Excited for Christmas

It's easy to get so busy this time of year, I keep having to remind myself that I should really treasure the days and be more laid back about things. Rob and I won't always have 4 little excited people running all over the house giddy with the anticipation of Christmas morning. Okay, maybe only three are running around the house, next year it will be four.

The great thing about four kids is that the dynamics seem to change every year, especially with the space between their ages. Each one experiences Christmas differently.

Alton
Gone are the days when little $10 toys were a delight. His taste has grown expensive. He is very money conscious however, and so only asks for one or two things. He likes to give gifts, but can't resist a good bargain when doing so. We had the kids buy gifts for their siblings this year with their own money, which meant they had to save for awhile. Alton carefully plotted out these expenses. When he heard one thing his Dad wanted was a box of cordial cherries, Alton jumped at the chance to purchase them when he realized he could do so for $1.94.

Alayna

Christmas and all it's festivities are kept alive by this one. She eats, sleeps, and breathes the holidays. She is constantly under the tree analyzing gifts. She loves to give presents and will spare no expense to purchase what she thinks will please others. She spent close to $30 on Alton. Of course, all she wants for Christmas are her two front teeth...and a few other things.

Avery

He has probably been the most fun to watch this year as he really knows what's going on now. He is very excited and can't get enough of Christmas music. We quickly realized that we can no longer shop for him or others by sneaking things in the cart while he is with us in a store thinking he won't notice. Alton purchased a bulldozer for him during a family trip to Sam's. We thought we had been sneaky enough, but Avery keeps referring to the red present containing his bulldozer. He also brought the wrapped box of cordial cherries to Rob and said, "Daddy! Chocolate!" Apparently there is no fooling him! Mid-season we began purchasing gifts when he wasn't around!

Aubie

He's the easiest and most unassuming member of the family. A great Christmas for him will be a full tummy, lots of cuddles, and a semi-comfortable place to nap. It is always fun to have a baby around this time of year.

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and enjoys their family as much as I do!

Visiting Santa

We journeyed far and braved the obscene D.C. traffic just to visit the infamous Tysons' Corner Santa.

Scenes from our Week

Life at our house is by no means boring lately. There just doesn't seem to be time to blog about it.

Here are some scenes from our week:

Regarding History which we all love. Me, because I'm learning so much I didn't already know, Alton, because he finds it so interesting and Alayna because, well, here's a quote:

"Mom, do you know why I love Europe?"
"Why?"
"Because it sounds like syrup."
Me looking at her with a blank stare.


Hopefully, she will get more out of the living history books we read everyday as she gets older.

Then there was the picture of James Madison I found with a speech bubble containing a quote I had never seen before.

Actually, Alton has me laughing more and more these days. His sense of humor is finally becoming more on an adult level.

Tooth Loss Mayhem:

Lately, Alton and Alayna have been losing teeth like crazy. I think there have been five in the last six weeks and both have more loose ones in their mouths! It was hard for the tooth fairy to keep up. Especially perplexing was the issue of what to do when Alton lost one of his molars last week and apparently didn't know it. He just woke up and it was gone...it hasn't turned up either.

These circumstances have brought about some questions regarding the tooth fairy. Here is a recent conversation I was privy to:

Alayna: "Lily says she doesn't believe in the tooth fairy."

Alton: "That's crazy. Where does she think the teeth go? I mean, why would your parents want to steal your teeth?

Alayna: "I know, they can't plant them to grow stars and all that."

I know what some of you are probably thinking, but basically my view is there will be far too many years of life facing very realistic circumstances and that every child should get as many years as possible to believe like only children do. I do not expect they will be bringing baggage into their adult years as a result of my decision. I have chosen, however to answer questions carefully these days and if one of them asks me point blank, then I will answer. That hasn't happened yet. So far, the only recent question has been when Alton asked me if the government funded Santa Clause. I truthfully responded, "No."

Innocent Village Savagely Attacked!

Traditions at Christmas time are such a wonderful part of the season. Each year we try to do the same things we've done in years past because we usually have great memories of each tradition.

Sometimes however, it can be fulfilling to break tradition and do something spontaneously different. In my family growing up, we always opened presents on Christmas morning. We didn't dare think of doing otherwise, but I remember one year when that didn't happen. Every Christmas Eve we opened up one present; usually not a real big one. For some reason, that year, we unanimously agreed that we should not stop at just one. What occured next was a spontaneous early Christmas that left us with happy memories of breaking tradition. Perhaps we had a few regrets the next morning when we had already opened all the presents.

