The holidays are here!

Monday, November 15

Jack loves playing with Mara's Rollarounds that she got for her first Christmas. He had no problem figuring out how to push the red button to make it go, and now he's learning how to use the balls to make it turn on.

Tuesday, November 16

We kind of decided at the last minute to have Jack baptized this Sunday. That meant that I had to run out to find an outfit for him to wear. Now that he's mobile, we had a hard time getting him to sit still for pictures.

Wednesday, November 17

After a long time of trying, Mara finally earned her pink boots for getting greens 10 days in a row at school. She was so excited to get them that she insisted on wearing them to kung fu tonight.

Thursday, November 18

Today was Parent Involvement Day at Mara's school, so we went and had lunch with her and her friends. That night, we went to a ceremony for Mara's Girl Scout troop, which you can read about here.

Friday, November 19

Today my department went out for lunch and then went to Main Event to celebrate the completion of several projects. I didn't end up with any pictures of me except for the silly ones I took with one of my co-workers.

Saturday, November 20

We have tried to make it a tradition to see the Christmas tree lighting and Santa's arrival in Allen. We went to it two years ago when the area just opened, but we were out of town last year. Even though John had to work tonight, I went ahead and took the kids to it today. We ran into Mrs. Claus when we first got there. Mara didn't want her picture taken with her (big surprise), but I was surprised when Jack, the boy who will let pretty much anyone hold him, started crying when she came close to him. After doing some crafts, we saw Santa come and light the Christmas tree.