The Christmas Series, part 1

 

I have so many memories and pictures from the Christmas season this year, that I have decided to blog them in a series. This Christmas marks the first one where both of our children were old enough to appreciate the magic and wonder of it all.  You think the moment you have a baby that the Christmas magic will be instant.  Year one they're just your super cute accesory, but they mostly sleep and eat through it all. Year two they are one year old. Not old enough to tell you what they want or understand the Christmas stories, but you go through the motions of it all.   The third year, that's when they are two years old, and the magic begins between two and three years old.

You  might be wondering about the magic of Cade's outfit above. He decided Santa wanted to see something "really awesome". So after I picked out his outfit and he got dressed, he went back to his room and re-emerged in cowboy boots, cowboy hat, his plastic bronze Batman buckle and his lime green Chuy's cape.  Awesome indeed.

While Daddy held our spot in line for Santa, I took the littles to go see the ginormous Christmas tree and hope to score some sweet snaps for our Christmas card.  Not exactly what I hoped for, but.... this is four and two for you.

 

 

I was hoping by some stroke of luck a friendly passerby would offer to take some pictures of all of us and let me jump in. No luck. So we got this pic of the boys. Guess who was tired of smiling?

 

And if you've ever tried getting a two year old to smile for the camera, you'll appreciate this gem.
And if you've taken that same child to go see Santa maybe in line you'd notice her tell you, with all the conviction she can muster, "I NOT sit on Santa's lap!" 

Sure enough, she was calm until it was our turn. We weren't planning on getting a family group shot....But when Devyn turned and ran to the friendly momma in line behind us for comfort as she cried and said "No no no!", I just about died. I grabbed my trashing, terrified, unconsollable child and had a huge internal debate. Do I make her sit on Santa's lap? I'd so hate to not have a Santa picture for every year of her childhood. Or do I reject Santa and make Cade sit up there by himself? Ugh, split second decision. I looked at hubs and made the judgement call "Lets all get in together".

The sheer terror didn't end. But I didn't look half bad.
Winning? hm...

 

 

Wordless Wednesday

Four days of ice fell in Texas two weeks ago.
This is our story.
 

 

 

 

 

 

How to Decorate with a Toddler

This Saturday, I did it. I decorated my house for the holidays with a 2 and a half and 4 and a half year old running around.  It was a total joyous breeze. Here is the breakdown of how you too can accomplish decorating with children.

7:15am  Children wake you up. Cuddle in bed. Get kicked in the face and stomach a few times but cuddle them anyways. Notice that kids don't have cute morning breath. Puppies, yes. Children, no.
7:45am Take 2 year old to bathroom. She doesn't pee. Put her in underpants. Pray. Set the timer to remind her (and you) to do another potty check in 15 min.
7:50am Turn on cartoons for the littles. Make breakfast. Since you want to set the tone for the Christmas spirit make some fresh eggs and bacon. The kids want more pumpkin bread. You don't want to give them the final piece, so you break it into small chunks. Pray they don't mind.
8:00am Timer dings. Go try potty. She pees. (Or "peeps" as she calls it). Call Miss Rachel on the Potty Training app. God bless the iPhone. Set the timer for 30 min.
8:05am Remember to let the dog out and give her breakfast. Shush kids so Daddy can sleep in.
8:15am   Eat your own breakfast, drink coffee. Change the channel so you get E! News. You can't decorate if you don't have celeb gossip.
8:30am Timer. Potty train. Nothing. Pray.
8:45am Finish coffee. Clean up dishes. Have kids try to bring you their plates. Clean up spilled cold eggs. Why didn't they eat their eggs? They only ate bacon and their bit of pumpkin bread. Oh well.
8:46am Turn on Christmas music on the tv.
8:55am Take down fall and Thanksgiving decorations. Yes, you should have those. No, you don't need Christmas before Thanksgiving. That's a separate rant post.
8:57am Potty accident.
8:57am Turn off Christmas music. Go clean up Potty accident.
9:15am Finish gathering Fall decor. Find a tub. It's full of old Christmas photos and crappy decor and lame children's art. (Trust, I save the good stuff.) Recyle. Save photos. Put in fall decor.
9:30am Dust the room. You need a clean slate. Windex the mirror. Husband is awake and grabs your butt as you clean the mirror. Kids weren't looking. Or were they? Pray.
9:40am Remember to potty with the little girl. Peeps! Yay! Potty app. Virtual sticker. Yay! Set the timer.
9:50am Kids are hungry for a snack. Punks didn't eat breakfast. Try to get them to eat something healthy. They eat crackers and M&Ms instead. Oh well. At least the Halloween Stash is going strong.
9:53am Refill cups for kids.
9:55am Get down Christmas boxes. Beg husband to break away from College Gameday during the commercial break to help you get boxes down. Keep begging. Beg again. Pray.
10:15am Boxes are down. Start to unpack. Baby girl wants to be close to you. Bring highchair over. Put her in it. Unpack and try to remember where you actually put all this stuff.
10:19am Potty accident. In the highchair. Arghsdkjsajfakl! Pray.
10:35am Encourage kids to play together. Turn on a movie in the other room for them.
10:40am Go take a potty break yourself. Read some US Weekly. Check Facebook. Check instagram.
10:50am Your butt is numb. Go lay on the bed. The kids are quiet but not too quiet. Check Facebook again. Check Zulily.
11:00am Play with kids.
11:15am Potty timer dings. Yay! Success. Potty app.
11:20am Kids want lunch. Make Thanksgiving leftovers.
11:30am Decorate.
11:45am. Beg husband to find some Diet Dr Pepper. Go with sweet tea instead. Take a sip. Have three Fritos. 
12:00pm Potty timer dings. Nothing. Oh well, nap time. Put on a pull up. Put her in bed. Convince the boy he needs a nap.
12:10pm Decorate.
12:35pm Eat lunch.
12:50pm Decorate.
1:20pm Exhaustion. The decorations are done. Go to bed and try to nap while the kids nap.
1:35pm Wow, wtf was the author of the Book Thief smoking in the first ten pages?? Keep reading. zzzzzzzz
1:55pm 4 year climbs into bed to cuddle with you. Convince him to nap.
2:15 He's done napping. Give him your iPhone so he can play Minion Rush. On silent. Try to nap.....

