Pre-Christmas Christmas

Hanukkah lasts 8 days. I feel like Christmas lasts 30. Don't get me wrong, I love "the season" but it takes considerable effort to 1) keep the focus where it should be, and 2) keep the rest of our life and house in order while enjoying all the extras. 

Here is a glimpse into some of our pre-Christmas activities...

Decorating the tree. Owen liked to put his ornaments all in a little clump towards the bottom. Rebecca likes all of hers up high - which required help. She's the same with our little Advent tree. We have this little (fake) tree and a set of 25 books/ornaments that tell the Christmas story. Each night we read one and hang it on the little tree in their room - and she always wants to put her book on the top branch. Owen has to remind her each night that he wants to save that branch for "baby Jesus".

 

Our ornament this year. I have three of these - all a little different - one for each of the years we've grown as a family.

 A shout-out to pinterest.com. Here is one of the pinterest-inspired projects we actually did. Owen's handprints are the light green, Rebecca's are the dark green and the star on top is made from Maggie's feet!

 Our Advent series at church has been amazing! Perhaps the best sermons leading up to Christmas I've ever heard. Matt has used a collection of Puritan Prayers called "The Valley of Vision" as a key text. Here is Rebecca having some quiet time...

Another pinterest idea. I'm into glass etching (thanks to my silhouette - now making a stencil is easy)! I've etched wine glasses, these cute little trifle dishes, and a few other things (that I can't mention because the recipients haven't opened them yet). So fun!!! (I'm also into chalk-board paint - if you stand in front of me too long, you're going to get painted.)

Rebecca wanted to help so badly. At a minimum she wanted in the picture. Cheese!

Don't you just want seconds?

 On Friday Owen's preschool put on a little mini-pageant - his class sang "Twinkle Twinkle Christmas Star". So sweet.

 Now we're in the middle of "school break" - I'm excited to be able to have playdates with our friends who have opposite preschool schedules...and we'll need to have some, because I'm not sure what I'm going to do with everyone at home for 3 weeks!

 Last weekend we went to my Uncle Don's ranch in San Saba for the McElroy family Christmas - it was good to see a bunch of my aunts/uncles/cousins on my dad's side of the family. Here are some of my cousins taking pictures of all the kids with Santa. We're such old fogies!

 All the kids - Owen & Rebecca - with their second cousins.

 Our three with the big jolly guy.

 Maggie checking out Dahdo.

 Maggie feeling Uncle Alex's scruff. Scratchy!

We still have a lot to look forward to - we are scheduled to make Christmas cookies with Bee tomorrow afternoon. We also have to make Jesus his birthday cake - although I'm thinking cupcakes this year. And of course we have 4 days of celebrations from the 23rd through the 26th.

I'll leave you with the lyrics of one of our favorite seasonal songs - at least Rebecca's interpretation of it...

Rah-ty a no-man...wa a howy jowy man. Wida corntob pipe in button no, and two eye made ow-a no...tumpitytumptump tumpitytumptump wook a roh-ty doe...tumpitytumptump tumpitytumptump o'er da hills a no!

Peace. And. Joy. To You and Yours.

Okay, everybody in the backyard. No, put down the trucks/ball/chalk - we don't want to mess up your pretty picture clothes. Okay, everybody sit - you here, you here, and you here. Perfect. Oops, don't mess up the chalk - oh, you wiped it on your shirt. Awesome. Let me rewrite that. Okay, now, everybody hold up your sign and smile!

 Um, hold it up so I can still see your face. Say cheese!

 Okay, don't say cheese - just smile! Rebecca - hold up your sign - oh well.

 (Why am I determined to do this while Kyle is at work?) Let's try this one at a time. Say cheese Owen. Can you smile where I see your teeth a little? Can you smile where I can see your teeth a little and your eyes stay open? (No, neither can I.)

 Rebecca - look at Mommy and smile! No teeth? Okay. Good job holding your sign and looking at me.

 Maggie - I don't even have to try with you! Boogaboogaboogabooga! Yea!

 Ah, thank goodness for naptime. And Kyle being home. And a tripod.

 Someday we'll get a photo where everyone is together - looking and smiling, right? Until that elusive day...that's what photoshop is for.

Peace and Joy to You and Yours.

Could you do me a little favor?

Let me start out by saying that without our local grandparents (Bee & Jojo, Dahdo & Pam, Nana) I literally do not know how we would make it through a week. Seriously. Maaaaaaajor dependence issues here. Sometimes I start conversations by saying "can you do me a little favor?" even when I don't need a favor because I'm just so use to asking - its sort of like my hello.

