Sunday, December 27, 2009

christmas 09

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. It really becomes more magical the older my kids get. Isaac is a giant sponge, soaking up anything and everything Christmas. And, Luke - well, aside from the continual references to Halloween - seems to have caught on to the excitement of Christmas. I have always loved Christmas (who doesn't?!), but there is nothing like experiencing it through the eyes of your children. Here are a few memories from this Christmas:

1. So, once Isaac found out that red and green were the official Christmas colors, that meant EVERYTHING red or green was a Christmas decoration. A phrase that was repeated over and over, was: "That's green (or red), like Christmas."

2. He was also very concerned about Santa being able to see ALL of our Christmas decorations. Again, some frequent questions were:
Isaac: How will Santa see our ginger bread house?
Me: We can leave him a note to go into the kitchen and see it.
Isaac: Will Santa see that ornament over there?
Me: I'm sure he will check out all of our ornaments.
Isaac: The star is crooked. Can you fix it so that Santa doesn't see it crooked?
Me: There. Done.
Isaac: Do you think Santa will like our lights?
Me: Of course. I put them up, so they look spectacular.

And, the list of hundreds of more questions, goes on and ON. Thank you Isaac, for making sure everything was in order before Santa arrived.

3. Isaac and Luke watched Santa Buddies a few times, and picked up on the important message in that wonderful movie. After the "grinch" dog catcher has a change of heart at the end, Isaac asked, "Now does he feel the true meaning of Christmas?"
Luke answered, "I can! It got in my body. It gets in my boots (he was wearing his snow boots during the movie)."

4. True to form, Isaac had a million (no exaggeration) of questions about Santa Claus. I decided that I need to buy a fact book about Santa. I'm all for filling my children's heads with "lies", but I worry about how I answer his questions. It's got to be confusing when his classmates have completely different facts on Santa... does he then question me, or his friend's parents? If the questions are this tricky now, I hate to think what sort of interrogation I'm going to get over the next few years. Some questions that I remember are:
"Will Santa die like us?" "Will his elves die?" (So, he's a little morbid) "Does Santa speak Spanish?" "Can Santa walk through walls?" "Can Santa see us all the time" And, after opening presents: "Does Santa buy some of his presents?" (after noticing bar codes on some boxes) "Does a mailman take the toys (that he buys) to him?... maybe he has a train that does." "How does Santa go to the store?" There were some pretty good ones, but I can't remember them all.

5. Isaac's list for Santa: Monster truck - fast with remote, finger lights, dominoes, robotic arm, and lava lamp (he saw one in a magazine that looked like a volcano).
Luke's list: Spark scooter, lion, monster truck, finger lights.

6. On our way out to the car the other morning, Isaac was stopped looking at the snow. Of course, I tried to hurry him along to the car, when he says, "Mom! I just found a clue! I see footprints in the snow." When I asked him who's footprints he thought they were, he said, "Santa's!"

7. Grandma Loveridge made all of the 24 grandkids pajamas for Christmas - as she does every year. As I was explaining to Isaac that she made his pj's along with all of his cousin's pj's, he says, "She must have been really tired making them all. Did she take a lot of breatheses (that's not a typo, that's how he said it)?" As in, if you get tired, you are out of breath... I love children's thoughts!

Christmas pictures:

All but two of the grandkids (Jack and Asa)

Gifts for Santa. Isaac had a few pictures - in addition to the treats - to give to Santa. When Santa left a note, saying how much he like the pictures and that he couldn't wait to show Mrs. Claus, Isaac was very excited. When I told him they might hang them on their fridge, he was surprised that Santa has a fridge.

Christmas morning. Santa came!

Asa loved his new toothbrush.

Isaac and Luke were THRILLED that Santa gave them fingerlights. Santa could have stopped with the lights and the grabbers (robotic arms... pictures not included), and that would have been more than enough for them. Maybe Santa will remember that next year.

They also got the remote control monster trucks (well, one was an ATV). Luke was so excited as he was opening his; then as soon as he had it unwrapped, he says, "Oh, got to open my tootsie roll!"

As I was checking on the boys during an abnormally quiet moment, I found this. Isaac was "reading" his new book to Luke. It makes my heart swell.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

tricky

1. Luke's word of the moment is 'tricky'. He uses this a lot, and usually not in the right context. I think he thinks it means 'silly' or 'funny'. Example: the other day he got some little candy canes from his buddies at Wellers, and he came home and said, "They made them tiny, huh? That's funny! They are tricky, huh?"