And still.... all that and my decorations look half ass. We got our tree today - fresh cut from the Home Depot parking lot "farm". I always forget the tree has to live outside in a bucket of water for a few days so it doesn't dry out. Arggh. So I've moved the furniture for the tree and now it feels almost like something Christmas-ish. A little. Why does the tree make all the difference? Why is such an ordeal? Why oh why does sap get so damn sticky? Anyways....

Hoping your decorating was a success! Or that you had your cocktail handy. Or even better, a babysitter to remove children from the premises so you can enjoy your Christmas music, bev, and decor. There's always next year...

Wordless Wednesday

 

 

 

 

 

Fall at the Arboretum

Who doesn't love a pumpkin?
Every year since Cade was born we have gone to the Dallas Arboretum for the pumpkin festival. Every day at the Arboretum is a gorgeous day. But the oranges and greens. It's stunning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dance Class

Two weeks ago was maybe one of my favorite mommy days ev-er.
We did the Arboretum in the morning and in the evening we were invited to join the girls in Cade's preschool class at ballet & tap Bring-A-Friend day! My friend and I were all about our boys giving it a go. As her hubs pointed out, a guy's gotta have moves.
Cade was kina curious about going to dance. But the day of he told me, in no uncertain terms, that he would NOT be a ballerina.  No probs, dude. I offered up Dance Ninja instead. He took the bait. He randomly insisted on wearing his pirate bandana. Whatevs dude. The girls had their tutus, the boys had their Batman mask hoodies and pirate doorags.

This pic. They got to skip across the room and "leap" around the stuffed puppy.

Methinks my boy learned a little Riverdance.

Checkin himself and likin what he sees.

Devyn was so into it that when they switched for the second half of the class, tap, they let her come in.  She went right up front and center with her big brother. Not sure why my kids got in the front or center, for that matter. First timers? Very bold. They did so good! I'm so pumped for Devy to get signed up for her first dance class. Pink tights and black leotard?

Towards the end of the class they made a circle and each child got to stand up and do a move.
Devyn was the second one to go. She stood up, twirled in two circles as she tapped in her Chucks. I think I shed a tear. Seriously such a proud moment, and so exciting to see her having fun with it!

 

Tiny Dancer.

She couldn't stop talking about dance class the whole week.
My sweet little tiny dancer.

Pumpkin Patch Fun!

We visited the Pumpkin Patch at Storybook Ranch last weekend.
The weather was overcast and even a little drizzly at the end but the kids had a blast.

Each of them got to take home a mini pumpkin!

They loved doing the hay maze. But of course, our little lambies thought hopping the hay walls was the quickest way out. Little cheats! 

Part of the admission included three bounce houses and a haunted hay ride.
The hay ride had no hay, which was preferrable actually. It went through a haunted ghost town.
There were a few creepy scarecrows and ghosts. It would have been awesome in the dark!

Afterwards we saw a honkey dorse. I think their term was "ponkey".  I prefer honkey dorse.
It was rather cute!!  Devyn rode her first horse horse, and Cade rode his first tire swing!
I love pumpkin patches, they are the perfect kickstart for fall.
Up next, arboreteum pumpkin pics!

Mama's Sweetheart

This boy.  This face. He is such a sweet soul. He can be fiesty, naughty, silly, and strong too. But mama loves his sweetness the best.

He wonders about the world. He is curious, and he cares about people. He cares enough to ask "Why?" and he takes time to observe quietly.  He told me today that he enjoys being alone. At first I was a wee concerned. Maybe my instinct is to not raise a hermit? My dream son won't be trapped in his room playing with his computer all day long. There's so much to learn from interaction, baby. But then he elaborated. "I like to be alone and think up fun stuff to do."  Ahhh, the relief.

Maybe when he's alone he's a smug little mug.

Whenever I am playing up sad because his two year old little sister has made a sad choice, he is first to run to me and give me a hug and a kiss.  Little Miss Terrible Two hasn't quite caught on... but he always takes care of me.  If we have a quiet moment he will lean into me and look up at me and say "I love you, Mommy".  The sincerity and love there melts me. Oh his wedding day will be so joyous but a part of my heart will break a little. To think all of his heart used to belong to me. 

If I am honest, I know this affection is not just with me. He tells his daddy, his grandparents, his sister, and his dog that he loves them. He is so giving with his love. When Devyn is sad or mad he goes to her and tries to show her the ways he's learned at school to calm down.  When she's hurt he asks if she's okay. He will bring her a toy. He goes into her room at night to hug her and climb onto her bed and kiss her forehead ever so gently.

My favorite things he says:
"You are my best mommy I ever saw in this world."
(and I'm the only one that gave birth to all 8 lbs 6 oz of you....)
"I love you Mommy, you are my best friend."
"Ooh, you look pretty Mommy. I like that!"

His future wife (or hubs, we're liberal!) will be so lucky.
Whoever you are, Welcome to the Family. Just remember, I was his first love.