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!!!