Preschool Christmas party

Leo had his first school party today. I remember school parties as always having that sickeningly sweet red punch. That wasn't part of today's festivities, thank goodness.

Instead, the kids made gingerbread houses. Leo only ate a couple pieces of candy, which was pretty amazing.

He sat down in front of a pre-made house (the teacher and her teen-aged kids made them last night), a cup of frosting and a plate full of candy. Oh boy.


He had so much fun. And I'm glad I was there to do it with him, though I tried to have no influence on his artistic process.
Finished product.
A delicious neighborhood.
If that wasn't enough, a visit from Santa!

He got a little present too. (A cute penguin book)
Class picture with Santa. One little girl, Shelly, was so freaked out the only way she's be in the picture was with her mom holding her.

One more picture with Santa, with Cuba trying to hijack it.

Singing "Jingle Bells" with Brielle.

Winter walk

We've been having some wet weather and more is expected, so since the sun was shining today, we got out and enjoyed it.

Serafina tried hard to keep up with her brother.
Leo hasn't been on his bike for a little while, but he's still doing well on it and shows off his ability to coast.
Leo retrieves Serafina's ball for her. He was being very sweet during this walk and it was nice to see.
He's way too big for this toy but he was having fun.
Where's the baby, Serafina? I think it may be behind the bushes in front of our house. She didn't seem to care.

Santa!!!

Last Wednesday, my friends and I hit the local mall to engage in the time-honored Christmas tradition of torturing our kids with Santa. After it was all over, the moms needed stiff drinks and everyone involved needed naps. It was chaos and it will take the next year to recover.

I think I mentioned Leo did a great job. His pictured turned out a little strange because he was singing Santa a song. He gave the big guy hugs and was very into the whole experience.


Then we added Serafina into the mix. She wanted nothing to do with Santa and any attempt to put her on the couch resulted in screams. So they placed a box at Santa's feet and she kinda tolerated it.

She was bribed with a little snack.
Keeping it together.
She falls apart and Leo laughs.
Since the "big kids" were doing okay, we did a few shots of just them. The boys were all smiles, Sophia wasn't thrilled but handled it, and Addison was unhappy but cooperated because Leo held her hand.


Can't have a trip to Santa without attempting a group shot. So on the count of three, all the moms dropped the babies in and ran. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Here are the results.





Poor Santa. I'm not sure if it is common practice, but we left him a tip.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

How plastic are your branches. Yep, we un-boxed our tree this weekend. I still have mixed feelings about our faux tree, but our kids don't care so we are enjoying it. The lower branches are constantly being stripped of their ornaments and having the decorations re-arranged. We left all the glass balls off this year. The tree was looking a little bare, so I bought us each an ornament and I think I'll probably do it every year. Leo's favorite is the Wicked Witch of the West that Nana gave him last year.

Here's Serafina about to hang an ornament. (Or has she just taken one off?)


Leo loves putting ornaments on and keeps asking to put the balls on too, but we keep explaining that it would be disaster.

Tom's special ornament: a skiing glitter penguin.
Serafina's ornament: a hard-to-destroy little doll
My ornament: a wooden owl
Leo's ornament: The Grinch (he loves to watch the original cartoon and read the story).
The finished product.

Fire Department's Toy Drive

Our local fire department held their annual toy drive. It's a great event that we enjoyed participating in last year. Serafina isn't pictured at all in last year's post because she spent the whole time as a little bundle in the carrier.

We dropped off our toys and now Leo waits for his turn to ride in the fire engine.
Serafina was a little weary and when the engine honked its horn on arrival, she freaked out a bit. When she's afraid, she wraps her little arms around your neck and holds on for dear life. You feel sorry for her, but it's so cute, you can't help but smile.
Ready to ride with mommy.
Leo and daddy are set to go.




Leo got to pretend he was driving the old fashion fire truck.

"You better not cry"

Santa Claus is coming to town, but today we went to see Santa Claus. Leo was a rock star and chatted it up with Santa, gave him a hug and had no problem smiling for the pictures. Serafina didn't do as well, but didn't have a full-blown freak-out. Of course, the rest of our time at the mall wasn't too smooth. Yesterday, we had issues at Target. Maybe my kids just aren't able to shop (oh, the horror), but that's just not realistic unless Tom hires me a personal assistant, which is on my Christmas list this year (and for eternity). Anyway, it seems like my kids like to take turns crying and/or screaming with wonderful periods of overlapping meltdowns.

To make my tough days a little more exhausting is the fact my husband has been out last night and tonight. That period of relief I get once he comes home from work didn't exist. I won't lie; it's pretty miserable. I'm going to take some mental health time this weekend. I need it. But not before my nerves are pushed a little more, since I'm snack mom tomorrow for Leo's preschool. I peeled 14 clementine oranges in preparation.

The official Santa pictures will be coming soon. There are some real winners in there, if you consider pictures of screaming, terrorized babies as winners.

Does she look a little bit traumatized? I think she'll be okay.
This cute dress is a loaner from Jenn. Her girls wore them last year.
When I got Leo dressed this morning, he said, "I look like daddy."


Sophia and Serafina had the same shirt for their post-picture casual wear, but it's kind of hard to tell because Serafina couldn't hold still.

Hungry