Ledger Preschool Program

This week was Ledger's preschool Christmas singing program.  Last year, he stood with his hands in his pockets looking as cute as could be, but didn't sing a word.  Not one word.  He knew all of the songs because he sang them at home, but got too nervous to perform.  This year, however, he sang like a canary. YAY!  Grammy, Oma, Daddy, and Mommy all were there to see him sing.  It was so much fun to see him do all of the dance moves and motions and sing everything.  So sweet.

Powell Family Christmas

This weekend, we traveled to KC to have our Powell family Christmas at the Perkins' house.  We really enjoyed spending time together as a family.  Saturday morning, we all gathered together to open our stockings and presents.  Ledger got Legos mostly and Locke got an assortment of balls and a bowling set.  We all had a great time!  Since we usual celebrate Powell family Christmas a little early, we have joked that maybe we should call it a "Festivus" celebration.

BoomPa and Ledger checkin' out his Legos.

BoomPa helping Locke warm up his bowling set.

Locke loves Kinley's baby dolls...

... and cuddling with BoomPa.

Kinley loves baby dolls too.

How cute and ornery looking are these cousins.

Ledger LOVES his Legos -- this set was his number one Santa request.

HAPPY FESTIVUS!

Letter to Santa

Ledger was really excited about writing a letter to Santa this year.  We sat downstairs while I helped him write out all of the letters to everything he wanted to ask for this Christmas.  It was probably one of my very favorite Mommy and son memories.  He was very excited to leave the letter in the Christmas tree addressed to Santa for Dee Dee elf to take it to the North Pole.

In case you can't read it, it says:

Dear Santa,
I've been nice.
I would like:
1. Legos- Pirates (of the Caribbean)
2. Legos watch
3. Chap stick
4. Flashlight
Love,
Ledger

Chiefs v. Chargers

Since we were already in KC for Kinley's 2nd birthday party, we bought tickets to meet Jaime and Brett to watch our KC Chiefs play the San Diego Chargers.  The Chiefs are having a great year and were 9-1 coming into this game... the best record the Chiefs have had in a very long time.  Unfortunately, the gameday forecast called for a kickoff temperature of 12 degrees.  That's not a typo -- TWELVE.  So we decided not to bring the kids, eventhough we had tickets for them.  Oma and Doodah kindly offered to bring them home with them instead.  The game was great and we especially enjoyed watching it with Jaime and Brett.  There were multiple lead-changes and in the end, the Chargers pulled off a last minute touchdown to defeat our Chiefs.  Boo.  And Brrrrrr....

Kinley turns 2!!

The day after the Timberlake concert, Emily and I drove from Tulsa back to Kansas City to spend the weekend celebrating Kinley's 2nd birthday.  Chris rode with Oma and Doodah and met us in KC for the birthday party.  The theme was "painting" and Emily planned painting for all of the kids plus really neat paint-themed treats.  So fun!!

Grandma paparazzi

Timberlake -- A Dream Come True

For years, I've been saying that if Justin Timberlake comes anywhere near here, I was going to be there.  So when he announced Tulsa, OK as a stop on his 20/20 tour, I couldn't wait to buy tickets.  But they sold fast and Emily and I were obligated to buy $175 VIP floor tickets for the show.  Since I'm a total cheapskate, this was really hard for me.  But as the concert date neared, my apprehension disappeared and excitement started to build.

So Emily and I met in Tulsa on the day of the concert and were ready to party.  I even enjoyed a pre-show margarita... the first alcoholic drink I've had in years.  Our VIP section was standing-room only, so we wanted to get in as soon as possible to claim good spots.  A DJ played music while we waited 2 hours for the show to start.  We had to defend our spots as more people crammed into our section and since Emily is 4 months pregnant, I was particularly protective of her.

When the show finally started, Timberlake put on an amazing party of a show.  After a 10 minute intermission, the second half really started to rock.  AND THEN... his large plexiglass stage lifted up and carried him over the entire floor section and to the back of the arena.  Right over our heads.  When his mobile stage moved to the back of the arena, a stairway lifted up and connected the raised stage directly to the platform that I was leaning on.  THAT'S RIGHT.  So Justin Timberlake came down the stairs, turned our way and shook our hands.  We made eye contact.  We may have had a moment.  And then he performed the next set of songs only about 10 feet away from where we were standing.  It was amazing.  Unfortunately, my camera battery AND my phone battery were too low to get any video and the pictures just don't show how CLOSE we were.

Oh, and Justin's wife, Jessica Biel, was in the other VIP section right near where we were watching the show like any other fan.  It was cool to see her there cheering on her husband with the rest of us.  Emily was particularly starstruck by seeing Jessica Biel.  We couldn't get a good picture of her, but we do catch her on grainy cell phone video a little bit.

Setlist -- published by JT