First Diorama

Lucas made his first diorama for school this week. Since it was of the ocean variety, Lucas started by painting the inside blue and then adding some coral and some Nemo stickers. Finally, some tissue paper coral, dangling fish and ... voila!

Fun in the Snow

Playing in the snow is fun, but it's even more fun when you get to do it with all of your friends ... and top it off with hot chocolate. :)

Mmm ... Cookies!

Megan's Christmas gift for Mommy and Daddy from school was a batch of sugar cookies that we had to add wet ingredients to and make, so we decided it would be a good afternoon activity. Lucas and Megan had fun with the cookie cutters, but I think their favorite part was decorating. No cookie was complete unless it had at least 3 toppings on it. :)

Fun with Jasmine

Jasmine's popularity is hit-or-miss with people, but for a 17-year-old cat, she puts up with a lot from Lucas and Megan.

Happy New Year!

Our 14th annual New Years Day Dinner ... the attendees have changed a bit, but we think it's still a great way to start the year.

Christmas in Cincinnati

Our visits to Cincinnati are always busy ... it's tough to cram in visits with everyone we want to see. Christmas Eve we headed to Aunt Barb's for our annual dinner ... delicious and a great time!



Christmas Day ... Family fun x 2. We started the festivities at Grandma Krollmann's house and then headed to Grandma and Grandpa Suttmann's house.



Lucas and Megan also had fun helping Grandma Suttmann make some Fun-da-middles cupcakes and hanging out with their Suttmann cousins and aunts and uncles some more!



We also fit in a trip to the Cincinnati Museum Center to see the model trains on display for Christmas. We had a great time with Aunt Barb and Kayla, and the kids got to take a ride on a little train. We were even lucky enough to run into some extra friends and family while we were there.



Our last adventure in Cincinnati was the Festival of Lights. It had been a long time since Mommy and Daddy had been, but the lights at the Cincinnati Zoo were as awesome as always. I believe the favorite of everyone were the vertical lights that looked like snow falling ... pretty cool. We even got to see some of Santa's reindeer, but they were too tired from helping Santa to do anything more than lay there and watch people.

Ollie

This year, Santa sent an elf to watch over the kids to make sure they were being good. Each night, he reported back to Santa, then hid in a new location while everyone was still sleeping. Ollie found some interesting places to hide, and Lucas and Megan had a blast looking for him. Since Santa was kind enough to stop by early, Ollie even got to watch us open presents. And just to show how smart Ollie and Santa are, Ollie showed up at Grandma and Grandpa Suttmann's house on Christmas Eve. He returned home to Santa that night, but we're hoping he returns next year.

Christmas at Home

Santa is such an awesome guy! And accommodating. :) Santa was kind enough to stop by our house early so we could celebrate before we headed to Cincinnati. While the kids loved all of their presents, each one had something specific that they really wanted. It's fun to watch kids open presents they are excited about!

Lucas and his Mega T-Rex




Megan and her light-up shoes