We had visits with Santa.  (AJ wasn’t too sure but Thomas was anxious to bend his ear.)

Homemade caramel and Christmas pageants.

And finally Christmas Eve!  Here’s a shot of the kids ready to deck the halls at the Christmas Eve service at church.

We were again blessed this year with a bountiful harvest of presents, all 4 grandparents and Kari’s brother Brian on Christmas day.  Kari cooked a giant turkey and enough food for an army.  I think AJ has the whole unwrapping thing all figured out.

Last but not least for every December is Emma’s birthday.  She had been dropping hints for the last few months that 10 is the age everybody gets their ears pierced.  I’m not sure how true that is, but Emma is a pretty responsible young lady so we surprised her with a present of some real ear rings when we were out to eat for lunch at her birthday restaurant of choice, Hu-Hot.

Emma was very excited — then very nervous — then very proud (and a little bit sore).
Looks pretty grown up, huh?!?

The evening brought 4 of her friends over for a slumber party and a cake she decorated herself with a moon and star scene.  Thought all the girls were asleep by 11:30, but found out the next morning they were up ’til closer to 2:30!  Oh well.  I think they all had a good time and Emma took the first nap she’s had in about 5 yrs the next afternoon.

Happy 10th Birthday, Emma!!  Can’t believe it!

Not the least of which was a big 5-year birthday party for Thomas.  Grandmas and Grandpas and another fabulous cake by Kari helped make it a festive event.

Thomas’ birthday was quickly followed by Halloween, which is nearly as exciting.  As you can see, AJ was old enough this year to start enjoying a bit as well.

We had a witch, Raggedy Ann, an astronaut and a vampire.  It was wonderful weather so they could just wear an extra layer of clothes under their costumes.  Nothing worse than having to wear a big coat over your cool costume!  Our friends the Hands came over to Trick and Treat with us and hit the whole neighborhood.  They are already planning next year’s costumes so I guess they had a pretty good time!

Today we finally decided that AJ’s baby mullet was about long enough and took him down to our favorite barber, Tom, to get his first cut.  Here’s a shot of Kari taking one last look at his flowing locks…

AJ was a perfect customer the whole time.  He was a bit nervous about sitting on the big chair at first, but once Kari volunteered to be his booster seat, he hopped right up and sat still as a statue while Tom went to work.

He suddenly seems so much more grown up — much more of a little boy than a baby.  Sigh… still pretty cute though, huh?

One other little story this month, that I don’t have a picture for but we all thought was pretty funny,  involves Emma and a giant spider she encountered the garage.  It was big enough that she thought it might have been a left over prop from Halloween so she poked her foot at it and it immediately came to life and scurried up and over her shoe.  Emma, who has never been a fan of spiders to begin with, totally freaked out and went screaming inside where she immediately tore off her her shoe and sock and wiped everything down anti-bacterial wipes.  She then insisted on taking a shower and had to be convinced to not just throw her shoes in the garbage.   Since I’m the dad, I got the job of taking care of the spider.  I’ll have to admit, it was a big one.  Big and hairy.  I could tell a quick squeeze with some kleenex was not going to cut it so I got my framing hammer and I got him.  It took 2 whacks, but I go him.  Ewww.  I’m with you Emma.  Being a dad can be a hard job sometimes.

We are well into our fall school routine now.  Girl Scouts and weekly choir practices for Emma and Kaylee.   Emma also has piano lessons and Lighthouse at church.  Kaylee is playing soccer and Thomas is in preschool 2 mornings a week.  Emma also started her cello lessons at school and goes to orchestra rehearsal once a week (We may buy some Tylenol for the orchestra director as a Christmas present — I can’t imagine standing in front of a room of 100 brand new orchestra students.  Wow.  — Emma sounds great though!)

Kari is leading Emma’s Girl Scout troop again this year and has started babysitting 10 month old Charlie 3 mornings a week for a bit of extra cash.  I’ve been playing my trombone in a few groups at church so my Monday evenings are usually tied up with that.

