I SuperDavey!

We are busy with preparations for Davey's birthday here. He will turn 3 tomorrow. When I told him today that I had purchased Thomas the Tank Engine plates and napkins, he squealed with delight and burst out "Yea! Good job, supermommy!" Who knew that paper plates and napkins from Target could win such accolades?

Speaking of superheros, Davey and AJ received fun make-your-own superhero capes from Aunt Nicki and Uncle Brett for Christmas, and Davey was immediately enamored with the idea. He ran around shouting "I SuperDavey!" and thrusting a superhero fist into the air. When it came time to design his cape, he requested his favorite things on it--Thomas, Percy and Gordon engines, a snake and two lollipops. Here is the finished product:

Santa!

We had a crazy Christmas morning at our house with the kids. Pops and Susan came to see the kids open their presents, and as they were waiting with the kids at the bottom of the stairs, I ran into the other room to start the video camera, which caused Davey to burst into tears. It was an odd scene to be saying to a kid "come on, see what Santa brought for you!" and to have his response be sobbing. I guess that comes with the territory of the holidays being a bit too exciting for the little ones. The second he saw the Thomas train set that Santa had left for him he was all smiles again. My favorite gift from Santa was the play camping tent with a campfire and plastic hot dogs and marshmallows for the kids to pretend to roast. I sent the same thing to my 2 year-old niece, Violet, who camped more in her first year than I have in my whole life and is a real camping pro. I was so happy to hear she loves it and spent the entire morning in there. I am hoping she can show my city slicker kids how to do the real thing when we are able to get out to Colorado for a visit.

Later in the day we went out to Pops and Susan's house for Christmas dinner and a few more presents. I am still kicking myself for not getting video of the gift opening there, which was a classic Pops. He gave the boys a gift that was four boxes inside each other, each one wrapped. After AJ got through the first two he said "this is sure a lot of boxes!" When he got to the last one, he and Davey squealed to discover Pops had wrapped a donut for each of them. Then it was on to a bag of Chinese handcuffs. The boys had never encountered these before and so Pops asked them which fingers they use to push buttons and to stick their button-pushing fingers into each end. They recently messed up Pops' tv by pushing buttons that we can't figure out to undo, so it was sweet revenge when AJ realized what Pops had tricked him into and called out "hey! my finger is stuck in here!" He is starting his indoctrination into Pops' sense of humor and lifelong lesson to be able to laugh at yourself.

14 months going on 14 years

Well, it is safe to say Sissy loves her pink car from Santa. She climbs in and out, in and out (like someone else we know when he was Julia's age) and has a fit when one of her brothers tries to take a ride. Tonight Julia had swiped my cell phone and was sitting inside the car pretending to talk on the phone. Joe commented that she must be 16 with her car and cell phone. I told him kids can get their learner's permits in Iowa when they are 14, and I think we both had a minute where we felt that day will come too soon.

By the way, since this picture had the perfect angle, I can't help put point out the crazy molar tooth that popped its way in before the rest of her teeth. Her smile is so uniquely Julia that is makes me laugh when I see it.

Christmas Eve

We had a lovely Christmas Eve at Grandma Julie's house with Grandma's potato soup and homemade pizza for the kids. Grandma hit two home runs with Zoob building blocks for AJ and a Darda race track for Davey. And then we went back to our house to put the kids to bed and we had pisco sours courtesy of Grandma Julie and crab legs brought from the resturant when Uncle Andy got off from work. Thanks to Uncle Brett for the pisco sour recipe, which I understand he learned from watching a guy in Chile who has made them for years. Not sure what the secret is, but these are delicious. Just what we needed to power through some toy assembly!

Julia's hair bow is a Christmas gift from our wonderful former Nanny, L, who brought it from Puerto Rico, and her Christmas dress and sweater were gifts from her Grandma Francie and Papa. She is one lucky and stylish girl!

For Santa

AJ and Davey were very diligent about making cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve and only ate about 2 of the chocolates each in the process, which for them is extreme discipline. They carefully pealed the wrappers off each one and guarded their plates of chocolates while the cookies baked. When it came time to leave cookies for Santa, I suggested that AJ write a note so that Santa would know the cookies were for him. I was shocked when he was able to write this little sign, writing each letter carefully as I spelled the words for him. Too bad for him that I discovered this writing talent just in time for thank you card season. Look for one in the mail near you. More to come on Christmas posts this week. Merry Christmas wishes to all of our family in Chicago, Colorado, Florida and St. Louis. We miss you!

Lump of Coal

AJ is obsessed with the idea of kids getting lumps of coal for Christmas. He's making his own list and checking it twice, and he is certain that three kids in his class at school are getting lumps of coal. According to AJ, these kids get in trouble all the time and definitely must be on Santa's naughty list. I am wondering if his faith in Santa will be shaken if the three show up for school after the holidays with new toys.

AJ has also started to use the threat of a lump of coal to try to get his way around the house. He hates having his hair washed, and the other night when I was scrubbing away, he yelled "Stop washing my hair or you'll get a lump of coal for Christmas!" Still chuckling...

