Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone (or, as they say in England, Happy Christmas)! The kids came downstairs as they do every year, to behold the wonderful sight of gifts left for them from a mysterious benefactor they call "Santa."

Corah was feeling ill, but still enjoyed seeing new toys to play with.

Cailainn loved getting a Doc McStuffins doctor bag, which she promptly began using to assess the health of Stuffy the dragon.

Analeigh got a number of art supplies and David got some games. Then they went to play them as soon as possible. Here they are playing Loopin' Chewie (a Star Wars version of Loopin' Louie).

Meeting Santa

We visited Santa at the bank today. It seems like an interesting place for him to be - perhaps he was needing a loan to do some remodeling at the North Pole (we didn't ask, so I guess we'll never know).

Anyway, here is a picture as evidence of the visit:

Updated Statue of Liberty

Have you ever wondered what the Statue of Liberty would look like if it were a 9-year-old boy holding a Diary of a Wimpy Kid book in one arm and a double-sided lightsaber in the other hand? Well wonder no more...

School Christmas Program

Analeigh performed in the elementary school's annual first and second grade Christmas program this evening. She rocked in her role as one of the "Geese a laying."

 Meanwhile, David enjoyed reading his Diary of a Wimpy Kid book.

Reading

Corah can't read - at least she hasn't used words to tell us otherwise. But she is learning to hold it right side up, which is a big plus.

Exercise Bike

Ben recently bought an exercise bike. It arrived in the mail yesterday, so he spent last night putting it together. Today the kids took it over as a toy for themselves.

Birthday Party

Cailainn was invited to a birthday party for a boy from church. They went to Jumpin' Joe's Family Fun Center. Cailainn loved playing in the ball pit.

Happy Halloween

We didn't take any pictures of the kids in costume, but they had fun anyway. David went as The Doctor (from Doctor Who), Analeigh was Cheetah Girl, Cailainn was a fairy, and Corah was a gumball machine.

We also carved pumpkins, which for some reason we did take pictures of.

UPDATE: We did get a picture of the kids taken at our church Halloween party.

Fun Day at the Zoo

Today the zoo held their Pumpkin Pa-ZOO-La (see what they did there?). We toured the zoo and played games. We also got to pick a free pumpkin for every child. It was a wonderful time.

There is an area in which you can crawl underground (if you are a child, or just small) and get a closer view of one of the exhibits.

David and Analeigh also spent time on a climbing wall.

Room Shuffling

With Corah being old enough to move out of our room and in the the other kids, it was time for some rearranging. So David moved into our room (after we painted it blue).

Analeigh moved into David's old room (after we painted it pink).

Corah moved into a shared room with Cailainn (after we agreed to leave it purple).

And Ben and Elizabeth moved downstairs into the old office (after we painted it white with a hint of green).

Dinosaurs

We went to the Rolling Hills Museum today for a sneak peek at their new dinosaur exhibit. The kids all enjoyed themselves. Corah seemed a little more hungry for dinosaur flesh than her siblings though.

Studio C

Our kids like to watch Studio C. They think the videos are very funny. They often go around the house repeating the phrases they think are funniest. Most recently this has been the Two Guys on a Scooter sketch.

New Residential Building

Ben's office has been housed in a building that is nearly 100 years old. It has been slowly falling apart. Because of this reality, a new residential facility has been constructed adjacent to the old one. The new building is much nicer (Ben's office is bigger too) and an open house was held today. KAKE news came to cover the event and Ben was on screen twice for about a half second - total.

In case you missed him, here are some screen shots to help you track Ben down.

Filipino Food

Ben recently learned of a Filipino restaurant opening in the Salina area. In order to do our part to support them, we ordered some food to go and made a picnic of it. Ben was quite happy to enjoy some foods from his missionary days and to be able to share the joy with our kids.

12 Years and Counting

Today was Ben and Elizabeth's 12 year anniversary. Here are some things that happened today:

On our 45 minute drive to church, this was in front of us, so it took quite a bit longer. On the plus side, we got to spend more time together.

