Overheard, part IV

These are all things we have overheard Caleb saying in the last couple of months. He is quite the character so there are many more things that could be included if we could also show you his little head tilt and shoulder shrugging he likes to do when he makes a suggestion or asks for something.  Anyway, here are some of Caleb's finest:

The homemaker's version of "Pharaoh, Pharaoh": "Pharaoh, pharaoh, let my people sew." (Thanks, Tami, for teaching him the original version of this song)

He refers to his little MI friend named "Josiah" as "Messiah."

In children's worship at church when asked what someone should pack when going on a trip: "A computer or a phone so you can play Angry Birds." (Thanks for sharing this with us, Jenny) 

In classic four-year old fashion, his favorite punchline to any joke he creates is either "poop" or "butt."

While updating me on the final score of the Packers-Giants game this week: "Mom, the Packers won by a field gold!"

And, finally, an embarrassing one when he was referring to directions for a game: "Here are the erections. We could keep them up if we want."

The Muppets!

Paul took Isaac to the new Muppets movie last weekend. Although Isaac was not so sure he wanted to go beforehand, he really had a great time! His favorite line of the movie was Fozzie Bear's fart shoes creation (I predicted that when watching the trailer). He also has been humming and singing the "Manamana" tune ever since. I think it was as much fun for Paul to take Isaac to see some of his favorite characters.

Isaac also thoroughly enjoyed the large popcorn and pop that they splurged on during the show. Since the movie went through dinner, though, he was not hungry enough to want to eat real food when he got home so his body revolted.  Poor kid! 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, part IV

Although it is beautifully warm for putting up Christmas lights in southern California, one of the big bummers each Christmas is being far away from the grandparents. Thanks to Skype, the boys were able to open their 2011 Christmas ornaments with Gpa and Gma N "in the room" with them. 

Catching up on life with Gpa & Gma

Opening while Gpa and Gma watch

So excited!

This year's ornaments are a Darth Vader ornament for Isaac and a San Diego Chargers one for Caleb. After hanging the ornaments on the tree in good spots (Isaac adjusted his today so Darth Vader could fight with other ornaments), the boys said good-bye to Gpa and Gma. 

"Cheese!" The classic gift pose

What fun it is to open gifts with Grandpa and Grandma! Thanks for the ornaments!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, part III

Since our neighbor put lights and decorations on the outside of his house, Caleb has been chomping at the bit for us to get the Christmas lights on our house. We have either been hearing the hopeful "I know! We should put on the Christmas lights" while driving or the dejected "I wish we could put lights on our house, too" when returning home and seeing our dark house.  On Saturday, we finally gave in and set aside part of the morning to work on them. Paul climbed up on the roof and hung the lights from above.

Only in southern California can the boys be riding bikes while we put up Christmas lights in December. I love the picture below with the boys all "bundled up" in front of a tree that has the colored leaves of fall and a palm tree next to it.

Being the creative one, Isaac found their little tent and decided to set it up in the front yard while we worked. They proceeded to haul out a bunch of toys and played in there for quite a while.

And the finished product: our house with lights and a little boy who now can anticipate coming home at night. 

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, part II

We pulled out the tree and put it up on Saturday night. Because the boys were so tired from a fun-filled week with their cousins and we had to all be at church early for praise team in the morning, we saved the decorating for after church. They were especially looking forward to putting the ornaments on the tree.

As soon as we opened the storage bins, they started grabbing ornaments. Since we have many special and breakable ones, Paul ran interference and handed them ornaments one-by-one. Decorating the tree is one of my favorite times of the season because of the memories associated with many of the ornaments in our Christmas box. Paul's grandparents gave him ornaments every year of his life until the Christmas before we got married (when I also got one since we were engaged) when she passed that tradition on to her own kids to continue with her great-grandchildren. Now Isaac and Caleb each receive a special ornament from Gpa and Gma N every Christmas, and each ornament is carefully recorded and marked with the year. They enjoyed pulling out each ornament and finding other ornaments gifted to them the past few years--from Aunt Ruth, Gma B, and some of our youth. They also enjoyed looking at Paul's ornaments and hearing the stories behind each of them.

Our growing boys standing in front of the tree

We put our tree in a new spot this year, and I think it might be a good move. Since it is covering the fireplace and mantle, we hung our stockings with care from the ledge over the piano. Caleb was a little concerned that Santa would not be able to reach them there but was calmed down when he saw that we could reach them. Although we focus on Jesus' birth during the Christmas season, we do have fun by letting "Santa" be the one to fill their stockings. (I have to remind myself to not spill the beans on that one when getting gifts for them.)