Now I have my own family, and have instituted some new traditions as well as the ones I grew up with. For instance, each year we put together a gingerbread house. In the early years, it was mostly me putting it together and the kids sneaking the candy. Lately however, they've been able to help out more.

This year, we deviated from the norm a little by purchasing a Wilton Minature Gingerbread Village. It looked adorable and perhaps simpler because all the pieces were so little. As we got into the process, I began to realize that it was going to indeed be far more difficult to assemble the cute little village of five buildings than it would've been just to build one house. I knew it was very important to the kids so I began to press on thinking it was going to be an all night affair. Rob sat holding Aubin and became noticeably strained at how tedious the task was. We didn't get past the separating of all the gingerbread pieces (each building had to have the pieces cut with a knife, it was like performing surgery), when Rob made a suggestion. "What do you say to just cutting our losses and eating it?" All activity stopped as we stared at Rob with mouths wide open. The nerve just to suggest such a thing! After a moments contemplation it sounded like a good idea to us all! I was so relieved as we scrapped the project and just gobbled it up. Anyone can admit that gingerbread houses are a frustating thing anyway because you can't eat them. Well, we did, and we liked it! There will be no gingerbread house at our house this year, only pleasant memories of the year we just ate it.

A Quiet Thanksgiving

None of these pictures are from today. They are merely pacifiers for some Grandmas that wish they were holding him.

This Thanksgiving found us by ourselves. We couldn't really get to family and our friends all left town. I had pretty low expectations, but surprisingly the day turned out quite nice.

Rob wanted everything low maintenance. He didn't want a turkey, just a ham. The kids were disappointed at first, but in the end I think they enjoyed it. I made a few side dishes and bought what I thought was a pumpkin pie from Sam's. Turns out it was a sweet potato pie (they look very much the same) which happens to be the only kind of pie in life that Rob detests! He of course, did not understand how anyone could make this mistake when there was a giant sticker on the pie that said sweet potato. I didn't even see the sticker. It looked like a pumpkin pie to me and having no previous experience with a sweet potato pie, I was duped. The kids and I liked it just fine. Rob, for the first time in the history of his 38 Thanksgivings...went without.

While at the table we went around and said what we were thankful for (it would be un-American not to right?). Alton went first and said he was thankful that we had food to eat and that he lived in a free country. I beamed at this response because I attribute it to all the American history we've been studying this year. Alayna was thankful for a Mom and Dad and food, and when asked, Avery was thankful for...food. We did break out the china for the event so whatever time I saved in the kitchen cooking, I made up for washing dishes! I have a wash cycle just for china on my dishwasher, but I'm afraid to try it. Has anyone used this before? Let me know. The rest of the day was relaxing with stuffed tummy induced napping and watching three hours of Fiddler on the Roof. Don't ask me why. I thought there would be some good Christmas movies on, but no. Alton and Alayna actually watched the whole thing!

After the kids went to bed, Rob and I mapped out our plan of attack for Christmas shopping tomorrow. This year, Rob will go. Somehow I don't have the energy to tackle the traffic around here and the mayhem of shopping for Christmas!

Because Grandma is getting Annoyed!

This is all I can do for now. He's almost 5 weeks old.

No Time to Blog

And that is just one of the things that is not getting done around here. Even with Grandma Mary here diligently cooking and cleaning and helping out wherever needed, I still am not getting organized and when she and Grandpa Bob left for a few hours to visit some friends nearby, I realized just how much of a mess I am.

Perhaps this is partly attributed to the fact that I was still expected to carve pumpkins (an activity I am less than enthusiastic about) and felt that this was the only week I could potty train Avery. School right now is happening in random occurences. The kids never know when I'll get a wild hair and throw some history at them or recently a tin whistle lesson which I realized my kids were miserably behind in at co-op on Tuesday. I think I need a day to just sit and plan out how life is going to go from here on out!

Here's some pictures from the week.

Alayna has two wimps for parents. Neither of us can handle pulling teeth. Alayna had one that appeared super loose. I did attempt to pull it with some jewelry pliers, but my worst fears were realized when the tooth didn't come out and there was a lot of blood and crying as a result. The poor girl finally pulled it herself the next day.

Here is a potty training scene. Alayna is all about Avery getting potty trained and has been on me for weeks to get it accomplished. I have to admit she was a big help while spending the whole day in the bathroom. She totally takes over if you let her and is more than willing to escort Avery through the process whenever she thinks it's about time. She also tells me mistakes I'm making such as when I lazily ask, "Do you need to sit on your potty?" Instead of commanding him to do so.

Aubie is three weeks old today. He's growing fast (still sleeps a lot). We're thoroughly enjoying him!