off the interstate who had just hit a tree that had flown off the top of a car. Soooo, better safe. :)

 Lights and star on

All finished! (except for a tree skirt)

We were able to tackle it during naptime, and I'm so glad it's done! Lewis is obsessed with it and likes to turn the lights on, so I think we've already enjoyed it more than our past few trees combined.

 Hattie and Lew, checking it out

Every morning when Kevin takes him out to the dining room for breakfast, he yells out 'Treeeee!' He 'Ah-ah-ah's for us to turn the lights on at mealtimes. He has taken some ornaments off, but hopefully he'll stop after the novelty wears off.

Thanksgiving 2012 and Goodbyes

Thanksgiving Day was a good one! We celebrated with Kevin's family the Saturday before and then with my mom's side of the family on the day of. We missed my dad's side the Sunday before, but I think we will make it to their Christmas get-together next month.

Onto Thanksgiving Day...

Lewis and Juni shared a mid-morning Cheerio snack:

 

 

 Sharing cuteness :)

 Then it was time to eat!
Emily, David, Joe, Kevin, and I all sat at the 'Kids Table' with Juniper and Lewis. 

 Poker Time!

Lewis and the guys

2012

Jim and Paula brought their sweet dog, Neo--he seems to have finally stopped growing now (he's almost 2). I think Jim said he is around 115 pounds, and he is such a good, gentle boy.

Snuggles for Neo :)

Leftovers for dinner!

Cousin Hugs

Juni helped Lewis burn off some Thanksgiving calories by teaching him how to jump on the bed:

:)

And then it was time for a bath--Lewis isn't used to having freedom in the tub (he has a bath seat that keeps him sitting), so he was a wild man. 

Splash splash splash!

We hit the road back to Louisville after breakfast:

Lewis ate, Juni looked out the window :)

And some last bits of hanging out with Juni before we had to go.

It was great to be with everyone (for the 3-4ish days a year when we're all together). We will hopefully see the Bergstroms again next summer!

Bouncy Fun

Wednesday we headed out to a new bouncy house place in New Castle to let the children (and dads/uncles) run it out for an hour. (And yes, I DID catch the story about bouncy house safety on the news today. Everyone made it out unscathed, except for some rope burn on Uncle Joe!)

 Whee!

 

 Ball!

 What up, cuz? 

 Wahoo!

 Playing ball with Kevin

There was one really big and tall slide that we tried to get Lewis to go down. It was so steep, Kevin couldn't hoist himself and Lewis up the ladder at first. We then sent Kevin up top and had David bring up the rear to hand Lewis off at the top--that system worked! We did that with Juniper, too (and then she climbed to the top all by herself the second time!! [with Joe following her for safety, of course]).

Going up (Lew being helped by Uncle Dave) 

 And coming down!

Cheeks are flushed! :)

While Juni and Lew were taking really, really good naps, we visited with Ben and Adie for the afternoon.

Packing and Part I - The Children's Museum

A few pictures of Lewis reading to Peter as we were packing for our Thanksgiving trip last week:

 Peter is bored.

And Lewis is yelling (maybe to keep Peter awake)!!

And Lew's continued obsession with hats:

That would be 4 hats and a scarf. :)

Kevin was off last Tuesday through the weekend, so we headed up to Indianapolis on Tuesday morning to meet my parents and Emily, Joe, Juniper and David for brunch and a trip to The Children's Museum.

 Juni smiling at her cousin Lew at breakfast. :) 

Love that girl!

Hitching a ride with Papaw

We adults were all zonked by the end of the day! :) 

We ended up at the carousel first thing, so Dad took Lewis and Emily took Juni. All was well the first lap or so... (Click on the pictures to enlarge them and click through them so you can see Lewis' pitiful face.)

 Whee!

 And then, tears! (And Dad was cracking up...haha.) :) 

It might have been too loud or too fast, but Lewis got really upset for a few laps.

Emily switched places with my dad and took Lew off the reindeer for the rest of the ride which calmed him down. Thanks, Schwee!

  Much happier the 2nd time with Kevin:

 This is great!

We were in one play area that had a few different tunnels and slides. Kevin took Lewis up a ladder and led him into a tunnel, and then we called out for Lew to come to the end of it. It took a good few minutes and some prodding from a few bigger kids to help us get him to move.

 Finally out!

 Whoa there, not so fast! :)

He tried climbing back up the slide.

Dump Truck heaven 

Much to Lew's excitement, there is a Hot Wheels exhibit there right now. They had tracks to play with, life-sized versions of Hot Wheels, and memorabilia to look at.

 Vroom vroom!

 Ramping it up

Riding in a hot rod VW

There is another temporary space specifically for toddlers. Juni and Lew had a blast!

 Helping load up the water cycle

 (I think that's what it was supposed to represent...now I forget.)

 Helping pick up balls to take back to the start

 Digging it

 Riding the slide 20 times...

He and the older two boys were running circles (going down the slide, climbing the stairs, going down the slide, etc.). They lapped Lewis a few times, but they were really nice and patient with him being a little slower.

Train table with Uncle Dave and Uncle Joe

Juniper and Lewis were both singing 'Toot Toooooot' and 'Choo Chooooo' to themselves eversoquietly--it was such a sweet little sound. :) 

 Gazing up at the blown glass pieces' ceiling with Gramma

All aboard!

Looking out of the old train window at Kevin, I think.

Such a fun day! Can't wait to go back and explore some more.