Christmas surprises mean nothing to five year olds.

I had a couple of posts written, one I was going to get paid for, and one describing our fantastic trip to Joshua Tree, they got lost in my iPad app. I'm hoping to recover them at some point, when the app updates, but needless to say I am not going to rewrite them at this point.

This weekend we took the boys out individually each morning for breakfast and shopping with either Mommy or Daddy. Each kid got each parent for an entire morning of undivided attention. A rarity, but something we are going to make more of an effort to do, more often. Both boys benefited, and some things going on with Evan make us feel like he might need it most.

Anyway, both mornings were super fun, but the best part of my day had to be when we brought the boys back together, and after both Scott and I had impressed upon both Ryan and Evan that what we bought should remain a secret until Christmas, Ryan proceeds to whisper into Evan's ear about the Darth Vader watch he got him, with the mini figure!!!! and Evan, squees with joy, and begins the constant begging to have his present now, instead of Christmas. Later I causally mentioned that our Meyer Lemons look like they are ripe, and Evan began listing all of the things he bought me while with his Dad. Later that day, Ryan began telling Scott all about the tragic thing that happened when we were buying his watch. Scott and I could not stop giggling.
That was Saturday.

So far the additional 500 mentions of not telling anyone what we got them for Christmas seems to have worked because I have not heard from Ryan anything, and I know Evan has not told his father!

I love this age!

A little (okay, not so little video) of Christmas morning...

Please, only watch if you have nothing better to do, or if you are required to love us by blood or marriage.




I hope to get some detailed posts up after I get back home.

All Aboard....! (ha,ha,ha,ha)

"I'm going off the rails on a Crazy Train..."

Okay, not really what I intended to post, but it got away from me and I couldn't help myself.

A-N-Y Way, we are really excited around here.

This morning Ryan created this little song. I think the title is a natural fit. What do you think?

"All aboard the Christmas Train" By Ryan




Yeah, just a little excited. (this was 6:30 this morning, yeah, they wake up that way!)

It smells like Christmas!

There's been a little debate in our house about fake versus real Christmas Trees. Personally, and no offense if you have one, I HATE FAKE CHRISTMAS TREES. HATE. Yes, that is a strong word. I mean it.

As long as I can remember we've had a cut, formerly live Christmas Tree. There is something magical about the smell of pine in your home. The zillions of pine needles to clean up until Easter.

Now that I am older, and more Eco-Friendly/Eco-conscious, I do have my guilt about killing a tree for my enjoyment. And yes, it does seem silly to essentially throw away fifty bucks every year for a tree. But Friday, when we walked into the tree lot, and Ryan shouted, "It smells like Christmas!!!" My guilt went out the window. Yes Ryan, it does smell like Christmas. The Christmases of my past, and the Christmases of your future.

Last year the boys were a little to young to help much with the decorating of the "smell of Christmas." They put on a few ornaments but basically that was it.

Today we tried to get them a bit more involved. It worked to the extent that three year old kids can decorate a tree. It takes a lot more fine motor skills than I realized, and it wasn't until I tried to help my guys get ornaments on the branches that I figured out why hooks are much better than ribbon or string loops.

Ryan, ever the independent one, asked "Will you show me how to hang these ornaments, Mommy. Show me how to do it, please." And he worked and worked until he would get one on a branch.



It got a bit frustrating for both of them so I moved on to, "show me where you want this one to go" and that made the activity move along a wee bit faster. We only put about a third of our ornaments on the tree, I may put more on, or we may go for a minimalist tree this year.



However, we do have a very large grouping of ornaments in this section. I could not convince them to place ornaments anywhere else on the tree. And as part of my "letting it go" and "not passing on my OCD" they are all exactly where they told me to put them. Out of balance yes, happy kids, oh yeah. And that is what really matters.


****Edit: The magic is alive and well. Evan had to sit and look at the tree while drinking his milk, and he had to tell the tree goodnight.


He's always loved the Christmas tree. I think one of his first signs was tree, and one of his first properly used utterance was "Uh, oh" when we took the tree down. I know he cried last year when the tree came down. Stay tuned for the drama come the first of the year!