You better watch out (Santa Claus)

We visited Santa Claus at the mall this morning.  Cort and I think pictures with Santa is all about memorializing the kids crying and screaming in Santa's lap, and luckily Will and Helen did not disappoint.  

I also found it funny that Santa, who I guess was trying to figure where to situate the kids for the picture (because it's all about the picture these days, hardly even a chance for kids to tell Santa what they want), kept asking us: "How many kids?"  Each time, I answered him: "Four."  Then he'd ask again: "How many?"  Me:  "Four."  Santa:  "Three?"  Me:  "Four."  Santa:  "How many?"  Me:  "Four."  Then we piled 'em on, and I think he figured it out. 

A star is born

Two stars, actually. Or maybe, if we are stretching it, four. Last night was the holiday program at the kids' school. It was based on the book "Love You Forever" by Robert N. Munsch. It's the story of a mother who has a baby boy and rocks him to sleep singing, "I'll love you forever/I'll like you for always/As long as I'm living/My baby you'll be." As the boy grows into a toddler, teenager, and then grown man, she keeps singing the song. Then, one day, she becomes to old and sick to hold him and the roles are reversed, and he sings the song to her. Frankly, I've never really liked the book, because it's a little sad! But for the most part, the school made it very cute.

Will and Helen participated in the segment where the little boy was a toddler. Their class danced to the song "Splish splash I was taking a bath." Actually, it was more like one little girl dancing, most of the rest standing there, and a few of the boys discovering a little blow-up toy they had on stage and playing with it.

The girl in the foreground is the dancer. Helen is back there trying to figure out what this towel is attached to her wrist. She did finally give a little twist at the end. We were really surprised she didn't cry.

Will wasn't too phased at all with the crowd or the spotlight, but he wasn't into dancing either. Here he is figuring out that he's missing out on the blow-up toy - he's pointing to it. He did pitch a big fit when they made him leave the stage, so maybe he's got some future stardom in him after all.

Joseph played the little boy when he grew up and got married (which is apparently not in the book, but they had to add a few parts so that all the kids in the boys' class could have individual roles). He wore an adorable little tux and said his lines, loudly if not with feeling, "Will you marry me?" and "I can't wait for you to meet my mother." His bride Ava accepted and he put the ring on her finger -- which she promptly oohed and aahed over and showed to the crowd (which apparently was not in the script).

Joseph and Ava dancing.

Charlie then had the biggest role of the night. He played the son all grown up, when he goes back to comfort his mother. He took his role very seriously. He came up on stage and told his mother (Ellie), "Don't worry mother, I am here now." And then he sat down beside her. Then he went back home to his new baby and sang the theme song . . . solo! We were so impressed. Then in the last scene, in order to represent the new father with his baby, the entire nursery class was brought in by the teachers, one by one, and Charlie gave each one a (quite perfunctory) little pat. Adorable.

Charlie comforting his old mother, Ellie.


Charlie singing his solo.

And possibly prophetic? We've always thought our best bet was to have Charlie take care of us in our old age, and hopefully Joseph would make a lot of money and support us all.

Way back When-esday

This one is a picture from our pre-kid days. You know, the days when we could fly off to fun destinations at the drop of a hat. This is a particular favorite. After Christmas in 2001 we went to New York City. It was a great trip. It was only my second trip there, but on the first trip we had done some of the more touristy things, so this time we were able to really see more of the city. It was also only a few months after 9/11, and the tragedy was still very real when we visited Ground Zero. But this picture depicted one of my favorite parts of the trip. This is Little Italy all lit up for Christmas. In the heart of New York City, it's almost like a small town street festival. There are lights, holiday music playing on loudspeakers, people milling about the street vendors, and shop owners making holiday announcements on several streetcorners. And while we were there, it even started to snow. It was a perfect experience. We may not be able to make such trips at the drop of a hat anymore, but someday we will definitely take the kids to NYC during the holidays.

Makes my Monday

I love that the boys are AMAZING when it comes to cleaning up. Seriously, how many parents can say that about their 4-year-olds? Especially when their mom is the messiest person alive. I'm not sure they know that yet, and I'm not going to tell them.

Every night, it is their job to clean up all the outside toys and the inside toys. Sometimes we help, sometimes we don't. But 99% of the time, it gets done. And done well.

