Santa

Last night was our ward Christmas party. It had the usual: dinner, talent show, and ... Santa!

Spencer was too old to sit on Santa's lap this year. (*sob*)

But Tess knew the drill and wasn't scared at all! She hopped up on Santa's lap like it was nothing!

Josh got in on the action as well, being a smart alec and asking Santa for a baby doll. I'm tempted to fulfill his wish... (Side note: I took these first two pictures on my phone. The rest were taken on the super fancy big ol' camera the ward used. The quality on my phone is so much better! My phone is the best and I lurrrrve it. If I were you I'd ask Santa for one. The end.)

And then there was Cole. Poor Cole. At first I thought he was just being a grumpus about refusing to sit on Santa's lap. But eventually I realized that he was TERRIFIED. It took a while, but we eventually coaxed him to just talk with Santa, no sitting required. (It helped that Santa was giving away activity books. Cole just couldn't stand that Tess had one and he didn't.)

I was right behind him the whole time, with my arms securely around him at his request. My hand was on his chest and I could feel his little heart beating a million miles a minute. He was so scared! That poor, brave kiddo! It was darling and sad all at once. (It must be mentioned that we did not force this - he wanted to see Santa.) ((That's not right. He didn't want to see Santa. He WANTED one of those activity books and was willing to pay the price.))

Although Cole knew exactly what he wanted to ask for Christmas, when Santa asked the magic question "What would you like me to bring you?", Cole froze. It was like that scene in "A Christmas Story". He completely lost the powers of thought and speech!

So I whispered in his ear "A Hot Wheels track" and he was able to blurt that out. After that his little shoulders relaxed and he wasn't quite as tense. No way was he getting any closer to that dangerous man in the red suit, but he had fulfilled his mission.

Oh Mr. Cole. Life with you is certainly interesting. How can a boy who shows no fear (or common sense) when out on the playground be so afraid of an old guy? How can a boy who is NO respecter of persons (especially authority figures) lose all sense when in the presence of someone who only really factors into our lives one month a year? And, most importantly, how can I use this newly discovered fear to keep you in line, at least for the next couple of weeks until Christmas? (Just kidding.) ((Kind of.))

Cole's Letter to Santa

I found this rogue letter to Santa in Cole's closet last night.

As per usual with so many things pertaining to Cole, I have several questions.

1) Why was "poop" and "pottys" put on the list? I mean, I'm totally on board with crossing them out, but why were they there in the first place? (I suspect Josh had a hand in this...) ((When asked I got a growl in reaponse.))

2) Why is the billion dollars crossed off? And how does he even know what a billion dollars is? He's 6, for Pete's sake. (When I asked I got this response: "I never really wanted to get that. Just the marble race and Hot Wheels.")

3) Is this just a mind game created by an evil super genius, as pointed out on Instagram by my friend Deidra? Is he just trying to look sweet and not greedy in an effort to get the other non-bathroom-related items on his list? (If so, it worked. He's gonna be a happy boy Christmas morning!)

Thirty-Eight

Friday was my 38th birthday - as Tess has been telling everyone she meets. (Seriously. Around the neighborhood, at church, everywhere!) Which is fine, I don't care if people know how old I am! What's to hide? But its funny to see the reactions of the people she tells; they wait to see how I react first.

It was a pretty typical day in most ways, actually. Worked around the house, edited a bit, untangled Christmas lights. (I seem to remember doing that often on my birthday. Such is the life of a December baby!)

Josh had been "sick" the day before (yes, I used italics for a reason) and was home again because the school has this 24 hour symptom-free rule. So the lucky duck got to join Lance, Tess, and I for lunch at McCallister's. (Next year? All kids in school!) We even got him to take a picture of us. Notice Tess lurking in the bottom left.

Lance and I had planned on going out to eat and to see the new Hunger Games movie, but the youth in our ward had an activity and our neighborhood babysitter was busy, so we decided to make it a family night. (We also seem to do this quite a bit on my birthday...)

I had been looking for some sort of activity for our family to do after we went out to dinner that night. (The birthday girl doesn't cook on her birthday.) I was having a hard time finding something I thought we would all enjoy when I drove by a billboard for McCord's Candies and making your own candy canes. Perfect.

McCord's has been in Lafayette for 130+ years. The bottom floor is part malt shop, part candy store, and is always run by inexperienced teens. Seriously, I've never been there when they haven't been training some new girl on the cash register. That night was no exception. So we bought our tickets and were given some sketchy instructions on how to get upstairs to where they make the candy canes. McCord's is in this old, old building and we had to go up two flights of steep stairs like this. (Bad shot, but you get the idea.)

Upstairs was pretty crowded and hot - lots of people and lots of boiling sugar!

We stood next to trays and trays of candy canes. They said they make over 35,000 by hand each holiday, which is pretty impressive.

Josh was impressed.

Tess, not so much. She's not a fan of crowds and new experiences. Plus, she was tired and grouchy.

You can see one of the guys stirring the candy cane batch in a huge copper pot in the back there, and the big marble table where you can make candy canes. Oh, and Josh again.

They gave us each a strip of candy cane and told us we had about 20 seconds before it hardened.

The boys all got to work - fortunately, we had discussed ahead of time what shapes they wanted to make. Josh made... something abstract. He's an artist!

Cole made a C. (And then held it backwards for the photo.)

Spencer made an S.

And Tess made a scene because she waited too long and whined and then broke her candy. It was THE END OF THE WORLD. But apparently they've had little drama queens there before because they gave her a new piece and all was right with the world.

