Another new holiday tradition

I was determined this year to have my niece and nephew over to do some fun stuff for the holidays. Last year we had just had Joel, and the years before that Macy was too small to come. But now they are getting older so fast, and with Cade turning nine this year I wonder how many years I'll have left with him wanting to come hang out with us. So I planned an entire day and evening of fun and couldn't believe that we got it to happen on short notice.

The only problem was that it was the Tuesday before Christmas. You know, that time when you still have about a billion things to do and aren't quite sure how you're going to manage all of them? Well, I just didn't want that to stop this. Isn't hanging out with family what Christmas and the holidays are all about? Not getting stuff done.

We met them on the west side of town Tuesday morning so that I could switch cars with April. She drives a giant Durango, and we can't fit more than two car seats in our car. We headed back home amidst much excited talking. The kids played for awhile while Joel took a nap, then we had lunch. My plan was for my Mom to go to the zoo with all of us, since I was a little nervous about taking all four kids by myself. But my Mom got sick and had to bow out, so I asked if my dad, also knows as Poppy, would come. He agreed. Everyone was so excited about this zoo trip it was ridiculous! Even me!

We had such a good time. The weather cooperated a little too much and we found ourselves getting sweaty and hot in the sunnier places. Cade is old enough to help us with Macy and Gabriel, who held hands with each other or me the whole trip. My Dad and I took turns holding Joel up to see things, since one of the only flaws I find with the Ft. Worth zoo is that babies in strollers really can't see much. Everybody got to see their favorites, and we ended the day as we always do with the apes and monkeys. The gorillas were very accessible which made everyone happy. The last time we went I forgot to post about the second biggest male gorilla suddenly charging the glass and hitting it with all of his might, scattering the crowd and leaving us all really nervous and trying not to think about what happened at the Dallas zoo. Luckily that didn't happen this trip since Cade and Gabriel were literally inches from him sitting right next to the glass. He would look at them occasionally, but I'm trying to teach Gabriel to not stare right into their eyes because I think it's rude.

We all came home to have some much needed quiet time. But instead we headed to the back yard, because it was 85 degrees outside! Then Jav got home early, which was great because that meant we could go look at Christmas lights. We picked the Diamond Loch neighborhood over Interlochen, which I think takes too long and eventually becomes too much of a good thing. Diamond Loch is always really pretty, not too long and not too crowded. And our expectations were met. The kids all loved it. One of my neatest memories from the day will be driving back home from the lights, all of us (except Joel who had graciously fallen asleep minutes from the house), singing Feliz Navidad at the top of our lungs. It made me think of "A Christmas Story" when the Mom and kids are singing Jingle Bells together after picking out a Christmas tree.

Bedtime was a little chaotic, as we knew it would be. Joel got to bed just a little late, but everyone else was an hour later than usual. And then Cade kept trying to scare Macy, who is not used to sleeping away from home. She didn't really need help, because lots of things make her nervous, like the thought of one of our cats plodding over her air mattress on the floor of our living room. Which I never thought one of them would do, but of course, they both did. After all the initial hoopla, the kids both managed to get to sleep and did really well the rest of the night. The next day was low-key. Just breakfast and playing until they went home around lunchtime. But great memories were made that I hope the kids will keep with them for a long time. I know I will.

The forgotten birthday

My sweet one-year-old boy.

Little Joel turned one amidst the post-Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas hoopla, as he will every year seeing that his birthday is December 1st. And it kind of got lost in the shuffle, as it probably will every year. We are going to try to fight that, though.

We resisted putting up Christmas decorations inside until after his birthday. We wanted him to be the star, at least this year. He, however, in typical Joel fashion, was very nonchalant about the whole thing.

All he really wanted to do was pull out all the videos and DVDs. We say he's taking inventory. He started out just pulling them out. Then he started trying to put them back. Now he looks and them and decides if it's one he likes or not.

We decided to just have family, and we just had a small afternoon party instead of a big meal like we always tried to do with Gabriel. This is his cake. I don't mean THE cake, I mean HIS cake. The corner of ours is in the background of the picture. The bakery his Tia found will make a smaller version for the kid to tear into.

Only it's not so small, and he didn't quite know what to do with it.

It took a lot of time and a lot of coaxing to get him to dig in.

But then he got a little better at it, and before long he was stuffing big hunks of icing into his mouth like an old pro. All I could do was sit back and wait for the tummy ache, which woke him up from his post-party nap causing big giant screams. Sigh.

But he enjoyed himself, as did all of us, so it was a success. He got some cool new toys, and some new PJ's, the really warm footie kind that he really needed. And some other clothes and a bath toy. All he wanted to do was crawl around after his brother and stare up at Cade and Macy, who he loves having at our house.

Tonight Jav and I noticed that he is getting better at punching buttons and purposefully playing with toys instead of randomly like before. He's also much more thoughtful these last few days. I'll catch him just staring into space thinking about something. But then he'll see me and flash that Joel smile and start moving his happy legs.

I have a bad cough again and couldn't sing to him tonight, so I decided to try whistling O Holy Night. It's not easy to do! But it got him really soundly to sleep.

Love him so, so much.

Old holiday memories and making new ones

Gabriel has been infatuated with Christmas lights this year. He gets so excited driving through the neighborhood after dark. We've driven the neighborhood twice, and then we went with Cade and Macy to Diamond Loch. I thought Gabriel's head was going to explode he was so excited.

It made me remember sitting in the back seat when we would drive back and forth from my grandparents or wherever during the Christmas season, and my goal was to look down every street, in both directions, and make sure I saw every single house that had lights. Once we had done this a couple of times, I would rate the decorating jobs based on color choice and how neatly the job was done. My absolute favorite was all blue lights. Not the weird part-blue, part-white fluorescent looking lights they make now. But a deep blue that would make me feel peaceful and calm.

