Merry Christmas!

All of the preparations, the decorations, the baking, the icing, the wish lists, all of them come to a climax right here.

It was difficult to contain the excitement Christmas weekend. We were thrilled the kids could buckle down to write a note and prepare a light snack for Jolly Old Saint Nick.




Angelic looking, right?



Michael is certainly putting forth some effort with regard to that, as a member of the church's children's choir. This shows Michael paying attention to his choir director and even singing a bit. Just moments before, though, he had the biggest scowl I had ever seen on his face.



Finally, a true smile from the brothers. These guys were pretty proud of themselves. This was their last and final effort for a treat for Santa. A gingerbread house. Santa got to eat parts of the roof. Jason, Michael and Joshua tried to eat the rest.



It's a much better showing compared to their last try.



The gingerbread Christmas tree didn't turn out quite the way it was supposed to. A bit of a difference from what the tree on the box looked like. They were not deterred, though. They just ate it up to hide the evidence of a misshapen snack.



By the way, Santa Bear made his first appearance this Christmas. You may have heard of the Elf on the Shelf. The Elf didn't come by, but one day, Santa Bear did. He left our house every evening to report back to Santa on the boys' behavior and came back right afterward, to hang out in a different location by day. Every morning, the kids would wake up and look to see where the Bear was hanging out.

If he had gone to a birthday party Joshua attended, he would have seen our youngest chasing after the birthday girl. He and Kinley were inseparable.



It was really difficult breaking him away from Kinley when she was opening her presents.



The holiday season was filled not only with parties and gatherings, but a little bit of work. Michael created several projects, some for his enjoyment...



others were games for him and his brothers to play.



The brothers even went bowling one evening with Jason's class from school.



Joshua took part in a holiday play for his school. He did a great job.



And, one evening, the entire family went with me while I emceed a night-time holiday parade.



Joshua was enjoying the view in front of the city's Christmas tree. But, turned around, it does look like he's doing something else, doesn't it?





The evening was great, the parade was fun, and the decorations were charming. One highlight for Michael was the food. There, they had cheesecake on a stick and boy, did Michael like that.




The boys and Doug also did a bit of volunteer work for the church.



They helped sell Christmas trees, although I'm not sure how much the boys were able to contribute.



Merry, Merry Christmas!

They are always listening

These kids are listening. Always. I have a proof positive incident--at least it's not an example of what can go wrong...yet.

I was watching TV with Joshua for a few minutes tonight, looking for something "on demand." One of the kids' shows was supposed to be ready to watch, but for some reason, it wasn't showing up. We tried another, then another, and yet another. None of the "on demand" selections were working.

I looked at Joshua and said, "Oh, no."

He looked at me and said,

"I hate it when that happens."

Wrestling with each other

As we have mentioned in the past, there's a game we play at our house called "Daddy, Boy and Fun." I don't see much enjoyment in it, but as we all know, I'm a little outnumbered. It consists of a lot of wrestling, tackling, and sometimes crying. Mostly from me.



If this type of physical activity was going to take place, we figured it should be done in a controlled settling.

Jason and Michael have just joined a wrestling club not far from the house.



The first few sessions weren't pretty, but recently, we've noticed some changes in their strength, particularly Michael.

He's running like a champ, and look at this smile.



For the first time, ever, he went across the monkey bars. This may not seem like a big deal, but it is. To prove a point, he did it about ten times. Yup, not a fluke.




Thanksgiving at our house was a food-filled affair. You see the turkey I roasted, nice and easy. We ended up with plenty of turkey for leftovers. I think it tasted just fine. But Akong, the fry master, stepped in and filled our tummies with his delightful fried shrimp. No worries, we enjoyed turkey sandwiches for days afterward.



Joshua is always giving us kisses (and hugs). This is not a shot of that. Parents of the year we are not, especially after Joshua took a tumble in the bathtub and bumped his lip. All is well now, though, and we have a brand-new bathmat in the tub, which the boys enjoy very much.



Joshua isn't upset anymore, by the way. He has his sights firmly planted on Christmas. He's a consistent little thing, too. We ask him what he wants from Santa. "Bubble wrap," he always says.




Good thing Joshua doesn't expect much. We won't need to get him a bike. He is starting to ride Jason's old bicycle and it fits perfectly. We slapped on the training wheels and off he goes!

Happy holidays! We love you!!!

High honors

You may be wondering why there's trash on the table. Worry not, these pieces of paper are in the wastebasket now, but until they made their trip into the circular file, they were works of art.



