Gabe's December Day 6

Gabe's wishlist for Santa:
Zombie Lab, Pirate Set, Legos, Nerf Guns, Swat Uniform, Robots, Spy Gear, Barrel of Monkeys

Gabe's December Day 5

Tasting Great Grandma Purdy's peanut butter cookies for the first time.

Gabe's December Day 4

These special glasses make the tree appear to have hundreds of snowmen all over it!

Gabe's December Day 3

December 3rd, Gabe and Ayla met a new friend Oliver, who is also homeschooling! The three of them watched the Lights Fantastic parade and we went over to Oliver's house for hot cocoa after.

Gabe's December Day 2

We had a lovely Christmas-y kind of day. Pa and Memaw took us out to lunch and then to the SIU craft fair, and then to Cruistados for dessert. Cruistados has a really neat circular rack in the middle of their shop with loads of toys under $1. There were SO many cool plastic toys to choose from, Gabe had a really hard time deciding. Finally, he chose the handlebar mustache eraser.  Whaaa?

Gabe's December Day 1

This year, Christmas seems especially magical for this little guy. A couple of days ago, he told me "Mom, this is going to be the best Christmas EVER!". I asked him what made him say so, and he listed so many reasons. One was that we were going to have TWO trees this year. Gabe and Ayla are going to "craft" their own tree this year- they've already made cranberry garland and a couple of ornaments. A glitter star is in the works.

I'm going to challenge myself and see if I can take a photo every day of this magical time for the kids.  Pictured above is the tree they are working on.

Big Fall Update

Gabe has had an exciting and active Fall season. From turning 6 to harvesting fruits and veggies to raking leaves, to fall festivals and lectures at SIU. Mom has unfortunately had a very busy season too and has not always been able to be there with the camera to capture these moments.

Gabe just had an exciting weekend though and we wanted to share:

He went to promote to his yellow belt!

He rode a horse!

And was a Beekeeper for Halloween!

Summertime and the livin is easy

One of Gabe's favorite restaurants- in his words "for special occasions". Fujiyama Japanese steak house with cousin Kassidi Aunt Cindy and Grandma Mary Jane

He's been fixated on this pocket French book. He asked us once on a car ride once if we'd like to know the names of some French food and wine.

He's a big help to Mom!

Early B-day presents from PaPaw Pat, Uncle Alex, Aunt Tina and Olivia!

"The Collection" . This should be a post entirely to itself- maybe it will be someday. This collection- currently housed in an antique toy suitcase Gabe purchased at auction, is full of interesting artifacts only a person so close to the earth could discover. A recent addition is a shard of milky white glass with scalloped edging with the date "July 20 1886" on it. Gabe unearthed it at Buttermilk Hill while "working" in the veggie garden.

4th of July weekend adventure!

Gabe had a neat Indiana adventure! First was Holiday World and Splashin Safari- no pics from there, but you can imagine Gabe had a good time :). Next, a special visit with the REAL Santa who was on vacation from the North Pole in Santa Claus Indiana. Next up was Santa's Cand Castle where Gabe got to eat a frozen hot chocolate and also pointed to the Red Rider gun above the fireplace and said "THAT is what I want for Christmas!!" It made the entire drive to Indiana worth it, just to be able to say "You'll shoot your eye out, kid!". We made it to our hotel room in Jasper, IN and crashed- Gabe was a total bed hog! After a nice breakfast and walk in the park, we made our way to "Fuzzies" for a round of miniature golf, arcade games and go kart racing! As the storm clouds gathered, we visited the old town Mill for a little educational injection- Gabe got to press the button that turns the wheel on! Lunch was at a very nice Chinese style restaurant where Gabe entertained no less than 5 waitresses as they gathered around our table to hear him tell of the great storm of May '09 and how he survived. It was off to Marengo Cave next! Gabe was just bursting with questions, he kept interrupting the guide to ask them. Good thing she was really nice and appreciated his enthusiasm! After mining for some gemstones, we decided to hit the open road. On the long drive home, we saw what could be mistaken as Hogwarts, but was really an Arch Abbey on top of a hill. And we didn't even take pictures of the lake and fireworks on Monday... Phew!

Gabe bowling!

Gabe really perfected a unique technique by the end of ten frames! He wishes he could bowl every day now.