Merry Christmas!

Christmas around here is never predictable. And today was no exception. Our Christmas officially begins on Christmas Eve, when we start our festivities at Hub's dad's house. Emma spent most of Christmas Eve day running around saying "Tonight is Christmas Eve night....I LOVE CHRISTMAS!" I was ready - the gifts were all wrapped, the Santa gifts had been bought, the trike was assembled, we were ready to party.

Then, as Emma is saying good night to Hubs for her resting time, she asks Hubs what he's asking Santa for for Christmas. Hubs and I had already agreed not to stuff each others stockings, and if Emma asked, we'd say Santa stuffs kid stockings only. So he tells her he's not sure what he's asking for, and she reminds him that last year he asked for a bottle of wine and a wine magazine. Which was exactly what was in his stocking last year. So much for not stuffing each others stockings this year. Off I go to Target at 2:30pm on Dec. 24th to buy stocking stuffers for Hubs and for MYSELF. On the drive over, I decide if I'm stuffing my own stocking, I'm getting something good. So Santa graciously brought me a cute little shirt and new sunglasses!

We had a great time at my father in law's house, the kids had fun with their cousin, we had a tasty dinner, it was a really nice evening.

Then Grant barfed all over his new Christmas clothes and new Elmo book. And barfed again. And again.

As a result, he spent most of the night awake. Not barfing, as he'd announce each time I walked into his room (he'd shake his head no and say "bawf"), but instead probably pretty hungry.

So hungry in fact, that when he finally woke up (at 8am, poor Emma was a total trooper snuggling in bed with us while we waited for him to wake up), he had ZERO interest in his shiny new bike from Santa. Zero interest in his stocking. Zero interest in anything but eating. And eating. And eating.

Emma got some princess roller skates and a bright pink dress up dress from Santa, and proceeded to drag her roller skates all around town, and wore them for most of the day. She was also excited to see the Belle and Ariel toys you can dress up that we gave her. I have an awesome picture to prove it too.

Grant perked up after his box of Cheerios and wore out the bell on his tricycle, roared with some of his new dinosaurs, and checked out his new car garage. He read his new "How do Dinosaurs" books during his breathing treatment.

We spent the rest of the day with Hub's mom and brother, and then my parents and brother. We had a great brunch and a casual dinner. The kids are clearly well loved and cherished by their grandparents and aunts and uncles. We came home with a car full of goodies for all of us, and a heart full of love from a day full of family time.

Tomorrow morning my mom and I hit the mall for our yearly tradition of shopping together on Dec. 26. Hubs is being a trooper and I'm not expected home until little kid bedtime. Awesome.

I braved the mall on Dec. 24th

and lived to tell about it.

Actually, it wasn't bad because I went to the slow mall in town that I can't believe has enough customers to continue to stay open. But why did I go to the mall today?

Because this morning when she woke up, Emma requested we visit Santa today to make sure he remembered she wanted roller skates for Christmas. Since we hadn't yet seen Santa this year (I know, I know, I've been dealing with the mommy guilt all week), we got ourselves ready to go and headed out. Hubs, who was called into work, met us there, we waited for exactly two families to greet Santa ahead of us, then the kids marched up and chatted away. Well, Grant didn't do much chatting, but he stood there and said Hi a few times. The friendly picture taking elf snapped a few photos and we paid $110.95 for the cutest 5x7 photo ever.

Now to find a worthy holiday frame. That will have to wait until the 26th. I'm done shopping until then.

Merry Christmas!!

In what has become a yearly tradition

I'll use my blog today to wish Hubs a Happy Birthday! and to mention that Grant was at the doctor today after a looooong night of lots of coughs. He barfed twice from coughing so hard. It was pitiful. But his lungs sound clear, and his ears are fine, so we left with Mucinex and detailed directions to start amping up on the Pulmicort and Xopanex (asthma meds) and to call the Dr. back tomorrow with an update. I love my pediatrician.

Will next year make it three in a row on Grant and Dr. visits?

Emma and my shoes

All said today by Emma

"I'm going to put on your purple shoes so I'm pretty like you" (Awwww)

"When I'm a teenager my feet will be bigger and I'll steal all your shoes away from you" (um, keep dreaming on that one)

CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP CLOMP "Your shoes are way more fun than my shoes, Mom."

"Look how fast I can run in mom's shoes, Dad."

And then she tripped and splat on the ground and that was the end of playing with my shoes for the evening.