2. Speaking of Luke being mixed up, he is still telling me what he wants to be for Halloween on a daily basis. He wants to be a bat. A scary one. He is definitely excited for Christmas, and enjoys talking about Santa, presents, and snowmen, but I'm kinda thinking that he thinks we will be dressing up... I'm not sure. But, when Halloween does come around again, he has already decided on a costume for me. He asked me the other day, "You want to be a house for Halloween?"

3. Luke likes to pout. He will sit in his room and cry or tell himself what an unjust world it is for quite a long time. Me, being tired of the pouting, just lets him hang out in there until he stops and decides to come out. But, Isaac being the big sweetheart, goes in and tries to cheer him up. I appreciate that he shows concern and love for his brother, but there is the part of me that wishes he wouldn't feed into Luke's drama. I let him do it though, because I know the day will come when they might not show so much brotherly love.

4. Adam took the boys out for lunch and while they were eating some cops came into the restaurant. Isaac asked Adam why they were there. Adam told him that they were probably getting some lunch. Surprised by this, Isaac says, "Cops eat too?" The boys had no idea that cops had to eat. I have always assumed there are some things that are self-explanatory... I guess I am wrong.

5. As Adam was helping Luke get some pants on today he says, "Daddy, when they (his pants) grow up, they will fit you, huh?" Once again, I guess there are some fundamentals that I have overlooked in teaching my kids... people grow, not clothes.

Pics of the week:

This captures two things about Asa: a) he LOVES wearing hats or putting things on his head, and b) he pulls that face a lot, which I love.

Isaac put on quite the performance in his preschool's nativity play. He got to play Joseph.

Joseph wouldn't hold Mary's hand.

Joseph was more interested in the star than in baby Jesus. Nice trucker shirt, huh?

So, the following pictures show just how impossible it is to get a decent picture with Luke and Isaac... they have forgotten how to look at a camera and smile. I wanted to get a picture of them with the gingerbread house we had just made, but it was more than they are capable of. Thank goodness for digital cameras - now instead of just one goofy picture, I have a dozen.


Tuesday, December 8, 2009

the darndest things

This week is all quotes. Boy, kids can make you laugh:

1. When Luke woke up to everything being covered in white yesterday morning, he exclaimed, "Oh crap! Holy smokes! It's wintering SO MUCH!"

2. Luke was proclaiming his love for Asa today: "We love Asa. We wanted him, huh? You buy him, huh?"

3. Our drives at night have become quite noisy, as the boys squeal in delight over all of the Christmas lights. The last time we were enjoying some lights, I pointed at some and said, "Those lights look like grandma's." Isaac's response, "Yeah, except they look different." Was he being smart with me?!

4. Isaac has been working on his sense of humor lately. Any time he thinks he has said something funny, he does an embarrassingly dorky laugh then adds, "Get it?" - whether it makes sense or not. His last hilarious joke: "What if the camel (referring to our nativity camel) had a bum on it's neck? (inserts dorky laugh) Get it?!" He must get his sense of humor from his dad :)

5. Today as Isaac and Luke were playing together, I heard the following:
Luke: I save the day?
Isaac: No, you kill the day. I save the day.

6. So, it was Isaac's turn to pick out a movie to watch. He wanted to watch either Pirates or Jurassic Park. When I said no, because they wouldn't be very good movies for Luke to watch (I know, probably not for Isaac either... bad mom), he asked Luke, "Luke, which one of these bad movies do you want to watch?"

Pics of the week:

Asa has been surprisingly good about not messing with the tree. He has definitely put his touch on the lower half of the tree, but it's nothing compared to the constant obsession my other two had at this age. I had just figured that Christmas tree + 1 year old = an entire month of restringing lights. What a pleasant break.

I made some cocoa for all the boys, and, as usual, they are not allowed in the living room while drinking it. So, Luke and Isaac like to sit right on the edge of the tile (pushing the limits, I guess). Asa decided to hang with the little rebels - it was so cute.


Here are the boys showing off some of their killer dance moves. Although, Isaac's dance moves look a lot like his karate moves.

Luke on the other hand, had some pretty decent hip action/booty shaking going on.

Are those jazz hands?