Cracking Nuts

Abizella and I went our first ever professional Nutcracker
(not to discredit the FABULOUS community Nutcracker we went to last year, or the Nutcracker where I danced as a soldier).

Abz litterally twirled her way through the lobby of the theater, stopping only briefly to snag a "crown of flowers" that she insisted was befitting for her ballerina head...
She next jumped into not only the dancing bear's arms...
...but also the Rat King's. Not a hesitation.
Even before the curtain was drawn, she was enraptured... I'm glad we went to the more family friendly matinee. I'm not so sure how tolerant other ballet enthusiasts would have been to a 5 year old gushing, "Look Mom it's the Arabian Coffee's!", "Look Mon, it's the Chinese Tea's!" "Look Mom, It's the Sugar Plum Fairy!" ...you get the idea, huge cast of dancer, Abizella announcing each grand entrance...
Totally a tradition!

Snowed in With Lots To Do

We were looking stinkin' cute in our new church duds so it is a good thing that they didn't cancel church until AFTER sacrament meeting.
Which gave us plenty of time to come home and go for a pony ride...
And spy on the neighbors...
And watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy. The kids mostly watched 8 hours of The Pink Panther, but Tadpole popped his head out for a bit and when he saw Saruman he said,
"That is a bad Jesus!"
Lots of popcorn...
Lots and lots of SNOW!!!!
Abz talks about snow all year long. In the dead of summer she will ask how long it is until she can make a snow angel and snow man. I would have photographed this great moment for her more thoroughly, but I was being lazy warm mom. So here is her big send off from the porch....
Little Tadpole spent a total of 2 minutes outside. Not a big fan of the blizzard conditions.

Proof there is a Santa Claus

No kidding, after hearing the fading bells of Santa's sled, Pops and I poked our heads out into the living room to find a larger than life pony. Not a chance 2 rational people like ourselves would have bought such a ridiculously large pony to reside in our little cottage.

Tadpole was the first up. After the thump thump thump of his feet I heard, "There is a Ho-rse out here for you Abizella!". I snapped up in my bed, snagged Tadpole and drug him back to bed with us because it was 5:00 a.m.

Next up was the failure of our smoke alarm battery at 6:00 a.m. Miraculously, I ripped it down before anyone stirred. It wasn't until 7:00 that Superkid and Abizella dashed into the living room. Here are the giddy kiddos anxiously waiting to tear into their gifts. What do you think? Should we wait for Lil' Chief?
Abizella said, "I must have been VERY good this year!"
Ooooooooooh! Superkid got a circuit board! Wicked!
and LOTS of trains and cars for Tadpole!
Plenty to rip tear and chew for Lil' Chief.
Merry Christmas Everyone!

Trying To Be Nice

Sometimes it is not easy.

Sometimes we tease. Sometimes quarrel. Sometimes we're uncooperative. Sometimes we pout.

Cute clothes help the facade.

Christmas movies distract us from our naughty ways.

But somewhere deep down inside there lies the embers of angels.

And with that glimmer of hope, we *humbly* submit our Christmas wish lists.

Superkid wants a robot building kit, an RC controller, and some balsa wood.

Abizella wants a pony.

Tadpole wants a train book.

Little Chief wants lots of snuggles.

December Fun

Last Friday was Abizella's Kindergarten gingerbread house making party. Parents were invited and that wasn't an invitation that I was going to pass up. I took the day off and partied with my favorite kindergarten queen. ...and while I was at it, I took the car into the shop which meant that we had the opportunity to get to school the old fashioned way. We bundled the kids up with layers and layers and layers until they screamed, "I can't put my arms down!" I scolded them, "You can put your arms down when you get to school!"
But not like the old fashioned days, they got a modern parental escort to school. They know the way, we do it from time to time. After I told them that I always walked to school by myself they have insisted that they should do it to. The compromise is that I hang back a respectable distance once we hit the school grounds. When we hit the corner of the school, Abz turned around and confidently said, "Mom, we can take it from here." She was off without a wave or a nod. Superkid lingered a little, took a few more steps and turned back with a toothy smile and a big wave for his mama.
I hiked back later in the morning for the gingerbread house construction project. My job was to nod approvingly and wear the fabulous symmetrical gingerbread man necklace Abz made for me. Abz's job was obvious. Frosting is clearly her medium.
And here is the class picture. I regret not snapping one last year of Superkid's class. Same teacher... only 25 students (that is a lot out here). We love Mrs. P. She is a celebrity around here... Not quite Dr. B status, but she is great.

Splendid Seven

Seven months already?
Ahhh. this kid. He has me wrapped around his cute little pudgy finger.
Maybe he just knows how to work his mom?




He has also picked up a few more tricks this month, mostly in the locomotive arena.
First off he has mastered the "car" sound effect. He thinks he is such a big boy when he grabs a cars and blows raspberries.
Mid-way through the month he wow-ed us by transitioning from all 4s to sitting and back again. Then last night he pulled himself up to standing for the first time.
After snapping a pic, I helped him steady himself. Such a proud boy.

This kid is off and running! ...well at least crawling. He isn't breaking land speed records yet, but he has figured out the coordinated cross crawl. He is loving the liberation. Nothing like bright shining objects dangling from tree branches to motivate you!

Grinch

Pops asks, "Should we go get a Christmas tree Tadpole?"
Adamantly Tadpole replies, "No!"
Quizzically Pops queries, "Why not?"
With furrowed brow, Tadpole retorts,
"Because I am the Grinch who kept Christmas from coming!"

Here's Tadpole pulling his Grinch face...
you know the one with the evil eyes and the curled up lips...

Being the Grinch is actually the best thing ever.
Especially if you have a Christmas loving, decorating queen for an older sister to torment.
What could be more fun than ripping ornaments from the Christmas tree branches, cackling with Abz on your heels and screaming, "I'm the Grinch and I am going to keep Christmas from coming! ha! ha! ha!"?