Monday, December 30, 2013

Buddy the Elf... HE'S BAAAAACK!

Our Elf on the Shelf, "Buddy",
returned to our house again this year and he brought a whole new bag of tricks with him!
I tried to take pictures of his silly stunts...
Here were some of our favorites:
Buddy the Super-Hero Elf

Enjoying a relaxing marshmallow bubble bath (in the dollhouse...). 

He must have been really tired these nights,
not all that creative...

Gone fishin... 
(They LOVED this one!)

On one of the nights Maeryn slept in her sleeping bag in our room,
Buddy tucked himself in her bed with some of his friends.  

He was a baaaaad boy this night... 


 Buddy's got a sweet tooth - he hit the Halloween candy pretty hard.

More shenanigans...
Ziplining through the house with some friends! 


Marshmallow Snowball fight with Jessie the cowgirl. 



He's not all trouble though.
We also caught him reading the Christmas Story in Maer's bible. 

Admiring the snow outside... 

Making a Sprinkle-Angel.  

One of my personal favorites...
Graffiti-ing our family pictures!


Another classic, one week before Jesus' Birthday... 

A home-made Christmas card from Buddy and his friends.

And on the night before we left for Arizona, he wrote a special note... 
(with a little surprise)



And finally, on Christmas morning he landed at Nana's house for one last day with us
before he had to leave and return to the North Pole with Santa!  

Thank you so much for all the fun this year Buddy, we can't wait to see you again next December.

Botanical Garden Glow

The Botanical Garden started a new light display this year called the Garden Glow.
We went on the COLDEST night of the year I think!

We dressed warm and still had a great time though.
Even Johnny Boy loved seeing all the lights. 
One of my favorite displays was a huge tree that had hundreds of lanterns hanging from branches.
The flames were artificial (we think), but looked sooo real and very cool! 
Another favorite spot - The Shaw House and Tree. 

We will certainly go back next year - maybe on a warmer night though!

Friday, December 20, 2013

Maybe I'm not as creative and original as I thought...

Now that Johnny is getting older I'm starting to realize how often we have been repeating ourselves!

Johnny 2013 vs Maeryn 2010

And again... 
Oh well, at least they're both just as cute as the other!

Go Colts!

We had fun this fall cheering for our Parkway Central Colts
who made a run for the State Championship but came up just a little short in the final game.

This was the State Semifinal game at Central.


Maeryn LOVES the marching band!


(Johnny loves the snacks)

Good thing we have our coaches rain jackets!

They were not so thrilled about the weather, but it was a close game - we couldn't leave!

Good thing we stayed, COLTS WIN!

At the Edward Jones Dome - where the Rams play!
State Finals!!


Maer's favorite part... Halftime show!



The Colts (in black) had a great run, with some very special players.
A couple kids will play at Mizzou next year 
and our big Jonathon Bonner with continue his career at Notre Dame!

Unfortunately, we were just a little outnumbered in the State Finals... 

Thursday, December 19, 2013

Fall Leaves

A fun day in the park back in November, playing with leaves...











And some playground time!