Oh, Christmas Tree

On Friday, we went out to Hart's Tree Farm in Rockford to cut down our Christmas tree. Will had fun on the (short) tractor/hay ride and also in the petting zoo. Once we found our tree, we went to the Corner Bar for lunch. After Will's nap, we decorated the tree. Will helped put a couple ornaments on the tree but really enjoyed watching us and would bring us ornaments to put on the tree.














Just my size















Tree Hugger





















































































Helping put ornaments on the tree

Happy Thanksgiving!

Anxiously waiting for dinner

Choo, Choo!

It was the week of trains at our house. On Wednesday, we ran over to the botanical gardens to see their "Holiday Traditions from Around the World" and train display. William loves to run around the gardens and watch the trains on the elevated tracks. Then we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's so Will could play with Grandpa's train. He has turned into quite the engineer. He can start/stop the train and knows how to blow the whistle. He looks pretty cute in his engineer hat.





















Bah, humbug!

This and That

Sorry for the poor blog posts lately. We are in the process of doing some remodeling in our basement and haven't had our laptop hooked up for a couple weeks. This post will be a little bit of a "catch up" on life around here.

Office/Basement Remodel: We are in the process of converting one of our basement storage rooms (8' x 16') into a home office for Phil. The desk, bookcases, etc. will be moved in there which will free up half of our basement for a play area. They have roughed in the electrical and the drywall is up. The painter is coming today and will be in and out this week. Our contractor is going to schedule the electrician to put up the lights and get the carpet installers out. I'm hoping for it to be done by the end of next week. We'll see... I'll post pictures once it is all complete.

Oma's 99th Birthday: Oma celebrated her 99th birthday on November 8. We all went to the Hofmeyers for lunch to celebrate. William helped her open her presents.

Elmo Live: I posted a few additional photos from Elmo live below. William keeps asking if Elmo is back in town. Mickey and Friends are coming in the spring so we may take him to see that. He really seemed to enjoy it.

Santa Parade/Children's Museum: We took Will downtown to see the Santa parade on Saturday morning. He had been talking about it all week and was really excited. There were a lot of people downtown and it was quite cold (you'd think he'd keep his gloves on). I think he was expecting it to be like the EGR 4th of July parade where there is room to spread out a blanket. He had a spot on the curb but we had to stand behind him. He made it through the fire trucks and 2 floats before he wanted to go home. So we went to the Children's Museum instead.















A few more photos from Sesame Street Live











































At the Children's Museum - Get In My Belly!













Making Eggrolls

Using the Potty

We've had a little potty in the bathroom for quite a while - just to get Will familiar with it. He would occasionally sit on it (while fully dressed) but didn't really want to actually use it. Lately, he's been showing signs he's getting close to being ready for potty training: he goes longer stretches with a dry diaper, typically goes into another room when he has to go for "privacy," and wants his diaper changed immediately. At school, they also have a little toilet that he thinks is pretty cool.

The past few nights, we've been encouraging him to try to use the potty either before or after his bath. And three out of the four nights we've tried it, he's actually peed. He asks us to leave the room and close the door and then will call us in when he's done. He's very proud of himself when he actually goes.

The pediatrician recommends that we don't officially potty train until after baby #2 arrives, but we're excited about the progress!

La la la la, La la la la. Elmo's World.

On Saturday morning, we took Will to see "Elmo Live" at the Van Andel arena. We went with a few of our friends and their kids (5 kids total). We weren't sure how Will would do but he seemed to really enjoy it. It was about an hour an a half including a 15 minute intermission (read: opportunity for them to sell $10 Elmo balloons which we did not buy). After the intermission, you could tell all the kids were getting a little restless. Phil and Will walked around for a few minutes but for the most part, he sat in his seat (smiling and giggling) and paid attention. He's been asking if he can see Elmo again so it must have had a lasting impression on him.

After the show (it was at 10:30 am) our friends came over for pizza and some play time.

Trick or Treat!

We had a great Halloween. William was super excited all day to go trick or treating. We had some friends over for pizza before heading out. All the kids cooperated with their costumes - even Phil dressed up (which Will thought was hysterical)! Once they were all dressed, they loaded into the wagon and we started out. Will did a great job of saying "Trick or Treat" and "Happy Halloween" at each house. With a little prompting, he remembered to say "thank you." He kept asking when we could go to the next house to get more candy.

He had a few pieces of candy last night and totally crashed when he went to bed. This morning, the first thing he did was look for his candy pail and start looking at all his loot.

Elise, Joseph, and William

































Trick or Treating in Style