costumes recommended

before and after

Pretty happy with his tent pole as a sword

held in place by his belt loop

and

the letter t (that is supposed to be part of

Charlie's initials on his door)

that happens to have a loop-de-loop at the end

(tucked into the cuff of his sleeve to

hide the cross on the t)

as his hook.

The real dang deal.

This was the theme of our Christmas

(and now our life).

He put the costume on Christmas morning

and never took it off.

If there was only some way to know which

ONE

of the millions of presents is the one they

will actually use and we could buy just that.

I could have spent $23 on this getup

and bought myself a new wardrobe.

Yes, he has a pillow between his legs,

a piece of the rug gripper thing as his blanket,

his sword in hand

and his cape (which his Noni made)hood on.

We woke him up to see if he wanted to change

or go to bed and it was an adamant no.

But at 2 am he got too hot.

stop growing, please.

somber sisters saddle up with Santa

We got to the Santa line EARLY

and he was already there.

They had him all to themselves

for as long as they wanted

and this....

is all the emotion they could muster.

They sat there Just.Like.That for

5 minutes while we jumped around like a bunch

of idiots trying to get them to crack a grin.

They never even turned their hard little heads

in his direction.

He should have brought coal.

second base

smoooooooth operatooor.

day 6 & 7

day 6

Monday I worked.

The dudes got candy again

and then got to watch Polar Express.

They now have something new to worship.

Even Charlie sat transfixed for most of it.

day 7

today we were supposed to go

pick out kids to give to on the giving tree.

failed again.

but we did talk about if forEVER.

We'll be going on Thursday

because tomorrow Fred and I are

(hopefully) finishing this

the mantel that we ripped out in February.

I so wanted to say we took it out in June

so we wouldn't look quite so lazy and pathetic

but blogs don't lie.

dang.

we've got work to do so Santa

has a spot to hang our stockings.

day 5

day 5

we drove up to the mountain

singing Christmas carols all the way

ventured deep into the woods

the kids happily walked for hours

found the perfect tree

will and chris excitedly cut it down

we loaded it onto the top of our car.

and peacefully drove home.

yeah right.

we actually drove 5 minutes to Home Depot

were inside maybe 5 more minutes

paid $32.97

chucked the tree

on top of the minivan

and raced home.

our family tradition is fast, cheap

and over before anyone can complain.

hmmm.

i do love the tree.

we decorated when we got home

i like our house so much better decorated.

Will loved the snacks

and Char loved chucking the glass balls on the floor

and shattering them.

he was saying ba (ball)

(see the word forming on his lips?)

as he did it so how could we deny him?

the dude has to learn to talk.

anyway...my favorite little houses

from last year

and my favorite new decorations.

and our extremely top heavy finished tree.

last but not least

our example of why preschool teachers

go to heaven.

they take time out of their life

to put together stuff like this.

thank you Mrs. S and Mrs. W???