Year in Review

Along with their "auto-awesome" photo enhancements, Google+ was so kind to create a Year-In-Review video from all of my 2013 photos.  While not all of these are photos I would have chosen to represent the year, I do think it's fun to see how much the kids have grown.

(Even though the images will scroll through on the screen, if you press play they are set to music and move slower.)

Merry Christmas!

The Ferner family had a very merry Christmas this year!  Santa (and the grandparents and aunts and uncles) spoiled us as usual.

On Christmas morning, Ian went straight for his Santa sack and Mia went right for the new trampoline.




Santa came through with the Ninja Turtle bus Ian asked for!


Macy the puppy added some extra chaos to the festivities.  (She's Emily's, not ours!)


Mia's filling up the tank with her new gas pump for the Cozy Coupe.


Ian loved his City Center and his Batman jail.


The trampoline is a hit!

Holiday Show 2013

The kids' school held a holiday program again this year.  Mia's class dressed up as Santa's elves and performed a "skit" of making toys in the workshop.  She was less than interested in participating.



She did look pretty cute in her elf hat and Christmas shirt, though.




She also insisted on wearing her hair like this all day.


Ian's class performed two songs, one rhyme about a snowman melting and one rendition of the Chipmunk Christmas Song.  Ian is still not feeling 100%, but he did his best to sing a few lines toward the end.

Donuts

This weekend I made biscuit donuts for breakfast.  The kids were in charge of shaking the donuts in powdered sugar.  Unfortunately they liked the shaking more than they liked eating the donuts, so I guess we won't be making them again any time soon.

Philadelphia

This weekend we had an adventure in Philadelphia.  We decided to take a quick trip for a change of scenery.

Ian refueled with some lunch and M&Ms before the last hour of the drive.


We visited the Please Touch Museum, Philadelphia's children's museum.  The kids tried out the trolley car.


Making the feathers fly.


Riding the monorail.


Ian practiced being a crane operator.


The duck pond was Mia's favorite.


Getting ready to deliver the mail.


Ian thought staying in a hotel was really fun.  Here they are having some early morning snacks, not quite awake yet.


On Sunday morning we did some touring of the museum district before heading home.  Ian liked the Logan Square fountain best.


Mia just wanted to watch, and occasionally throw in some gravel.


We climbed the famous stairs at the Museum of Art.


We made it all the way to the top!






Our last stop was the famous Love statue and fountain.  Ian didn't like the fountain, but Mia thought it was fun.




It was such a nice day we got out the water table when we got home, and Mia really enjoyed it!

Pudding Face

Lately Mia has been insisting on eating her meals with utensils.  Tonight we let her attempt some chocolate pudding after dinner, and it was a hit!



She did pretty well with the spoon, but eventually she gave up and just used her fingers.




And, because I forgot to upload this one, here she is in her Valentine's Day accessories - Ian's pasta necklace and sunglasses that I hope she'll tolerate outdoors this summer.

Valentine's - Part 2

The kids came home today to find balloons and gifts from their Valentine (i.e., Mom).  Mia toted her gifts around for a while until she got bored of them and went after Ian's chocolate.



Last night we went out to dinner after Ian's science class and it was Kids' Night so they each got a free scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert.  Mia really enjoyed hers, and what we couldn't catch on video was the shiver and giggle she did every time she got a big bite.

I am way behind on my blogging, as I still haven't put together a post about Christmas and our trip to St. Louis.  In the meantime, here are some highlights to tide you over.

Mia and Ian sharing goldfish.  Mia kept throwing hers backwards for the dogs, and Ian would make a noise that made her giggle so she kept doing it over and over again.


This weekend we enjoyed the warm weather with a trip to Burke Lake.




Tonight Ian gave Mia a ride on his plasmacar.

Holiday Show 2012

This year our daycare held their 1st Holiday Show.  All of the classes practiced their performances for weeks, and some even made costumes.

Mia's class was supposed to dance to "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" but the performance can only be described as a total disaster.


Ian's class sang three songs.  Ian knew all the words and sang along the whole time, but he didn't seem to be enjoying himself very much.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer:


Jingle Bells:


Feliz Navidad:

Ocean City 2012

Last week we made our 3rd annual trip to Ocean City.  The weather was a little cool so we didn't do a lot of swimming, but the kids enjoyed playing in the sand.



















Mia didn't like the sand at first, but she did decide it tasted pretty good.








Ian was terrified of the ocean and wouldn't go anywhere near it without some coercion and the promise of water for his dump truck.


One afternoon we went to a bay side restaurant with a play area for the kids.




Ian's favorite part of the week was mini golf.  We played two different courses and on the very last hole he got a real hole in one all by himself!

In this picture he is making his pirate face since this hole was inside a pirate ship.




Of course, no beach trip is complete without some Thrasher's french fries on the boardwalk.