Christmas 2010

We had a very Merry Christmas this year! Everything was so relaxed and fun. I think that not having to worry about Nate deploying a few weeks after Christmas made it so much better!
On Christmas Eve, we cooked a chicken dinner, made a Gingerbread House, and went to Christmas Eve church.
Once we got home, the boys snuggled on the couch to watch the Polar Express. About 8:00, Ethan said, "We better get in bed. Come on Lincoln!"
Of course, he was the first one up. He was so excited!
Hmm...this looks cool.
Lincoln got lots of toy story stuff. The biggest hit was his dress up clothes. He dug through the bucket until he found the PIRATE costume!!!
And of course, he spent the rest of the morning in character!!!!

A very strange Christmas tree light drive

We have/had so many plans for this Christmas season. One thing we knew we wanted to do was to drive into town and see the National Christmas Tree and the Capitol tree. So, we decided to stop to eat dinner at one of our favorite places in Georgetown. On the drive there, the boys started talking and Nate missed his turn. If you miss a turn going into Georgetown, you can guarantee it will take you 30 extra minutes to get there. There is so much construction going on there now. We are all super hungry and cranky because of all the traffic. It's super cold and the night is not looking very festive. Luckily, we had a good dinner...our blood sugar went up! :) We headed out to look at the trees.Our drive took us right by Lincoln Memorial. Of course, Link thinks it's HIS memorial, so Nate tried to explain that it was not HIS memorial and that it was a previous President's memorial. Naturally, he said, "NO, President Obama is President." It just so happened that at this moment, we were right in front of the White House.
I am still not so sure how and when the conversation started taking the odd turn it did, but we spent the next hour talking about Presidents and assassinations. We ended the night driving Lincoln to Ford's Theater to show him where President Linky died. :) Since that night, we have bought a President Lincoln book and a book of facts with pictures of all the Presidents.

Gingerbread House in Kindergarten

Today, Ethan's class decorated Gingerbread houses. I was able to go this morning to "help" out!Ethan was calendar helper during circle time.
Once all the parents unwrapped all the candy, the fun began!
Ethan took his decorating serious! The kiddos didn't need much help! It was fun watching all the fun!

The finished product!!! Beautiful!

It's just a joke!

The boys picked out a gift for Nate on Saturday. As soon as we saw Nate, this happened:
Ethan: DADDY, we got you a ...............
Me: DON'T YOU DARE TELL HIM!!!! I don't want him knowing about the Princess shirt we got him.
Ethan: We didn't get him a Princess shirt!
Me: Yes, we did.
Link is smiling away!
Nate: Link, did you get me a Princess shirt?
Link: Yep!!!
Ethan: NO, we didn't!!!
Me: Yes! Link, do you remember that purple Princess shirt we got Daddy?
Link: (smiling) Yep!!
Ethan: Ughhh...we didn't get him a Princess shirt. Stop!!!
Link: (grinning) Yes, we did!!!

Gaylord

Ever since we went to the Grinch on ICE, we have been talking about going back to the Gaylord to see all their Christmas festivities.
We got there just in time to see the fountain water show. All the fountains were choreographed to Christmas music.If you were really close to the water, you got wet! Since it was about 20 degrees outside, I made sure E stood back!
We were in line with this couple who had three little boys. The dads started talking and realized that they were both in the military and they were both heading to schools. It just so happened that they were different schools. He was Navy....Nate-Air Force. The boys ended up going for the front of the train, naturally!!!
They all were looking up at the tree hanging from the ceiling!
It was pretty!
I am still not sure how I got them both to look at the camera and smile. It was about 9:00 pm and they were done!!!! I am also surprised that they made it home awake!

Snow day

Thursday we got some snow!!!! Schools let out two hours early. I could barely keep the kiddos inside. BUT, I had them both stay in until Link woke up from his nap.
Jaden and Rachel came over to play! Jaden and E ran down to the open area to start a snowball fight. Daddy and Link were not far behind!
Ethan usually dishes it out, but doesn't take it very well. This time he did great! He got creamed a few times and keep right on playing!
Pretty in purple and pink!!
I'm not sure what this crazy dancing is all about.

Lincoln wanted his shovel. He used it to fill it with snow and then dumped it on Nate!Lincoln wanted his shovel. He used it to fill it with snow and then dumped it on Nate!
After some fun time in the snow, we went in and the kiddos exchanged gifts! The boys loved their moon dough and coloring books. Rachel got them some stained glass art and Link wanted to do it right away!
For dinner we all bundled up and went to Japanese!
The kids had a great time!

