Benton Christmas Parade

I love all the community happenings that take place at Christmastime. One particular happening is our local Christmas parade and Dickens Christmas. The parade happens at night and it isn't the biggest parade in the area, but it is fun and the boys really enjoyed it this year. AND the weather was mild...we didn't freeze our tails off this year!

Before the parade the boys got to sit with Santa. Finn was okay with it, Keagan was not. At least not at first...then he warmed up and told Santa all that he wanted. I initially tried to get Keagan to warm up to Santa by kneeling with him...I don't know what happened, but even Santa got a good laugh out of "it."

Finally waiting for the parade to start. These pictures make me laugh because you can see what a small town it is...most of the "floats" were people's personal cars adorned with Christmas lights or church trailers. Hahaha...so, maybe not the most exciting. But they threw candy and that made the boys' night.

After the parade we hung around downtown for a bit for some of the Dickens Christmas festivities. It was super crowded and Josh and I were headed to a neighborhood Christmas party later that night, so we didn't stay long. But we did find Olaf in Christmas lights and then a live nativity...

Keagan really couldn't keep his eyes off Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus in the live nativity. He is really starting to question and try and put together that Christmas is celebrated because of Jesus' birth. I love the innocence and intrigue that is displayed in these pictures. At one point he whispered to me that baby Jesus wasn't really a baby...I had some explaining to do, but I enjoyed his inquiring. 

Christmas Performances

Keagan had two Christmas performances back-to-back earlier this week. On Sunday he did Ringers and Singers at church...and that was, well, interesting. Then on Monday he had his preschool program. This was much better, and we were very proud. Of course, both programs required that Keagan wear Christmas outfits...and being that he is a boy we just don't have a plethora of Christmas outfits in the closet. So he wore the same outfit twice in a row. Don't judge me.

Ringers And Singers. Every year Keagan participates. He has since he was 2. (Finn is not in it this year though...that would be entirely too much for anyone to handle). But every year Keagan steals the show: he dances like a crazy fool, drops his bell behind the little wall separating him from the pianos, or he picks his nose the entire time. This year he chose the latter. And I can't say he made me proud. Years past, his show stealing acts were funny, others might say he was so cute. But this year he point-blank stared me down as I sat 10 feet away from him, rang the bell with one hand, and picked his nose with the other. The whole time. And wouldn't stop. In front of the whole first-service congregation. Luckily he straightened up a little during the second service. But it still wasn't a shining performance. You can check it out in the video.

Keagan is kind of the "ladies man" and wanted a picture with these two pretties.

Preschool Program:  This was much-much-much better. I kid you not when I say Keagan has been practicing for 3 weeks straight. Singing at the top of his lungs, "studying" the lyrics by constantly asking to listen to the songs, and acting out the moves. He was ready. And he did phenomenal. He performed "I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas," "Frosty the Snowman," and "Santa Clause is Coming to Town."  And he didn't pick his nose at all. :)

At the end of the performance the entire preschool got up on stage and recited I Corinthians 13: 4-7. 
^"4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." Then they ended with the first part of verse 8: "Love never fails."  I cried hearing the babies recite this.  MY baby recite this.  And then I realized I had been hearing snippets of this verse for months now...and had been defining certain words for him. I love these little seeds being planted. And I realized I needed to be more loving in my parenting (but this is a whole other topic of conversation/blog). Simply beautiful. After the program the kids danced out of the sanctuary and back to their classrooms. I took video of them walking out because my big boy looked so small and sweet...and I wanted to try and remember this moment forever.

After the program Josh and I took the boys to Dairy Queen to let Keagan know how proud we were of this performance. They had a good time, and then we saw a bunch of Keagan's classmates and parents there, too. He enjoyed that. 

big change #2 - a new room

Welp. We have babies no more. We now have two big boys. Two big boys who really enjoy each others company. Spend the nights between Keagan and Finn started before we went to Disney, but our plan was to put the boys in the same room if/when we had another baby as we only have 3 bedrooms downstairs. Well, the boys enjoyed sleeping together so much while we were in Disney World that we moved the toddler beds together when we got home. They slept better together and couldn't handle being apart. And it was decided to go ahead and just make them a big boy room. So, over the past couple of months we did just that! It was a challenge, I had to first get past "losing" the first nursery I ever had. (this was my pride and joy...I loved Keagan's nursery so much...probably my favorite room in the house) Then I had to find a bunk bed that I a) liked, and b) wanted to spend the money on. Finally, I had to paint over the stripes (that my parents painstakingly painted while I was pregnant). Correction: sand-sand-paint-sand-paint-sand-paint. It was a beast to paint over. And while the process was going on, Keagan actually came in and teared up over his stripes being gone. So sad...but I don't think he remembers them much anymore, his big boy room is pretty cool!

Here is his nursery...a "before" picture:

Keagan and Annie in Keagan's toddler room:

The Big-Boy Room!  We all love it...but the boys especially love it!

The boys in their respective beds. Excuse the winter coats, we were headed outside to play when I stopped them for a picture. And ignore Keagan's "smile" ... this is him lately! He forces it and it looks scary. 

I was able to get a bunch of their toys and their train table in the room. And all of their clothes and shoes. I painted their old dresser grey to lighten up the room and tried to put shelves to move stuff up off the ground/dresser top. I really wanted to give everything a "home" because two little boys with all their toys in one little room could get junky really fast. I am super happy with the outcome, and so are our "big" boys. Hard to believe, really.