Since we rely SO much on these wonderful folks, it is actually really nice to be able to "give back" a little when we can. You know - can you help me move X, or would you lend me the grandkids for the evening so I can show them off to X, or can I borrow X, or would you do X on my computer...that sort of thing. It makes me feel like less of a pitiful need-to-shower-oh-no-what's-for-dinner weakling when I (or Kyle) gets to pitch in to make one of their lives a little better...since it's truly the least we can do. 

And every once in a while I get a voice mail like this:

Alison - this is CRITICAL. I must have a picture of myself on a snowmobile. By tonight.

I do not know (and I dare not ask) the series of events that preceded the request. I simply oblige. 

Here is the product of my mad photoshop skills.

And here is the corresponding poem Bee wrote for the event - to live (without her permission) eternally on the internet. Happy sledding, Bee! ~Your loving daughter.

BORIS THE SINGING MULE*

There is a mule who likes to sing, his given name is Boris.

At Christmas time, he bellows out, the mule tide in a chorus.

He sings of holidays gone by and sparkling Christmas jewels.

Proclaiming "Eat your veggies, red and green! Share peace of earth with mules!"

He thinks of friends and shares his gifts, with others not so able:

The cows, the chickens, pigs and goats that end up on your table.

At PETA, we love little girls and sometimes little boys,

But Reindeer, they can fly all night and bring us Christmas toys!

They dash, they prance, they snort, and jingle bringing Santa to our Roofs.

But even with their magic, Santa’s Reindeers still need hoofs!

Next time you think of Donner and his goofy cousin Blitzen,

Don’t let it be cuz you are hungry and the dinner you are fixen!

So please remember for Boris’ sake, no Reindeers in your stew.

For as you know at Christmas time, Reindeers are people too!

(*A_ _ replaced to accommodate the G-rated nature of this blog.)

(Almost) A Griswold Christmas

I really really really am trying to keep things SIMPLE this Christmas season, but I just can't do a fake tree. Call me Becky. 

We loaded up yesterday and drove the whole 2 miles to Papa Noel's to buy our tree - direct from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina! The whole outing probably took 30 minutes or less, but it felt like a major undertaking. 

Here is my best shot of the kids enjoying the winter wonderland. Awesome, I know.

 Maggie had a great time, as usual.

Okay, so we didn't exactly trek into the woods and chop it down ourselves, but we still felt like Uncle Eddie should be coming over soon...

We got what we came for - a tree that's just "this much" taller than Dadda (per Owen). It's up in our living room waiting patiently for me to put lights on it, so the kids (who are not waiting quite as patiently) can put the ornaments up... I guess I should get off the computer and get to work.

Three Little People We're Really Thanksful For

A general kiddo update is overdue and I'm still in a Thanskgiving-y kind of mood. Perhaps its the effects of so much pumpkin pie. 

Miss Maggie  - I am soooo thankful for this little gal.  She is such a great little sister - meaning she handles the well-meaning but sometimes dangerous attention of her older siblings very very well. She also handles our circumstantial inability to respond to her cries as quickly as we would a first/only child.

 I am soooo thankful that she is such a great sleeper. She sort of just did that on her own. Granted, we had a rough few months where she was going to bed really really late (like 2am) but even then she'd sleep for an abnormally long stretch. That bedtime has been eeking up over the past few months and now she's a 7 to 7 kid of girl. It's AWESOME. And in the last month or so she's gotten on a pretty regular nap schedule too - around 10am and 2pm. Can I say AWESOME again?

 It's pretty superficial - but can I just say that I'm so thankful for her HUGE smile and those dimples (right cheek and chin)????!!!! Melt my heart and make me chuckle all at the same time. Have I mentioned she dies laughing when I sneeze? It's better than her favorite toy. (Speaking of toys, I'm also thankful she is big enough for the exersaucer. Especially since she still can't sit up. Or roll over.)

Okay - so this was a "game-changer". This little angle has been a stubborn one when it comes to food - no bottle for her. But she has taken to rice cereal! Yea!!! I mean yea as in "finally she'll eat something from someone other than me" and also a sarcastic yea because this stuff is soooo messy. Perhaps she decided it was time for the hard stuff so she'd be guaranteed more regular baths?

 Bee was there for her first rice cereal adventure and it was a total success. (Miss M had started to associate Bee with a bottle and cry every time she saw her...not okay!...so this was good on a number of levels.

 Liked it so much she just had to have the spoon.

