This has been a fun-filled week of Christmas preparations! Our first celebration was in Farmington for Chester Greenwood Day. Our kids don't have earmuffs, but Noah borrowed a pair (before deciding that he didn't like ear muffs) and James was very happy to wear his protective ear wear to the parade which doubled as ear muffs. It was cold, but we got to see a parade, take a horse drawn wagon ride, check out the cloggers and gingerbread houses, and see all of the Christmas trees ready for auction. This will definitely be added to our calendar for next year.
The next picture was one Noah insisted on taking after he instructed Gabe to build the tower on him when he was laying "really still"... he was so proud of himself;) Audrey seems to like Grandpa's chex mix just as much as everyone else in the family... she some how got the cover off the container and pulled out the bag (not to worry, she didn't actually eat any)... her older brothers were pretty upset when they thought that she was going to "eat it all". James and Ben have been able to have some fun play while Noah is at school. This day we made floam... it was a huge mess... glad Gabe wasn't home... lesson learned for the next time we make it;) Per usual, they had to get their cars out to drive in this new medium. I am super thankful that match box cars go through the dishwasher so well!
The Christmas train is still together and everyone shares it pretty well. This picture Gabe snapped after the boys had been playing with the train for maybe 2 days... Yes, that is a police man tied down to the train tracks with elastics... done all on their own. After we both had a good laugh about it we were really perplexed at where they got this idea. If it were us we would certainly contribute it to the cartoons we watched growing up where it was a common occurrence to see this happen, but as far as we knew the kids haven't been exposed to any of those shows (not that we are opposed to them, it just hasn't happened). So, after hours of speculating as to how cartooners came up with such ideas and it being "a normal" part of boy play (like turning anything into a gun or sword) I asked James about it. As it turns out, he was putting the police man on the track to keep the train safe and held down by elastics to keep the policeman safe from the train... well played kids;)
The bottom three pictures are from the hospital Christmas party. Santa was there and we were able to convince 3 out of 4 of them to sit on his lap. He was a bit surprised to hear James's request for a green umbrella and nothing else. Ben wanted nothing to do with Santa, but he really wanted a candy cane like everyone else. He was having an obvious internal struggle, so we kept telling him no candy cane unless he stood next to Santa. But when Santa's helper walked up to him and handed him a candy cane anyway he took it and ran;) The other notable story from this night was when James vomited. We have a general rule at meal time that the kids have to take a "no thank you" bite of whatever is being offered, if they don't like it after trying it then they don't have to eat it. If we are not at home or it is something they are unlikely to like we often let it slide, but in this case everyone wanted cake and they were serving mac and cheese, so yes, I made James take a bite.... he really didn't want to, but really wanted cake... there was a lot of gagging which prompted me to grab a napkin and get it up to his mouth just in time for that gag to turn into something more... we will have to be a bit more careful about where we are the next time we make James try something...
The next picture was one Noah insisted on taking after he instructed Gabe to build the tower on him when he was laying "really still"... he was so proud of himself;) Audrey seems to like Grandpa's chex mix just as much as everyone else in the family... she some how got the cover off the container and pulled out the bag (not to worry, she didn't actually eat any)... her older brothers were pretty upset when they thought that she was going to "eat it all". James and Ben have been able to have some fun play while Noah is at school. This day we made floam... it was a huge mess... glad Gabe wasn't home... lesson learned for the next time we make it;) Per usual, they had to get their cars out to drive in this new medium. I am super thankful that match box cars go through the dishwasher so well!
The Christmas train is still together and everyone shares it pretty well. This picture Gabe snapped after the boys had been playing with the train for maybe 2 days... Yes, that is a police man tied down to the train tracks with elastics... done all on their own. After we both had a good laugh about it we were really perplexed at where they got this idea. If it were us we would certainly contribute it to the cartoons we watched growing up where it was a common occurrence to see this happen, but as far as we knew the kids haven't been exposed to any of those shows (not that we are opposed to them, it just hasn't happened). So, after hours of speculating as to how cartooners came up with such ideas and it being "a normal" part of boy play (like turning anything into a gun or sword) I asked James about it. As it turns out, he was putting the police man on the track to keep the train safe and held down by elastics to keep the policeman safe from the train... well played kids;)
The bottom three pictures are from the hospital Christmas party. Santa was there and we were able to convince 3 out of 4 of them to sit on his lap. He was a bit surprised to hear James's request for a green umbrella and nothing else. Ben wanted nothing to do with Santa, but he really wanted a candy cane like everyone else. He was having an obvious internal struggle, so we kept telling him no candy cane unless he stood next to Santa. But when Santa's helper walked up to him and handed him a candy cane anyway he took it and ran;) The other notable story from this night was when James vomited. We have a general rule at meal time that the kids have to take a "no thank you" bite of whatever is being offered, if they don't like it after trying it then they don't have to eat it. If we are not at home or it is something they are unlikely to like we often let it slide, but in this case everyone wanted cake and they were serving mac and cheese, so yes, I made James take a bite.... he really didn't want to, but really wanted cake... there was a lot of gagging which prompted me to grab a napkin and get it up to his mouth just in time for that gag to turn into something more... we will have to be a bit more careful about where we are the next time we make James try something...
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