Brace Yourself for Christmas!

Creativity

Andrew has been so creative lately.  I love seeing him grow up and come into his own.

These are balloons, so left to right from top to bottom we have: a grip, Daddy's toothbrush, a smiley face, circle, the happy boy, a hat, a cannonball, a horse, and a firefighter.

Growing Like a Weed

Charlie is 10 months now.  He is getting so big, and doing so many things.  He can say dada (daddy), Ah-duh (Andrew) and Baba (bottle).   He has said Mama one time.  Little punk.  :)  He also can crawl like lightning, cruise around the house like a pro, and on Friday he decided to start standing up on his own without supporting anything.  He loves clapping, and applauds everything he does.  Wonder where he learned that.....  The best part is that he also applauds most everything I do.  I sing a song, he claps.  I read a page of a book, he claps.  I do a silly dance, he claps.  And I don't even have to pay him.

Charlie is such a joy to know, and we love him so much.

He also thinks that every moment is about him.  When I get the camera out, he instantly hurries over and starts grinning.

Christmasing

 Dance parties in the living room (Andrew's favorite is Jingle Bell Rock)

Making gingerbread houses

 We all gave up and took Charlie's cue to just eat them.

Looking at the Christmas tree

 

Drawing/coloring decorations

Making presents for Emily (shhh!)

Not pictured:

Pizza night, making cinnamon ornaments, wrapping presents, stringing popcorn and cranberries, sending Christmas cards, singing Christmas songs, having wind-up toy races, buying presents for Daddy, and just generally enjoying this wonderful time of year!

Ornamental

I forgot to post this last...month.  Oops, oh well.  It's still funny.

My mom got these cute little ornaments for the kids to make after Thanksgiving dinner.

Charlie's.  (I obviously did his, although he was interested in eating it.)

The back of Andrew's.  He and Emily love the sparkles.

The front.

And....

Emily's.  She was SO insistent on having those sequins on her eyes.  I laugh every time I look at it, and it is such a good representation of our funny girl.

Santa Claus is Coming to Springfield

I know I already posted the pictures of the kids with Santa, but I'm behind.  Before we did that, we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  We really rarely go out to eat, and the kids virtually never do, so this was a special treat for all of us.  :)  It was Charlie's first time in a restaurant, and he was so good!

Here he is waiting for his food.  He's also looking for his toy, which he was unknowingly wearing.  I decided not to post pictures of him eating his eggs and biscuits, because...

let's just say it's not the most appetizing sight.  Yikes.

 Then off to Bass Pro we went!  We went on a weekday, so there really wasn't too big of a line, but we did have to wait a little while.

 Afterwards, we walked around Santa's village and played the little games they had set up (drive a train, shoot a "gun", play with remote control cars, etc.

 And, of course, the carousel.  Charlie sat on the moose for about 20 seconds.

 Emily loved her "wittle deer" and to look at herself in the mirror.  (I don't blame her.  She's super cute.)

 And Andrew.  Well, he's not conventional, this we know.  :)  He has the best time riding around on that thing.  (He chose a polar bear, and gave it a hug when we were leaving.)

An Alternate Version

 My kids, Emily in particular, have been saying some pretty funny things in relation to the Christmas story.
 1.   I mean, who can forget when the angel appears to the shepherds and says, "Ow ow ow!  No, Santa!  Get off my head!"  (Don't worry, the Santa wind-up toy got a talking to.)  "Santa, no.  We do NOT stand on that angel's head.  It's not okay.")
  2.  Apparently Andrew takes the song Away in a Manger pretty seriously, because I had to mediate a pretty serious argument over whether the Baby Jesus was crying because he wanted his bottle or whether he was "just smiling.  Baby Jesus only just smiles!"
  3.  While reading The Christmas Story, Emily looked at this page:

and said, "Okay, guys.  Now WHERE is that star??  Look, guys!  It's right behind you.  Woohoo!"

  4.  When I told her she could go watch Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, she ran into the living room and leaned down to talk to Baby Jesus.  "We gonna watch Daniel Tiger Neigh-da-hood!" then "Baby Jesus" got really excited and started saying, "Oh yay!  Woohoo!  Daniel Tiger!"

  5. Lastly, I have a feeling she hasn't quite grasped the whole eternal significance of the holiday. When I was getting out the Nativity set, I was pulling out each piece and saying what part they played in Jesus' birth.  I thought it was a sweet little moment.  Then Emily pulled out a Santa figurine and said quietly, in the most tender and loving voice, "Oh Santa!  There you are."

 

...ahem.

 

...oh, well.

 

Merry Christmas.  :)



Old Saint Nick

We have seen Santa three times now.  We went to the library, then Bass Pro, then to our church Christmas party.  Apparently, the excitement didn't wane for any of them, especially Andrew.  At the ward Christmas party, they announced, "And look who's here!"  Before we even knew what was happening, Andrew was running as fast as he could across the gym to get to Santa with a smile from ear to ear.  We called him back, but he got his time with the old man, and loved it.  He has asked for Playdough this year.  I think Santa can do that.  :)

Lately

 This doesn't look amazing, but it was so delicious.  Turkey paninis.

The kids wanted bowls of snow for dinner.  :)  Then Andrew invented snow banana ice cream, which as a ball of snow on top of the banana.