You've heard the saying, "One man's trash is another one's treasure." These two creations occupied Joshua for at least two hours, on two separate days. We treasured the quiet time and a break from the question, "Mommy, what you doin'?"

They are called "the girls." Or, as Joshua says it, "the guuhls." Amah and Grandma, of course. Can't you see the resemblance? He taped pieces of paper together painstakingly, he even cut out hearts to attach to "arms" and "legs." They are CRAZY-looking, but certainly made with love.



Talk about love. It's tough to pull the above cherished item from Joshua's grip. But it needs to be washed once in a while. Yesterday, I asked Joshua to hand it over and he said, "Ok, first, one last zip." That's where he takes one of the ribbons and slides it between his pointer finger and his third finger. One last zip.



How do you say no to that smile? It isn't easy and he knows it.

Lots of silliness and fun this past weekend. We went to a holiday parade, after which the city was decked out in bright lights.
The weather was PERFECT and surprisingly, the same goes for the boys' behavior.



You never know what you're going to get when you ask them to say, "cheese."



We kept saying Jason definitely looks like one of the "99 percent."



Hours before the parade got underway, Joshua got the chance to attend his very first birthday party for a classmate!!! It was so exciting.



He looks tired in this first party picture. And no wonder. He overcame his shyness so quickly. During birthday parties past, it would take Jason and Michael many minutes to warm up to new surroundings. Joshua, two minutes and then he was gone!



Of course, ask him to smile for the camera and this is what I get.

By the way, we are very proud of our young scholars. Jason got all A's for the first quarter and Michael (who doesn't have letter grades yet) also did VERY well. We have definitely been studying hard, with vocabulary words in particular. Last week, Jason told Michael that he looked "bewildered" by something. Without missing a beat, Michael looked at me and said, "I'm coping with Jason."

Aren't we all.

Thank goodness for the outdoors

The school year is well underway and though it has been busy (too busy some nights), we have thoroughly enjoyed it.



Michael is knocking it out of the park in first grade, receiving accolades for his mature (for the most part) behavior. On this night, he received a citizenship award from his teacher, Ms. Thornton. Michael has also shown the traits of a little leader, earning the title of "SCA representative" for his class. SCA meetings are once a month and nothing makes Michael more happy (or make his chest puff out more) than the chance to leave class for a little while and learn about school happenings. I'm told the group also gets to eat a salty snack. I think that's Michael's favorite part.



A few weeks ago, we all took a walk around Michael's school. And look at these shirts! You couldn't miss us. It's a great story because the walk was organized by one of the school's employees who lost 100 pounds!



We exercised, we walked and Joshua tried to keep up. Thank goodness for that smile. I'm told he was smiling inside helping Akong rake the leaves last week. Jason and Michael apparently would help here and there, but my little engine that could, Joshua was picking up big piles and dropping them into the bag without stopping. He's determined, that one.



Jason's birthday bash has also kept us busy. I cannot believe he is 9 years old! He wanted a specific group of friends in attendance and he was very particular about the activity. We went to a gym that has a rock wall and the boys...



the young...and the young at heart...climbed up to the very top.



It was so cute to see Jason and his buddies together. Just to see what his teenage years will be like, I made a point to hug and kiss him as much as possible in front of his friends. It may be a difficult few years for him.



We, of course, had to pay a visit to Mr. Jack. It seems I wait longer and longer between cuts. If only he made house calls...



We simply had to get their hair trimmed since Halloween was coming up. The boys had big plans for the big day. I make sure to ask the kids what they want to be for the big candy fest, I know I do. But, I suppose they just remember what's in the closet. Joshua, once again, wanted to be Curious George. No budging.



His parade at school was one of the cutest things I had seen in a while. He refused to sing the songs with his class in front of us parents. But, not to worry. He sang quite loudly for us after the performance was over.



You'll notice one other repeat costume. Jason wanted to be a Storm Trooper and it is likely the last year we'll be able to squeeze him into that outfit. Michael surprised us all by wanting to be a penguin. A penguin! At first, I tried to find a used one on ebay. No great options there. So we decided to make one of our own.



The result turned out pretty good. Michael was thrilled and he told me to put it in his box. This is a costume you may see again next year.



We were only out for about an hour. Take a look at the candy stash! We are still enjoying the sugar.




The other outdoor activity that has occupied our time: BASEBALL! Jason's first season in kid-pitch baseball is over. Michael had a great first season in coach-pitch.



Jason's team made the playoffs and came in second in the league.



As much of a nailbiter as those games were, we wouldn't have spent our time any other way.



Whew! A busy fall leading into what I know will be an equally busy holiday season. Here's to counting our blessings!



Love you all!