The Nutcracker and Me

I have decided that I want to have fun with my kids on a more regular basis. I should also do some girly mommy and me things more often with my daughter, and so I took her to see a local production of "The Nutcracker Ballet". It was fabulous, and we had a great time. She even sat really well. There was a 15 minute squirmy period in the middle, but she seemed to love it, and now whenever she hears the Nutcracker music, she goes all wild and says..."That's the Nutcracker Mommy!" Yes pretty girl it sure is! This is us, all dolled up in front of our gigantor real tree that the kids decorated, so I don't want any lip on how it's not all neat and organized and themey and it looks a little Charlie Brownish. I love all those handmade, glued up and glittered ornaments. Every one!

After the ballet we went out for a special mom and me dinner. Just a local place for some chicken nuggets and a french dip, but still. I wouldn't have traded the time for anything. And I can't wait until next year to do it all again!

Pageantry at Its Finest

It has been a busy week for us. Between Christmas pageant rehearsals at church, Nutcracker sightings and today heading downtown to view the Christmas around the World exhibit we have been running like crazy....in a good, good way.

Saturday the little ones had Pageant rehearsal. Jack refused to do it, and I won't force him to 'perform' if he doesn't want to. I contend that he would have been pretty awesome at it though.

This is the tree in the Sanctuary. Not exactly the look I was trying to capture, but it turned out alright. I can't wait until Easter to explain what this means to Nate, what with his 'death obsession' and all.

Nate was a dragon/dinosaur in the pageant. There was almost a prehistoric smackdown because another little boy was also a dino, and as Nate clearly pointed out to us, "There was only ONE dinosaur when Jesus was alive." Well, then, okay. During his battle with the T-Rex, he was warned by our WONDERFUL Christian Ed director Miss Bethany that if they continued to 'fight' they would have to be sheep in the play. No 4 year old boy willingly puts on those sheep ears (even if they ARE too cute) and so the boys worked out their territorial differences and lived in Bethlehem as peaceful dinosaurs.

This is my Pageant Penguin. She was soooo stinking cute. EVeryone loved her. She practiced hard all day Saturday, participating in the songs and hand motions and everything. And then, come performance time....there were PEOPLE in the audience! Horror of horrors to a very shy little girl. She was escorted in by another mom (I opted out of helping her at this point because I knew she'd get super clingy to me and so I ran and hid), and went up to the front, turned her back to the PEOPLE and sat through the entire performance. When it was all over she said, "I Don't wanna be in the pageant anymore mommy." I promised she was all done....until next year.
It was a great show. The kids did a great job. Even Mads, who begged to be in the show and then got a serious case of stage fright (Whose genetics are those...certainly NOT mine, to be sure). I'm so proud of my little Dinosaur and Penguin!!! They know all about the Birth of Jesus now. Waddle waddle waddle..... ROAR!

Nate at a Wake

My friend's grandmother passed away, so I hauled all 3 kiddo's to the wake, sans hubby since he had to work late. The kids were remarkably well behaved. Truly. Until they got in line to view the body.

Me-Boys, what are you doing?
N-We're gonna go see Grandma!
Me-Okay, well come up here to the front with me.

Pause pause pause

Nate: Is this it? All it is is a DEAD PERSON?

Me-Yup, that's all there is at a funeral/wake. Dead people.

Sigh.

From Nate

N-'Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!"
Me-Yes?
N-Who's going to get Baby Jesis?
Me (thinking of the pageant on Saturday)-Well, honey, I think we may use a doll.
N-No mom. Who is going to get Jesis?
Me-Uh, from where?
N-From Heben. Who is going to Heben to get Jesis?"
Me-Well, Nate, he is going to stay is Heaven forever, because he lived a long, long time ago.
N-And what, he got DEAD???!!!
Me-Yes, he got dead. That is why we celebrate Easter.
N-Cool.
Me-Yup. That is so totally cool.

The Christmas Countdown Begins!

Every week at church our pastors have been stressing the REAL meaning of Christmas. They are urging us not to be so stressed out over the little things. And while I'm totally with them on these points, I don't feel overly stressed about this holiday. I'm nowhere near getting my shopping done, I haven't planned my holiday dinner menu, and I've barely started on my cards to send out. But I love Christmas so much, it just all doesn't seem like work. It is my favorite holiday, and I love all the components that make up a "busy holiday season". Could be why I got married a week before Christmas, eh?

So, we've kicked off the season with our town's holday parade. It really should be renamed the "Boyscout Parade" because that's all whose in it. And 40 year old moms in short Santa skirts twirling batons. I swear to goodness that is true. And slightly icky.

For those of my out of state friends, just so you don't think we are all mean old Chicagoans here, we have John Deere tractors in our parades. Here's Jack in his uniform throwing us some candy. These parades are a great way to get rid of Halloween excess.

Nate and Maddie, enjoying the show.

Bryce is in there somewhere....

These two are getting ready to watch the parade. It's another tradition we now have. We go to church, head to Galati's Pasta for lunch (and primo parking), and watch the parade. I have eliminated the part of the tradition where we choose to go after the parade to get our tree. Standing outside for 2 hours is long enough in this cold weather for me!

Nate's Letter To Santa-As Dictated to His Dad

Dear Santa,

I want to say I love you! Can I give you some grapes? Can I please give you some candy canes? Or some Chili?

Santa, can you please give me some cars? Maybe a big Transformer? Can you build a gun for me?

I have tried to be a good boy all year. I have always wanted a Leapster. That would be great.

Love,
Nate

This is What Happens When

You let the three year old do her own makeup.

O Tannennbaum O Christmas Tree!

We went on Saturday to get our tree. It was very very strange indeed. First of all, it seems to be tradition that we like to get our tree on the absolute coldest day of the year, through about a foot and a half of snow right when the tree farm is closing so that we are always running to hurry up, get a tree, and not miss the last sleigh ride back to home base.

This year, we barely needed coats. And we went early in the day. And we scrapped going for a super long drive and found a tree farm literally in our own back yard (out on my long weekend run I found this tree farm that is about a 5 minute drive from our house. Sweetness).

Practically every tree was in great shape, and the kids had an awesome time running the gauntlet. I think Nate only fell over the saplings once (maybe twice). Maddie really, really wanted us to get the Charlie Brown tree, because it was just her size. She did that with her pumpkins at Halloween too.

Camo-Maddie. Can you find the girl in the leopard print coat that's hiding?

I'm sure at this point he was just talking about something. Talk talk talk talk talk....just to hear his own voice. Sap. Not from our stump.

I'm pretty sure the simple direction I gave at this point was, "Everyone look nice for the camera. We need a Christmas card picture." This is what happens when you say those kinds of crazy things.

Uh...3 year old with a saw. For some reason daddy thought this was an a-okay idea. So while I had a minor heart attack, I took photos.

Oh yeah, this is scary stuff. But it was all good. Everyone maintained all their digits.

Jack playing Lumber Jack.

The kiddos, in front of the winner. Oh yeah, this baby is huge. I have pictures to prove it, but it's not quite ready yet. And I know people like to make fun of my tree because it looks like little kids decorated it, but so what. Little kids DID decorate it. I'm not trying to win any contests or sell in as a display. It's all mine and I love it.