I hope I never forget

- how both kids need to have their cuddle blankets spread all the way across their pillows at bedtime. No corners of the pillow showing, it must be all blanket that touches their sweet faces

-how both kids love to have their covers pulled all the way up to their chins so they can nestle down into them as they fall asleep

-how Grant hugs his blue bear so tight against him at bedtime

-Emma's determination during a scrimmage at soccer practice, and the sheer joy on her face when she scored a goal!

-how Grant will hang and hang and hang from the bar at gymnastics, until his little muscles are too tired to hold him up.

-the delight I take from watching the kids seek each other out to play together daily.

Gingerbread House

Well it was surprisingly painless. We just alternated putting candies on the house, although Grant figured out in about half a second that he could "accidently" stick his finger in the frosting while he was putting on his piece of candy. The house is pretty barren, but that's okay since we always forget to eat the house anyway.

Christmas Traditions in full swing

The kids are old enough that I'm becoming slightly militant about setting Christmas traditions they'll remember fondly for ever and ever. For example, we take the decorations out together, we decorate the house and tree together, and we listen to Christmas carols while we're doing it. Apparently Hubs and Emma hang lights together as a tradition. We'll see if Grant gets added into that next year. We open an Advent calendar, we have a countdown chalkboard, and we'll be baking some cookies soon to leave out for Santa.

And last night, we drove around to look at lights together. Grant starting signing "all done" about 10 minutes into it, and Emma started whining about 20 minutes into it. And I broke a few DMV laws trying to pull over so we could see the 100,000 blow up things on a particular lawn about 30 minutes into it. But it is a tradition we'll be sticking with, whether we had fun or not.

After resting time Emma and I are going shopping for Hubs' birthday present. It's hilarious what she chose, I'll fill you in later. Then we'll get the gingerbread house kit out and decorate it together with Grant. Another tradition that began two years ago that we'll be sticking with, no matter how torturous it is to decorate a gingerbread house with two children under the age of 5 who really only want to eat all the candy.

Wrapping Gifts

I dread wrapping Christmas gifts. In past years, it's been a challenge to get the gifts bought before Christmas, much less get them wrapped. Wrapping has always been pushed off until the last minute, a late night frenzy of tape and scissors and paper, and if I was feeling overzealous, ribbon. I always run out of tape or ribbon or gift tags with one present left. Every year. Wrapping makes me grumpy, and generally sucks the holiday spirit right out of me.

But this year has been different. I'm done wrapping the gifts in the house (there are still a few to be bought, and one to be assembled). And I actually enjoyed it. I bought the mega pack of gift tags and tape. I confirmed we have an over abundance of wrapping paper from my overpurchasing last year. And I gave up on ribbon this year. This year, the theme is simplicity. From the number of gifts we are giving to the way they are wrapped - simple.

I was smiling as I wrapped up the kid's gifts, anticipating their reactions, chuckling at what Emma might say when she notices one of her gifts is wrapped like a mint in a wrapper. I had fun buying their gifts this year, and that combined with enjoying wrapping up the gifts, makes this quite a fun holiday season!

School Visits

Today Hubs and I attended an information session for the elementary school we're hoping to send the kids to. We have to enter a lottery, and attending the information session is the first step in being eligible for the lottery.

It rocked. They follow the learning philosophies I followed while teaching preschool and special ed, they believe in meeting the kid where they are and then helping them stretch more to achieve more. The teachers teach in pods instead of to the whole class so everyone is learning at their own pace. There is incredible parent participation at each grade level. Each grade takes extra field trips and parents are encouraged to attend every field trip if they are able. There is an art teacher, each grade level still has full PE time, and many teachers that we heard from or spoke to individually sent their own children to this school and can't imagine teaching anywhere else.

The classroom walls are stuffed with the student's artwork or pictures from field trips. Most classrooms have lofts that the teachers have turned into free play areas or book corners. Each classroom was working in groups when we walked through and we didn't see a single classroom that had desks in rows. Many classrooms were full of live plants and multiple animal tanks.

All of the teachers looked excited to be there, and you could see their personalities shining through their classrooms. One teacher had a row of electric guitars along his wall because he loves the guitar and teaches the 6th graders how to play after school. A kindergarten teacher loves to sing so she had a bright yellow piano in her classroom and they do all class sing alongs. A 3rd grade teacher does yoga with her students every Thursday morning. It goes on and on.

