Santa vist

This year Santa once again made a stop at our neighborhood clubhouse to visit with the kids. I am happy to report that both of my boys were happy to see Santa this year. Our friend Lucas was another story, but he is the youngest of the bunch. Alex & Zachary both ran up to Santa and jumped on his lap at the same time. Poor Santa! Zachary did go back to see him one more time after they all had a cookie snack but he mostly just sat on his lap and looked at him.




We told the boys that once we were done visiting with Santa that we'd go and visit the duck pond. I even remember to bring a duck snack. Lucas got such a big kick out of feeding the ducks. He was so funny! Zachary throws his bread so hard that he nearly knocks himself down every time. Maybe he should have been a little farther away from the water??


We had a fun afternoon and I'm glad it went well with Santa. Santa, we'll see you again soon!

I pledge allegiance

Zachary found the little USA flag in with some toy soldiers and just started walking around the living room last night saying the pledge. I had no idea that he knew it. They must say it at school every day. I especially love the "I love Texas" part at the end. Funny!

Randomness

Today's post is going to be a random collection of pictures and things going on. I know that since his deployment that Chris checks out this blog so this is for you babe!
One of my sisters gave me these cute nutcrackers for my birthday. I'd never seen them before but the boys thought hey, one for Alex and one for Zachary.
I said no way and put them on top of the entertainment center where they can't be reached. I think they look very nice up there.
Zachary is still dressing up in his "daddy clothes" regularly and now pretends that he's going to work in Iraq or sometimes Washington (where daddy was before going overseas). He usually tells me he loves me, he'll miss me, and gives me a kiss. Then he says he'll be home for dinner. That's my kind of deployment! Don't you dig the goggles? He must have been flying that day - lol!
And when ones gets a picture taken well the other one must have one too! My handsome Alex.
Last weekend the boys and I went to visit some friends that I went to high school and college with. I hadn't seen my friend Cheryl in over five years although we email on occasion. Her brother, who rode there with us, I've run into a few times over the years. It was great to catch up with them both!

Jumping back to before Chris left....we had at least one nice day and the guys went out to do a little yard work, picking up rocks and spreading some rye grass seed (which I think froze because it never came up).
Zachary loves riding on the "tractor" with daddy.
Alex chose to walk instead of ride and followed behind them singing "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work I go!"
Today is the last day of school and an early release day. I'm planning a visit to Santa this weekend so we'll see how that goes. I hope Alex is more friendly with his this year. I'd like at least one good picture!

Two little monkeys

I mean gorillas jumping on the bed......

I've been told that the jammies are not monkeys mom, they are gorillas. Alex has had his gorilla jammies awhile but I just got Zachary's yesterday. Poor guy never gets new pajamas, only what Alex outgrows. I thought I'd pick him up a new pair (it was actually a two pack) and he was over the moon excited. I should have saved them for Christmas.

So tired

Poor little Zachary must have been worn out from school last Thursday. He came home, had a snack, and fell asleep on the living room floor in the middle of playing with some cards.
So sweet. Too bad he was a monster today - at school and at home.

Getting Christmasy

Early last week we put up our Christmas tree and other indoor decorations. It was nice to have Chris here to help get all the boxes out of the attic. I don't know how I'm going to get them back up there again! The boys had a blast even though they only got to decorate the bottom half of the tree. They were extra excited because Grandma left Christmas presents when she was here at Thanksgiving so the tree didn't have to sit there empty.

The little tree is all mine. It's not super little I guess, maybe 4 feet but it's only in two pieces so it's really easy to set up. I got it one year when Chris was deployed at Christmas and I was going to visit him over Christmas so there was no point in getting everything out. I decided that year to make it a patriotic themed tree. It has blue lights, a red tree skirt, all red, white, and blue ornaments, and then hubby is the star on the top in his uniform. I love it! I always seemed to have a perfect spot for it too until this year. This year we purchased a bench for our entryway which is exactly where this tree went for the last two years. I did find a fairly suitable spot though, in my dining room. Now I'm thinking that if it stays there next year the theme might have to change to a cooking/baking theme. That could be fun. I love it as is though......decisions, decisions.

This morning we squeezed in one last fun holiday event before taking Chris to the airport this evening. I decided to try gingerbread houses with the boys. I bought the pre-cooked, ready to decorate kind. The particular box I got had 5 little houses to make a village instead of one big house. I figured this way everyone could have their own and it would cut down on fighting. This is the first time I've ever made gingerbread houses. It was harder than it looked! Since the box had so many little houses in it Chris couldn't figure out which pieces went with which houses. We only ended up making four of them because we didn't have enough pieces left over for the last one! Alex was the first one done. There was no messing around for him. I put icing where he wanted, he stuck some candy on and was gone to play or watch t.v. Zachary on the other hand......he loved it. He kept wanting to ad more and more. Then he wanted to help daddy with his and help me with mine. Not to mention the fact that he probably ate twice as much candy and frosting as was on his little house. (We did supplement the candy that was included with some of our own. If you notice the teddy grahams at the front of the houses, that's ours too!)




None of us were that great at it. It's hard to tell which ones are the kids and which are the adults!

When kids dress themselves

Thankfully we were staying home this day!