Christmas

We got the boys bookcases put together on Christmas Eve.  The boys like how they turned out and it is nice to get their room put back together. Just in time for them to have a place to put their new Christmas gifts.

We made it to church Christmas Eve, but arrived right on time, which meant there wasn't a seat in the house.  They added some extra chairs which we were fortunate enough to get.  We always like to sing Christmas songs and the kids always like the candlelit Silent Night at the end of the service.  For whatever reason, this year, the songs were soooooo  slow.  They were slow-ish songs to begin with, but they were sung so slow it was almost comical.  Todd kept leaning over whispering things like, "They didn't prepare enough songs so they said, Just drag it out."

Our Christmas Day began at midnight.  Not because we went to a midnight service, but because that was when our first visitor came into our room.  Josiah came to tell us that he couldn't sleep.  He came back at 2:21 a.m. to tell us again that he couldn't sleep and he was quite irritated with me that I wouldn't allow him to go downstairs to open presents.  I was getting quite irritated with him that he wouldn't go back to sleep.  I don't care if you sleep, just go to your bed and lie down!  Caroline graced our presence at 3:30 a.m. to tell us she couldn't sleep.  Guess who could sleep?  Me. Henry and Josiah got up somewhere in the 5 o'clock hour.  Caroline actually slept til 6:40 which, at that point, felt late.

Apparently Josiah and I are on a first name basis now.

The kids joint gift was the movie, Home Alone.

We made them open their gifts from us one at a time (since they only got one).  They were each happy with their gifts.  Caroline got a Next Generation doll.  She played with it all day, and Grandma got her extra clothes, so her doll has traveled the world, gone to the beach, worn her pajamas, and made a second round of all three outfits.  The doll came with the name, Reece, but Caroline immediately said she thought the doll looked like a JaNeesa and so that's what she's been calling her.


Caroline also got a giant Rapunzel doll from Uncle Will & Aunt Meghan that she has held and loved on and brushed her hair the entire day.

Nana and Grandma both gave her dresses and Caroline said they were beautiful and asked to wear them immediately.  She made her Lego Princess carriage and overall had a great day.

We got Henry football gloves and Tom Brady socks.  He was ecstatic to get the football gloves.  He was wearing them off and on all day long, tossing his new football as he went.


Henry did his new Lego kit from Grandad & Nana right away, he put his license plates on his new bookshelves, and he even made time to play with all of Josiah & Caroline's new toys (whether he had permission to or not). 

We got Josiah the game of Clue, the silver line edition.  The new game comes with an extra weapon and extra cards that make the game more interesting.  We've played a few games already and they've been enjoying it, although they like to act out every scenario.  Also, if your person is in a room, they must be sitting in the chair, and the weapon must be in wielded in such a way that it appears the murder is currently taking place.  It is never boring to play games with them.   

Josiah, too, put together his Lego kit from Grandad & Nana right away.  He regaled us with his new magic kit from Uncle Will & Aunt Meghan.  And he pushed the button on his new Steamboat Willie at least 100x.  He loves Steamboat Willie and he sits proudly on his new bookshelf.  Grandma & Grandpa did well with that gift.  Todd, meanwhile, is researching loudest dog toys ever made as future birthday gifts for my parents.


Todd made his Christmas morning tradition of sausage balls (sausage, cheese, & Bisquick mixed together).  All but Caroline munched on them all morning long.  I did my Christmas tradition of not making lunch, which is why we were all hangry around 2pm.  Todd and I decided weeks ago that we were going to have tacos for Christmas dinner.  Todd thought a new tradition of trying a different ethnic food each Christmas would be neat.  I suggested we stick with the tacos because they're awesome.  We can try food around the world for New Year's.  (We actually tried to make Orange Chicken with Lo Mein noodles this week.  Didn't turn out so well.)

It was a good Christmas.  The kids said the best Christmas ever.

