Trail of Lights- Temp. 30 degrees

In our never ending attempt at doing "more things Austin", I knew I really wanted to do the Trail of Lights. I had been hearing about this mile long light show for years now and I wanted the kids to see it. We tried going Sunday night but quickly realized that was a mistake because it was opening night and it was PACKED. So, we thought we would make a family night of it and do it Monday night.

Daniel was working late, so we picked him up and went out to eat at TGI Fridays (real Austin of us, I know). Afterwards we headed over to the trail of lights. After a ridiculously long detour, we arrived and got the kids ready for the cold.

Now, we live in Texas so I had to go out and buy the children some gloves and hats to wear in the cold. This preparation was good but no match for the bitter temperature and the cruel wind that accompanied it. I was ready to quit before we even got to the lights, but Daniel was going to get his $15 parking's worth so we were doing it no matter what.

So, off we went. It was soooo cold. Maggie was the best off I think. I triple layered her, put a hat on her, had a really warm blanket and Daniel's body heat so she was fine (slept the whole time). Owen was the one who was the most cold. I bought him gloves instead of mittens so he never moved his fingers and they got REALLY cold.

The lights were beautiful and they had several tunnels which were really cool to look through. (Notice the people walking in the opposite direction... we accidentally went through the wrong way. It was too cold though and we were NOT willing to walk all the way over to the proper entrance).
The kids liked the manger scene best I think. They pointed out Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus quite easily.

Owen, Ellie, Mom and SANTA!!!

Owen, Ells, Dad & Mags.... FREEZING.

When we finished, we raced (literally) to the car and stripped the kids down so we could warm their skin. Maggie's toes were cold, Owen was ice and Ellie was just a little cold. My bum hasn't warmed up yet either. Oh well, wouldn't EVER do that again in this weather, but now we can say we saw the Trail of Lights!

Candy Making and Gingerbread House

'Tis the Season for decorating galore and my kids are completely on board with it!  This year we have several activities/crafts/creations planned. 

Here the children making their own candy.

I had to refrain from eating the chocolate myself because it sure looked yummy!

The kids love to watch things in the microwave.  Here they are watching the candy circulate. (Notice the kitchen shears right next to Ellie?  YIKES!)

Owen making his candy... some of it actually got into the molds.

Ellie investigating Owen's handy work.

Ellie showing me her work.

Maggie was there too.  She sure has learned to cheese it up for the camera!

Gingerbread house:

Here is our gingerbread house in mid-creation. (That's "Maggie and the Ferocious Beast" playing on the TV. Yes, a cartoon named after our baby:))

Ellie decorating.

Owen decorating... and eating.

In hindsight this was probably a job best suited for the engineer in our family.  I, apparently, didn't use enough frosting to hold the pieces together and none of us were patient enough to let it dry before decorating so it ended up in pieces mere moments later.  Well, at least it was fun.

Catching Up

Our house has been sick... still is, but the bulk of it is passed us now I think.  Getting sick is such a pain at our house because it takes almost a month to make its rounds.  First it was Owen, then Ellie, then Dan, then me and then Mags.  Daniel and I still feel a little sick and Mags just got into it today.  Poor girl.  I am holding her all day and I don't care that she will want me to always hold her afterwards because I am spoiling her now.  This is the first time she has really gotten sick so I plan on taking good care of my baby girl.

Before sickness... this is what Maggie has been up to.  She rolls over a lot, but hasn't started crawling or mastered sitting up yet.  I imagine she will sit up within the month and crawl within two.  She seems to be progressing around the same times as Ellie did.  This little girl is skinny and long.  I think she is going to be much taller than Ellie and at this rate she probably will catch up to her brother and sister.. in height anyway!  She has also started drinking water and a little juice from a sippy cup.  This is good news since she has completely stopped taking a bottle much to the disappointment of her mother. 

Owen is busy being 2. This entails a lot of running, jumping, fit throwing, crying, screaming, "NO"s, timeouts and other fun things that accompany this part of life.  Lucky for him, he is a little sweetheart.  Both Elise and Owen continue to be really close and do almost everything together.  I often find them in Owen's room reading books (they also like to take EVERY book off the shelf... GRRR).  He knows his ABCs and his numbers, colors and shapes.  He took awhile to talk and I was worried slightly about it, but as soon as he started talking, he really took off!

Elise is doing well.  She really has been loving preschool this year and is ALWAYS excited to go.  She has many friends and we often have them over to play and she also gets invited to play at friends' houses.  We're discovering that her sensitivity sometimes dominates in friendly situations as she often gets her feelings hurt when her friend doesn't want to play what she is playing.  This is all a part of learning how to be social and she is always quick to join in with whatever her friends do want to do.  Ellie is a very creative girl.  She often thinks of imaginative games to play with Owen.  Almost every night Ells and Owen come running into the family room screaming that they've found some wild animal in the other room.  I love playing with her because she really does have a creative, fun mind and personality.