Miss Rebecca - I am so thankful for this crazy little stinker. She is so full of sweetness, spirit and SONG! The girl is singing all the time. Here are her lyrics to a few of our favorites:

From the Bob the Builder theme song: Doo a diddy, one and two (Scoop, Muck and Dizzy...Rolly too)

Batte batte choco-late (from a Dora episode)

Every song from Marry Poppins (Mary Punkins)
 - Let's do fly kite, up to high high...sendihsoaaaaring

-Tuppins a birrr, tuppins a birr

And of course all the songs from church and school - her seasonal favorite has been one about a ghost saying boo...but I don't know it so I can't even begin to interpret what she's singing... but she LOVES the clean up song "Clean up clean up abody ewhere". (She is the best cleaner-upper in our family.)

 She got all geared up to rider her glider bike but then got distracted (above).

Holding cousin Baby Bear (below).

 New parts of her two-year old vocabulary:

• a-o-u / wudu (I love you)
• what dat? what doin? whah doin dat? (ahh, the neverending questions!)
• donny (sorry) - often preemptive, not because she's sorry, but to avoid punishment she sees coming. (but she is good about appoloziging to Owen and Maggie for accidental stuff.)
• Ahknow (I don't know)
• Party hat - EVERYTHING is a party hat to Rebecca. This is one of my favorite things about her - she is goofy! She puts anything and everything on her head or your head and then calls it a party hat and giggles giggles giggles.
• Hey you guys! - her greeting to just about everyone. This girl has never met anyone who doesn't deserve a friendly salutation (or a kiss/hug goodbye).
• (uh)Becca - okay, this one makes me sort of sad. She has moved on from Bep Bep for Becca to actually saying Becca and if you ask her to say Rebecca she says Uhbecca. Either way, she's growing up! :(
• I hear all kids can be particular about bedtime routine stuff but I think ours take the cake. We have had so much household drama over the right blankets the right way - it boggles the mind. And now Rebecca has joined the fun. She has these two (baby) blankets. One is soft/fuzzy on both sides. It has to be folded into a pillow (because she won't sleep with the little pillow I bought her) and the other one which is satiny on one side has to be her blanket - but its too small to actually cover her well...so, drama. Anyways, this nightly drama-fest is filled with her saying "cuddle me, cuddle me!" which means cover me, tuck me in, make my blankets bigger and just right!!! And then we end with "big cuddle, big cuddle" which means - cover me more, tuck me in tighter and righter! This girl luuuvs her two pink binkies!

 Mr. Owen - what a big boy!! You've already seen him on his bike (Thanksgiving post). We're so proud. [I have to make fun of Kyle a little bit here. We were at the bike shop and it was down to two bikes that both fit Owen well. One was white and black with some red (matched his helmet - same brand). The other was blue. The first would have been easier to pass on to the girls (assuming they may balk at the clearly boyish blue bike). Kyle, had a temporary parental regression and asked Owen which one he liked better. Say what???!!! Kyle - what are you doing??? Of course, Owen picked the blue one. Silly Dadda. Kyle then spent the next 10 minutes trying to convince Owen the other one was cooler because it matched his helmet. Still a no-go. Never ask a question you don't want the answer to. Silly Dadda!]

A few weeks ago Owen got to go on another specicial grandparent-sponsored adventure - to ride a real steam train from Cedar Park to Bertram. It's about an hour and a half there with a stop over at the train station and then back. Owen had a blast! Thank you Nana!

I am just so thankful for this little guy - really for everything that comes out of his mouth - most of which makes me laugh...

Recently he told Aunt Mel (when he spent the night with them) that he would "appreciate" sleeping in Uncle Luke's office (by himself) instead of in a room with a cousin. I think he needed a break from being kept up at night by someone else playing...

We have shared some of his jokes with you. They're not improving much. But that doesn't mean they're not hilarious. He was telling some the other day and told me they were for Maggie. 

He told me the other day that the BEST thing about our new house is that it's soooo close to the Children's Museum. (It's not really that close - but he figured out its closer than our house now.) 

He has started to show some interest in outer space. Kyle has jumped on that interest like a something  on a something (fill in your favorite southern phrase). Books, iPad apps, time outside at night with the telescope. Dadda has a new hobby (thanks to Owen). So, they've been talking about science a lot. And scientific things. And using scientific jargin. When I told Owen we were out of juice he replied that  "my theory is we need to go to the store and get some more". His theory was correct. 

I am so thankful for these three happy healthy kiddos.

Two Thanksgivings and LOTS to be Thanksful For

We always say that one of the (many) things we're thankful for related to living in the same city as most of our family is that we don't have to travel for the holidays anymore. And on top of that - we usually get to celebrate the holidays several times! This year we had two wonderful turkey dinners...

Do you believe me when I say it's hard to wrangle three, no, six kiddos and help Franny (even just a little) prepare the spread, and take pictures? That's why there aren't many photos from this year. But here are a few...

Nana on the front porch w/ our three. Hey - they're not all smiling, but they're all looking in the general direction of the camera and I say that's a win!

