Ho...Ho...Nope

We have really screwed up with the whole Santa thing.  We haven't put much emphasis on him over the years.  I'm not even talking about believing in him or not believing in him.  Our son just doesn't care about him much.  He knows he gets presents from other people, and the thought of sitting on a stranger's lap freaks him out.  It's not even worth a present.  Tily on the other hand has been talking about Santa a lot.  I selfishly wanted a picture of my kids with Santa, but I finally decided that freaking out at a local store or restaurant wasn't worth it.  

Then I remembered that we own a Santa Suit.  So I talked to Brighton about it, and we decided on a Daddy...I mean Santa visit Saturday night.  Great compromise, right?  Not so much.  Brighton thought it was great, but I think we may have scarred Tilden for life.  Go figure.  We screwed up with Santa again.  Tily was still scared the next morning.  I thought it was a great idea, but I think it turned into darn near parenting cruelty.

You can't see Tilden freak out, but you can hear her, and you can see the camera jolt after she clings on to me for dear life.  Ho...ho...nope.

Favorite Things

Love The Sound of Music.

Love it on stage.

Love that I went with my son.

Love that he loved it.

These are a few of my favorite things...

Christmas Party #1

First celebration of the season goes to the extended Genzink clan.
Plus, they do it up right: lots of fun people, catered dinner, gym to play in, many yummy desserts, and there are gifts.

Life is good.  Bring on the holidays!

Siblings Sledding

They've never done this before as this was Tily's first time sledding.

She of course LOVED it. Good times.  

At the bottom of the hill, that's both of them screaming, "Again!"

Siblings Sledding, 2013 from Lindsay Walcott on Vimeo.

That's Clubby

Here is our Daddy...

sporting a really nice bow tie.

Plus, he tied it all by himself.

I was very impressed.

Brighton wasn't; 

he told him he looked like his

principal, Mr. Brandsen.

Walcotts would say he looks "clubby."  

This mama agrees.

Tily's Trim

Great Wolf Lodge

Thanksgiving 2013

 

 

Thankful

Before Thanksgiving, I had the day off...thankful for that.


Brighton did not have the day off, so Tily and I headed out right after Brighton did, and we joined him and the students of Rose Park for chapel.

Parents are always welcome, but I normally can't go.  What a gift on this day to join students in their Thanksgiving chapel! 

THANKFUL!

A Great Restaurant

Sorry for those of you hoping to get a fabulous restaurant suggestion.  This is about our very own Walcott Diner.  

We play restaurant over here quite a bit.  This is our Saturday morning menu. Those are pancakes.   Brighton is host, server, and kitchen assistant.  Sometimes he sneaks off with the iPad, but generally he does a pretty good job.

No idea what's for dinner tonight.  I think we will be playing again though.  I hear the roads are quite icy. I love getting waited on even if it is not quite up to typical restaurant standards.

More Sports

We decided to take in a hockey game this weekend.  Just our local high school team at the Edge Ice Arena. It conveniently started at 6.  Tily and I got in for free.  It was a good time.  Good team.  Good snacks.  Good fans (even though you can't see them).  Good tunes (you can see my kids dancing below).  Good game.

Even though we had a great time, Brighton has no interest in learning how to skate.  Go figure.  He was very impressed, but they were very rough. Oh well, maybe we can show him some calmer skating soon.  Temps are cool enough for the local ice rink to freeze.  Maybe that will happen sooner rather than later.

Brighton and Sports

He is not into soccer.  Not into basketball.  Not yet anyway.  

Climbing?  It's a legit athletic activity, and the boys in this family love it.

Kindergarten is Cool

Brighton has been very busy as a new Kindergartner. He has adjusted to five full days each week very well. Actually, Mommy and Daddy had a harder time than he did. He has been learning so many cool things already. We do lots with letters, sight words, and reading.  Brighton's favorite thing to do right now is write his numbers all the way to 100. He comes home with many items each day. I know I've shared some of them already, but here are a few more.

 

This next one made me tear up at conferences.  Probably the English teacher in me.  None of the words are spelled correctly, but he is starting to put together letter sounds!

 And this next one made his daddy tear up.

I went on a wave runner ride.  I went with dad.

Bright's teacher recommended we video tape him counting because it's so stinkin' cute at this stage...before he has everything straight.  

.

Tily's Latest Talents

She learned it from her brother which I find absolutely adorable.

Can you catch it?  Maybe you can hear the tune.   