11 grams of sugar

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my true loves gave to me
11 grams of sugar and a kitchen full of flour, woe is me.

The 11 grams of sugar refers to all of the sugar that must have been in the cup of hot chocolate and cookies served on the Santa Train at the Boone & Scenic Valley Railroad. Pops and Susan treated us to tickets to ride the Santa Train, and the kids all had a great time. Davey was especially excited about the hot chocolate (he called it his "coffee") and both boys were so amped up on sugar and Christmas joy that by the time Santa came through the car to give each kid a jingle bell, they were bouncing off the seats (and windows). As my dad said, it was the railroad's idea to give the kids a sugar rush, so we didn't feel too bad about the overexcitement that resulted.

It was a beautifully sunny day and we enjoyed the ride immensely. On the return trip, they invited the kids up to the front of the car to sing Christmas carols, and AJ used this as his opportunity to attempt to sneak an additional bag of cookies, which mom vetoed. There was also a book reading, although the railroad was not able to read the traditional Night Before Christmas this year because the publisher started asking for royalty payments. So a book about Christmas on the Iowa prairie written by a local author was read instead by a teenage girl who said "what the heck??" directly into the microphone when she stumbled over the word "Ioway". (Iowa is named for the Ioway Indians who were here in the mid-1850's.) The teenage reader was one of the many volunteers who keep the railroad going for visitors. Most seem to be retirement-aged men who love trains and enjoy dressing up in the railroad gear and basically playing with some very large trains. I think Davey may be happy to join them one day about 60 years from now.

Twelve Days of Christmas

We are getting in the holiday spirit here. I am going to try something new this year to share fun holiday pictures of the kids by using the 12 days of Christmas theme. Here goes...

On the 12th day of Christmas, my true loves gave to me
12 Christmas cookies and a kitchen full of flour--woe is me.

Last weekend was cookie baking. I think we ended up with more flour on the kids and all over the kitchen than in the cookies, but the boys had fun.

Holiday Card Rejects

Joe and I staged a photo shoot just before Thanksgiving in an attempt to get a good picture of all three kids together for the holiday card. Better luck next year. Sigh. I wanted their hair to be combed and orderly, but Joe applied a little too much daddy grease (water) and in retrospect I think people will wonder why the boys just got out of the pool. And there are water spots from all the combing that dripped onto Davey's shirt, but I thought people might think they are food spots (a common occurance at our house, to be sure). And I forgot to take Julia's bib off that I had put on her to keep her shirt dry for the pictures. So we had to use something else on the holiday card (don't want to spoil that surprise, as they should go in the mail this weekend), but I wanted to share the rejects with you for laughs. Hope you are all enjoying the holidays!

11 13 14 23

Skinny Legs

Look at my tall boy with the long, skinny legs! He definitely gets these from his dad and not from me. He is no longer a little boy but has somehow edged his way into in-between not little but not quite yet big, as in elementary school kid big. My mom has noticed a change in him this fall, too. He is able to delay gratification. I have been impressed several times recently when he asks to watch one of his favorite movies and he says "oh, okay" when I tell him not until tomorrow. I steel myself for a meltdown that doesn't come. (But don't worry, because Davey has taken it upon himself to have enough tantrums recently not only for himself but to use up the share of tantrums AJ seems to have outgrown as well). AJ is also deeply aware that he is an example for his brother and sister and about half the time now works hard to set a good example. There are times there in the twos and threes when it seems like kids are really a mess as they adjust to the world and their place in it, so it is a bit of a relief to see a glimmer of the future here at the end of the preschool tunnel.

Monster's Ball

Every year it is a challenge to find warm hats that are not too itchy for the kids and still cover their ears. So far we have had bear hats, alpine hats, monkey hats and now this year's entry, monster hats for all...

My Night

Joe is out of town on business so I have all three kids to feed, bathe and put to bed. It feels like a three kid circus. My mom bravely volunteered to help with dinner and bedtime. After way too many shenanigans (a term my mom uses to describe the boys' antics), I thought I finally had them settled down and on their way to dreamland and my mom left. Then I heard the telltale signs of stomach flu coming from sissy's room. I got there just in time for her to get sick all over me and the carpet on the way to the bathroom. I think to myself it is probably a good thing that I didn't get around to asking our landlord for new carpet. AJ and Davey use this event as a good excuse to sneak out of their rooms and are circling excitedly outside the bathroom giving the play-by-play "Sissy's sick and puked all over mommy! It's green beans from dinner! Yucky sissy! Now she's puking again!!" Just as I am about to really lose my patience, Davey reaches up to pat sissy's back and says "oh, honey" over and over to soothe her and AJ gets in on the act as well giving her a kiss on her head. And then they are off running in circles in Davey's room again. While I change Julia's pajamas and clean the carpet, Davey throws a toy at AJ and AJ kicks Davey in the head in retailiation. When I finally get the boys settled back in bed, AJ asks me "after you put sissy down, what are we going to do next?" I laughed and said "Buddy, you guys wear me out. Mama is going to bed!" Want to come over to our house for dinner and the bedtime routine some night? I guarantee there's never a dull minute.