As part of our winter break, I've been trying to clean up some rooms.  For the dining room, that meant finishing up our month long Monopoly game.  As with all Monopoly games, it came with tears, frustration, anger, as well as joy at missing all of Josiah's hotels during one's turn.  Spent all his money, Josiah did, and then he became rich again with his hotels.  His risk paid off.  He was constantly trying to give me money when I was running low or mortgaging out my properties.  My oft-repeated response was, I don't need your charity, I can make my own money.  I lost the game, but still had my pride intact.

We also played quite a bit of Pictionary.  It was mostly a very fun time, except for one child who got incredibly frustrated with their teammates not being able to identify their pictures.  There was a lot of mad pointing to an already drawn picture and lots of frustratingly said, "Come on!" Caroline cracked me up one round because it was her turn to draw and the word was, CRAB.  She drew the beginnings of a crab - she had the body, the antennae, and two legs.  She drew the line for the water indicating it was under the water.  When I tried to show her my clawed hand to give her a clue as to what to draw next, she didn't get it.  I told her to keep drawing as the boys weren't figuring out her picture.  She added a sunshine.

We made it to the movies this week as well and saw Mary Poppins Returns.  We got the tickets the day before and from that point on Josiah told us nearly every five minutes, I can't wait to see Mary Poppins.  I'm so excited to see Mary Poppins.  He is the reason we usually tell our kids our plans five minutes before they occur.  The kids and I really liked the movie.  Todd couldn't help but compare it to the original.  I sat next to Henry and he literally didn't sit still for the entire two and a half hours we were in the theater.  We had the reclining seats and he was messing with the buttons for a full 2 hours 29 minutes.  He was sitting, he was standing, he was on the edge of his chair, he just didn't stop moving.  At home, he never sits on the couch for the whole movie.  He's got other things to do, footballs to toss, pictures to draw, games to play.  Since the movie, Josiah's been obsessed with Dick Van Dyke and has been speaking in a British accent as well.  He's got a pretty good accent, too.  In addition to adding, actor, to his list of possible careers (thanks to Dick Van Dyke), Josiah also said he may be president some day.  I told him if he became president, I'd like a tour of the White House.  Josiah's response?  You can if you're alive.  Thanks...

We're hoping for a quiet New Year's around here.  It's supposed to rain tomorrow, which may mean the fireworks will be suspended.  Since they usually go off nearly all night long, I'm eagerly hoping for rain. 

Spray Painting for the First and Last Time

Josiah & Henry participated in a beyblade battle a week ago.  They both wanted to go to the battle, although neither has any beyblades of their own.  This is basically what a lot of the boys do during recess at CC.  The "beys" are spinny top things that battle by trying to knock the other top out of the plastic arena.  Apparently there is skill involved as you can make your top spin left or right.  Henry played the first round, which took just a few minutes.  He came to me after and said, "I lost all my battles.  We can go now."  Josiah lost all of his, too.  After that they played with the dog and other toys.  When we got in the car to go, Josiah was actually really upset that he didn't do well.  It was pretty sad to hear him sad-upset.  I had no idea he cared so much.

This week started off on a high.  Todd's cousin, Cheryl & Phillip sent the kids a Christmas package and they had a ball opening it.  The picture really doesn't do it justice, because though you see the backs of their heads, you can't hear the squeals and Oooo's! and Eeek's!  (Plus I don't know why we open packages near our shoe rack.  Never a good background!)  They love their Aunt Cheryl.

Todd had a nice week of work.  Two days in the office before a two week vacation.  It's been good to have a second teacher around to get the kids' school work done earlier.  It's given us more time to color and play with playdoh.  Caroline drew an awesome picture of our family.

We have lots of projects for the winter break.  One such project was to finally get the boys bookshelves put together and in their room.  (So we can finally hang their pictures back on the wall and do all that decorating that we're not so good at.)  Today we let the boys spray paint the back part of their bookshelves.  We had to prime it first.