You certainly can hear her belting it out.

 "Sing like never before, Oh my soul, Oh....my soul."

The Grape Trick Tradition

Tily Learns the Walcott Grape Trick from Lindsay Walcott on Vimeo.

Thankful

Now That's a Party!

We were invited to a party last weekend.  To be honest, our peer group doesn't do lots of parties, so we were excited to be invited to any party.  But this was a beer tasting party. Jon could not contain his excitement.  He had to bring a six pack of his favorite beer, and this caused great anxiety for him.  He likened it to choosing his favorite child to take to Disney World.

It was some serious beer tasting, and this was seriously Jon's type of party...you can tell by the beautiful smile on his face that you'd be hard-pressed to find at any other time. 

Cousins

Brighton in Chapel

A dear friend grabbed this video for me today.  Soooo precious! Thanks Kim!

Halloween 2013

The Walcotts Hit Chicago

All of us!  We spent a long weekend in Chicago...a very different weekend compared to one without the kids of course, but it was awesome.  Chicago with kids is great!
We swooped in by train (commuter train starting in Michigan City).  We did the children's museum on Navy Pier. We had Chicago pizza at Lou Malnatis.  We rode in a taxi cab (an electric one!).  We explored Millennium Park.  We did some shoe shopping in Nordstrom. We went to Shedd's Aquarium - AWESOME.
We did lots of walking and simply took in the big city through the eyes of our kids: lots more people, lots more buildings - tall ones, lots more streets, lots more cars, lots more honking horns, and lots more sirens.

 

  I know a lot of you read about our adventures and consider doing the same.  We would repeat everything except the children's museum.

The Flip-ala-Bip Tradition Continues

Theme Songs

The songs we keep singing over and over...the theme songs from school and church.

 

Our Fire Station

Brighton had a birthday party at our local fire station today...right down the street.  We have been by countless times obviously, but we've never been inside.  We were able to check out everything: trucks, boats, hoses, gear, and even the jaws of life.  This mama thought it was all super cool, but you should've seen those boys.

Jon's Pumpkins

Jon (and the kids) were inspired by the pumpkin carving contest downtown Holland.  Which led to this...

...for what seemed like FOREVER.  Brighton helped for seconds.  So this is where I must insert an eye roll.  Later on, Jon proudly snapped some nighttime pics, and then I found one of them completely infested with ants the next morning.  It just happened to be the most impressive one too.  Really?  In fewer than 24 hours? 
Sadly, in the trashcan it went.  At least we have the proof...

Fall is Fab

He's our Kindergartener

Brighton's School Picture

Grandpa's Toys

Now that's a precious dress

My mom...

Tilden Jo...

Apples Across the Street

We walked to the end of our driveway to pick apples this year.  Our neighbor has a Golden Delicious tree.  It is overloaded with apples (the branches are even breaking) this year. Bring on the apple goodness! 

Friday Night Football

We went to our first football game of the year.  We had a GREAT time! 

As many of you know our school allegiances have officially been divided this year.  Brighton has a school and this mama has a school.  They are not the same. They just happen to be rivals, but they just happen to both be pretty awesome. 

We are somewhat of a rarity.  We even had someone holler out from the bleachers asking if we should be there (all in good fun of course).   

Don't worry though, there is enough love in our hearts for both fabulous schools/teams!  

We bleed black, white, and maroon.  

Fun at Church

Fall Carnival at our church.  Yes, that is our pastor in the dunk tank :)

Wild Animal Park

There were certainly some really wild animals at Boulder Ridge Wild Animal Park! Even some animals I had never seen

before.  It was a first visit for us, but we will go back for sure. Super cool place!

My little back-up singer...with a pipey

God is so Good to Me! from Lindsay Walcott on Vimeo.

We have a kindergartener!

Pickin' Peaches

Saying Good-Bye to Story Time

We attended preschool story time at the Northside branch of Herrick District Library nearly every Wednesday morning all summer long.  It was a great experience, and ended up being something Tilden even participated in.  We read lots of books and even learned some fun songs.  The "Let's Go Swimming" song is our current favorite.  Check out some other kids enjoying it HERE.

On our last Wednesday before school begins for most of the kiddos, we made ice cream outside.  It was super fun! They gave us the ingredients, some ice and salt, and a couple of ziplock bags.  It went pretty quickly (with lots of shaking) and it was very tasty.  We will miss story time, but we'll be back next summer for sure.