Christmastime stuff

So I am thinking that if I actually updated this thing every week, it wouldn't take me so long to do it. As such, I am not going to bother trying to put these pictures in any order, instead you are going to get a stream of consciousness style update.

First, here we have another for the list of things that I let the boy do that I probably shouldn't:

 Yes, that is the Boy using a knife. He likes to help make dinner and I figured the sooner I taught him how to use a knife, the sooner he can start making me dinner!!

December means one thing in the Church world, Stake Basketball (The brawl that begins with a prayer.) Owen loves basketball, so he was very excited to go watch Papa play, and maybe get some dribbling in himself.

 He wanted me to lift him up so he could dunk...sorry buddy, I'm 5'10" and you are 3'4"...not quite there yet.

 We are working on the dribbling thing, he likes to bounce the ball.

 This picture is good because it shows all the get-up I have to wear to play. Let's start at the bottom: 

My right ankle has an ankle brace

Both of my shins have shin-splint braces

My right knee has a brace

My right arm has an arm sleeve (that is totally a placebo)

And I wear a headband to keep the sweat from making my glasses skip off of my head.

 Don't mess with my impressive vertical!!

 Owen watched for a bit, but impressing the other kids with Beki's iPod was more engaging.

Owen's friend Dean came over on Friday (there are no pictures because Beki was working a bit late and I was trying to make sure that the house didn't burn down) and we played with balloons. Turns out that balloons are fun for the whole family, as we spent Saturday morning being silly. 

 This has nothing to do with balloons, but it is all about being silly!

 Ah a Science lesson. Mommy has the ability to make the balloon stick to the ceiling. Owen thinks this is amazing!

 The balloon fell, and so Owen decided that he was going to pick it up and put it back himself. Look at his thinking with stacking the pillows.

 We talked him out of trying to climb the pillows, and after a couple of hits, he got the orange one to stick!

In every parent's life there are times when you see your children behaving in ways that you know they got from you... such as:

 *sniff* I am so proud!! *sniff*

 Last Monday night we made a Christmas countdown chain, so this week I decided that it was time to do another fun Christmastime Tradition...Snowflakes. Owen loves scissors, so he was all about this:

 Owen found though that cutting folded paper is kind of hard...

 So mommy helped him...

 Ta-Da...Owen loved the part where you get to open them and see what they look like!

 Here is another one!

I wish I could explain what the Boy is doing here, but as is usually the case, I have no clue!

Finally, it cannot be Christmastime without me staying out in the cold trying to get the Christmas Lights right. I was a bit smarter about it this year and did most of the lights during the day, but if you want to make sure that everything looks right, you are going to have to go out in the dark and make adjustments. In the end, considering that we don't have the funds to buy more lights, I am pleased with the end result: (The picture is kind of blurry because taking pictures in the dark is hard!)