Halfway through the tour Hubs looks over to me and says "You're going to cry if we don't get in here, aren't you?" My answer? "Yep, and I'm going to throw a pity party for a week too."

I seriously can't convey how totally awesome this school is. It alleviates ALL of my concerns about the current state of public schools while still meeting the state standards. Sending our children to this school would be setting them up to love school and to succeed for their entire education career.

It's never boring around here

Yesterday during quiet resting time, Emma calls me into her room. I open the door and she is buried under her covers. She pops her head out and says "I have to talk fast because it's pouring rain in here and I don't want to get wet" and then buries herself back under the covers. So I close the door and walk away. I hear some rustling around, and a few minutes later she opens her door to go to the bathroom. As she's walking down the hallway I see she has her winter hat on. She goes potty, then walks over to me and says "I'm wearing my winter hat because it's snowing in my room." And then walks back into her room and shuts the door.

Then this morning, as I'm cleaning out the cat's litter box (which is in the laundry room), Grants walks in, checks to see what I'm doing, opens the front loading washer, gets his bucket from inside it, closes the door, and walks away.

Let it snow!

Both kids have snow pants and warm jackets, hats and mittens, and durable shoes. All we need is some snow to go sledding in. Emma has requested snow by this weekend. I'm thinking probably not in the cards. We're shooting for late December, early January.

Advent Calendar

I've been on the lookout for an affordable Advent calendar since Emma was born. Kelly and I stumbled across these wooden ones during a late night Target roaming trip, and I feel in love with this one. Well, actually, I fell in love with them all, especially the super cute present one. But I'm trying to incorporate more of the religious side of Christmas into our December so I bought the nativity Advent calendar.

I just finished stuffing the cubbies for our Advent calendar and I have had so much fun with this little project! I spent waaaaay too much time on this yesterday during naptime. And after bedtime. And I'm still printing things out today because I forgot to make two copies of the coloring pages for Grant to scribble on. Anyway.

I decided to make our Advent calendar part Santa Christmas and part baby Jesus Christmas. So I found a child friendly birth of Jesus story and cut it up into 6 sections and stuffed it into 6 cubbies.

I also found a nativity scene made for a felt board, so I printed out a bunch of the templates and stuck a note in various cubbies saying things like "Color baby Jesus, Joseph, and Mary". After the kids color them, we'll cut them out and tape them on their bedroom door. We'll keep adding the characters until the nativity scene is complete. Then we'll also talk about who those people are since Emma is starting to ask questions about them. Each person they color is mentioned in the child friendly birth of Jesus story.

We're also doing an Advent wreath to talk about the things the candles stand for - hope, peace, love, joy (not from a church point of view, just as good human qualities). So the kids will color their wreath today since I didn't have it all together on Sunday and then a new candle every Sunday. We'll tape the candles to the wreath each Sunday, and finish the wreath off with a big white bow on the 25th to symbolize Jesus birth.

Then finally, the Santa side. More coloring pages! And also little notes in the cubbies that say things like "Write a letter to Santa and mail it to the North Pole", or on the 24th "Don't forget to leave cookies and carrots for Santa and the reindeer". I got some ideas from this blog I stumbled upon. Scroll down a bit to find the list of activities.

For the coloring pages I just did various google searches for Santa coloring pages, Christmas tree coloring pages, and reindeer coloring pages.

So the cubbies are stuffed, and I'm pretty excited! Now I just need to problem solve how to make the calendar accessible to Emma, but prevent Grant from unstuffing all the days all at once. I'll report back on that one.

Back to Life

Hubs took last week off, and it was wonderful. We had a slow moving, easy going, full of family time sort of week. Which was exactly what I needed. It was, upon reflection, the first time Hubs has taken any time off work and I've felt relaxed during that time. When the kids were younger, there was so much to do just to make the day function that him being home often threw me off. But this time, as the children are beginning to play alone and with each other, Hubs slid right into our daily routine. We alternated days sleeping in, we both had alone time, we both had friend time, we did a great job of making sure the other one got what they needed from this week off.

The kids are going through Hubs withdrawal today. We all are, actually. I'd grown accustomed to having him around all day, watching a netflix movie during nap time, running to the bathroom without fear of Grant's lunch being on the floor when I returned. The kids had grown accustomed to the constant fun, the always available rough housing, to always having a parent available to them to read books or play games.

So today we're adjusting to real life. Hubs is at work, catching up on his In box, I'm holding down the fort solo today, and the kids are wishing dinner time would get here a little quicker so they can see Hubs again.