Merry Christmas #1

We are going to be in Idaho for Christmas, so Andy and I decided to give Santa Claus a call and ask if he would come to our house for an early Christmas (that way "Santa" wouldn't have to take up luggage weight and space on the flight home to Idaho;)). Luckily, Santa agreed and made a special trip just for Grayer!!

So for "Christmas Eve" we celebrated by attending our Ward Christmas Party and then took a drive through a few neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights. Grayer loved it, which made it all pretty magical!! Back at home we set out cookies and milk for Santa then headed to bed.


"Christmas Morning" Grayer woke up nice and early and found that Santa had eaten the cookies and also left presents for him under the tree....

Grayer and all the Goods!!! 

 Later that day we went to another Christmas Party! Andy's voice teacher, Katherine, hosts a party each year for her vocal studio and we love to go because we love her and are so grateful for all she does for Andy.

Andy with other members in his studio.

Our family with Katherine and her husband, Mark.

Every year Mark and Katherine give Grayer a present to open.
This year he got this awesome sled!!

 We had a wonderful time celebrating an early Christmas!!!!

Last of November - First of December

This year for Thanksgiving we went to my (Susan's) cousins place in Cleveland, OH. 

We live about 4 hours from Cleveland and I have another cousin who lives in Pittsburgh, PA which is about 2 hours from Cleveland, and we all got together and had an absolute blast. 

I was determined to take lots of pictures while we were there but alas my camera only came out twice because we were having too much fun to remember to take pictures. 

Here are a few from Thanksgiving Dinner!

None of the pictures are real great:( 

My cousin, Justin, is in the green shirt at the end of the table.  

Grayer and cousin Wyatt; Grayer's favorite playmate.

 Across from Grayer is Anela, another fun cousin to play with. 

 My cousin, Thomas, is in the navy blue sweater.

Grayer and Wyatt pretending to be race cars one morning. 

(It looks like Grayer is pushing Wyatt, but he really is not)

Now December is here and the Gilchrists are excited for Christmas!! 

Our little tree is up. We have had our first skiff of snow, which Grayer insisted on playing in. We have made our "Ginger Guy" cookies. Grayer is learning a new Christmas song. Our shopping is pretty much complete, thanks to Black Friday. And we are counting down the days till we fly home to Idaho to be with family for Christmas!!! 

     

You can kind of see the snow outside:) 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN...

From your Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman!!

 Oh, and here are our pumpkins this year too!!! 

Preschool Art Work

Grayer painted this picture of our cat, Hermione, at preschool. 

(he calls her Miney)

Can you see the resemblance!?! 

Fun on the Farm

This past weekend we enjoyed a fun filled family day at Stokoe Farms. 

As long as we live here, this place will continue to be an October tradition for the Gilchrists!!

We enjoyed....

 Playing trucks in the rocks

 Racing ducks

 Taking a hay ride

 Walking in a giant hamster wheel 

 Riding a pony named, Star 

 Taking a family bike ride 

And sliding down giant tube slides  

 

We are grateful for fun places to visit and make fun memories!! 

PRESCHOOL

Grayer started Preschool this week!!! 

He goes on Tuesday and Thursday mornings for a few hours.

His teacher's name is Mrs Poulsen. 

He is doing great so far! 

My favorite part is the car ride home after preschool, because he is excited to report on his day at school!!!

Birthday Fun!

At the end of August Andy surprised me with a Birthday trip to Toronto, Canada!

Toronto is about 3 hours away from us so we left the night before my Birthday and stayed in a hotel that night, where we went swimming and had pizza and chocolate milk for dinner. 

The next morning I woke up to Andy and Grayer decorating my hotel Birthday door!!

 

Our plan for the day was to go to the "African Lion Safari" but before we went we wanted to quickly (although it was so busy it wasn't quick) drive through downtown Toronto. WOW!!!     

 After passing 2 Ikeas and resisting the urge to stop and shop we finally made it to the Safari.

For those of you who have been to "Bear World" in Idaho the Safari is like that only A LOT bigger. It took us 2 hours to drive through it. 

It was way super cool!!

The Cheetahs where one of our favorite animals to see. We got a good view and stopped and watch them for a while. (Some of the pictures have a glare because I had to take them through the car window -- sorry).

 

The Baboons got lazy and hitched a ride with some of the cars:) 

Grayer having the time of his life sitting in the passenger seat and watching all the animals.

This was an animal that neither Andy nor I had seen before, it is called a Sichuan Takin.

 They come from China and India

 

After the Safari there was more fun awaiting us... 

We went to a Bird show and to an Elephant show.

 

Then Grayer jumped into a ball pit that was by the playground on our way to the ginormous splash pad!

 

It took me forever to convince Grayer to take off his shirt. He didn't want to be "nakey", but his shirt wasn't slippery enough to slide down the slides so he was getting upset. I pointed out that all the other boys didn't have shirts on and that must of convinced him because he took it off a few minutes later.

 

It was a long day of fun together as a family!! I was one lucky Birthday Girl:)