Technically our Christmas decorating took place on Thanksgiving. Pace was so excited to get everything up! He kept opening box after box and then laid EVERYTHING on the floor for me to put up. Thanksgiving was the day of my half, and I was pretty busted tired, so it took a couple days to get the floor trimmings up on the walls where they belong.
Rocket liked helping, too.
Keo's favorite spot is under the tree.
A family moved in across the street and a couple doors down, and we've become fast friends. She grew up in Mexico, and lived a few years in Brazil, as well. We get together every Tuesday afternoon to cook! One week she teaches me her family secret Mexican dishes (don't tell her Tia), and the next week I teach her something like bread or biscuits. This was Enchilada Suisa Sauce week--it looks like tomato water, essentially, and I was really skeptical...it is so flavorful! This is what you dip your tortillas in for enchiladas, and the base for Mexican rice.
And about now we start getting into David working crazy long hours, and the start of our Christmas projects to help pass the time. Starting with the annual cinnamon rolls for the drivers! We also set up a snack station for delivery folks.
Pace's school had a winter festival one Saturday morning, and Santa was going to be there. The day before the boys and I were hitting a few stores picking up supplies for our projects. Pace looks up at me and asked if Santa was real. I said, "Well, kind of." "What do you mean, kind of?" "Well, there was a real Santa once a long time ago, and there were kids in his village that didn't have much, so he brought them presents as a fun surprise. So we like to carry on the tradition and share presents to make everyone feel good." "So you mean Santa's a myth?" "Yes." My first thought was, 'Ummm, how do you know what a myth is?!' and my second thought was, 'Boy, that was an easy conversation!' Well, the next morning walking to the festival, the boys were carrying their Christmas lists to give to Santa, and Pace said, "I think Santa's going to be in a costume." Well, we got there, and that Santa sure looked pretty convincing! He had Pace caught up in the magic for a moment. For a while David has been conditioning Pace to want and ask for a certain lego set (a particular set they don't make anymore but that David found cheap on eBay), and Pace had written that set on his list. When Santa asked Pace what he wanted for Christmas, pace told him the Atlantis set. Santa looked right back at Pace and said, "You know, I think we have a few more of those in my shop. I'll see what I can do!" On the way home, Pace was all smiles, and concluded, in his superior logic, "Mommy, I just know, if that Atlantis lego set is under the Christmas tree, I just know Santa is not a myth!"
The next day was David's birthday. The boys were so excited to hide his presents and create a map for him to follow.
We made gingerbread tipis and longhouses, at Pace's request. The longhouse collapsed on itself about three times before we decided to give up on it. The gingerbread was either too heavy, or the frosting wasn't drying fast enough, or the roof could have probably used more support. At any rate, the tipis were much more stable.
Another project we worked really hard on was creating 6 new learning centers for Pace's teacher's Christmas present. On Fridays the class has a shortened lesson time, and then set up four or five learning centers--math and reading-related educational games. I go in every Friday to help out--Pace's teacher has also been so gracious and allowed me to also participate once to twice a month by teaching the kids health and nutrition concepts. Sometimes with the nutrition lessons I have an activity that doubles as a learning center. It's been really fun getting to know and working with the kids, and it was so fun putting together these centers for them and Ms. Andersen! Ms. Andersen called Pace up to the front and had him help demonstrate how to play the games. I completely forgot to take a photo at home of all the cute games, so these will have to do. {These weren't too hard to put together, either--Ms. Andersen has a pinterest board, and all I had to do was go on, click on the ones I wanted to do, download, print, cut, laminate, and find cute boxes to put them in!}
Digraph Train Station
Snowman Counter with tally marks and ten frame
Snowman counter with dots, pom-poms, and numeral hat
Digraph picture matching
Build a Flower Letter Sounds
Monster Doubles Bingo
The cats got an early Christmas present. Costco had kitty towers, and the day we got it, an amazing storm blew in. We had this 6ft tower in our shopping cart, pushing out to our car, and the storm literally blew in as we were trying to make it to load everything up. The wind was blowing so hard I couldn't push the cart, and it twisted in a 360 before I could start walking again. It felt like a tornado--winds blowing, dark storm clouds blustering in, temperature dropping as we were trying to get to the car, rain/hail pelting us. The cat tower was like a boat mast, and the boys were hanging on for dear life. I look at Pace and he is grinning from ear to ear, and shouts, "Mommy! We need a TIV!" {Tornado Intercept Vehicle} He was in seventh heaven. We made it to the car, and a nice passerby shouted at me, "Get your kids in the car! I'll load up your stuff!" Considering we were in what felt like a typhoon, it went pretty smoothly! We got everything home, changed our clothes, and introduced the kitties to their new tower--they love it!
The rains quickly turned into hail, then sleet, then about 5 inches of snow, all within an hour or two. The kitties didn't know what to make of the snow! They were enthralled watching it out the window. Keo is turning into our fat cat--he loves laying around, eating, and cuddling. Rocket is like a puppy--he's constantly running around, runs to greet us at the door, tail wagging, he plays fetch with his favorite toys, growls when someone tries to take his toy without permission--he's hilarious.
Max is a little math whiz. Well, a reading whiz, too--he's just amazing. He loves numbers, loves counting, loves doing his workbooks, loves Upstart, and loves reading. His comprehension is great--he giggles at the silly books. He decided to write out some addition problems the other night, just because.
Another 2-3 day project was cleaning out the toy room of all the toys we've outgrown or just don't use anymore. The huge box on the left are phase toys the boys call "baby toys"--they will be donated to the Nursery at church. And just in time--our ward is splitting in January, so we'll just call up the new nursery folks and let them know we've got the toys and books and puzzles covered. The huge box on the right are toys we just don't play with that often anymore. We dropped them off at a donation center today.
Pace brought home a Christmas craft. Max did, too, but he said it was for Christmas and put it in my stocking
Pace lost another tooth! Yesterday morning Pace wanted to try and pull it out before school, but there was one more root holding on. After school I made him lunch and he must have forgotten about it because he took a bite of his sandwich and came to me crying, asking me to pull out his tooth. That bite knocked loose that last root, and it was literally hovering in his gum. I didn't even pull it, it just fell into the tissue.
Pace lost the first two teeth that came in. When he opened his mouth to show me his two-tooth gap, this is what I really saw--Pace, as a baby, with his first two teeth just poling through the gums!
Pace was so excited for the tooth fairy bucket, it's amazing he ever fell asleep. And here he was, crack of dawn this morning, opening up a lego set on my bed and putting it together before Max even woke up!
It's a Ninjago rover, but it looks like a TIV to me, so I called it the Ninja TIV all day, and Pace got annoyed with me, so he was excited to shoot me with with missiles...