We had some sad news earlier this month when my Grandpa Gibson passed away.  Not unexpected, but still sad for everybody.  It was great to hear about all of his heroism during WWII and to remember the inspiring way he led the rest of his life.  What a wonderful role model.  Here’s a picture of him helping me make some ice cream when I was little.  Great memories of a great man.

One of the cool things about fall in Iowa City is Hawkeye football!!  Go Hawks!  Kari and I made it to the Pitt game thanks to some friends with extra tickets and got to watch the biggest comeback in school history.  Glad we didn’t leave early (and thanks again Grandma Boggess for helping out with the kids!!).   Then Mom had to work for the Louisiana-Monroe game so, being the good son that I am, I agreed to fill in for her.  Another good game for the Hawks and always good to hang out with Dad for a few hours.

Emma had a good idea last Thursday to have a picnic by the river so we made some sandwiches and went over by the foot bridge by IRP to enjoy the nice weather and search from some clam shells.

We showed AJ how he could chuck rocks into the river and he just worked on his arm the whole rest of the time.  He really likes to chuck rocks.

Summer is fun, but fall in Iowa definitely has it’s perks.  How cool is swinging off of a rope swing into a big pile of leaves?!?  Just doesn’t get much better than that.

Kaylee turned 7-years old to start off the month.  Her actual birthday was pretty low key with just a few neighbors playing in the yard and some smiley face pancakes at IHOP for supper.  Then a few days later the real party started as our house was filled with grandparents and 7 extra 1st grade friends.  Kaylee decided on a camping theme so we set up the tent in the back yard and had s’mores cooking in the fire pit.  It was beautiful weather and a fun time.

Kaylee even got a new bike!

The next week was the annual Gibson Annual Golf Game weekend so Heather and Ashlee’s families were all back in Iowa City.  The Meester cousins spent the whole week at Grandma and Grandpa’s house and playing with all of our kids.  They spent one of the nights at our house and they all slept down in the basement, which finally has carpet (Hooray!!!!!).  They decided the storage area under the stairs was just like Harry Potter’s room in the book, so Emma and Audrey both slept under the stairs.  It’s fun that they all seem to get along so well.

August 18th marked the first day of school.  Emma is now a 4th grader in Ms. Neveln’s class, which she was happy about.  She complained about having to go back to school, but I think she was secretly pretty excited.  Now she’s come home saying she wants to play the cello.  The cello!?!  You can’t be in the marching band with a cello!  Oh well — I bet she’ll be a pretty good cellist if she puts her mind to it.  Kaylee is now in first grade in Miss Bueter’s class and loves it.  She’s so good at making friends and seems to really enjoy school.  Thomas started his last year at Christ the King Preschool.  He was very proud of himself this week because he was the first one to raise his hand to answer a question about a word that starts with the letter “T”.  “”T” for Thomas!”  Way to go Thomas!

And now on to football season.  Thomas is totally psyched.  We were watching some old Hawkeye football highlights on an internet video I was emailed today and he was cheering and yelling “Touchdown!” at the computer.  Pretty fun stuff.

We rode the shuttle over to the annual Fry Fest in Coralville tonight and got to meet Herky and see Dan Gable and the band and the Golden Girl.  (The brainwashing starts early in our household!)

AJ was surprisingly unafraid of the giant helmeted raptor.  He saw him from across the room and he excitedly announced, “Herky!”  (Like I said, we start them early.)  I love this picture!

Boy.  It was really hot outside today.  Bring on fall!

