Our first Christmas bash!

Our little neighboring town of Peoria had their Christmas celebration last Friday night, so we invited Mischaelle, Brian & Kolman to join us for the festivities! We had a blast!!

They trucked in (or made) some snow and we got to: 1)go down a snow-covered slide on a sled (Jed took Tagg, who was expressionless the entire time) and 2)wait in line to play in a fenced in patch of snow for 3 minutes (I took Tagg, who was dubious the entire time)! I loved that slide, and really wanted to eat that snow... but I didn't ;)

Let's not forget the magical Holiday Train! Picture this... a suspicious-looking ragamuffin driving four cart-fulls of kids (and childish parents ;) around (and around and around and around) in a circle. And if that's not enough, he's tearing around every corner, making it nearly impossible for his woeful passengers to hold onto the Indian Fry Bread and chili dogs they loaded up on before hopping in...

*You might want to enlarge this one*

Okay, so the previous story was a fabrication... well, all except for the ragamuffin part ;) and he did take the corners pretty fast--which was the best part! The only downside was that it lacked sound effects... that was, until I piped up with a hearty--
"ChuggaChugga ChuggaChugga..."

"CHOO CHOO!"

in an attempt to get Taggert excited about something in this winter wonderland!

(What are the odds Mischaelle would have caught this rare moment on camera? ;)

Actually, after the Holiday Train (by the way, props to them for being so darn PC! ;) we had the pleasure of being mesmerized by a juggler who:

• Juggled 2 balls and an apple at the same time--while eating the apple!
• Manuevered this wicked cool light-up yoyo thing!
• Juggled sticks that were on fire!
• Juggled sticks that were on fire and a sword! Simultaneously!
• Juggled 5 balls at once!

That was Taggert's favorite part, by far! He sat there with his eyes fixed on that juggler for a full ten minutes. I kept yelling things like "Ay-ay-ay!" and this little girl in front of me kept looking up at me like, "What the heck are you doin, ya weirdo?!"

Since we can't get enough of the Skinnells, we went to dinner afterwards

and just had the best time!

"Excuse me, sir--I have a question about the menu?"

"Which, in your opinion, is better--the grilled cheese or the macaroni and cheese?"
Tagg and Kolman had a blast playing together--I'm pretty sure Kolman's becoming Tagg's surrogate big brother :)
Tagg's all about giving people blessings... I think that's a good sign! :)