Ahhhh. My favorite thing about Saturday night is mandatory early bedtime for the kids. And at this most wonderful time of year it is especially delightful. I'm not exactly sure WHAT is going on with son number one, but he's been in the red zone for the majority of the last 24+ hours. And girl number one has not been much better, either. I'm sure it all ties into not enough sleep and too many treats but really -- this is not the best way to kick off our Christmas vacation! Especially since the morning started out on such a hopeful note...
After Ethan came to me this morning with a list that he had compiled of all the presents he wanted to buy for everyone in the family, I told him that if he wanted to do any shopping today (on the LAST Saturday before Christmas), we would have to go right away before the crowds got too bad. He quickly agreed and got ready to go -- and was then quite perturbed when Grace and Sophie jumped in on the bandwagon as well. He was losing it for the beginning half of our Target expedition and THEN, when he discovered we would also be hitting up the Michael's and Justice that were in the same shopping center, he pretty much almost blew a gasket. Luckily, we all made it out alive and I even managed to tack on ONE more errand before going home by bribing them all with food at the Barnes & Noble cafe while I hunted for one more thing I needed for Scott's stocking. As a whole, our outing was fine enough, but once we got home (after FOUR hours of shopping) things quickly began to unravel. All in all, I don't think any of the kids were surprised when we moved their already early bedtime even earlier. :)
In other news, we've been busy this month doing lots of other Christmas-y stuff as well. Consider the following a photo essay of December...
Wrapping the Christmas books to put under the tree so that there would be one to open each night was a lot more fun than actually opening them. Just so you know.
Grace participated in her very first procrastinated-until-the-night-before-it-was-due experience. Her grade is working on entrepreneurship (I think?) and they're supposed to create some kind of unique object to "sell" to the second graders. Grace decided to get a bunch of rocks from the woods behind our house and then paint them and put words on them. Unfortunately, we were not sure of all the details because she lost her packet that outlined everything over Thanksgiving Break.
She made 20 of them. The joke was all on us, though, when she got to school and requested a new packet and discovered that only the PROPOSAL SHEET was due that day. And that only ONE sample prototype was due 2 weeks from then. And that there would be a practice sale in APRIL where she would need 20-30 of the objects finished and that the REAL SALE for the second-graders wouldn't be until MAY. Oh Grace.
Sophie got to be "Star of the Week" and was supposed to document her time with Curious George. We made some popcorn one day after school and called it good as far as their adventures went. Haha.
Jane participated in a Christmas performance at her preschool and made the cutest angel I've ever seen. :) Even cuter was how excitedly she waved to us whenever she spotted us in the crowd. Unfortunately, I totally missed her one speaking part {"He is Christ the Lord"} because Lover Baby was a tired and fussy little man and was freaking out over wanting to play on my phone. Luckily, Scott caught her performance debut on video and I watched it once we were home.
The kids FINALLY got to put all their new snow gear to good use when we experienced a day of PERFECT snowfall a week or so ago. Most of the time when it snows here it's really not that great for packing, but this was an exception. Everyone but Alex disappeared out to the backyard that night while I was finishing up dinner and created this adorable little masterpiece.
Teacher gifts were a bit sparse this year, but I really think these bowls I found at Target are quite the treasure. And of course, EVERYTHING looks classier with a little cellophane and ribbon.
Jane created a bulb ornament at preschool using paint that she swirled around. She was really proud of it.
Grace decided to REALLY get into the Christmas spirit this year and had me take around to a few different stores to purchase her own decorations for her room. Seriously. She ended up spending like $40 of her own money on all this stuff. {The Little People Nativity and ornaments on the tree she simply commandeered from the family room, but everything else is brand new.}
{The rest of the ornaments from my exchange -- I realized I forgot to include the picture in the last post. :) }
Lots and lots and LOTS of Christmas card envelopes were stuffed and addressed. Although, to be fair, Ethan did most of the stuffing. He REALLY was looking forward to it. It kept him occupied for a couple of days after school and then at bedtime one night as he stuffed all but 60 with the newsletter that we finally had printed out.
Seriously a lot.
And that is mostly that. The Christmas season is in full swing and EVERYONE is anxious for the big day! :)
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