Oh, John by John Lee

As I get ready to turn three, I am testing my wings (and everyone else). I have lots of fun and many moods. Here is pirate John - must have a sword for each hand and say "Arrrr, Matey!" very loudly.

When I got a scratch on my lip, I insisted on a bandaid - this was the result - Mama would like me to emphasize that the bandaid in on top of my lip - my mouth is not taped shut! But it makes a very handsome mustache!

When we tried on the elf hats, Mama wanted a cute photo of me. Here is the result of her efforts.

I am so handsome and funny - I am having a few growing pains these days and becoming more independent. I can't wait to celebrate my birthday. I am so very excited for everything.

Building Snowmen by Denny Lynn

We love projects! And we love snowmen. No snow in Las Cruces so far, but Mama helped us build snowmen anyway! We used our leftover pumpkins and some long paint sticks. Mama did the spray paint and the cutting.

We helped stack and decorate!

We foraged for sticks to use as arms.

Then we poked them in. Luckily, we had small pumpkins with stems to make the "carrot" noses.

John tried on his snowman attire before putting it on his Frosty (yes, that is really what he named him).

I had a blue scarf for my man - Turner Great Thomas Gordon. I made sure it was just right.

We added top hats and used a marker to put on the rest.

Here is John with Frosty - a yellow scarf of course!

I made the eyes, mouth and buttons on Turner myself!

He came out pretty cute!

They make a great team to welcome guests - or just us, each evening. So glad to recycle and to have our very own snowmen!

Ready for Christmas by John Lee

We have been decorating for Christmas a little at a time all month. To start with, Mama got us some new Christmas toys - a Santa Train and a little nativity. Baby Jesus likes to ride in the reindeer feeder - Mama says that is appropriate - maybe someday I will get it.

Denny and I each have our owe Christmas tree and some Christmas animals to decorate our rooms.

I have been very helpful  in getting everything ready.

We even decorated our cowboy tree - we were very excited to have a big tree to put presents under.

We found the elf hats in the decorations - they have jingle bells on them - this inspired elf dancing.

The tree looked great - until I pulled it over. We have a cowboy tree. There are lights on it, but we couldn't get a good picture with them on. Maybe when we put it all up a second time!

Build and Grow Gingerbread House by John Lee

This weeks project was a really good one! I even helped and actually finished this one! We  made Gingerbread houses that actually open to put stuff in!

Emerick and Etienne and our friends the Jimersons were there, too. There was some confusion in the store, but they got it all settled and we went to work making houses.

I his a candy cane in mine! I have been trying to come up with more stuff to stick in it - anything that can be used to hide stuff is good for me. I really appreciate Lowe's Build and Grow!

Christmas at the Train Station by Denny Lynn

Last Friday night we got to have a special Christmas adventure! Daddy was gone to a meeting, so Mama took me and John to the Railroad Museum (one of our favorite places) for a Christmas event. Etienne and Emerick came, too! We got a place on the platform to await a very special guest!

It was Santa and Mrs. Claus coming on the train!!

We were so excited!

Then we went inside to check out the trains. We couldn't believe how many people came!

Upstairs was our favorite attraction - the train table!

Emerick even liked this part!

There were also fun Christmas crafts to make. We each made a snowman out of paint stir sticks with a pipe cleaner hanger and a real fabric scarf (John squeezed all the paint, but we only used markers).

Then we wrote our letters to Santa. He should answer us by next week! I told him I want a Spin and Fix Thomas and a remote control train.

John asked for a Space Station and a Molly Train - but he only likes her because she is yellow. We put our letters in the mailbox and of they went!

Then it was out to the line. They had free cookies and hot cider. We worked our way up toward Santa and it got darker and darker - I have to say, Mama and Kourtney are not quitters! They hung in there.

I thought we would never get to Santa, but we kept moving closer.

Finally, we made it to Mrs. Claus. She was so very nice and pretty.

When it was finally our turn we were so excited we went running to Santa and gave him a huge hug!

Even Emerick got into the picture - but he brought Mom along! It made a great picture of all of us, especially after we waited all that time in line. We had so much fun and were so glad to share it with E & E - and of course Santa!