We thought spray paint would be an easy way for the kids to help paint, plus we wouldn't have to buy so much paint.  It didn't exactly work as I pictured in my head.  It was nearly impossible to get the color even, so hopefully the kids are happy with the job they helped with more than the state of the finished project.  We still have to put the bookshelves together, too.  That'll be our Christmas Eve project.  I would say it could be for all their new toys and gifts for Christmas, but we've already told the kids they're only getting one gift each.  We usually do three and in a sense they've had three.  They got the trip to Disney, an airplane ride to Illinois, and a gift under the tree.  (Which probably makes the most expensive Christmas gifts ever!)  They are getting a photo album filled with pictures of the Disney trip, but that'll be in their stockings.

At church today they had a Living Nativity.  I help out in a pre-K class, so the kids are 4-5 years old.  We walked to the nativity and there was a real woman dressed as Mary and she was holding a real baby.  (Joseph was missing - she said he went to get her some food.)  The kids were allowed to ask her anything about Jesus' birth.  Question after question went like this: "How did Jesus get out of you?  How are babies born?  How did he get out of your belly?"  The Mary answered, "He got out the same way you and I did."  and "He was in my belly and then was born."  After a while she changed it up to, "You'll have to ask your mom that question."  I think I know why Joseph left to get food.

Henry tried some new sushi from the grocery store.  I don't know how they get the names for their sushi.  This one was called Shaggy Dog.

And a final joke from Henry:
Why can't you hear a pterodactyl go to the bathroom?

Because the P is silent

Ba dum bum.

Merry Christmas Eve Eve

Taylor & Stacie Get Hitched

The kids had been looking forward to Taylor and Stacie's wedding ever since we told them we were flying up to Illinois.  There were many questions about what a plane ride would feel like.  I tried to assure them that if they liked the roller coasters at Disney World, then a plane ride would be a piece of cake.

We were up by 3:00 a.m. Thursday morning and drove through pouring rain, thunder and lightning to get to the airport.  Fortunately we had a few hours for the storms to subside before our take-off time.  When we checked in our baggage we prayed it would make it to our final destination after the ticket counter lady handed us our tickets and called us by name, "Ted, Elizabeth, Joshua, & Harry."  I never heard Caroline's name, but Todd said it sounded wrong, too.  When we boarded the plane and it was backing up from the gate, Henry got all excited to see the airplane ramp agents on the ground holding the orange florescent sticks in the shape of an X.  All of a sudden it got real for him.  Take-off was filled with squeals of excitement.  They reacted much like they did on the rides at Disney.  Fortunately, the people around us seemed happy for their excitement (even at 6:00 a.m.).

On the second flight we had a very attentive flight attendant who gave the kids coloring sheets, crayons, and had them earn their "wings."

Caroline had a bit of motion sickness halfway through the flight, but fortunately fell asleep.  I think it was more that she was tired from waking up so early and hungry (because she didn't like any of the snacks on the airplane - who doesn't like those Biscoff cookies?!!).

In Illinois, we met up with Grandma, Grandpa, Fred, & Taylor.  We made it!  We discovered that there was so much to walk to from our hotel which made the trip really, really nice.

Normal, IL

We had a nice dinner at a Greek restaurant.  Caroline told Grandma all about her desire to eat wedding cake.  We walked a little around town before turning in early.

Grandpa gave Caroline some bling.

The next day we walked to a bakery for breakfast, but it turned out to be more of a catering-type bakery, not a pastry-type bakery.  Caroline didn't complain that she got a sprinkle cupcake for breakfast.

Since we had a lot of time to spare before the wedding rehearsal, we walked to the Children's Discovery Center and spent a good three hours letting the kids play.  This place turned out to be our saving grace for the kids.  We spent all our spare time for the next three days here and the kids loved it.  They had some really cool features.  There was a theater stage with tons of costumes and backdrops.  Henry manned the sound-effect booth like it was nobody's business.  (Todd was shocked at how long they could stand at that sound-effect booth.)

There was a paint wall:

Henry loved this contraption.  You spun the wheel which brought balls up to the top and then they took different courses down the maze of pathways, hitting musical instruments along the way.