The other weekend when Cort was out of town, we had thirteen kids over to our house Saturday evening. Needless to say, the house was a wreck. Toys everywhere. Four kids can get out a lot of toys, but thirteen can really do some damage. Sunday morning I asked the boys to spend 10 minutes cleaning up. (It seemed like more of an hour-long job to me, but I didn't think it was reasonable to expect little kids to focus on such a task for that long.) Charlie worked respectably at it, but Joseph (who is his mother's child) read a book about Rudolph instead. So I told him he had not done his 10 minutes, and he had to do 10 more. While he worked, I was vacuuming, and several times he wanted me to come look at see how he had done. Honestly, I thought he was trying to see if I would pronounce his job "good enough" and let him play. But when I finished vacuuming and checked, THE ENTIRE PLAYROOM WAS CLEANED UP!

Seriously, who are these kids and where did they come from? No matter, the fact that they will clean up and I don't have to, is what makes my day.

I'm such a disappointment

Joe just discovered that although I went to college at Texas A&M, I didn't actually play football there. He's so disappointed in me.

Wait till Charlie finds out that Dad didn't play football at Baylor, either. They may disown us.

Let it snow!

Who'da thunk it? Snow in Houston. Big huge flakes too, just as I was picking up the kids from school. They loved it!

Wordless Wednesday

It's the most wonderful time of the year

That's the hangman answer: "It's the most wonderful time of the year." We had no correct answers. Of course, we had only one comment, so I don't know whether anyone else cared to look. Cort got it immediately, though. I guess he and Joseph think alike.

Makes my Monday

Hide-and-seek. The greatest game in our household. We switch it around a bit, and we have only one hider (with parental help if needed), and the rest are seekers. This can keep all four kids engaged.

Although they love it, the kids' giggles always give them away when hiding. And they aren't really that good at seeking either. They'll go into a room, give it a cursory glance, and decide that no one's hiding in there. No looking in, under, or behind anything.

I, on the other hand, am a very good hider. I can usually find a nice, cozy, comfortable hiding place and sit there silently for a very long time while the kids run around trying to find me. It is a great way to take a break. And that is why hide-and-seek makes my Monday.

Hangman

Both of the boys love to play hangman. This morning, Joseph and I were playing. The piece of paper below shows the letters he had correctly guessed when he figured out the whole thing. Took him about 5 seconds. A prize to the first person who can figure it out as well.

Wordless Wednesday

Soccer Mom

Soccer season came and went without much mention on the blog. But the boys truly enjoyed it this year. Charlie had enjoyed it last year. Truth be told, he wasn't as good this year as last year (or, more precisely, this time there were other kids on the team better than him). But he still had a really great time. And his celebrations for scoring a goal rival Brandi Chastain's. Joseph was more lukewarm about soccer last year -- he always professed to enjoy it, but he just never looked like he was having that great a time. But this year, he definitely loved it. He was often in the middle of things trying to get a foot on the ball. He also loved to fall down a lot, both inadvertently and intentionally. Both boys showed a lot of hustle. They even played a doubleheader (due to a cancelled game during Hurricane Ike), and both played both entire games. That's a lot of running up and down the field, folks. They were exhausted, but they never quit. We were proud of them!

Special thanks, once again, to "Coach Keith.," He is amazing with all the kids and manages to actually teach them a little about soccer too. The boys idolize Coach Keith.

Mom and Dad enjoyed soccer again too. We always knew Cort -- as sports-fixated as he is -- would be into his sons' games. (I will say, though, that he is very good about realizing they are just 4 and not pushing them or going overboard.) I can't help but get really excited at the games, too, though. I probably yell more than Cort. And that may be why soccer never made the blog. I kept trying to take pictures of the boys in action, but I could never concentrate on the pictures for the game and kept getting shots like this:

Makes my Monday

I'm starting another blog "feature" that I stole from other blogs I read (yes, I spend too much time reading blogs now). This one is called "Makes my Monday" and is basically just something that I love that really makes my day. For this first one, I'm going to address something that has "made my day" recently with regard to each member of my family.

I love that Joseph got sooo into decorating for Christmas. And Joseph isn't the sort that will get excited about something just because you tell him that he should be. No, he was truly excited.

I love that Helen has recently started screeching "Da-da! Da-da!" at the top of her lungs, and when Cort responds she just smiles at him as if to say "Just making sure you are paying appropriate attention to me, dad."

I love how much Charlie exasperates me in the same way that his father does - he wants sports on all the time, doesn't pay any attention to anyone or anything else when sports are on, and despite saying "I'm coming, I'm coming," he stands rooted in front of the TV to watch "just one more" play.

I love that every time I vacuum, Will gets out Charlie and Joseph's old play vacuum and vacuums with me. He even moves all the chairs in order to vacuum underneath the table.

I love how even though Cort is generally a more go-with-the-flow type of guy, he almost always not only acquiesces, but fully participates, in my many elaborate plans to try to make our family run smoother and our kids be more well-behaved. Oh, and that he put up all our Christmas lights.