My candy cane. I don't think I ever got a shot of Lance's. I think it looked pretty similar.

Then they gave a demonstration on how they make the candy canes. That flaming stove in the back was pretty impressive!

That's a lot of HOT sugar. I kept thinking of Kanien and Deidra because they taught us how to make candy canes at Mom's group last year.

They wore leather work gloves slathered in crisco. (You should look into that, Kanien!)

In the back the guy is pulling the slightly cooled candy on a hook to get air into it and help it turn white. The girl is working food coloring into the red section of the candy.

More hook action.

Then they showed how they layered the candy and made the stripes. They had this special heater on the counter to make the candy stay warm enough to handle. They worked pretty fast; it was pretty impressive!

We finally finished and headed back down the stairs. Tess took quite a while (they were steep) going down and kind of caused a traffic jam. I'd like to say that's a first for one of our kids, but no.

We went home and I got to blow out the candles on my Monster Cookie Brownies. (Peanut butter and chocolate cookie bar. Delish.)

I didn't get a picture of all my gifts - like the gorgeous bowl Dad and Susie gave me, or the Bingo set - and I'm too lazy to take a picture now. Hah!  But I did get quick shots of these garden knee pads that the kids decorate for me. (Can you tell who did which one?)

Lance also made me this book.(For the record, I was NEVER tricked. I knew exactly what was going on.) It's full of emails I wrote to him when we were first dating and engaged. I'm pretty sure I have his emails somewhere around here... a complementary volume might arrive for his birthday.)

At the end of the evening all I wanted was one good picture of me with the kids since they refused to do so on Mother's Day. This was the best shot we got. Shocker.

Nothing grand and glorious, but it was still a great birthday. I feel really blessed to have such a great family and friends!

Spencer's First Band Concert

What comes to mind when you hear "Middle School Band Concert"?

Yeah, me too.

Fortunately, it turned out to be much better than I was expecting!

Lance had to help with tithing settlement that night and Josh had scouts, so off I went with Cole and Tess. Cole + Tess + Middle School Band Concert - One Parent = Nothing Good.

Fortunately, I'm not new to the parenting rodeo circuit. I came equipped with toys, goodies, and serious threats.

If they were good during the three songs that each band played they earned a treat. (Small candy, like Hershey's kisses.) It's amazing what kids will do for a little chocolate! I'm not saying they were perfect - far from it - but we survived. (What I am saying, though, is that Lance really needs to be at the next concert, as much for me as for Spencer.)

Cole swore he could hear Spencer playing is Alto Sax!

It was fun to hear all of the different bands. As expected, there's a huge difference between 6th grade beginner band and the 8th grade advanced bands.

Unexpected was that I was actually able to have a good conversation about all of the music with Spencer afterward. Like, a real conversation, where opinions were shared and considered. And it was really fun and interesting to see him interact with his friends, most of whom I've watched grow up. I've been a little leery of the thought of having a teenager (in a couple of years), but now I'm realizing that things are about to get pretty interesting. In a good way.

Not the best picture, but it was the best I could do that evening! Well done, Spence!

Here's a video of his band's best song. With a few antics from Tess and Cole thrown in for good measure.

Sickos

My schedule today was FULL. Taking Josh to an eye appointment in Indy, doing some major grocery shopping this afternoon (we had somehow managed to run out of EVERYTHING all at once), finish decorating for Christmas, do the laundry, and a ton of other odds and ends that needed to get done.

But then Tess woke up at 5:50 am and freaked out about her tummy hurting. And then she said it was fine and demanded pancakes. (It was pancake Thursday, after all.) And then she threw up all over my living room couch and rug.

Let's ponder for a moment why she would choose the nicest pieces of furniture in the house.... Okay pondering done. She's a punk who's out to get me.

So then my awesome husband Lance came to my rescue and offered to stay home for a half day so I could still get Josh to Indy.

So I took Josh to Indy and things went well. (We don't have to go back for 6 months! Woo-hoo!)

But then he got sick on the way home.

And I was sad. But then Lance offered to stay home all day so I could go grocery shopping. So I did and it was awesome and now I won't have to go again for the rest of December except for fresh produce. (I wish. Still, it's a nice thought.)

And then Spencer came home and it was good. And then Cole came home and he was super moody and cried about everything and now I'm worried he might be getting sick, too. Although now that I think about it he skipped having a snack so maybe he was just hungry and I wasn't paying attention. Dang. Time will tell.

Then I was able to get lots of things on my list done. And we got the kids into bed early.

So where am I going with this? I'm not sure.

Except for that I have the world's best husband and I'm so glad he's mine!

Fishing Line

The amount of fishing line used in this house from October through December is ridiculous. Oddly, I've never purchased fishing line for fishing.

I'd hazard a guess that our fishing line usage far exceeds the national average (for non-fishermen at least). Great stuff.

Cole's Thankful Turkey

I found this turkey in Cole's backpack this morning. So many questions came to mind. (From R-L.)

Q: Why did you spell family and friends like that? I know you know the right way.
A: *growl* (With furrowed brow)

Q: I'm thankful for toes, too. Umm, why exactly are you thankful for toes?
A: *growl* IT'S NOT TOES. IT'S TOYS.
Q: But it says toes.
A: WE HAD TO SOUND IT OUT TO SPELL IT.
Q: But you know how to spell it correctly.
A: WE HAD TO SOUND IT OUT.

Q: What's the last one say?
A: MY WORK.
Q: Oh. When did you get a job?
A: WHAT? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? I DON'T HAVE A JOB!
Q: So you mean school work.
A: YES. BUT NOT REALLY.