Henry and Caroline danced their hearts out at the Jam Wall.

Josiah and Henry made really cool Shrinky Dinks.  They drew on pieces of plastic that were then heated, a chemical reaction occurred, and the plastic went back to it's original smaller, more compact form, shrinking their picture in the process.

We loved this place.


At the rehearsal dinner, Caroline made quick friends with the flower girls from the wedding.  They ran around and danced and giggled and had fun.  We didn't know this would be a precursor to their wedding day behavior.

The morning of the wedding, Josiah, who had been asked to be an usher, woke up and said, "It's my special day!"  He was so incredibly excited to be an usher.  He took his role very seriously and was so glad that it was a suit-wearing role.  He loves to wear suits.  (He is also glad the wedding is over because he can now wear his suit to church.  We wouldn't let him before the wedding for fear of messing it up somehow.)

Everyone made it to the wedding despite the foggy weather that had caused all sorts of delays.  It was a super sweet ceremony followed by an incredibly fun reception.  Our kids lacked all inhibitions once they set foot on the dance floor.  They danced their hearts out.  Henry did his floss, the hike, the Carlton, and he ran and slid on his knees an obscene number of times.  At one point Caroline whispered to me, "I'm the best dancer here."  They danced nearly the whole reception.  It was so much fun to watch them.

We had some great company at our table.  We were so happy to be a part of Taylor and Stacie's special day.

Aunt Meghan was incredibly nice to Caroline and entertained her a lot at the table while awaiting the dinner service

.

The next morning, the kids finally wore me down enough and we brought them to the hotel pool.  I was secretly glad the water was cold because I knew they wouldn't want to stay as long.  After taking nice warm showers, we had a last brunch with Stacie, Taylor, Claire, & Fred (as well as others) at the hotel.  We hit the Children's Museum one last time before departing back home.

Caroline was a bit excited on the first flight home and threw her arms in the air during take-off à la roller coaster style.  Her excitement was quickly calmed when she got called out for bad behavior, and in her upset state she slept the remainder of the flight.  (The man in front of her said, "Hey!" because she [I'm assuming] kicked his chair one too many times.)  We had late flights, so the sleep was good.  We didn't get home until close to midnight.  Poor Todd had to work the next morning.
All-in-all it was a great trip.  We saw family, we laughed and had fun, we played and walked a lot, and we saw my brother get married.  We were glad we all made it up.

We had a lot of good behavior, however, there were reoccurring fights between the kids that centered around two very specific things.  1- Who got to push the elevator button (despite going up and down it a ridiculous number of times over the weekend).  2- The other fight was between Henry and Caroline as to who got to sleep in the middle.  Believe it or not, they wanted to sleep in the middle.  This was the one time of day that Josiah got upset - he wanted no co-sleepers.  I think we'll have to look into the cot option on our next excursion.

Now the Christmas countdown begins here at home.

A Sad Goodbye

Todd's week started off on a good note when he won a drawing for Skeeter's Swag.  The Sugar Land Skeeter's baseball team was giving away some bobble heads, beach towel, puzzle, and a nice jersey.  When Todd went to pick it up at their offices, he was met with a former major leaguer who is the special assistant to the president.  Apparently he's always in the office, he's 84-years old, curses like a sailor and loves to give away stuff.  So in addition to the swag Todd already won, he gave him a replica championship ring as well as lots of coupons to their Holiday Lights event.  The kids were super excited to get their hands on it all.

I hit my own little jackpot at the Goodwill stores this week.  We've been looking for dressier clothes for my brother's upcoming wedding and I managed to find Josiah a fancy blazer and pants.  I found dress shoes for all three kids (which turned out slightly too big, so we bought thick socks).  I even found two winter coats for the boys ($5 for a kid's coat!)  Todd got the fun job of polishing all the new shoes.  The kids cannot wait to fly in an airplane and Caroline cannot wait to eat wedding cake.  For her sake, I hope it's the best cake she's ever tasted because she is building it up a lot.

