Just another CarleSpawn weblog

I hope it isn’t catching.

Sledding was fun this weekend. We went down that hill over & over. This year Ivan could get himself back up the hill himself and did not need carrying or a sled ride back up. This year was also his first solo run on the sled. Last year he only rode with the grown-ups. Ivan likes wearing Ezri’s frog hat and pretending to be a mutant frog come to destroy the city with a fart gun. Ezri is a mutant monkey come to destroy the city also with a fart gun.

We met up with friends. Sledding with friends is even more fun.

The girls had various ideas of best ways down the hill. Here they are tying the sleds together to make a sled train.

Ezri’s favorite trick to play on grown-ups strikes again.

I love how quickly my kids claimed these college friends of ours as playmates and completely hug-worthy. Kids, you are not wrong these are some high quality folks. Even though we had not seen them for awhile, the kids immediately put them in the treat-as-family category. Not sure if they judge the person’s reaction to them or their parents’ reaction to the visitor. But, they are perceptive. Mike and Erin proved gullible enough to provide piggy back rides. They were introduced to our kinetic sand and made a lot of food to be cut apart by Wasabi’s laser knife. Ezri also “tricked” them into reading her favorite read-aloud. She loves hearing grown-ups say “boo boo butt” and feeling like she’s pulled one over on them.

Reading The Book with No Pictures is so funny that the photos all come out laughter blurry.
Laughter blurry is the best blurry.

Ezri pulled Ivan around the yard in circles. They made Eric and I pull too, but I liked the big sister powered sled.

Just getting her snowball ready to fire.

Pull, Ezri, pull!

I think I know the answer.

Ezri making train noises sitting in one of the painted engines.

One of my favorite trains was the “Molar Express” sponsored by an area dentist.

Just look at those festive dental tools. This was painted by a local high school’s art honor society.

This was Ezri’s favorite train of the dozen or so we saw. We took this photo for Ivan because it was the Olaf side of the train.

Here is Ezri who wanted her photo with the Elsa side of the train.

Ezri liked this permanent statue honoring a couple who met in grade school and spent their lives together. She shared her hat briefly.

But it was much too cold out for that to last.

At least the sun was shining. Here are Ezri and Meghan posing with a particularly colorful train engine.

We went in an ice cream shop hoping they’d have hot cocoa. They did, but Ezri decided to double down and get hot cocoa AND ice cream. My kid is smart and lucky.

Ezri came out of her room and stared at her full stocking and bounced on her toes. Behind her was the tree with presents, but all her attention was on the change of stocking state, “Look! Look!”

Queen Elsa was the first gift she found because Santa does not wrap. She did a little checklist looking at her and pointing at her features to make sure she was right. “Crown – check, Braid – check, Make-up above her eyes – check, glitter blue dress – check, fancy shoes – check, Yep, she’s Elsa alright.” She left presents for awhile to have breakfast and wait for the gentleman of the house to awaken.

She made a smiley pancake at brunch.

Bacon was a highlight.

The kids love the new magnatiles which have so far been – an ambulance, a palace, a rocketship, a San Fransokyo skyscraper, a cat, a zooble house, and a prison.

Ezri pointing out how Eric’s gift from the kids has ALL the ghostbusters. Eric then tried to explain about the Gozarian and his incarnation as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man.

There really was not a single gift that didn’t make them smile this year. Hello Kitty Megablocks made her squeal and, oh my, does she want to try kinetic sand.

For Hanukkah the kids tried to recreate a photo of their aunt and dad when they were kids.

Some random words of the Ezri:

Playing with the advent calendar
e: what do you want to do with the body of the dead horse?
i: I want to make a robot out of it.
e: well, that won’t work because it would still be a dead horse.

i: A predator is coming! It’s a bobcat!
e: It’s just Manchi.
i: A predator is coming! It’s a bobcat!
e: It’s just Manchi.
i: A predator is coming! It’s a bobcat!
e: Ivan, it is just Manchi.
They were not playing the same game.

e: Can I practice for Christmas and open a package?
A: We will open our Christmas presents on Christmas.
e: Maybe I can wrap something to practice.
A: You want to wrap something you have and then practice opening it?
e: YEAH YEAH YEAH!
And we had a very fun (if slightly wasteful) wrapping and opening of existing toys around the house.

Lighting the menorah with friends. Eric has had some great help lighting this year.

Brilliant Susan brought a craft to make a marshmallow & candy corn menorah.

What’s the best part of a marshmallow menorah? Eating it.