Monday evening the kids and I braved the cold and met Kris at the end of our street where he gets off the bus when he rides home from work.
It was so cold that Kris, in spite of having non-tread dress shoes on, picked Ellary up in his arms and jogged most of the way home. I, on the other hand, had to brave the cold again after getting home and realizing that Keegan had lost one of his shoes on our little adventure. Shoe was found, safe and sound.
Kris and I are trying to eat more healthy, so this week we have had two salads for dinner. The first was a grilled chicken salad with orange slices on the side (shown here on Monday night). The second was on Tuesday, a lean ground beef taco salad, no tortilla chips or shell (like I said, we're trying to eat healthy).
Here's our little guy chewing on an orange slice. Great combo with our grilled chicken salad (the orange slices and salad that is!)
After dinner, the girls had a sweet treat. Oma bought these advent calendars with chocolate in the windows for the girls in Frankenmuth, Michigan two years ago when she visited us for Christmas. We didn't use them last year, I think we just wanted to hold onto them a little longer. The girlies have enjoyed counting down the days until Christmas and remembering Oma.
Then for family home evening we got crafty. One of our Christmas traditions is making a gingerbread house. We started this tradition two years ago when Nana, Papa and Oma came to visit us. We actually went to the trouble of making our own gingerbread that time, and boy, it took a very long time. I'm not sure any of us knew just what the process was to make the stuff. It was a fun and memorable experience. Since then, we have wimped out and bought gingerbread house kits, with the gingerbread pre-made, icing and candy included. Yippee!
Kris shared his fantastic icing and decorating skills with us, compliments of his work experience making ice cream cakes at Dairy Queen during his youth.
Here is the end result. Doesn't it look yummy? Ellary sure thinks so. See the little gum drop window next to the door? Ellary stole 5 gum drops the very next morning and had them eaten before anyone could stop her. Oh well!
Monday evening the kids and I braved the cold and met Kris at the end of our street where he gets off the bus when he rides home from work.
It was so cold that Kris, in spite of having non-tread dress shoes on, picked Ellary up in his arms and jogged most of the way home. I, on the other hand, had to brave the cold again after getting home and realizing that Keegan had lost one of his shoes on our little adventure. Shoe was found, safe and sound.
Kris and I are trying to eat more healthy, so this week we have had two salads for dinner. The first was a grilled chicken salad with orange slices on the side (shown here on Monday night). The second was on Tuesday, a lean ground beef taco salad, no tortilla chips or shell (like I said, we're trying to eat healthy). 
Here's our little guy chewing on an orange slice. Great combo with our grilled chicken salad (the orange slices and salad that is!)
After dinner, the girls had a sweet treat. Oma bought these advent calendars with chocolate in the windows for the girls in Frankenmuth, Michigan two years ago when she visited us for Christmas. We didn't use them last year, I think we just wanted to hold onto them a little longer. The girlies have enjoyed counting down the days until Christmas and remembering Oma.
Then for family home evening we got crafty. One of our Christmas traditions is making a gingerbread house. We started this tradition two years ago when Nana, Papa and Oma came to visit us. We actually went to the trouble of making our own gingerbread that time, and boy, it took a very long time. I'm not sure any of us knew just what the process was to make the stuff. It was a fun and memorable experience. Since then, we have wimped out and bought gingerbread house kits, with the gingerbread pre-made, icing and candy included. Yippee! 
Kris shared his fantastic icing and decorating skills with us, compliments of his work experience making ice cream cakes at Dairy Queen during his youth.
Here is the end result. Doesn't it look yummy? Ellary sure thinks so. See the little gum drop window next to the door? Ellary stole 5 gum drops the very next morning and had them eaten before anyone could stop her. Oh well!
Keegan has become a bit of a daddy's boy lately. He gets so excited when he sees Kris. They are great buddies, just the way fathers and sons aught to be.
Kris volunteered to help out with a 5K race called "Jingle Belle" in Lansing on Saturday. Kourtney stood on the first corner of the race with Kris as they helped direct all the "Belles" down the race course. They huddled to keep warm and Kris tried to teach Koco how to whistle as they braved the cold. They make a great team. (The time on the clock has no reflection on our run time. That's just the time that lapsed from the start of the race to the time we left to go home.) 
Alyson and I actually ran the race. I've taken some time off from running, and Alyson didn't train at all either, but we had a great time. And guess what? Alyson did awesome! She ran the 5K in 31:04, that's a 10:01 average pace per mile. She beat her Grand Junction Gold's Gym 5K race time by more than a minute and she actually trained for that race. Good job girl! Her next goal is to shave a few minutes off her 5K time in a race this summer.