Starting out on Tuesday, the weatherman was making it look like that might be the only dry day all week, so we got up and drove straight to the biggest skyscraper we could find — Willis Tower (Sears Tower still seems to roll off the tongue a bit easier, but whatever) (As a side note, Kari and I hadn’t been up there since our first date, nearly 14 years ago!)   They’ve now installed “The Ledge” –  a glass box that you can walk out into.  It wasn’t quite as scary as I thought it might be, but it was still pretty cool.  AJ was the funniest.  He went cruising out toward the glass floor and then came to an abrupt halt, right at the edge and wouldn’t budge as he stared 103 floors straight down to the street below.  After a bit of prodding from his fearless siblings he inched his way cautiously out onto the glass.  Once he was out there he must have thought it was pretty neat though, because he screamed bloody murder when we picked him up to let somebody else have a turn. 

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From there we walked over to Millennium Park to let the kids splash around in the water and then off to our friends, the Ostema’s, for some good barbeque that night.  (Thanks again, “O”!)

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Wednesday morning we got up and it looked like rain, but figured the heavy stuff wasn’t going to come down for quite a while so we headed off for the Lincoln Park Zoo as planned.  Just as we pulled in the skies opened up with thunder and lightning – yikes.  Luckily, the storm lasted just long enough to scare all the fair weather crowds away and we ended up having a lovely, if a bit overcast, day at the zoo and beach.  We were able to hook up with our friends Glenn and Tiffany and their daughter to give us the grand tour and take this nice looking family picture for us.

After the zoo we walked over to North Avenue Beach to let the kids splash around a bit.  It was almost a disaster because we somehow forgot to bring along Emma’s swimsuit, but she was a good sport about it and just jumped in with her clothes on.  Having never been to the ocean, the girls thought the Lake Michigan waves were awesome and could have stayed there all day playing around in the surf.  Thomas thought the waves were cool as long as they didn’t go up over his knees, and spent his time playing in the sand.  AJ spent most of his time annoyed that he couldn’t get his hands clean and wishing he had gotten a better nap.  I guess you can’t please everybody.  In the end, the weather held out and Emma has a funny memory about wearing nothing but her dad’s button up shirt on the car ride back to the hotel because her clothes were all wet.  Pretty good day, all in all.

Thursday the crummy weather forecast was right on so we spent the day inside at the Shedd Aquarium watching the dolphin show, the 4-D “Happy Feet” movie and lots and lots of fish.  (This is actually a picture of a friendly polar bear from the day before, not a fish, in case you wondering.  Pretty good picture though, right?)  We gladly took up our friends, the Johnson’s, on their offer to cook us supper that night out in the suburbs.  Thanks again, Jen and Rob!

Friday morning we got up and let the kids take one more dip in the hotel pool before heading up to drive by our old homes in Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates.  Met up with Kari’s former co-worker, Becca, for lunch at McDonald’s and then off to the track in Arlington Heights to see the ponies run.  The kids enjoyed the excitement of the races and seeing the  horses and their jockeys parade around beforehand.  We bet $2 on a horse to win in each of the 4 races we stayed for and, believe it or not, we ended up $4.20 ahead, thanks to Gail’s Jewel in the 3rd.  (That was the one with the pretty brown coat wearing pink.  Good call, kids!)

We were just gone a few nights but the kids all agree it’s nice to be home.

After a few trips to the driving range, Emma thought she was ready to give her golf skills a test on a real course.

We took advantage of some beautiful weather and a special that Pleasant Valley Golf Course offers for beginners (3-holes for $6), and hit the links!

All in all she did pretty good  – some good shots and some bad shots (kind of like me).  By our count she shot about a 40 on her 3-holes for her first time out.

Here’s a picture of one of her best shots of the night.  She nailed a 5 iron over the creek and hit it so well it landed up the hill in the sand trap!  If you look closely you can seen her ball circled in blue.

By the end she said she wanted to keep playing some more holes and go back every week, so I guess that’s a good sign.  Probably didn’t hurt that the $6 included a cart.  (Don’t get too used to the cart thing, Emma, but I’m sure we’ll be back!)

This last month has been fun.  We are just starting to fall into a bit of a routine after school let out  a couple weeks ago.

