What a busy time of year, which means this will be a busy post.
First, we'll start with decorating the tree.
We decorated it earlier than I'd planned to, because we put up our outside decorations in mid-November. You've got to take advantage of warm weather when you've got it!
And, of course, once the outside stuff was out, Craig begged to set up everything inside, too.
And who am I to argue?
It takes up space, but it also seems so festive!
I love the glow of the lights.
Also making life busy this time of year: Christmas concerts. We had 2 concerts to attend the first being Caleb's.
He was dressed as a shepherd, sat down half the time, tried to fix the ears of the sheep in front of him, and came running off the stage to give Daddy a hug partway through.
Oh, little askew shepherd! Go back and sing!
We also had Craig and Calista's to attend.
With Caleb, which wasn't always easy, though was sometimes amusing.
Like when he loudly repeated what Kyler and I had been whispering, "Stop picking your nose, Craig!"
Craig, despite picking his nose a bit, did very well.
He wasn't the loudest singer of the bunch, but he clearly knew the words, so that's something.
Calista, of course, was in her element.
She sang, did the motions, and played recorder.
Which, while I did catch on video, I am not subjecting you to. No one really wants to hear an entire class of 8-year-olds try to play recorder in "unison."
My kiddos did so well at their concerts, though, even if only a parent would appreciate it.
On the Sunday before Christmas, I made my children dress nicely, sit still and took pictures of them, as I usually do.
Well, mostly sit still. I'm pretty sure Craig was vibrating.
But they sat well enough for me,
And I got some pretty decent pictures.
And I only yelled at them a little bit.
For Christmas itself, we headed down to Raymond. This meant we got to participate in the traditional Rasmussen Family Christmas Eve get-together and talent show.
Craig told us weeks beforehand that he wanted to dance, and even practiced - a little. And had a lot of fun.
Calista practiced a lot, and had a whole variation on Ode to Joy planned, but got nervous and just did the basic version. But still did awesome!
And they also had fun playing with the handbells that their cousins used, too.
Christmas Day itself was low key and wonderful.
Everyone loved all of their presents, and were able to play with them all for quite a while.
Also, we may now have a magician in the house.
So tricky!
Also on our Christmas to-do list was to go for a family walk.
It was chilly, but good. Which is what Christmas in Alberta invariably is.
This year for Halloween, we had Princess Anna from Frozen, a dragon, and a dinosaur.
The last two costumes were ones we already owned. I didn't mind that!
Craig begged to have a Halloween party, the day before it would have to be. At first I said no, but then I stopped and thought a bit. Why not? A party doesn't have to be fancy!
So we threw something together and had a blast. We carved "pepper-o-lantern"s, ate pizza, and watched a movie.
And now Caleb, when he sees bell peppers at the grocery store, calls them pumpkins... whoops. Craig is already planning the party for next year.
Craig also decided we should carve watermelons as a family this year.
I think he just wanted to eat it, but why not humor the 6-year-old in a few things?
Craig designed the face all by himself, and Calista designed and cut out her watermelon, (mostly) all by herself.
Caleb didn't design or cut one.
He just ate watermelon.
Everyone was pretty happy with that arrangement.
Caleb decided months ago that he wanted to be a dragon, and has routinely asked "is it Halloween yet?" since.
He also dressed as a lion for his preschool "Noah's Ark" party.
This confused him a bit, since it was before Halloween, so when Halloween morning came, Caleb thought the day had already happened.
Craig took longer to decide on a costume, but was pretty happy with his choice.
And he was actually a dinosaur INSIDE a dinosaur!
Tricky!
Calista, of course, was Anna.
I say "of course" because she planned out 6 years of costumes when she was four. This is year 5 of 6.
She was pretty happy with her choice, and so was I, since I managed to find the costume on sale for FIVE bucks!
It was fairly nice on Halloween, but I insisted on everyone wearing gloves/mittens. After a few minutes, it became clear I was correct. The best house was probably this "spooky house."
They really go all out every year! The kiddos love it.
After just a few blocks, the buckets were full so we headed home.
Happy Halloween!
It has been quite the year for him. It started with Craig just barely in kindergarten, adjusting to going to school and being in a classroom. It ended with him starting grade one, and adjusting to being in school all day. Not an easy transition, but he's doing okay.
In the middle, Craig did gymnastics and soccer.
We got him a new bike,
which he loved.
He learned and grew a lot.
He excelled at the academic part of school.
His kindergarten teacher was impressed - even shocked - at how well Craig could read,
and of course, he's only gotten better.
Not always as excellent is how he acts, both at school and at home. He's exactly the same, no matter where he is... and it's not always good.
Craig often doesn't listen when you ask him to clean something, help, stop doing what he's doing, start doing something he doesn't want to do... he just doesn't reply or acknowledge he's heard you at all, which is frustrating.
Still, Craig is incredibly sweet.
He's affectionate and kind, loving to cuddle and hug.
Every Friday afternoon, all school year, he'd help me make pizza dough, even naming the different stages of the dough-making process. Including the "Dancing Octopus Stage."
Craig gets very excited about many things, including decorating for holidays like Christmas.
He is the one begging us to put up the tree or hang up birthday signs.
Some of his favorite things from this year were over the summer.
He loved exploring and hiking on vacation, even if he got tired sometimes - so did I!
Craig also liked swim lessons,
though not putting his head in the water.
Craig doesn't usually mind being by himself.
He's happy to play what he wants, how he wants to.
I'll often find him digging in the dirt until the front porch, or in the snow in the yard.
He also loves to do "crafts," which usually involve Craig coloring, cutting, and gluing random things together in a mostly unrecognizable and unique way.
And it makes him happy.
Craig is so curious,
wanting to learn and study the world around him. I absolutely love that about him.
Favorite color: orange
Best park of being 5: It was probably on the day I turned five. It was really the birthday pencil I got at school.
Looking forward to for 6: I don't know yet. Maybe presents. I'm so excited for presents!
Wisdom you've learned this year: You will probably laugh at me, because sometimes people laugh at me when I take off my clothes. And think it's gross! But changing clothes isn't "ew."
Likes:
Watching videos
Applesauce
Cuddling
Being silly
Science
Pete the Cat
Dogman
Kyler and Jeanette got married on the 25th of August 2007, after knowing each other for four years and being each other's rebound date. It's a healthy relationship.
