Light the Lights

Carter got his own Christmas lights this year and he was thrilled.  We already had the M&M set, but he claimed them as his own.  He plugged them in every night and was in charge of making sure they were on or off and took his job very seriously.  It turned out to be great teaching tool.  He would count them (1-10) every time he was around them and was SO proud of himself, and so were we.

 

 

Pampered Pooch

Decorating the tree or decorating the dog, which is more fun?  If Eddie could just sit in the corner and be decorated, we would go with that...because he obviously likes it.

 

 

Handcrafted

Carter decided to take Grandpa Joe to Home Depot, before we started the drive home, to show him how to do the workshops.  Carter and Grandpa Joe got to build a tool box together.

Grandpa Joe looks a little concerned about Carter's hammering abilities and his fingers being in range.

 

Things got better though and a toolbox was completed.

 

 

 

 

Blades of Glory

Since we were already at Crown Center, we took a few minutes to let Audrey, Ella and Carter do some ice skating before lunch.  And by some, I mean about 5-10 minutes for Carter.  He didn't like that he couldn't really control his feet.  Audrey and Ella lasted a little longer. :)

 

 

 

Seeing how cute he was in the skates though...worth the 5-10 minutes of skating.

 

 

Kansas City Aquarium

Kansas City has a new aquarium that recently opened at Crown Center.  We thought we would check it out while we were home for Thanksgiving.  It isn't huge by any means, but was a good size for Carter.  He had fun checking out all the different kinds of animals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas in the Park

Longview Lake in Kansas City does this great moving light display every year called Christmas in the Park.  I remember going when I was little, and we thought Carter would love it.  We had planned to take him to the Plaza lights Thanksgiving night, but we decided it was a little too cold for him and maybe it would better another year.  Since we couldn't do that, we headed to Longview.  It isn't very close or on the way home from Great Grandma Helen's house, but it was worth it to see this look on Carter's face.  He loved checking out all the lights.  It is a display that you drive through.  They have a ton of moving light displays.  This one in the picture had snowmen that took their hats on and off.  They also had planes that move across, skiers and lots of other things.  It was a great memory I had when I was little and now with Carter too.

 



New Ride

One of the other Christmas gifts Carter got to open while we were in Kansas City for Thanksgiving was from the whole Soltis side of the family.  It was pretty chilly while we were there, so Carter got all bundled up to go outside for a little bit.  By the way, this is the smile you still get lately, when you ask him to smile for a picture.

When he walked outside, his present from everyone was waiting.  Grandma Bonnie thought it would be better to give it to him early because we could take it back with us in the car.  He walked out, saw it and got really excited about it.  When it started moving though (it's motorized), he wasn't so sure.  After a little coaxing though, he was back on it and trying to run over Audrey. :)  He loves it and loves that it looks just like Great Grandma Helen's.