Christmas Lessons

Lesson #1 PVC Pipe is fun
The kids got a bunch of PVC pipe and a variety of connectors to build houses and tents and whatever with. They think it's super fun.

Lesson #2 Jonah likes to get dressed first thing in the morning.
The kids all got Christmas pajamas, but Jonah insisted on changing out of them as soon as he woke up! I was not pleased as that somewhat defeats the purpose and I never got a picture of all three of them in their new jammies (and slippers for the older two)

Lesson #3 Jonah and the FedEx guy are apparently best buds.
Jonah asked Santa for a rocking horse. Considering this was a very last minute request, I wasn't sure that Santa's elves could whip one up in time. But I was pretty sure Amazon.com could. So, I ordered one. It came via FedEx and the delivery guy, unbeknown to me until it was too late, were greeted at the door by Skyler and Jonah. The stupid box had a a picture of the rocking horse on it. On the bright side, Jonah announced that it was just the one he wanted. If you ask him, he'll tell you it's from the FedEx guy. This lesson could also be re-titled "take your kids to talk to Santa the second he hits the malls (even if it's in October) so Santa has plenty of time to build rocking horses." or "ship all packages to your husband's work instead of home"

Lesson #4 Rocking Horses are super cool.
Why did we not have one of these before? All the boys think it's so much fun and Ollie looks so cute on it while shouting out his rendition of "yee-haw"

Lesson #5 So are "Susan Pets".
My mom got each boy a Zhu Zhu Pet for Christmas and can I just say that I understand why they were all the rage last year? They are pretty much lots of fun, though Oliver may or may not agree. I can't decide if he thinks they are cool or scary.

Lesson #6 Skyler prefers a scooter to a bike.
Long ago, Skyler asked for a scooter. Jordan told him he couldn't have one until he learned to ride his bike and that was the end of that. He was so excited to get one for Christmas! Apparently "scootering" is much more fun for him than biking.

Lesson #7 Weight Limit of 100 lbs. means nothing

Merry Christmas everyone! We've been truly blessed this year and Christmas was somewhat like the icing on the cake. Thanks for being a wonderful friend/family member. We love you all.

Snow

Last week, we woke up to quite a bit of snow! It had been raining all afternoon the day before and Skyler was very afraid that it would turn to snow and result in school being canceled and missing his Christmas party! Jordan was vocal about his desire for snow, which made Skyler mad.

We ended up with the best of both worlds, snow but only a two-hour school delay (thus we didn't have a grumpy Skyler!)

Half a Birthday To You

Oliver and Jonah recently celebrated half birthdays, celebrated in style with a half birthday cake.

At 18 months, Oliver likes cars, balls and blocks. He likes reading books, especially Stuck in Muck. He has finally perfected that walking thing and is starting to run. He likes to wear socks on his hands, hats on his head and other people's shoes on his feet (though not at the same time, but I wouldn't put it past him). He doesn't say much - he mostly points and whines and nods and shakes his head. Dad and book and ball and bottle (baba) are about the only words he uses consistently.

At 3 1/2, Jonah loves puzzles and building things with K'nex and Duplos. He loves playing Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart on the Wii. He also likes to build "Bowser castles" with the couch cushions.  Everyday for lunch, he requests a cheese sandwich shaped like a triangle.

Christmas Clothes

The Sunday before Christmas is one of the two Sundays out of the year that I force my children to wear to church the clothes that I specify (though I did not authorize Skyler's tie). Some are more agreeable to this than others. Then I take pictures. Again, some are more agreeable to this requirement than others.

The Boss

Apparently the assignment was, after reading a book about a play, to write about what they would like to do in a play. Skyler wrote:

I want to the director because I get to be the boss and being the boss is fun. It's fun to be the boss because I boss people.

Anyone surprised by this, anyone?

Pictures They Took

Our camera is currently holding our pictures hostage (and there's a lot on there!). This means Jordan will have to take the camera to work so that the card reader there can do some negotiations and release the hostages to a CD which Jordan will then bring home.

In the meantime, the kids' camera is full of pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Jonah is very into playing Mario Bros. on the Wii lately. Thus an awful lot of pictures look like this

And here's one of the photos I have hanging up. It's been on the camera awhile, I guess, since you can see a bit of a Halloween decoration. And those have been taken down, really I have.

The Christmas Tree

Someone's feet (I think Jonah)

Cleaning up

Our Moravian Star

Skyler

Oliver