Visions of Sugarplums!

Melody played a big part in getting the kids in the holiday spirit too!

First, she knew about a regular story/snack time for toddlers at Whole Foods, and we decided to check it out. The kids LOVE it! Mike and I like prompting Jack to talk about it, because he works so hard to get the /h/ sound right at the beginning of "whole." Just adorable. Malynn and Jack just seem to love being in the mix of things. The story/snack time happens in the cafe in the store, so it's bustling around them, and that seems to be part of what they like. When we stopped in the other day, Jack took pride in showing me the chairs where he and Malynn sit. And, both kids enjoy telling us about the special snacks and drinks they get to make and consume each time. The very first time they went, the kids made Gingerbread Houses! Yay! Their first Gingerbread Houses!

 

Funny side note about these pictures...I got the picture of Jack and said, "That's an awesome picture buddy." Then Malynn's smile was just a little off in her picture, because she was busy instructing me to "Get an awesome picture of me too Mommy!"

And that wasn't all...the next week Melody made the annual chocolate pretzel treat with the kids. They donned their aprons and make a whole tray of treats in no time!

This year the kids were more than capable of opening the kisses themselves!

 

Jack and Malynn really do enjoy making things in the kitchen, but who wouldn't particularly when chocolate is involved!

Even once the kids start school, I have a feeling we'll still be having Melody over to make a batch of chocolate pretzel treats over the holidays for years to come! :)

Getting in the Spirit

I got started on Christmas decorations on Thanksgiving weekend this year! Feeling eager to enjoy the holiday season with the kids definitely prompted my earlier than usual efforts. And it has been magical every step of the way.

Part I: Decorating Around the House

 

One of the first things I did was set out our Christmas friends.

The kids knew instinctively what to do with these snuggly characters.

We also got the lights in all the windows!

That's always one of the gestures that makes it feel official. The house beckons to you as you arrive home after dark and has an extra warmth with the soft glow coming from the windows as you head up to bed.

Inside we got a few more special items set up, like...

 the wooden sleigh and reindeer crafted by the kids' great grandpa,

the snowman with twins gifted by my best friend from college's mom,

and the hand-carved wooden Santa, who has a tradition of joining our ladybug in the window (They look rather random, but actually serve the purpose of being the recipient of "wake-up" kisses when we come down the stairs in the morning or after naps.)

Part II: The Tree

The next weekend it was time for the tree!

Nothing beats cutting down your own tree from a well run tree farm, which we learned about when we lived in New England for a stint. But we have a couple local nurseries that always have a good selection, so that's where we go. There's an old friend out there who has earned an "I told you so." The wife of a coaching colleague of Mike's had us over for a holiday dinner years ago. They had a couple of kids already, and the wife commented on how crazy the ornament placement was on their tree because the kids had helped. I have always been...um...precise we'll say, about ornaments. (Sets or like ornaments should be equally distributed, everything should hang facing out -not twisted to the side, heavy ornaments always go on first so you can find the strongest branches for them -nothing should rest on the branches below, select ornaments -especially those that reflect the tree lights- should be set in the tree to add depth...words other than "precise" may be coming to mind!) So, Mike commented that I would never give up tree decorating to the kids or at least wouldn't allow disorder. The wife said, "I was like that before kids, you'll let it go." I smiled politely and probably said something like, "Probably," while thinking, "That's fine that you did, but not me." Well, she was right. The top of our tree was still pretty precise, but the bottom was a hot mess. What she didn't tell me, but I know she knew, is that not only would I let it go, but I would actually love the disorder! It was Jack and Malynn's disorder, they owned every bit of it, so how could I not love it. :)

Part III: Holiday Card Pictures

I was pouring over pictures from the last few months for something to use for the holiday card and having no luck. Mike had the great idea of simply putting on our red and white shirts with jeans and doing a little photo shoot around the tree after naps the next day. It worked like a charm.

I love these simple pictures of Jack snuggling with our Christmas friends.

 

Malynn was a little hestitant about it all; she is our slow-waker-upper.

  

But we got into playing with the beads and she slowly but surely got into it with us.

 

We even pulled off some cute family pictures...

 

We got "sweet."

We got "classic."

And our favorite, we got "silly."

Part IV: Pictures for Papa's Good Night Book

Papa wrote an endearing "Good Night" story about everyone settling in at their respective houses each night for bedtime. We decided to mobilize and get it published as a photo book and give it to him for Christmas. Here are a couple we took that give you a glimpse of what the most important part of bedtime at our house looks like...snuggles and stories in the "big ol'" chair.

 

It was extra perfect that the story Daddy happened to be reading that night was The Night Before Christmas, illustrated by Jan Brett. This story gets most of the credit for teaching Malynn and Jack about the critical elements of Christmas: Santa has a white beard and red coat, reindeer pull his sleigh using magic to fly, he brings gifts to good girls and boys and puts them in stockings hung by the fire place (though other hanging locations are acceptable if you don't have a fireplace), he won't be ready until Christmas Eve, and he only comes to your house once everyone is asleep. We have a conversation rehashing these details often, and read The Night Before Christmas almost every day. Getting this Christmas business all figured out is high priority!

