Sweet Baby Nene

Holidazzle

Jim says that we went to the Holidazzle parade in Minneapolis a few years ago with James, when he was about 2 years old. I guess I don't remember it!

I purchased "hot seat" tickets in the warm tent because I didn't want to risk very cold weather with such a little one.

First, James found his souvenir almost immediately. A large glow wand thingie!

The little boy next to us in line was so jealous :(

James doesn't look thrilled but he was excited to have his glow wand, and the anticipation was contagious!

I didn't take any good pictures of the parade itself. It was difficult to take pictures of moving lights, and then through the plastic sheet/wall... no. No pictures.

I did take this picture of James watching the parade, with lights behind him. It is a dark picture but I like it. He's such a little boy at times.

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Receiving and Giving

James wrote out his Christmas list, with help.

If you need a translation:

"Dear Santa

Gold launcher

Water game

Beyblade

More beyblade

Money 100

From James"

On to the giving!

We attended the Spring Lake Park schools Lions thingie. I don't even remember what it was called- which is a shame because it was a good idea for James.

James colored while we waited our turn.

Finally our turn came and James was able to shop with a teen helper. They had many tables set up with gifts that ranged from 50 cents to $2. James was able to pick out five gifts for five people.

The teen helper assisted with gift wrapping too! So the gifts would be a complete surprise even to us.

Juan, the teen helper, was very nice...

but he forgot ME in the recipient list. James came back with four gifts and not five. WAAAAAA!

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First Big Snow

Early December!

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Henry

Henry is another good buddy from kindergarten. We were ready to host a friend at our house and we started with Henry. James wanted to include George too but I wanted to see how we did with one friend first.

I was pretty hands off with the boys, just taking pictures in secret every once in a while.

They amused me a lot.

There was one awkward moment when James had a pouty fit and I had to tell James to suck it up! Or no more play dates! He took a few more minutes to calm himself and then jumped back into playing with Henry. Henry, in the meanwhile, played quietly with all of the new-to-him toys and Legos. He was fine, just fine.

Old school gaming.

New school gaming.

Henry is a very sweet little kid. I'm glad he is a friend of James!

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Christmas books

We were still enjoying Christmas books up until just recently. I had that huge stack of books that I wrapped from Sneaky. We opened one book a day.

I don't think we need any more books for a long, long time!

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Playdate with George

George's Mom called one Sunday afternoon and asked if we were available for a very last minute playdate. I had my phone on speaker phone so James was jumping up and down in excitement, so how could you say no??

I swear, we were in the car five minutes later. James spent the next few hours at George's house for his first playdate at a friend's house. I believe it went well! James has wanted to go back, so that's a good sign. We are hoping to host George at our house next time!

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Final Sneaky pictures

Sneaky wants to go on a trip with Dad too!

"Do you like your present?? Ha Ha Ha Sneaky made a funny joke!"

Sneaky must have watched Mom make pancakes that night. He made his own pancakes after his North Pole flight!

James fell off the bed on this night, requiring a bandaid for a small scratch. Sneaky must have copied James, and hurt himself even worse!

Slippers for everyone!

The night before Christmas Eve...

The idea was that James would have to bust through the streamers to get out. James CRAWLED UNDER the lowest streamer, snuck downstairs, and was 4 presents in before we heard him unwrapping! More on that later... :)