I'm dreaming of a white...

or an uncommonly warm, with a few patches of leftover-from-yesterday-but-still-enough-to-play in snow, CHRISTMAS!!!


But before we went out in the "weather," we had Christmas morning business to attend to!
My little Beau with his pile o' gifts
Santa brought a Cinderella castle for one very good little girl!
Emmitt guarding Sam's loot...
who got a sword? Eeek!
Princess with her princess bears
I'm not sure where Jacob went... but here is a bit of the aftermath

My Christmas Cuties!

Afternoon- we head over to Nana and Papa's house, but not before a last romp in the Christmas Eve snow!
it amuses me that, had I not cropped in on the kids, you would see that this little patch is practically the ONLY bit of snow left on the entire street...

isn't she lovely? (darn sunbeam)
"Brrrrr..."
"cold. snow. cold. snow."
he's been wearing snowboots for 3 months anyway... but hey! They actually did keep his feet warm and dry!

And the little stinkers actually asked me "How many days until the next Christmas, momma?"
Hahaha. 365, my loves. "That's a lot!" Yes, it is.

Quote of the day

thanks to Uncle Bonk, who got Jacob a Woody doll and blanket for Christmas. (and I have to also thank him for the giggles that have ensued every time Jacob says "Where is my Woody?" or "I want to play with my Woody!" etc, etc... )
I am very mature, as we all well know.

So Cotton and Jacob were in the truck today, and Jacob declares that Woody is wearing a certain kind of boots: "These are called shit-kickin' boots." And Cotton, through his laughter, asks "Who told you that?" and the blame falls on... ...(drum roll please)... ... ... MOMMA!!!!

In my defense, it wasn't something I *told* the *child*, it was overheard in a conversation between my husband and myself. And I used it properly. "I told your parents Jacob wanted some boots for Christmas." What kind of boots? "Shit kickin' boots."

You better watch out...

Did you expect anything different? :-P

Quoatables...

Jacob: Can I have a coke?
Me: No
J: half of a coke?
Me: No
J: a quarter of one?
Me: (impressed that he knows fractions) No, son.
J: How about a dime of one?

Lucy and Jacob were wrestling (what else is new?), and she runs to us to tattle. "Moooommmmaaaa! Jacob kicked me in my pirates!"

Merry Christmas from 2nd grade!

Watch the super cute Reindeer, "Comet," dead center. ;-)

Surprisingly, we didn't do anything with Kindergarten. Jacob's class had a program, and then I was invited to their party as well... so YAY!

letter to the big guy

Isn't it the cutest thing you've ever seen?
Translation:

Dear Santa Claus,
You are so nice. You bring us presents.
(And then she got tired of trying to spell things and put a random list of letters- which I am positive Santa will understand completely!)
Love Lucy. PS (she puts PS on all of her letters, but never puts a PS, haha)

We mailed it Thursday, I hope he gets it on time!

Yule Lads... a new tradition

My friend Jackie (aka the Fabric Floozie) spent part of her childhood in Iceland, and she told me about a Christmas tradition there... the Yulemen, Yule Lads, or basically Christmas "trolls."

Basically for the 13 nights leading up to Christmas, Children in Iceland leave their shoes in the windowsill, and every night a different troll will visit and leave them a small gift.

I told Cotton about this, and he was gung-ho! The more traditions, the more fun! And I am all about magic in this house, the more magic the better while I can get away with it. :-)

So on Thursday we told the kids about the Yule Lads, apologized for not knowing about this sooner ;-), and we did some googling to get the facts.
We had missed the first few trolls, but the troll for Thursday night was Askasleikir or "Bowl Licker." The kids left their shoes in Sam's window (Lucy doesn't want trolls in her room!), and left him some notes...



Bowl Licker did not bring anyone a ds. He brought Sam a little donkey (he calls it Hee-Haw), and the big kids got paddle balls. Oh, and everyone got a sucker.
Last night Door Slammer brought play-doh for the bigs, and Sammy got a sheep.
Tonight we are due for Skyrgámur, or Skyr-Gobbler. What is Skyr? Well, it is pretty much yogurt.
I am learning so much! Haha!

Enjoy a couple of pre- and post-Yule Lad shoe shots!

21 months

and we creep ever closer to that 2 year mark. Sigh.

What to say about my baby...?
He is growing up. Talking a lot. Doing a lot.
Making the world a happier place for everyone that knows him...