And, I must say the adults did, too!!!

Link's Christmas program

Link had his first school Christmas program today. He has been practicing for so long! He's been singing lots of songs for us!
I have to apologize for the poor quality of my pictures and videos. Many of the parents of this school do not have manners. Several of them decided to stand in front of everyone and video the entire program. I ended up standing in a chair on the back row and just zooming my camera in.

He found me quickly and sang to me almost the whole show.

Snazzy

Yesterday morning, Ethan asked if he could pick out his clothes again! He picked out a very nice striped shirt and khaki pants! I don't know who this child is, but I love him! Before we left to see Santa, I picked out a sweater for Link. He said to me, "Can I just wear a shirt like E-han?" A big ole grin came on my face before I said, "Of course!!!"

Santa

We decided to take the boys to see Santa tonight. This weekend we planned the trip on a Monday night at the Landmark Mall. The Landmark Mall is the most pathetic mall I have ever seen in my entire life. I am shocked that it is still open everytime I drive past it. No one goes there, which is why we decided to go see Santa there! Little did we know that Monday nights are bring your pet to see Santa night. I also had no clue how serious people who bring their pets to see Santa are! They will make everyone in line (and there were a lot) wait for the PERFECT picture of their pet with Santa. After waiting about 15 minutes, we finally were able to go up to see Santa.

Lincoln told Santa that he wanted a Batman costume and Toy Story characters.

Ethan brought his list!

And he read every single thing on his list to Santa. We were all impressed. Nate timed our visit with Santa. We were there for 2 minutes and 15 seconds. The lady taking the pictures had the nerve to tell me that I could only take one picture. I guess I needed my pet to take more! ha!

While we were waiting to see Santa, we walked around a bit. We both noticed that Link was barely walking and kept wanting to be carried. It wasn't until we were about to head home that we noticed he was wearing one of his boots and one of E's boots!

Living Bethlehem

We were super excited to hear that our church moved the Living Bethlehem indoors!!! Today was rainy and cold. We headed out tonight to get it in before our busy week starts!
We've been reading a lot about the nativity story. Link is obsessed with Herrod. He has been asking about him a lot! His latest question is if he is alive or dead now. We had to have a discussion about how these people are just "pretending" to be the people in the story.
Nate held him while we saw Herrod, but he easily got down to let me "try" to take his picture in front of Jesus.
As you noticed above, he was not looking at the camera. He was looking at the pretty angels dancing for us.
Once we finished the tour, we walked out to see the animals. In past years, the tour has been outside and each "station" has animals beside it. They made a good decision to leave the animals outside!
We all had a great time. It was nice to put real people to the story they have been hearing so much about this season.

Today was a great day!

I must admit that we have a lot of GOOD days! Today, just happened to be a great day! Many of you are aware of Ethan's dental history. He fell at 18 months and almost lost a tooth. At four, he had EIGHT cavities at once (our dentist told us today that the enamel may have been damaged in utero? It was just a theory he had...but still interesting nonetheless)! Anyway, today was the first time in six years that Ethan has let a dentist clean his teeth. He didn't squirm, or cry, or make a fuss. He sat there like it was his job and did fantastic! I should mention that Lincoln was also great at the dentist.....but he always is. Our dentist actually told Nate that Link was the best three year old patient he had ever seen!
I took the day off and took the youngest mancub with me to run quite a few errands. He was also fantastic! We did not have one problem and we made it to three stores, the library, and lunch!
We went out for dinner tonight, and at the restaurant we saw Santa walking around. Once we finished, the boys wanted to go over to say hello. He talked to them for a few minutes and we left. As we were walking out, Link says, "That's not a real Santa. That's just a restaurant Santa."
I love those days when all goes to plan. There isn't a meltdown. There isn't a power struggle over something simple. Everything goes off without a hitch. BUT, the best part is I was able to sneak a nap in. Those are the days!

Christmas Spirit

Each night, before bed, we read two books. This Christmas season, we read one fun book like Cordoroy's Christmas and one book about the true meaning of Christmas. Lincoln is beginning to really understand what this season is about. Today, he told me that the bad mailman in a movie he watched does not have Jesus in his heart, but he does! I was so excited! I thought, he "gets it!" And then I said, "Yes, you are right. He doesn't have Jesus in his heart like we do." He then says, "Well, I have Jesus in my heart, so he can't be in yours!" So, we had another talk!!