The kids built a train in the kitchen and even Corah joined in.

It was a wonderful day.

Rolling Hills

We went to Rolling Hills Zoo & Museum today for their back to school event. We had so much fun that we bought a season pass (which, due to the size of our family, will pay for itself with only a couple of visits). The kids had a great time seeing the different animals.

Game Designer

David likes to play board games. He also likes designing his own games. Most recently he designed his own that is modeled after Catan Junior (which he has seen videos of on YouTube and wants for Christmas).

Draper Family Reunion

We've spent the past few days at Eagle Ridge Ranch for a Draper family reunion. Our kids were able to see all of their cousins - not one of the family found an excuse not to come. We had a great time swimming, playing games, and spending time together.

Riding Horses

Today we visited some of our step-relatives on Grandpa Stan's side of the family. The kids got to ride horses, which they thought was an awesome experience.

And, for your added enjoyment, here are some videos of the kids riding the horses.

Meeting the Grandparents

Corah got to meet her Grandma (Ben's mom) and Grandpa Stan (Ben's step-father), along with several of her cousins (though the photo below only includes one of them). Interestingly, she does quite well sitting in a stranger's lap (at least a stranger to her).

Updated Family Photo

We haven't taken a family picture in a while, so we decided to drive up to the botanical gardens on the campus of BYU-Idaho today.

And, while we were there, we decided to take update photos of all our children. Enjoy!

 

Visiting Grandpa David

Ben's father died several years ago, even before we were married. With him being buried in Utah, far from where we live, our kids have never actually visited his grave. While the idea of not visiting a grave may seem a little harsh, the fact is that when you believe in a resurrection, the grave does not seem all that important. Anyway, this was the kids first opportunity to "meet" their grandfather, so we took a picture.

Happy Birthday Cailainn!

Cailainn turned four today. She got some books, which she is excited to read. She also got a Stuffy doll, which is a dragon on the show Doc McStuffins. She loves Stuffy.

She also did pretty well blowing out her candles by herself.

This Usually Only Happens to Other People...

We went to church today and went in the east side entrance, as usual. The problem with following your same routine week after week is that you tend to miss things - like the fact that a truck had crashed into the south entrance a couple days ago.

Of course, you hear news stories about cars smashing into buildings, but it always happens to other people, so you never plan on it happening in a place you frequent.

Anyway, here is a picture from the news (the entrance has since been boarded up, so when we went to look at it today, we could no longer walked around the "circle" inside the church because that area is also boarded up, so we didn't get a picture of our own), as well as a link to the story:

Exploration Place

Today we went to Wichita and visited Exploration Place, a children's museum. The kids had a great time in the medieval play area.

The kids also liked practicing flying an airplane (even though it never left the ground).

There was also a miniature golf area outside. None of our kids have ever been golfing before, as you can see from Cailainn's unorthodox stance.

Finally, we walked over a bridge to the Keeper of the Plains, where the Big Arkansas River joins with the Little Arkansas River (you can see Exploration Place right behind Cailainn).

David is a Wolf

David is now officially a wolf, or rather, he earned his wolf in cub scouts. Here he is giving Elizabeth her mother's pin.

Kansas City / Church History Trip

We decided to make a trip to the church history sites in the Kansas City area. In order to incentivize the kids, we added some other fun things along the way. Day one, Friday, was all about the church history sites.

We started in Adam-ondi-Ahman.

While we were there, we needed to feed Corah, so Ben and the kids did some exploring and found a fun hollow tree.



We then drove to Far West.

 

Then we were off to Liberty Jail.

Followed by a tour through the Independence Visitors' Center.

 

On Saturday, Elizabeth and Ben took turns going to the Kansas City Missouri temple. Then we went to lunch at Fritz's Railroad Restaurant in Crown Center.

The coolest part of the restaurant is that the food is delivered to you by a train. We did not take the following video, but it does just so happen to be taken at the exact booth we were sitting in.



We then walked over to LEGOLAND Discovery Center. The kids had a great time visiting the various exhibits and playing with LEGO blocks.