New Year's Eve Pictures

Check. A distinct Christmas theme, including sledding, snow forts, etc.

Kicking off New Year's Eve

We asked Leila what she wanted to do for New Year's Eve. She said we should play Legos, watch a movie and eat dinner, draw pictures, play a game, play with squinkies, and stay up until midnight. Step one and two done. (We watched An American Tail and ate fancy grilled cheese sandwiches, grapes, and tomato soup.). Timeless!

See you later, I'm blasting off!

That's exactly. What she said when se hopped in this rocket at the airport today.

Ushering out Christmas

Leila and grandma Bibi changed the goose out of his Santa suit and into his Valentine's Day outfit.

Snowshoeing

Erica and I went snowshoeing this morning in the beautiful weather.

Leila and Lily Sledding Video

This video shows Leila and Lily sledding down the hill at Iverson Park earlier this week.  After the first run, Leila hopped off the sled and simply yelled, "More, More, More!"

Leila is getting better at skating

We took Leila skating again today, this time at the indoor K.B. Willett arena in Stevens Point.  It was much larger than the ice rink in DC, but Leila was infinitely more confident.  She insisted on skating by herself, and did pretty well.

Rudolph's Helpers

Shoveling on the 2nd day of snow

Christmas presents at the Meeks!

Christmas of impractical gifts

Dear family,
Thank you for the enormous bear, skateboard, and scooter. Next year, don't forget that we are traveling far and wide with said presents :)!

Love, Jason (skateboard) and Leila (bear and scooter)

Hanging with Uncle Chris

Who she has fully forgiven for throwing a shovel full of snow in her face accidentally.

Look who's at the door: SANTA!!

The doorbell rang this afternoon and Leila answered it to find...SANTA!

 Leila invited Santa inside to see the Christmas tree. She showed him the Johnson family tradition of nibbling the gingerbread men who hang from the Christmas tree.

 Posing with Santa Claus.

 Look at Santa walking down our street. How exciting!

 Wow, Santa sneaks around the back of the house.

 There he is again...behind the Blue Spruce!

 Thanks for the visit, Santa. He didn't stay long since he had presents to deliver, but he assured Leila he would be back later when she was sleeping!

Project: Snow Fort

 We arrived in Wisconsin on Sunday to find several inches of fresh snow on the ground. Leila was so excited to bundle up, head outside, and get to work building a snow fort.

 She had some help from Eli & Lily!

 Lily & Leila plotted their snowball attack from inside the snow fort.

 Check out the snow on their hats from crawling through the sole entrance: a kid-sized tunnel!

 Leila built a seat into the side of the fort.

 The entrance/exit to the fort.

 Ta-da! Loving the snow!!

 Lily on her way out of the fort. She's checking carefully for invaders!

Santa Came Early

Leila woke up this morning to discover that Santa had come to her house early to deliver presents because he knew she was going to be in Stevens Point for Christmas.  

 She was very excited to see that Santa brought her a couple of new sets of Legos, including this Cinderella set that she was specifically asking for.

 She got a Monchichi from me, per her insistent request at the toy store in the months leading up that she absolutely loved it, and would be "so happy" if I bought it for her for Christmas.

 Mom got her a mother daughter cookbook and, as you can see, she was thrilled with that as well.

Xmas with Chris, Sara, and Marshall

After a morning of Christmas present opening and breakfast at our house, we went over to Chris and Sara's house for another Christmas celebration.  Leila and Uncle Chris started out by making a Christmas fire.

 Then it was time to open presents.  Leila helped Marshall open his, since he lost interest within about 30 seconds.

Leila got a new digital camera for kids from Chris and Sara.  She was a big fan, and now wants to blog her own pictures.

This was Uncle Chris's Christmas present from me.  However, we made Uncle Chris guess what it was before he could open it.

He guessed correctly.

Then we participated, for the first time, in the tradition of roasting chestnuts on the open fire.

Leila captured the event for posterity.

We roasted them in a popcorn popper in the fireplace.  Leila blew on the fire with a tube to keep it hot, but mostly she used the tube as a horn.

Tradition complete.  They were delicious, especially with the butter and cinnamon mixture on the side.

Washington DC Meeks family Christmas dinner.

A Visit to the National Christmas Tree

I suppose no Christmas in DC would be complete without an early evening (windy and cold) visit to the National Christmas tree at the White House.  You can see both over our shoulders below.

The importance of saying "Thank You"

Leila received this bear as a Christmas gift from Ms. Beatrice, the director of her daycare. The director gave one to each of the 250 kids who attend the several centers that she runs. We went home the same night and Leila spent some quality time making a thank you note for Ms. Beatrice. It was pretty adorable, if I do say so myself (it had this picture printed onto it, she drew a picture of herself hugging the bear...which was drawn far better than I would have done it... and she wrote thank you & signed her name). We left it on Ms. Beatrice's desk the next morning, and when we saw her later that afternoon she told us that of the 250 teddy bears she gave out, Leila's was the only thank-you note she received. She said the thoughtful gesture brought tears to her eyes, and she has the note hanging up in her office. So, in this season of giving and receiving, don't forget the simple gesture of saying "thank you." It is always appreciated, and it goes a long way...

Lego Maze

Leila and Jason built a maze out of Legos for her toys to go through. Pretty creative if you ask me!