I also love putting out our nativity scene. I set it up like I always do--Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the stable, the shepherd and his donkey and the magi outside the stable on the side. Isaac was drawn to it and did a little moving of the people. I love that he moved the shepherd and magi so they are looking at Baby Jesus and put the donkey in the stable next to Jesus since the donkey would be in the stable. I had to take a picture of it and think this is the right way to display the nativity even if it does not look as balanced. 

Another highlight for me during Advent is reading the Christmas story with the boys. We have an Advent calendar from Gma B that we use from December 1-25. The daily readings help us read through and learn the story of Jesus' birth and then place the different individuals (animals included) of the story on the manger scene. Here is our Advent calendar before reading anything and starting the countdown to Christmas morning when we get to place Baby Jesus in the manger. (We put this up while the boys were resting. As soon as they saw it, they moved all the characters and animals to the manger part of the calendar.)

I love the traditions we are creating with our boys--decorating the tree, telling the story of Jesus' birth using our Advent calendar and the nativity, hanging our stockings and our "Jesus" stocking, and so many more. And I love that they look forward to it as much as we do. God has given us great responsibility in conveying his message of hope to our children. I pray that he finds us faithful as we live through this Advent season with our boys.

Thanksgiving Week

We had a wonderful week away from our normal schedule and had a great three-day visit with Jill, Mark and the girls. We relaxed and enjoyed our time together.  The kids played well together with the expected argument popping up every once in a while. Here is a picture of one of our quieter moments--all four of the bigger kids coloring at the mini tables.

I did not do a good job of getting any great pictures of Katelyn. She was sleeping soundly here but partially opened her eyes each time the flash went off. (I do have another really cute one of her in the bath with the boys, but Caleb was not modest enough for the picture to be appropriate for the blog. ;-)

We even got to sing "Happy Birthday" to Maddie and watch her open her presents from us.  The kids had a great time using her paint brushes and paints the next day to create masterpieces.

After the girls left, the boys created a track to see if they could shoot their matchbox cars across the kitchen. Thanks to the Leonards' wonderful picking up before they left, the boys had plenty of room to run their cars. Isaac even put stick-it notes with point values on the floor so they could keep track of whose car went the farthest and earned the most points.

Unfortunately, I did not take a single picture of the adults who enjoyed some serious Guitar Hero competition with newly declared rules for tabulating the results. The champion for this visit's competition was Jill--she got her country music playing on!  

Vacation is always fun, but it is even more fun when you get to spend it relaxing and laughing with those you love. I am already looking to our upcoming time together at Christmas.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Besides the joyful screams and giggles of our children, the first sound I heard this morning was Christmas music playing in the living room.  Now that Thanksgiving is past and since the first Sunday of Advent is only a day away, it feels okay to be thinking Christmas thoughts. 

The boys have wanted to decorate cookies since the last time we did cutout cookies so we decided to bake and decorate some today. I (Danae) confess that I was not the most fun person at the beginning of this process. For some reason I always get a little cranky when we do these. Could it be the flour everywhere? The multiple rolling out of the dough because a child decided to not make optimal use of the dough when placing the cookie cutters on it? The licking of the fingers while decorating and having to wash hands repeatedly to prevent gross germs on the cookies? I will say that none of these really were my reasons for being a bear at the start of this--I think I was just tired when we began and chose to do this project at the wrong time. Thankfully, I had calmed down by the time we started frosting the cookies, and I really enjoyed it with everyone else.

Isaac carefully cutting out his cookies

For the actual decorating, we set up individual stations for each child complete with decorating mat (recycled cereal bags--thanks for that great tip, Mom) and personal washcloth (thought of that after the first licking of the fingers). Paul mixed some fabulous colors--the expected red and green plus some other random colors. The kids did a great job sharing all the colors and passing them on as they finished a cookie.

Kenzie focusing on her first cookie (a 15-minute process
that produced an evenly coated cookie)

Not sure what happened here, but Caleb looks excited! 

Maddie being diligent in using just the right amount of frosting 

What?!? Only one cookie and not three?

I love Christmas and getting to do traditions with our boys--some of our own and some borrowed from family and friends. We now have a couple containers of Grandma's cookies and Chex Mix in the freezer to enjoy through Christmas day (assuming they last that long). Next on our list for the season is putting up the tree and decorations. My prayer is that, despite the busyness that sometimes comes with this season, we do not lose focus of why this is the most wonderful time of the year...Jesus!