When I Grow Up...

Yesterday, on the way to school, Emmett was looking out the car window at this major development going up in our neighborhood with dump trucks, dozers and diggers. Exciting for a 4 year old boy. He says to me in the most serious tone, "mommy, when I grow up, I want to be a St. Louis construction worker".

Today, we went to the zoo as it was sunny and glorious outside. Our first stop was the penguin exhibit as it is one of our favorites and the first one you see through the entrance. We spent a good 10-15 minutes looking at these black and white animals who were enjoying the frigid air and swimming in the water. I could tell he was studying them deep in thought. Emmett says to me, "mommy, when I grow up I want to be a penguin at the zoo."

All serious every time I hear his latest aspirations and always puts the biggest smile on my face. How about a construction worker in a penguin suit at the famous St. Louis Zoo?! Now we're talking.

Other Xmas Goodies

Saint Louis and Seattle Santas were really good to us this year! Thank you for all the wonderful gifts everyone! We love you and hope you enjoy these shots...

Spiderman with his blow torch, of course!

Emmett's teacher told Santa how much he loves to play with the Marble Deluxe Set at school.

Daddy secretly loves Snuggie's and would never wear one himself (so he says). He was thrilled to see Santa got his son one for TV viewing.

Emmett gets a fighter pilot jacket! WOW! Dreams do come true. Thanks, Santa!

Spiderman Extravaganza

Santa even surprised Emmett with Spiderman sheets. He sent his elves over on Xmas Day to put them on his bed while Emmett was downstairs playing with some of his new toys. That Santa is so sneaky and so good!

We ate our Xmas dinner as Spiderman. We even went to bed dressed as Spiderman.



Emmett and Spiderman = Best Friends Forever

Santa Train

Any excuse we have to hang with our amazing friends we're there with bells and whistles on. This was one event we had to keep reminding ourselves, "we're doing it for the kids". It was a 2.5 hour drive down to Mt. Rainier in the pouring rain, the actual ride was in the dark and the train was so old we crossed our fingers it would get us back to the station. They served awful cookies and Santa looked like he preferred the local tavern over this event any day of the year. Lots of laughs with this one and next year, we'll stay closer to home.

Xmas Tree Cutting

We went to Trinity Tree Farm this year with our dearest friends the Cugiers and Keegans to cut down our trees. It was a glorious sunny day and everyone had a ball. Emmett wasn't up for meeting the man in the red suit and opted for the vintage firetruck instead. We loved our tree and I said it goes down as my favorite one yet in my adult life.