"So this is Christmas..."

This is what you get when you are frantically getting dressed for church and you call out from the other room,"Jonny, let's hurry and take some shots of the kids in their festive outfits."

Hey, at least some of them turned out. Just don't try to get a family shot! I'm glad we stopped with just me joining instead of attempting to set up the camera and capture all four of us together. (Don't forget to notice Gabe's matted bead-head. Photo shoots right after naps and right before church can't be expected to be ideal!)

And here they are saying "Cheese!"

Merry Christmas to you all!
We hope your weekend is full of fun, laughter, peace, and the joy of our Savior's birth.

a Christmas miracle?

This year I seriously considered forgoing the whole decorating the tree thing. I mean really, would my crazy Gabe leave those shiny ornaments alone for a second? (I considered decorating half-way up, but let's think logically here. Gabe will move chairs and stools around until he gets what he wants. He always finds a way.)

So we picked out a gorgeous tree and had it up in our home for a week or so with lights only. I thought it was quite nice. But then Julia was telling me about how trees need "ormanents." She was right. I braced myself and started with the ribbon garland only. After touching it just once, Gabe was done bothering it! I was completely surprised. Then I thought I'd put up a few silver snowflakes. He couldn't have cared less about them. I was stunned. With more snowflakes and icicles up, our tree was actually looking festive. And Gabe was completely uninterested (besides pointing to the lights now and then.) But I did decide to leave the colorful glass balls in storage this year. Those might actually look like shiny toys and be too hard for resist to Gabe. (But then again, maybe not!? Apparently this little man is full or surprises.)


Anyway, I am loving the simple, all silver, Gabe-repellent tree. People, this is totally unbelievable to me. A Christmas miracle? I say it qualifies.

Just look at him - only a few feet from the tree and he's completely leaving it alone. I can't get over it.
P.S. Though he looks completely naked, he is wearing a diaper. But I wouldn't put it past him to make himself comfy on the couch in the nude.

Gabe prays and sings

Gabe love to pray. And he does it at every opportunity! He "prays" along with whoever is saying it, sometimes getting through three or four of his own prayers before the official one is over. He often does this at church too. Silly guy.





Gabe's favorite song right now is "Jingle Bells." The other night at dinner he just couldn't stop singing it. (Julia likes it alright too, I guess.)

snow play

When Julia woke up to a lightly snow-covered world this morning, she was more than ready to get out and play. And she did stay out there for quite a while. Gabe, on the other had, was done after about five minutes. I caught some of the initial excitement and joy on video:

And Gabe has been busy with...

making a mess of Julia's room
(which she highly disapproves of)
walking away from the mess as usual
loving "running" in the turkey trot
and catching up to his sister
setting himself up to eat only clementines
for Thanksgiving dinner
sporting a smoothie mustach
getting a kick out of the Uno Attack card game
and actually posing for a few pictures for once
Gabe, you are a crazy, curious, silly man. But we adore you and love you more than you know. Now please just stop growing up so fast, okay?

Enough talk, let's SEE what Julia's been up to

Okay, I know most of my recent posts have been little snippets of conversations with my somewhat cheeky three-and-a-half-year-old. So I thought I'd put up a few pictures of my silly girl to illustrate what she's been doing lately.

helping Dad with the Christmas lights
(while wearing Mommy's boots, of course)
getting ready for biweekly preschool
looking way too old
hot-tubbing with her beloved cousins
enjoying all preschool activities -
especially the recent Thanksgiving "feast"
running in the turkey trot
(Julia in purple, Aunt Amber in red)
and hugging her mommy while she tries
to take pictures of her sweet girl
We love you, Julia. You make us laugh "so so way much" every single day. Can't wait to see what you come up with tomorrow.

my laugh this morning

On our run Julia noticed one of those smaller school buses. She was so excited and said, "Look at that little piece of bus! It's just a little half piece of school bus!"

And totally unrelated, what is the point of buying new toys for Christmas? All Gabe really wants to play with are the diapers and ziploc bags in his top drawer. And the dishes in the dishwasher - dirty or clean. As we speak, he is very engaged in messing with the CD drive on the computer. Any second now he will turn the computer off (which will be highly annoying for me). So will he really play with the giant dump truck asked for in his letter to Santa? (which Julia "wrote" for him all by herself.) Sometimes I wonder if I should just wrap up the pot lids and toilet paper for him - some other favorites right now. Yikes, I better get off of here and save my computer from the Gabe monster. A few says ago he was stuffing my iPod shuffle in one of the drives.

Five minutes later: I just caught him eating the Christmas tree.