The boys had their last Boys of Iron at church this week.  The tradition has been to do a sock exchange (as well as bring in socks for charity).  Both boys brought in skateboarding socks.  Henry's pair had a bunch of skateboards on it.  Josiah's had a skateboarder doing a trick.  After Boys of Iron was over, I picked up Henry and saw he had the same socks he went in with.  When I inquired about that, he said he traded to get them back because he liked the skateboards.  Then we picked up Josiah.  He came out carrying fuzzy sloth socks.  Henry was livid.  He said they both promised to trade to get their original socks back.  It was agreed upon until Josiah liked his new socks better.  Henry is a kid who values socks.  He always wears knee socks so that he can show them off.  Shorts and knee socks.  That's our Henry.

Grandad and Nana played a lot of games of War with the kids.  I was impressed by their stamina.  I tend to cheat-to-lose when I play War.  I keep a handy "2" at the bottom of my pile and bring it up if I ever want to lose a war.  No one's caught on yet.  :)

We also got our annual Nutcracker picture with Grandad and Nana.  The rain made for a soggy backyard, so we opted to include our only outdoor decoration.

We had to drive Grandad and Nana back to the airport this week.  We had three very sad kids.  It was a very quiet drive back to the house.  When we got home, Henry texted Todd:
Hi daddy how are you doing i'm feeling sad
Henry
:(

Later Henry explained part of his sadness.  He likes it when Grandad and Nana are here because "it's easier to speak with them than to text because when I text I have to ask how to spell words and it's easier to just speak the words."  Poor guy.  He's a little guy with deep emotions.

After getting home from the airport, we brought out the Monopoly game to distract us from Grandad and Nana's absence.  Caroline started out as the banker, until she announced, "Everyone can pick one [from the till]."

Then she made a neighborhood and wasn't too keen on us breaking it up.

Josiah was the only one who had a monopoly and could buy houses.  Right now in the game he has three hotels and $4 to his name.  Just like in life, when Josiah has money, he feels the need to spend it all.

We had some crazy rain that blew through on Friday afternoon.  Everything was cancelled.  It felt like a hurricane coming with all the warnings.  The next morning, Todd was looking at some of the flooding that had occurred.  There was an intersection he drives through every day to get to work and there was 2 feet of water covering it. 

The rain brought cold, windy weather behind it.  That made it easy to stay inside on Saturday and put up the Christmas tree.  The kids did a good job at distributing the ornaments around the tree.  It was the best they'd ever done.   Henry put the star on top though it took some convincing to get him to stand on the top step of the ladder.  He kept saying that the sticker said, "Do Not Stand."  Daddy's holding you, buddy, it's okay!  He'll ignore us all day long telling him to stop running in the house, but a sticker on a ladder he'll obey.

As soon as the ornament hanging was done, all the kids laid down underneath.  Then Josiah and Caroline spent the next few hours playing 'house' with the ornaments.  Caroline clustered them together in their own houses/rooms.  They've been playing with the ornaments so much this year that we may have fewer to put away after the holidays are over.  We keep reminding them they're ornaments, they're decorations, not toys.  They're not believing us.

Henry had a birthday party today for a friend from CC.  It was supposed to be a pool party, but since it was 48 degrees out, it got moved indoors. 

Since they no longer needed the adult supervision poolside, another mom and I went out for crêpes at a new restaurant.  Mine was crêpe au citron. It was so big and tangy and sweet.  I had to eat a big bowl of cabbage for dinner to make myself feel better for eating it.

While I was out eating my crêpe , Todd made lunch for Josiah and Caroline at home.  He texted me that Caroline said it the best lunch she had ever eaten.  He cooked a hot dog for her and baked some fries in the oven.  5,475 meals I've made her.  Todd wins with microwaved hot dogs.  I throw my hands up.

Though we did get the tree up, I predict this week Josiah will be quite persistent that we get all the other Christmas decorations out.  And Caroline says we're non-decorators...