Calling All Addresses

If you read our blog, you probably care enough to want our Christmas letter/card for this year. Please email me your address so I can send you one. toerintx@yahoo.com

Belly Blowing and Owen Playing

We have been out of commission for a few days while the kids battled a pretty nasty stomach bug and almost all of us had colds at the same time. I hate being sick and it seems like we are always sick during the holiday season. I shouldn't complain too much because perhaps this means that we will be well when we go to Houston for Christmas. I sure hope so.
Not a whole lot of picture taking was happening but I have a few videos that I have been meaning to post.
The first one here is of the kids playing together. They are blowing on Maggie's tummy and she thinks it is pretty funny.

This next video is of Owen playing in the backyard and singing his ABC's.

My New Blog!

I started my own blog!!!  It is still in its infancy so it still needs a little tweaking, but I have decided to officially announce that I started another blog.  I love our family blog and will continue with it just as I have been, but I wanted to write something else that is just all mine.  It's mostly mom and wife and girl stuff I suppose... anyway, go see!  I am calling it "Bittle Bear" which is a nickname we have for Ellie.

Also, I am trying to expand my "Links I Love" that is on the side bar at Bittle Bear.  So, if you have any good links that are in line with what my blog is about, let me know!   bittlebear.blogspot.com

Zoo Time

In celebration of Owen's 2nd birthday, we went to the zoo.  We were an attraction ourselves in our 4-child wagon.  I actually overheard someone saying that "they must be quadruplets!".  Whatever, they aren't the same age and that is pretty obvious as Addy is quite a bit smaller than the other three.  Anyway, they were too cute and had lots of fun.  Enjoy the pictures.

Addy

Grammy and Owen

Elise and Kyra with some bird eggs.

Wherever Papa is, Owen is. 

And Mags sleeping...

First Annual McPherson Thanksgiving Talent Night

In an effort to make the holidays more than just about food and presents, we decided that we would start some new traditions. I came up with doing a family talent night. The McPhersons aren't exactly talented in a "performing" kind of way, but it was fun nonetheless.

Ellie was first up. We have been working on her talent for a couple of weeks and she was able to learn "Christmas Bells Are Ringing" and sang it twice for the family.

As a family, we sang "Jingle Bells" which both Ellie and Owen have been learning and used some bells for each of the kids to ring during the chorus. Even Maggie had bells.

Kim's family sang primary songs. Kyra knows several and sang them well.

Now Evan really is talented musically. He plays guitar which he is good at (as far as I am concerned), but he is especially talented in writing and composing. He really has a gift for it and wrote this new song for our talent night.

Grammy and Papa told a story and Papa was acted the story out complete with props. The kids loved it! Well, most of them. Addy kind of freaked out when Papa first came out with the mask.

If you want to listen, here is the song my brother wrote and performed. I was able to get most of the performance. The video isn't great and the audio picks up the guitar more than his voice, but you get the idea.

Fun Times for Thanksgiving

Back to the Thanksgiving posts.  These are just a bunch of random pictures of the fun we had over our Thanksgiving break.  Loads of family fun!

3/5 of grandkids being read to by Papa.

The kids in the Choo choo wagon.  We now have 5 cars--though one of the cars was missing an axle so we were only able to hook up 4 this trip.  The kids loved it.

The children rolling around on the jumper.

Mom and Mags.

Daniel is pretty in love with this picture.  I don't know if it is the face, the background, the lighting or simply the fact that he took it.  Perhaps all of the above.

My niece Kyra. It's a little frizzed in this picture after a long day of play, but Kyra has the thickest and prettiest hair that I've seen on a 3-year-old.  She is pretty lucky.

Here is my brother Evan.  It's weird that he is wearing a bib in this picture because it is actually a pretty good picture of him.  Go figure.

Owen!

My other niece, Addy.

This picture is funny because Owen is actually looking at Grammy to see if she is watching him while he sneaks a grab for the scissors that are on the counter.  This boy is trouble.

Nothin' like a little action from Maggie.  She likes it.

Mom, Maggie and Dad.

Elise swinging away at the playground.

Bagels... a weekend tradition at my parents' place.  It is this nice little bagel shop in Katy run by a friendly Christian family.  Plus the bagels are pretty scrumptious.

Siblings:  Erin, Evan and Kim.  (Really missing my brother, Pat who is on a mission, in this picture).

Oh that Uncle Evan... he's so silly!

These girls are not only cousins but friends.  I love that!

Some of the fam parked out on the bench.  Ryan and Kim on the left, my mom and dad on the right and Maggie conked out in the middle.

Luckily, Mags woke up for this beauty of a picture.

I love this picture... (I think a tear is forming.  Ah, yes, this is why we love grandparents).

Doing crafts with the kids during down time.