Best Christmas Yet

What I loved best about this Christmas, and in no particular order except stream of consciousness...

Making gingerbread house, Little Man and Baby Girl eating most of the candy before it could make it onto the house.

Little Man saying "I want that, and that, and that, and that. Mommy, I want ALL of it, everything on here!" (said while waving his arms around to indicate "everything") when toy catalogues came in the mail.

The 90th annual S.'s Christmas Eve party, which for me marks the beginning of Christmas each year. I love, love, love this party.

This year, I made my grandmother's, Memom's chex mix and Chinese New Year cookies for friends, teacher's gifts, and for those that help us every week - the mailman and garbage collectors. It's a tradition of Memom's that I'm helping to carry on for her.

Setting up the Dickens Christmas village this year. Memom gave me a piece for Christmas and for my birthday every year for about 5 years. I was 10 or so when she started, and not excited at all about it. But I love it now, and am so thankful for her forethought.

How my Memom is so close to my heart during Christmastime. I love her and miss her so much. Not a day goes by during Christmas that I don't think of her, it was her time of the year. She loved it so and gave and gave to others.

Little Man was really into Christmas morning this year, I have so many pictures with a genuine, excited, big smile, wide eyes, and a face full of wonder.

Putting Santa's cookies back in the bag, minus a few pieces which were crumbled up on Santa's plate, after the kids went to bed. Anticipating the excitement when the kids noticed that the cookies were gone and all that was left were crumbs.

Fixing up Baby Girl's baby crib with linens. Hot gluing ruffle underneath and knowing how much she would love it.

Seeing Monger cry at one of her presents, a puzzle made from a picture of all five of her grandkids playing in the sand at the beach from summer vacation.

Snuggling on the couch with the Hubs and Baby Girl on Christmas evening.

Missing Little Man like crazy after he went home with his Monger Christmas Day.

Realizing on Christmas Eve that I was content and fulfilled, and I really, truly didn't want for a thing, except to be with my family for the next two days.

Being filled with the spirit of Christmas, so much that it brought me to tears, realizing how very blessed we are in this life.

Actually being able to take our time opening presents on Christmas morning. The kids loved it, Momma and Daddy loved watching it.

Baby Girl and Little Man opening presents together, they literally helped each other open most of the gifts. There was nothing but cooperation and excitement for each other. They love each other so much and genuinely enjoy each others company. I am so thankful they are friends.

Little Man playing Santa, he knows his name, Baby Girl's name, and the words "mommy" and "daddy" by sight.

Little Man getting excited when he found a present with his name. I have a picture of him standing with a big present, he's pointing to his chest, has a happy look on his face, and is saying, "It says to ME!"

For your entertainment

A few entertaining tidbits from the kids...

This morning Baby Girl found some loose change lying around, and I think she liked them, because she decided to put them down the front of her footed pajamas, which she can zip and unzip by herself. So she's walking around jingling, and for the life of me I couldn't figure out where this jingling was coming from. Finally I understood, she's such a cute mess.

Also, her new word is "oatmeal," only it's the word oatmeal like you've never heard before.

"Meatmo."

Yep, she says "meatmo" for "oatmeal." As in, "I want meatmo," or "I ate it all meatmo." Again, she's a cute mess.

And from Little Man, or as we call him lately, "Bubby," (Baby Girl started calling him Bubba a long time ago, and we may be from the South, but I couldn't stomach the idea that a name like Bubba might stick, so we turned it into Bubby, which is a little better.) Anyway, over the last 24 hours or so, Bubby and I have had several detailed conversations about the exact definition of what it means to poop your pants.

Really?

Yes.

I seriously think I might have a future lawyer on my hands, my oh my.

I'll spare all the details, but his definition of pooping your pants differs slightly from mine, and he's trying to convince me that his definition is correct. Needless to say, we've had more than a few pooping in your pants incidences lately. Well, according to me, that is. If you ask Bubby, he's been an angel and has not pooped in his pants.

Nobody prepares you for this kind of parenting situation.

Bubby also now knows how to do jumping jacks, push ups, and sit ups. They are as coordinated as one would think four -year - old jumping jacks, push ups, and sit ups would be. It's ridiculously cute.