Not for the Faint of Heart

You already know Malynn and Jack have learned how to use scissors. Now they LOVE to practice cutting with their little Fiskar kids safety scissors. Though they are "safety" scissors, they do cut and therefore require close supervision! Getting the finger control and strength needed to coordinate scissors is challenging, so watching my children be so hungry to master this skill and be so fervent about practicing has been fun. This day I decided to get a little video documentation. :)

Out of the Box

Young children always think outside of the box, because for them, there is no box!

This realization strikes me when they comment on things in pictures that would never have occurred to me, yet actually make perfect sense; or when they ask "why can't it be this way..." type questions that I struggle to explain the answer to; or when they find random collections of objects, and instead of seeing them as "odd," they see before them a challenge to figure out how they could fit together.

The latter is what happened in this instance. Jack and Malynn were pulling out the crafting supplies. I thought this meant I should mobilize to think of a crafty project for us to do. That is not what it meant. The kids had a blast just playing with the supplies!

  

Maybe I should just collect miscellaneous items from time to time, present the collection to the kids, and see what they come up with! It would be one way I could combat all the ways I know I unknowingly teach them about "boxes" every day.

Thank you, my children, for reminding me of the value of getting out of my own boxes!

A Feast to Remember

 We were at Samma & Papa's house for Thanksgiving this year. It was COLD! There wasn't much outside play so the basement playroom got even more of a workout than usual. It has become increasingly challenging to get photo documentation now that we're up to FOUR toddlers running around! Last year Rourke was still young enough that he would pretty much be wherever you put him; however, this year all four kids are quiet capable of going wherever they want around the house. Yikes!

I did get some good pictures of the main event though, which was a feast to remember. The timing, format, and food all worked to allow us to actually eat all together! Now, all together meant there were kids running off and back to the table throughout, but we were all eating at basically the same time.

 
As the food was getting set out, Rourke waited patiently with Papa. A few other members of the family waited patiently with Papa, too -since they always get a little special morsel from him.

 

Uncle Nate carved the smoked bird for us this year, and smoked turkey was a bit hit with everyone! We set up buffet style in the kitchen, which made eating at the dining room table together safer and neater. :)

 

The kids got to dig in first. A big part of what made this a feast to remember is the fact that all the kids liked and ate so much of the food! Jack and Malynn are pretty great eaters, but they can be a little finicky when the dish has multiple ingredients or just looks unfamiliar. Teigen and Rourke are your classic picky toddler eaters, but even they were gobbling up the turkey, corn bread, stuffing, potatoes, and asparagus! Big credit goes to Samma who keeps great records of the recipes that we love and Missy who can time the cooking of a big meal single handedly.

There were lots of sweet moments around the table.

And, we all enjoyed a literally sweet moment, when Missy brought out the special kid-sized chocolate pudding treats she made for all the cousins.

A couple special memories were courtesy of Teigen who decided we needed dinner and a "show!" He performed a song on the piano for us, and we got a reading of...

...The Gingerbread Man!

 Once desert was over the boys in particular were off to run their sugar high off. At one point they were all headed upstairs being silly. Malynn was still sitting at the table and announced (with a good bit of her lisp that still sneaks out from time to time), "What those silly boys doin' going upstairs doing somethin'!?!" Her teasing tone and belly laugh had us all laughing with her!

Thanks for the memories everyone!

A Special Connection

Now that Jack and Malynn are playing on their own in small doses, I've been experiencing a new phenomenon. I will stumble upon a spot where they were playing, and on the surface it just looks like a mess, but often I get this little connection that keeps me mesmerized. As I'm drawn to look closer, I start to see their bodies and fingers in motion, hear their sweet voices, and feel the focus and purpose of the play that led to the result before me.

 

Stumbling upon these chairs filled with dolls and stuffed animals was one of those times. I could just see their little hands carefully selecting and tucking everyone in a spot "just so." I especially love how each Easter Paul Frank monkey gets the special cup holder spot. It felt like Malynn's work, and when I asked Melody about it the next day, she said, "Oh yes, Malynn must have been over there putting things in the chairs for at least 20 minutes yesterday." She loves arranging her dolls and animals. I often hear her over the monitor before she falls asleep talking to her dolls about clothes they need on or off, where they need to sit, blankets they need, etc. She often narrates her life. I will miss it when she stops.

A Band-Aid Phase

We're in a Band-Aid Phase. (I didn't know that was a thing!)

Can you find all the Band-Aids?

I'm hoping that once they are feeling really good at getting the band-aids open and successfully adhered to any given desired surface that this obsession will subside. Since we were blowing through all of Mommy and Daddy's "good" band-aids, I did take Grand's suggestion and buy them each their own box of "play/practice" band-aids. (Thanks for the idea Grand!)