December 2013

December was a fast and fun month!  We welcomed our new elf, Wink (named by Jimmy), who came to visit us from the North Pole.  I wasn't sure about the whole Elf on the Shelf thing, but when some other moms talked about using him as a means to help teach the boys about the real meaning of Christmas, I realized it would be a great addition to our Christmas traditions. 

 The boys loved having Wink around, and though I didn't do much with the hiding him and making him do crazy stuff, they were very excited on the handful of days when they found him in an unusual place around the house.  Here is a little of what he was up to...

Caleb and Landon LOVE grapefruit (pomelo) so Day 1, Wink set one out with our grapefruit spoons for breakfast.

(You can't tell very well, but the boys are both trying to jump up to get Wink)

"Uncle Eli" is visiting and the boys are having a great time playing and reading with him.

Play date and cookie decorating in Clovis with my friend, Cat, and her son Harper.  Baby Bryn was hanging out in the kitchen... maybe next year :)

Christmas stamps, Santa, and sleighs with Nana Gigi

Caleb's preschool had a Christmas Sing-Along two weeks ago.  Forty preschoolers, four songs, and a poor little girl's pony tail being yanked like the reins on a sleigh!  Never know what is going to happen with such a large group of 3-year-olds...  Caleb sang a few words of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and probably Happy Birthday to Jesus, and other than that he was kind of just taking it all in, looking around, scratching his head, etc.  The kids all looked so cute dressed up together, some singing, some not, and Cooper Mettler helping 'conduct' in the front row with one of the teachers (hilarious!).

Caleb is in the back row, third from the right.

Not sure where he learned this but it was so cute when he pointed to Jimmy out of the blue during the program.

Our Christmas festivities were spread over five days this year - all the fun was tiring for the boys, but we had a great time hanging out with family, and it made for a more relaxing Christmas day since we were able to spread things over more days.  Sunday evening we had pizza and made Gingerbread houses with Nana Gigi.  Caleb did a good job with the fine details of placing the candies onto his house.  Landon did a good job of smearing and eating the frosting with his pointer finger.  Although as you can see below, he did grab the tube of frosting himself and get into the frosting part for a while.  He was focused very intently on his work.

Playing with some early Christmas presents...

Baking cookies with Aunt Lindsey

Playing 'airplanes' with Uncle Ben and Aunt April.  Caleb knows how to keep his body stiff so he is much easier to lift, but Landon collapses quickly.

Making gravel and rocks with Play Doh

We didn't actually ask Caleb until about two weeks before Christmas what he wanted, and when we did he said "I want a green race car with a black remote control, nothing else. That's all."  This request came because Jimmy's old RC car was found recently and it was a yellowish green, with a black remote.  It no longer works, so Caleb was really excited when he opened this one on Christmas morning.

Visiting Grandma Stanford...  Caleb tried to 'fix' the broken handle on her walker with Scotch tape, and had fun sitting on the seat part of the walker, too.   Landon loves to play with a little crocheted owl that has a baby owl in an egg that comes out of it.  Grandma just had fun watching them have fun. :)

This year we had a fun birthday cake for Jesus made... 

...and the boys sat front and center (nearest to the cake) to help us sing. :)

New monster bath robes!

While saying bedtime prayers with Caleb on New Year's Eve, he seemed to agree that this was a wonderful and very blessed year - living in Chile and making new friends, starting Preschool and having so much fun with more new friends, our home, our health, and lots of time with family during the holidays.  It was a great year, and hopes to starting another good one!