Christmas 2021

Josiah and Todd started their week off with some healthy exercise.  They walked to a Goodwill store nearby.  Todd was looking for dress shirts.  Josiah was looking at everything.  When Josiah finally made it to the clothing section, Todd noted he had an affinity for 70s looking clothing.  Yay?!!?.....  Josiah did end up getting one long sleeve blue & white dress shirt, which had more of a classic look.  Todd found two shirts for himself.  Though they enjoyed the walk there, they did call for an Uber for the return trip.  The kids and I picked them up and we stopped for milkshakes on the way home.  

Tuesday, we went to see the new Spiderman movie.  It was good, but I think it was better just because we got to go to the theater again.  The last time we went, it was a covid-free (for humans) world.  

And as soon as we got home, Josiah started drawing.

Midweek, Caroline opened up our new gate/fence for Benson.  We have a corner of the yard that we want to keep him out of because he punched through a weak spot in the fence.  He liked to stick his nose out and bark ferociously at those who passed by.  Caroline opened the gate in the school room and immediately got the idea to put herself in jail.  Her idea.  The kids went all-in on this idea and decided that Henry and Caroline would spend 24 hours in jail with Josiah as their warden.  They literally moved into jail and were as happy as could be.  Josiah was a special kind of warden.  Every minute he had them doing something.  He'd give them 10 minutes of rec time in the back yard.  10 minutes of games in the playroom.  10 minutes to find a book to bring back to their cells.  10 minutes for snacks.  Bathroom breaks were closely monitored. It was a bit camp-esque.  All I could think of was trying to explain to a real police officer, "Sir, I promise you, they want to be in the cage.  They asked to be in the cage."  Not too surprisingly, they did not last a full 24 hours.  I think they made it through two hours before they started to rebel against their warden.

We left early for Christmas Eve service in case there was any traffic along the way.  There wasn't so we ended up 45 minutes early for church.  We walked around outside before taking our seats 30 minutes early.  We did a lot of people watching at that point.  It was a short service with lots of Christmas songs and the story of Jesus being born in Bethlehem.  The service ended with a candlelight Silent Night singing.  In years past, the kids held their candles very still and enjoyed watching them burn.  This year Henry got a little fire-happy.  He wanted to play with his candle, the wax, and mostly the flame.  During the course of this one song, his candle mysteriously blew out twice.  After he lit it for the third time, he used the light to look at his burned finger.  From what I gathered, he "accidently" dripped some wax on it.  Caroline was on the far end from me, but Todd said she, too, was quite interested in the melting wax.  Josiah stood stationary and had no wax incidents.

Christmas Eve photos before church:

We watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas before the kids sent themselves off to bed at 7:30.  They were too excited for Christmas and they all decided to sleep in Henry's room.  They played and chatted for a long time.  They really wanted Benson in there, too, but he spread out on his own bed.

Christmas morning started early for the eldest.  Josiah said he woke at 3:00 a.m. and was too excited to go back to sleep.  He took Benson for his early morning walk with Todd.  By 6 a.m., he couldn't wait any longer.  The kids started with their stockings and played with their new keyboard while they waited for Todd and I to get ready.  

After we had finished Christmas morning, Caroline downloaded an app that is teaching her how to play the keyboard.  She's already learned C, D, & E and says they're teaching her a song.  

The kids were incredibly blessed by their grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins.  Legos and toys, books and games, crafts and gaming systems.  So many things.

All day on Christmas they crafted & played, they competed & fought & made-up (usually). 

  

Caroline made a special Christmas card for Josiah.  It wasn't Harry Potter, but Harry Pooper.  Potty humor is still alive and going strong around here...

Benson celebrated with a Frosty Paw treat.  

We are a very blessed family.  We step into 2022 with a lot of gratitude.

And our Christmas Eve photo outtake from the windy side of the house.

Monkey Joe's & Christmas Concerts

Our kids dressed as a rainbow.

Early in the week, we got together with some friends to go to Monkey Joe's.  It is a bouncy house place and only kids 12 and under are allowed to bounce.  Josiah asked for one last round at Monkey Joe's before his big birthday.  We invited some CC friends to join us.  We got there right when they were supposed to open, but the building remained locked and dark.  We hung out in the parking lot and were just about to leave when a car pulled up and dropped off a worker with a key.  We gave them a few minutes before we walked in.  I don't know if he saw us in the parking lot or what, but the manager apologized for being late in opening and said we could jump for free.  That was an unexpected surprise!  I had been curious as to whether or not they kept the bouncy houses blown up 24 hours a day.  They do not.  They had to turn them on when they got there, so we waited a bit for a few to get fully inflated.  The kids ran around and had fun, but I could tell it was not as much fun as when they were younger.  They played hide-and-seek tag until they couldn't run any longer.  When our friends arrived, they played a different game and had a lot of fun with them.  Sadly, we could only play for 2.5 hours because we had to jet home.  We had a new dryer being delivered.  

These same friends came to our house to play on Friday afternoon, too.  They just got a new job out-of-state, so they are going to be moving sometime this spring.  The oldest girl is between Caroline and Henry's ages and she is friends with the both of them.  The youngest girl is three and Caroline likes to follow her around and pretend she's the little sister she never had.  Their brother, in the middle, is the type of kid that is friends with everybody.  

Though the dryer was delivered early in the week, we didn't do the installation until this weekend.  We had our slim friend help us with the disconnect.

Both boys helped Todd take the old dryer to the curb.  Once that dryer was off the dolly, both boys hopped on it.  Henry rode only briefly, before deciding he'd rather push Josiah around.  I am grateful for a new dryer that is quiet.  (The old one was very old and had become incredibly noisy.)  

Josiah wanted to relive the days with "the original three."  He asked to watch a movie with just Todd and I one night.  He made sure the younger two were upstairs for the night and then turned on Harry Potter.  We got very tired halfway through, so we relived the old days for two nights in a row.  

Midweek, Josiah earned his red stripe in jiu-jitsu.  The next step is a new belt, so I'm hoping we can get some classes in this break and get that new belt quicker.  

Josiah watched Space Jam recently and drew Bugs Bunny.

On Saturday, we went to a Lego store called Bricks and Minifigs.  They had a lot of already completed Lego sets for purchase.  They also had four long display cases of minifigures.  Josiah was in heaven.  Many figures were in the $8 range, but we saw a few for $50 and $80.  We told the kids they could have $20 each to spend.  Josiah spent a lot of time deciding before he settled on three minifigures.  He got Max from the Lego Movie, the Tasmanian Devil, and a third.  Caroline didn't want to get anything.  Henry had his heart set on a Lego Tree House that cost $230.  I heard him calculate, 'I need $210 more.'  He tried to sell us on the tree house set because he said it had small rooms and he loves small Lego rooms.  It also comes with green and yellow/orange leaves for the change of seasons.  The only time I wish we were Hollywood rich is when we are looking at Lego kits.  They have some really cool ones, but boy they are expensive. 

 Josiah has regaled us with his concerts again.  We have had a Beatles concert.    

Later in the week, all three kids put together a Christmas concert.  They had a written play list of songs with Henry acting as the DJ.  Caroline was on lights, while Josiah played air guitar and sang vocals Milli Vanilli style.  

Though it doesn't sound like it, we did get school done each day.  They didn't always do it with joy in their hearts, but it did get completed.  ;)  At least on the days when we met friends, there was motivation to complete their work in a timely manner.

This week we have to watch all our Christmas movies before the big day.  The kids are really excited for Christmas, especially the eldest.