Storytime with Santa

Last Wednesday night, Grandma Toni and I decided to take the boys to a special "Story time with Santa" at the library. The only thing that put a damper on the experience was that Greg didn't leave the stroller for us.

For Henry, it was "run around the library shrieking happily" time. This is the only time he sat for a story. I believe his sitting lasted about thirty seconds.

Then the running and dancing started anew.

The boys did a craft project where we traced their hands and attached antlers, an eye, and a nose to make a reindeer.

Nick loved the hole punch. Henry kept trying to eat the glitter glue. I don't blame him. It did look pretty neat.

The ornaments turned out pretty cute. Nick's is on the left. He decorated with the glitter glue instead of trying to eat it.

Oh, and of course, Santa was there. . . and this time, I got my Santa picture with both boys smiling. Henry seemed more used to the idea this time.

It's a really good thing that Henry sat on Santa's lap instead of Nick. We figured out right after we walked out of the room that Nick had wet his pants. Ah, well. Merry Christmas.  :)

Zoo Lights!

We have never been to Zoo Lights at Brookfield Zoo, but we decided to go last Saturday even though it was raining. It was a little wet, but the rain had mostly stopped by the time we arrived. The weather was pretty warm, too.

The lights were beautiful, and both boys were mesmerized. Henry, especially, looked all around and made happy noises.

Grandma Toni showed Nick some real reindeer antlers. No reindeer were harmed, though. They lose their antlers once a year, according to the zoologist.

Despite the water all over everything, Henry and Nick decided to play on the playground.

The lights really were spectacular. Nick loved the dinosaur lights.

What a great celebration of electricity  ;)

I think this is a holiday event we'll repeat next year.

Cookie-Making Day at Grandma's House

Last week, I spent the day at my mom and stepdad's house baking cookies for the holiday season. This is a tradition in my family, though a highly caloric one.

For me, cookies have always meant love. In my family, we show our love by baking, and Christmas is the ultimate time for showing love. (Also for shoving cookies into one's mouth, though that is another kind of love entirely.)

Nick was able to help with most of the steps, though he spent the day in and out of the kitchen. He liked shaping the cookie dough, and even let grandma carve out a cookie shaped like his hand!

Henry was old enough to try helping just a little bit. He preferred the eating of the cookies, the stealing of the cookies, and the crumbling of the cookies.

Mostly he just caused mischief, but Henry loves to copy what we do and he adored helping Grandma with the gingerbread.

Here is our official cookie-tasting team. Grandpa is curled up with Nick and Henry, taking a break from the hard work of tasting cookies.

In addition to cookie-baking, we also decorated homemade fudge with melted white chocolate. Nick loved helping with this part.

We made tons of cookies, fudge, dipped pretzels, and one big mess. Gigi and Nick liked sprinkling the chocolate-dipped pretzels best.

Only one week left of school for me, and plenty of cookies to help celebrate Christmas.

Decking the Halls

We've been decking our halls lately, and both Nick and Henry simply adore helping with the decking. We don't have a chimney, but our stockings are hung over the window with care. (Notice Terrance the Elf hanging out in Nick's stocking. Terrance is a bit of a tattletale.)

When I was a little girl, my mom made an advent calendar for us, and I have temporary custody of it (until my sister has kids). Henry and Nicholas have been taking turns sticking up the ornaments. Today was Henry's turn. He is able to stick the ornaments onto the velcro by himself, though he sometimes tries to chew on them or put them back into the little pockets.

Our whole house is looking festive, even if our tree is denuded everyday of all ornaments below about three feet.

I picked up some static cling decorations, and man, did that $4 worth of plastic entertain my boys! I bought polar bears ice skating in the wintertime, and Henry loved pulling them off and sticking them back up.

Last week, we went to a craft fair, and the boys helped me pick out a few new ornaments. Nick liked this little mouse the best. Notice Molly the cat in the background, looking mildly disapproving.

I was mildly surprised at Henry's dexterity at sticking up the static clings.

Ahh, the many joys of the holidays. (And I haven't even talked about cookies yet. That's a whole other post. . . )

Happy Friday!

I'm feeling pretty good this Friday. We just got back from Target, where these little guys showed their holiday spirit.

Nick grabbed a pumpkin spice latte sample from the tray at the Starbucks when I wasn't looking. Little boy plus espresso plus sugar equals I'm not sure what. I guess I'll find out.  :)

Now we're going to try making some Christmas cookies. I love making Christmas cookies. Hopefully we won't eat them all.

Nick actually remembers our Christmas traditions from last year, and he is loving all of the decorating and singing. Henry claps along to the music and turns the Christmas lights on and off. Whatever floats his boat, I guess.

Have a great weekend!

Cookies and Crafts with Santa

On Saturday, I went to a really cool event at my school. We did cookies and crafts with Santa, and Henry and Nicholas had a blast.

Nick's gluing involved a lot of glue and very little attention to detail. He just wanted to slap on the pieces so he could get on the the cookies.

Henry was not very into the craft either. He mostly threw the pieces on the floor and tried to eat the foam. I ended up picking them up and gluing them for him. Here's how they turned out. Nick's is on the left and Henry's is on the right.

Henry's favorite part of the event was the cookies. In fact, as soon as we went in, he slipped from his bench, ran across the room, and snarfed down his cookie. Then he wiped the green frosting all over my jeans.

Henry discovered that he can drink from a Capri Sun juice box. He also tried to steal everyone else's cookies.

Nick had a lot of energy all through the event. I think my son has a larger than average amount of energy. When they were passing out energy, he was first in line.

After all that sugar, there was dancing, too. Oh, was there dancing!

My boys have moves. Not necessarily good moves, but moves, for sure.

Henry kept getting down on his hands and knees and wiggling his butt to the music as he stared at the speakers.

I think Henry likes to be dizzy. He's always spinning around, sometimes until he falls down. He does have a certain, um, way with the ladies, too.

Oh, so you were wondering how the Santa part went? In a word, poorly. At least with Henry. Nick chatted Santa up and tried to convince him to bring a new light saber for his stocking.

Henry does not, apparently, like Santa. In fact, he seemed somewhat scared of him and screeched whenever I put him on Santa's lap.

I'm thinking I'll have to try again with another Santa. Perhaps I can give Santa a cookie, so that Henry will like him.

Santa gave Nick some special "Reindeer Food" to sprinkle on the front lawn. That way, you see, the Santa's reindeer will know to stop at our house.   :)

Trimming the Tree

It is officially Christmas season at our house. We decorated our tree and brought out all of the ornaments least likely to be eaten and/or shattered by Henry.

Our baby cage has been brought into service again as well. This time, instead of keeping a baby in, it is keeping Henry out. He would climb inside the tree and knock it over without a barrier.

Henry loves our tree. He has been denuding it of any ornaments he can reach, though, and throwing toys and books into the baby cage with the tree. Henry points to it and grunts, but hasn't managed to say "tree" yet. Nick's first real word was "tree," back in 2009.

I love the multicolored lights. I had the same kind on my Christmas tree as a child, and I love the patterns they make when you move your head around. My camera, though quite slow at snapping pictures with moving children around, took some neat shots of the lights.

Tonight, to start off our holiday season, we're snuggling up and watching The Polar Express. Nick is mesmerized.