Started off the summer on Memorial Day weekend with a picnic at City Park and had to make sure all the rides are still in working order  — especially the train.  Everybody loves the train!

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Here’s one of AJ from that day at that park.  I tell ya, that kid is too cool.  He’s constantly adding new words to his vocabulary and is so funny.  I’ll have to devote a whole blog here to just AJ pretty soon.  One little warning in the meantime, however:  Don’t look at him and say the word “bath” unless you mean it.  The second he hear the word he goes squealing with excitement to the stairs as fast as he can go in anticipation.  It’s very funny.  However, if you are not really going to give him a bath, be prepared for a dramatic mood swing!

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Kaylee  played softball this spring for the first time.   2-nights a week we’re out at the ballpark cheering her on.  I got to help coach too, which was fun.  It’s set up so the coaches pitch 4 balls and then we pull out the tee.  Everybody bats every inning and nobody gets out.  Not a real cut-throat league, but considering a good portion of my coaching responsibility is just to remind the girls to stop playing in the dirt while in the field, that’s probably for the best.   Kaylee and all the girls have shown a lot of improvement this year.  Kaylee can totally crush the ball when she gets a hold of it!

Speaking of Kaylee, we attended a spectacular Kindergarten Graduation Ceremony for her and her classmates.  It was complete with a slide show, musical performances by the kindergartners and the handing out of certificates from the principal.  (Somehow I don’t seem to remember a formal ceremony when I “graduated” from kindergarten?  What a jip.)  Anyway, it was quite a deal and we are very proud of her.  Both of the girls, for that matter.  Not to brag, but their report cards go on and on about what great students and role models they are.  We are very proud, indeed!

Emma had a fun opportunity this last weekend.  The Iowa City Airport was running a program with Girl Scouts and the Young Eagles, giving out free airplane rides to girls between the ages of 8-17.  Emma was in an airplane once before, but she was only 6-months old at the time, so it doesn’t really count.  This one totally counted!

She was pretty nervous strapping in.  (We were a bit nervous too!  It was an odd looking plane with the propeller in the back and the word “EXPERIMENTAL” painted in big letters on the door that opens up.  Umm.  Experimental, huh?)  Anyway, all went well and Emma had a blast.  She was up for probably 15-20 minutes and flew around south of town.  She said they were going 160 mph and the pilot let her steer it left a right a couple times while there were up!  In her own words after she landed, “I can’t stop smiling!”

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And last, but not least, check out Thomas’ new haircut.  As the weather started getting hotter and hotter, Thomas’ floppy curls started looking more and more uncomfortable.  Then Michael, next door, got all his hair cutoff for the summer, and Thomas thought he’d like a short cut too.  Well, 5-minutes with the clippers and the rest is history.  Went to church today and people didn’t even recognize him without his trademark curls!  He looks so much older, doesn’t he?  Thomas said he wanted it cut even shorter!  (They’ll grow back, right?)

There were tons of people, but we got the insiders tour from our good friends, the Harms, who showed us around.

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We sampled some Dutch Letters and bologna on a stick.  Anything on a stick always tastes better.

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Turns out we were a bit over dressed, weather-wise.  With winter still fresh in our memory, we wore jeans and packed jackets – just in case.  Turns out we should have packed shorts and wore sunscreen.  Except for AJ, who still loves wearing his hats, we were all burned to a crisp by the end of the day.   Can’t complain though- the weather was awesome.

Sunday morning brought homemade necklaces and cards for Kari.  Emma played bells at church then across town to mom and Dad G’s house where Dad and I cooked up some steaks and stuff for the moms.  Not too bad, if I do say so myself.  Got a fun picture of Kaylee out picking “flowers” in the field behind their house.

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Then to Mt. Vernon for their annual “Chalk the Walk” festival to check out the art and add a bit of our own.

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We were all pretty worn out by the end of the weekend…

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but when there’s a smile on Mom’s face, it’s all worth while!!!!   Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms!  You’re the best!