A cookie by any other name

Little Man and Baby Girl got into the habit of eating a granola bar every morning for breakfast. For a long time I was okay with it, I mean, it was better than a doughnut or super surgery cereal, right? But we've come a long way on our healthy eating journey, and while we don't always follow the right path, we really, really try to. So I came across a recipe for homemade, chewy granola bars. Granola bars without refined sugars, artificial ingredients, and preservatives, all right! The ingredients are simple, oats, natural peanut butter, coconut oil, and whatever mix of added ingredients you want - coconut, nuts, dried fruit, dark chocolate, pretty much whatever sounds good to you. So I made some - they were delicious. I ate them up. Baby Girl ate them up, too. Little Man, however, didn't take to them. They were "different" from his beloved granola bars, and he didn't like that. I kept offering them to him, and he kept refusing them. So one day I decided to call them something different. Something like,

"Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie."

Guess who ate it right up?

So it's been awhile..

Never mind that I haven't written in months, oops.

This morning the cutest thing happened. We've recently moved Baby Girl into her own room. That's right, Little Man doesn't share his room with her anymore, and neither do The Husband and I. For the first time in over two years I don't have a pack n play with a sleeping baby in it at night. It's bittersweet, but mostly sweet.

Anyway, this morning Baby Girl woke up first, so I went upstairs to get her. She's so cute in the mornings, as soon as she sees you she says, "Hi, Mommy," or "Hi, Daddy." Adorable. So this morning I had just finished changing her, and Little Man walks into her room through their adjoining bathroom. Baby Girl sees him, jumps up, runs over to him, gives him a big bear hug, and says, "I love you, Bubby!"

Little Man just looked at her, but that's besides the point.

I've got a sweet baby girl!

Little Man's Favorite Sandwich

Well, it's very apparent that I've lost my blog mojo. That makes me a bit sad, only because the reason I blog is so I can remember some of the cute, sweet, and funny things my kids do on a daily basis. Well, I'm writing this tidbit down for posterity, so maybe when Little Man is 40 years old we'll be laughing about this - his new favorite sandwich, which is......

Bread, flat yellow cheese (cheddar), and mustard. No ham or turkey, mommy.

I am as surprised as anyone, but he ate it up!

Today, Mama lost it.

I know I've already written about how Little Man started preschool last week. Not parent's day out preschool, but "real" pre-kindergarten. Last week I was expecting tears on my part, but really none came.

Until today, that is.

Today was Little Man's second week of school, and really only his fourth day. But today held something new for me - I had to drop Little Man off in the carpool line. That's right, I had to let a stranger (a teacher at the school, but a stranger never the less) open my car door, unbuckle my newly four year old son, and walk him off to his classroom, all while I sat there and watched. Actually, I didn't really get to watch, because there were what seemed like a gazillion cars waiting behind me (this school's carpool is insane!), and I was encouraged to promptly drive away.

I had only rounded the corner (still on school property) before my face started to crumble. I didn't even know what was happening at first, the tears came and then the awareness of the emotions followed. Before I was on the street I was in full blown crying mode. I was only hoping to keep it together long enough to get away from the guys directing traffic and the other parents waiting at the stoplight. I was only semi-successful.

That was hard. An unexpected hard. Wow, it caught me by surprise. It's two hours later and I'm still tearing up thinking about it. I really enjoyed walking Little Man into his classroom, seeing the morning activities laid out, saying "Good morning" to his teacher, and giving him a hug goodbye. It doesn't seem like too much to ask, especially for a pre-k class. This morning made me realize that, even though I'm trying not to, I'm taking my babies for granted. They do grow up too fast. Little Man is already gone from me for three entire days, and while I'm glad he's learning and having fun, I don't really like it.

Maybe I should check into homeschooling...

Baby Girlisms - Finally!

Baby Girl is getting older - 22 months now - and she's talking a lot! She now has a few of her own "isms" to write about!

A new song she made up, "Abcdefghijklmno - eee, iii, eee, iii ohh."

These new phrases really aren't "isms,", but they sure are cute:

"Daddy's home!" - said whenever the dogs go crazy and bark at someone on the street.

"Where did paci go?" - said while looking for her paci, I just can't believe she formulated a correct four word utterance!

"Here you go!" - said in a cute singsong voice while handing me a cup of "water" from her "kitchen," and after holding the cup under the "faucet" and saying, "sshhh, sshhh" to mimic the sound of water flowing. Absolutely delicious!

"I see you!" - also said in a singsong voice while holding a magnifying glass up to her face and looking at me with a huge grin on her face.

She has also starting making a new face, I call it "Famous Smile." It's a smile just like her big brother used to make at this age, the waaayy over exaggerated smile and squinched up eyes, oh, it's so cute!

I just love my Baby Girl!