Of course, back then no one had anything inflatable in their yards. I don't like the blow-up things, but Gabriel loves them. I vowed we would never have them in our yard, but who knows how much those big brown eyes will sway me one day. I think our yard looks really pretty this year. All we added was some sparkly things and lights to our little tree. They shine in the sun during the day and look really pretty with the lights at night. One day we WILL win or place in the neighborhood decorating contest. I already have some ideas for next year.

Another tradition from the past that we are now continuing is an advent calendar. I absolutely loved my advent calendar growing up. It was made out of white felt, and the tree that you hung the ornaments on was pink felt. There were 25 little pockets with different baubles attached to straight pins (!). You pinned a new ornament to the tree every day up until the 25th. I guess they weren't as concerned about safety issues as we are today. I think my brother and I may have stuck ourselves (or each other) with those pins a couple of times, but nothing serious.

My mom bought Gabriel an advent calendar this year. It's Fisher Price, and really cute. Every day he pulls out another character for the nativity scene and velcros it wherever he wants to put it. The only one I made him put in a certain place was the baby Jesus, in the center yesterday. He's really been excited every day to move his little footstool under it and see what's in that day's pocket. I'm all for anything that reminds him that this holiday is about much more than Santa and getting stuff, stuff, and more stuff.

Next post, pictures of the stuff, stuff and more stuff.

All kinds of stuff

We have a possum that's eating birdseed spillage from the feeder late nights. We've never seen another possum with his coloring before. His fur is a dark gray, but it's kind of silvery in the lights of the backyard. Jav has taken to this little guy for some reason. Any time I mentioned anything about feeding one before now he would scowl and protest. But he doesn't say a word when I say maybe I should throw a handful of trail mix out there every evening. The problem is he doesn't grace us with his presence every night. So if I throw food out there and he doesn't come, Molly gets an unintentional snack. One night he was out there grazing for quite awhile, and I needed to let Molly out for the last time before bedtime. So I went out on the porch and started making noise, and he slowly sauntered to the back corner of the yard and crawled up on top of the fence. I came in to get Jav to try to scare him on over, because Molly will charge a fence and possibly could have knocked him off of there. But even though Jav was only about 3 feet away, the possum just sat and stared at him when he tried to shoo him away. Before last night we hadn't seen him for about 5 days and were starting to think something happened to him. But I noticed Zoe with her nose pressed against the French doors and there he was. I went to tell Jav, who was about to take a shower. He came almost running out of the bathroom to get to the window so he could see for himself. He's named him Pepe, even though I told him that was silly. Everyone knows that's a skunk name.

Joel is doing so many wonderful things right now, and has started playing while on his knees, which I think is so cute. He's also sitting still much more to play with things, and he has the best posture. I guess babies haven't been beaten down by life stress yet. I used to stand pretty straight, but for the last 3-4 years my posture has really slipped. Joel is inspiring me to try and stand straighter. He's still not walking yet, but I'm in no hurry. He loves to open and close drawers and cabinets and hide toys in them. I could watch him play all day. He still has crazy happy legs when something delights him, but now he's added a fake laugh for effect. It's hilarious.

And then there's Gabriel. We have a new "Elf on the Shelf", a gift from our neighbor. It is a little elf that supposed to sit high up in different rooms to watch what's happening all day, then flies back to the North Pole to report to Santa each night. According to the book, he will land in different places around the house when he comes back, and it's supposed to be a game to try and find him. At least that's how it's supposed to work. Our son does not like Dipsy (Gabriel got to name him.) We're not sure if it's because he's not supposed to touch him (according to the book, it could take away the elf's magic), or if it's because Gabriel's planning to be bad and doesn't want anyone to report that to Santa, or if he's genuinely afraid of the little guy. Even I have to admit that he looks a tiny bit creepy, kind of like pinocchio with a red suit on. The last few days Gabriel seems to be accepting him a little more, but maybe he's just a little young for the concept.

We're watching Scrooged. I love Buster Poindexter as the ghost of Christmas past. "It's a bone!" Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha !

New traditions

We have decided that if we don't go to Pennsylvania for Thanksgiving (which we won't be able to afford for many years, probably), then we're going to the zoo on Thanksgiving. From now on. We have tried hitting my family one year, then Jav's the next, and we invariably end up feeling like we're hurting someone's feelings no matter what. So when I found out the zoo was open from 12 - 5 on Thanksgiving Day, this idea popped into my head. We will go to the zoo no matter what the weather. If it's nice we'll stay outside. If it's cold we'll go to the awesome new snake/fish/lizard, etc.. building (I think they call it the Living Museum or something like that). And then we'll eat a huge meal at Grandy's. No cooking or dishes. No fuss. Just fun.

We couldn't go on Thanksgiving day this year since Jav and I were under the weather, but we ended up going on Sunday once we were all feeling better. It was a beautiful day. There was a cold wind blowing walking in from the parking lot, but once we got inside zoo grounds it was nice. We didn't go until 2, which is the latest in the day I've ever been there. We had a blast! There were lots of active animals (maybe looking for their dinners?), and there were hardly any people. The highlight this trip were the cats. The white tigers actually started wrestling while we were watching. The cheetah was playful and pouncing in and out of the bushes. And the lions just seemed to be staring back at the crowd staring at them. They were so majestic and breathtaking! I think our membership purchase was one the the best buys we've ever made when I realize that it paid for itself in two trips to the zoo, and when I think about how much happiness it has given to all of us!