 Crazy pre-game Aggies. (The faces weren't so happy come 11:30 pm. Major bummer.)

 The Muke (Mel+Luke) Mezger three - have you all met BABY BLAIR yet? (Or, Baby Bear as Rebecca calls her.)

 (What was left of) Luke's incredible deep-fried turkey. Um, yum!

 Some sweet sibling moments.

 Tisses for Ahnie.

 And a sneak peak of the Thanksgiving highlight...

 Owen on his BIG BOY BIKE!

 This big boy bike was Owen's (belated) birthday present. We got it on Wednesday and he rode it (with training wheels) but since he has already gotten the hang of balancing (thanks to the glider bike from last year and a little friendly competition with Bailey - who has a very similar bike and is riding hers without training wheels)...the training wheels came off!

 So much fun! The "I can do it!" face.

 Vroom vroom. Even making turns.

 While Kyle did a little work on the glider bike (to make it Rebecca's size - pictures to come) - Bee and I tried to keep Owen goin'. (It's much harder than it looks in heels/boots!)

 Kisses for Bee - the 2nd Thanksgiving meal was excellent. Worlds best potatoes and rolls.

Special thanks to Bee and Nana for allowing me to totally bail on really helping with either meal this year - although I will say the Costco pumpkin pies I brought were delish. Life won't always be this crazy and someday (next year?!) I'll actually want to spend a day shopping and a day cooking all for a one hour (or less) meal, right? Yes, I will. :)

Happy Three Halloweens

October is so much fun. It's the month o' Halloween! We got to celebrate three times...

First (actually 2nd) - with some of our international friends - pumpkin carving is a very American tradition, even though other countries are starting to adopt the dressing up part of the holiday. We got a group together and hung out at the patio of EZ's to carve up some pumpkins and then eat.

 Our friends Yiyi and Fei with their first pumpkin!

 Kyle and Rebecca

 Me ad Lily.

 Christal and Nathan.

Celebration #2 (which actually happened first): The World's Best Book Club. It was my turn to host, so of course I bummed off my mom and we had it at her place. The perfect place - no (sweet) husband trying to get three kiddos to bed, and her Halloween decorations are spooky and kooky and perfect. The real Hostess with the Mostess: Bruelda the (Friendly/Kooky/Crazy?) Witch.

We read Dracula by Bram Stoker. (If you think you know the story because you know the cartoon/teen vamp version of Dracula - you are wrong!) We dressed up...a Lady Bug, Princess Elizabeth, a Garden Gnome, Lucy (from Dracula), Momma with a Bun in the Oven!, and Piglet. 

 Our book club is so awesome Rachel Zoe even dropped by. Bananas. I die!

My Dracula brownie/cake.

 This cheese may have actually tasted good but it looked so gross it pretty much didn't get eaten.

 Witch finger bread sticks. Yummy!

Okay, now on to Halloween #3 - the one about the kids!

Bee (in her Bee costume) dropped by after nap to help us get suited up and out the door for the Muke's party. Bee helping Boots (look familiar?) get her hat on...

 Still not quite awake from her nap.

 Owen was SO excited about his cow costume - it was a total hodge-podge, but it worked! The hat is from Owen's Co-op Gin - outside of Ralls, TX - where my McElroy grandparents lived - I thought it was a nice touch - and the horns are just lightly stitched on so the hat can be saved! The suite is from a school play (?) that Uncle Luke (?) was in in roughly 3rd grade - mostly, we know that it was in Nana's costume stash and had an awesome tail. And the cow bell was Bee saving the day (again) by running by Hobby Lobby.

 Bee, Boots, Cow.

 Garden Gnome Family.

 Headline: GARDEN GNOME GIVES BIRTH TO COW, MONKEY AND BABY GNOME!

 Cows make silly faces.

 So...if you're thinking - hey, Alison - why are you always dressing Kyle up in stupid costumes? Remember Diego? Remember the Fat Chef? Well...I am the good wife here. Check out these poor husbands! My Garden Gnome husband has nothing on Mr. Potato Head and Winnie the Pooh!

 And the lovely wifies. Is Melissa not THE BEST Jessie the cowgirl (from Toy Story)? She even had a little pull-string in the back! You've seen Piglet before. And Christal - the world's cutest non-cartoon cowgirl.

 Here are a couple group shots from the party. Unfortunately I was inside feeding Maggie so we're not featured. But you'll see the rest of our crew...

 And all sorts of other interesting beings...

 Of course the party ended with trick-or-treating. Here is Aunt Mel's speed-trick-or-treating group. Seriously - they ran from house to house. And no, she didn't go into labor...

That's what Thanksgiving is for!