Karate Kid

Daddy took some awesome studio shots of Lincoln as a beginner in karate. Since these pictures, Lincoln has already earned his yellow and orange stripe.  Next will be to get his patch on his uniform and learning all the new moves.

Logan is very proud of his brother and cheers him on or gives him a thumbs up at his lessons.

White Belt

We enrolled Lincoln in a karate class that he just started two weeks ago. In order to earn his white belt, he had to test with a few different kicks and ultimately he had to break a board. He thought it was so cool...and it was!  Considering he's only been in for four classes, he's done a great job.  We will look forward to him advancing belts as the year goes along but for now he's off to a good start!

Baby Town Opening

A new big box retailer called Baby Town opened in Gilbert.  We took our two adorable Baby Banana Brush Reps over to Gilbert to represent the product, talk to potential customers and give out Octo- Brushes.  The boys also participated in some of the activities including a picture with McGruff the Crime Dog, the bounce house and they actually worked the table for a little bit as well.  Lincoln especially liked to give out the Octo's to people that stopped by the table. Overall it was a successful event and I'm sure it will generate some great buzz on the east side of the Phoenix valley.

The boys with the Gilbert Police car and McGruff.

Rick at the table before the store opened...it was very cold for most of the day but luckily it warmed up and we could show our Baby Banana shirts in the afternoon.

Logan in his work uniform.

Good Stocking Stuffers

Last week our living room was turned into a photo studio.  Ricky was shooting some Baby Banana Brush products for Christmas marketing and decided the best set up was in our decorated living room. I got to help set the scene and he did all the technical photography work.  I thought it would be fun to snap a couple pictures on my phone of his set up and then below you can see the finished product!

Ricky hard at work after the kiddos were in bed.

Finished products:

School Holiday Concert

We attended the boys school Christmas concert last week. Logan was on one night with the preschoolers and Lincoln was on another night for 1st graders.  It was held at a local church and we also participated in a charity activity.  We were given a list of 23 items to buy that would Lincoln helped to pick out the items and cross them off the list, when we were at the store.  We then took the full box of food to the church the night of their concert.  Logan's class is now know as the one hit wonders. To our surprise, after getting him all dressed up, getting there 30 min early, his class only sang one song.  It was super cute, and Logan was really excited but it was just one song.  I couldn't believe it.  We still made a big deal of his 30 seconds of fame and made it a special night. We went to McDonald's and got ice cream after the concert as his reward for getting on the stage and singing.
Lincoln's grade did an entire presentation that lasted about 30 minutes and included about 6-8 songs. It was fun to see him up there singing and he was also quite proud of himself.  One of my favorite memories from the night is that after the first song, Logan was screaming, hooting and hollering for Lincoln. He was very into it. Lots of fun and a good way to start the holiday season.

Logan's concert night.

Logan and his teach Mrs. Cubillas. 

Logan on stage holding his snowflake prop for the song. 

He was right in the front of his class. 

Lincoln being the social butterfly that he is didn't even know that I was right in front of him taking pictures. 

1st grade

Back row on the left but he had a nice gap next to him so it made it easy to see him. 

The Polar Express Ride

I've been wanting to take the boys up to the Polar Express for the last couple of years.  I was waiting for them to get a little older and this was the year.  It's also nice timing because Logan is obsessed with trains, specifically the Polar Express. We made a weekend out of it by staying at the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel which is just across the street from the train depot. It was super cold so we did our best to bundle up.  We ate a nice buffet dinner at the train depot restaurant. It had a train theme, including a good size little power train that drove around tracks along the walls above the tables.  We rode the 7:30 pm train to the North Pole. While on the ride we were served hot chocolate and cookies.  The chefs also read us the story of the Polar Express. At the North Pole, Santa jumped on the train and handed out little silver bells, just like in the book. Logan was worried his was going to disappear, just like how the little boy lost his in the movie. It was pretty cute as he made the connection to the movie/book to what we were doing. On the ride back we all sang Christmas Carols and took lots of pictures. 

This picture was right after dinner, earlier in the evening when it was cold but not freezing yet.  

Lincoln getting bundled up in the hotel room. 

 Mommy and boys outside our hotel. 

Me and Lincoln boarding the train. 

 Lincoln on the train car. 

 Family picture - we did play a little musical chairs so we each got to sit with each of the boys for part of the ride. 

Logan being silly with his cookie. 

 Logan was so excited when the train conductor came through and punch his ticket (see below) just like the movie. 

This was our non hole-punched souvenir ticket.

The boys looking out the window to see the North Pole.

Lincoln shaking his bell that Santa gave him. 

 Logan and Daddy singing Christmas Carols from the little song book we got. 

Family picture as we are bundled up ready to exit the train. 

 Merry Christmas Engine. 

 The boys met Mrs. Claus back in the train depot after our ride. 

 Lincoln wrote a wish list letter to Santa at the depot Christmas village. 

 Me and the boys and the end of the night...right before Logan ran off and got lost for a minute which gave me a heart attack and temporarily dampened what was a fun and memorable evening.