Merry Christmas!

I always go back and forth between taking pictures and just enjoying the moment. This year was spent just enjoying the time with the kids. We went to mass yesterday afternoon at 3 pm, came home and the boys opened gifts from us, and then had dinner, and played some more. Ted got out of school last Friday so they felt like they were waiting forever to open gifts. Bob and I didn't finish shopping until Saturday when we dropped the kids off at the church to play while we shopped together. We didn't put any gifts under the tree because the temptation would be too great. I was mostly worried about Nate but I wouldn't be surprised if Harry would have opened something and then claimed to forget. Our tree is in the basement and I realized after I got down there that I forgot to take the camera down. Bob went down and wasn't too worried about pictures. I thought maybe we could get pictures in the morning while they were opening gifts from Santa.

Ted and Harry got up first this morning. They checked things out in the basement and then came upstairs to tell us it was the best Christmas ever. Ted and Harry each had a soccer ball under the tree from Santa and Nate got a sled. They also had stockings filled with goodies and a couple more presents under the tree each. Nate got up and I heard them say that they brought Nate's sled up to the main floor. As I was coming out of the bedroom, Nate was opening one of his gifts too so I almost missed it. We decided to let Bob sleep and see what Santa brought later. We spent the day playing with the new toys. Ted and Harry also each got a new game. Harry got a WordWorld matching game and Ted got travel sized Battleship. Both seem to be big hits with them.

Longest day ever for kids

The boys have been wanting to open presents for days now so I knew I had to be prepared this morning. I printed off a Christmas codeword puzzle for Ted and a couple coloring sheets. We also had a gingerbread train kit that I had bought. The gingerbread train wasn't too bad to put together. The biggest challenge was keeping Nate off the table when my hands were busy putting the train together. Nate just wanted to help and he actually did better than I expected when it was time to put the candy on. He put the pieces on one at a time and was gentle with it. The train worked well for us to keep the kids busy before we went to lunch and then church.

1st Haircut

Bob had been cutting Ted and Harry's hair since they were little. Bob was cutting Ted's hair today and Nate went in and decided it was time to get his hair cut too. He did really well and stayed still enough for Bob. He didn't have a lot of hair yet but maybe this will help it grow back thicker. You can see Harry trying to decide which length he was going with this time.

Planning a trip

Harry has created his own imaginary world. It's called Dogland and he has lots of dog friends who talk to him there. I think he also gets to eat as much candy as he wants and play video games as much as he wants. He has an invisible car there too.

We're starting to get things ready for traveling this week to see family. He told me on Friday that he was planning a trip to Dogland and he was thinking about taking Ted and me along. I asked about when and how long and we talked about how it might conflict with our family trip and that wouldn't be good. He said, "But don't you want to meet Scruffy?" Later that night, he decided that he would go right away Saturday morning. He also planned to go to FruitSnackLand and LavaLand (Ted helped with that one) and other places I don't remember.On Saturday, we got up and he said it was time to go to Dogland. He got dressed right away because, apparently, the last time he went, they laughed at him because he was still in pajamas. Ted changed his mind about going right then (mostly he didn't want to get dressed right away I think) so they didn't go. Last night, Harry talked about not going yet and how the dogs were expecting him. He went to bed fine, though. I was hoping he'd have a dream about going to Dogland and think he actually went while sleeping but nope. His trip was one of the first things he brought up this morning. He and Ted decided to go to Dogland instead of church. I just hope he doesn't actually get some crazy idea that he needs to leave the house and go somewhere.

Ack, the time change!

Today was a really rough day for me. Nate woke up shortly after 4 which isn't too bad since I took him to bed and we both fell back to sleep. He was up for the day at 5:45. He opened the bedroom door and light streamed in so I figured the older boys were already up. After a few minutes, I realized I was drifting back to sleep and better get up to check on things before I actually did. I went downstairs and noticed the kitchen light was on. I thought maybe the boys were in there eating their Halloween candy. As I got closer, I could hear Nate saying, "uh, uh, uh". He was standing on a chair in the kitchen "counting" milk caps. The other boys weren't there. I thought maybe one of the other boys had gotten something from the kitchen but went back to bed. Harry soon came up from the basement to get more candy. He and Ted were down there playing Sonic. I asked them what time they got up. Ted replied, "too early". They have a clock radio in their bedroom so I asked again what time. Ted thought it was 4. My reaction was 4?! 4?! They heard the baby crying and got up shortly after that so it was really early. I told them that they needed to listen to us all day or they'd lose the Halloween candy and Sonic game. They went to bed easily at 7:30 tonight. Ted admitted that he was really tired and that he didn't want to get up so early again.

Nate was a busy boy this morning before work. He and Harry have to go to the drop-in childcare this week so I had to make lunches for them and me. It took me forever to make the lunches because Nate was not playing on his own and getting into everything. He fell asleep on the way to Kidstown so I think he must have been moving so fast to stay awake. He's finally getting more teeth so that might be part of it too. His upper molars are partly in and there's another tooth on the bottom working on getting through.

End of fall soccer

Ted played in 2 more soccer games today. The first was an early one at 8:30 and they won. It was a close game at 3-2. Ted got the assist for the winning goal which was really cool. The other team was a tough team to beat. The final game was probably the most difficult game. Ted's team lost that one 2-3. The boys all seemed to have fun playing in the tournament and then we all went to Pizza Hut for a party. It was a busy weekend and we're all going to bed early tonight. I feel like I'm on the verge of getting the cold that Ted has had.

The day after...

I usually put the candy up higher so the boys can't reach it as easily. Last night I decided that it might be better just to leave thir buckets on the counter so they wouldn't be climbing on the counters and so forth. I woke up around 6 this morning and could hear the tv. I walked out of our bedroom to find the boys watching tv and eating candy. They each had a bucket next to him on the couch. I told them they needed to turn off the tv, put the candy away, and go back to bed for a while. They did listen although I doubt that they actually went to bed. They probably just played in their room for a while.

Ted had a soccer game later this morning. It was the first of the tournament this weekend. They played against a tough team but they won. The score was 2-0.