Oh, The Colors of Christmas...

What a Christmas day. With all of the cooking and running around we forgot to take many pictures. But Nate and Lauren came over for dinner, and the kids had been planning a performance for them for the last week. They particularly love to perform for Lauren.

They even made a program up for the event. And t-shirts. So we figured it was worth a post.

Here is the performance edited down to the highlights (yes landscape would have been a lot more effective)...

The Program

The Performance

Christmas Eve...the real questions is

Christmas Eve is here. We had a nice dinner and all curled up on the couch to watch Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, a movie that both David and I watched as children. In the end Rudolph gets his bright nose back and frosty comes back to life after melting - thanks to jack frost. And Santa and Mrs Claus ride off into the sunset with their reindeer. Max and Olin crawled into bed after setting out a plate of mini cupcakes and cookies for santa and a cup full of salad and carrots for his reindeer. Olin wouldn't go to sleep because he was afraid of Santa coming into our house. I had to reassure him that Santa wouldn't go into his room. I say reassure because he has been worrying about this for sometime. That and the fact that our fireplace is sealed off and Santa wouldn't be able to get in. I told him we'd leave the door unlocked for him, to which he replied with "how about we just get a new house with a chim-a-ney that works?"

FINALLY asleep... and we got to enjoy one of my favorite parts of being a parent, playing Santa. I just LOVE it. We set out Max's new bike and Olin's bouncie trampoline in the office covered in bows, brought out all the presents and arranged them under the tree and overstuffed the stockings. And the best part, I got to eat Santa's cookies and cupcakes. I want my kids to believe in Santa forever, however now that Max is in school with 39 little boys, many of whom have older siblings, I figure we have maybe one more year. I hope this isn't our last. Leading up to Christmas he really believed that Santa was watching him (it worked wonders for his behavior -- Olin? not so much). Every time I told Olin that Santa was watching, he would say "Mom, Santa lives in the North Pole, there's no way he can see that far."

We kissed the boys goodnight, went through our best and worst and as I was walking out the door, Max said "Mommy the real question is....Is Santa Real?" Sh**T, I thought, we really have to step up our Santa game tonight. I hope they feel the magic when they wake up.

Darth and, uh... Baseball!

Perhaps we overdid it on these pictures... but what can you do.

This year Olin decided early on he wanted to be Darth Vader ("Dark Invader"), of course without ever having seen the movie.

Mr. Dark


Watch out for my Light Saver, Luke!

Meanwhile, Max had decided that he wanted to be a baseball. So, a baseball costume was constructed.

Nice socks.

But when Max saw the great Darth Vader, with its shiny store-bought mask, there was a little bit of jealousy. So we went back to Target. And he joined the clone army.

People called him Captain Cody?

But he was a sport and wore the baseball for his school parade and trick-or-treating. With a smile.

Max and his big brother

And then, before the actual night, we thought we'd let them see Star Wars, with my dad who was in town:

Then we went out with our good friends, Megan and Sheelyn

For just One Day

Putting the kids to bed tonight, I was reading Leuck's "for just One Day," about imagining being all kinds of different animals.

Afterwards, I showed them the final page, and asked what animal they think it would be fun to be for a day.

Olin: A Crocodile.
Me: Why?
Olin. So a bird would brush my teeth and I didn't have to.

Olin: And also a bumblebee.
Me: Why?
Olin: So I could sting.
Me: Sting who?
Olin: People that annoyed me.

Olin: And a ladybug.
Me: A ladybug?
Olin: Yeah.
Me: Why?
Olin: So I could climb all over people.

And there, in a nutshell, is Olin.

Max's first lost tooth!

And perhaps the last of his friends, Max finally loses his first tooth!

It has only been loose for a day, but here it is:

Today's going rate? Two bucks. And that's on the cheap side!

The 4th Olin Soccer Party Trophy Bonanza

And it begins with the cake construction. Olin places every figure (well he lets Max help too)...

Olin keeps staring at the cake in the hours leading up to the party...

And then it begins! Coach Tim gathers the kids for the soccer play...

And finally: cake time.

And every friend gets a trophy!

Nothing lasts forever

Max, Olin and I were just talking.

Max: Daddy, does anything last forever?
Me: Yes.
Max: NO, DADDY. Not like words and love. I mean THINGS.

Huh.

Olin: Daddy how did the artist make this house?
Olin asks that about everything. The main "creator" is "the artist."

Now they are arguing about God (Max goes to a Catholic school) and the Artist (Olin's mind).

Our Olin turns 4...

A bit of an overdue post (forgive the back-dating), but here are some pictures from Olin's birthday. As you can see, he finally has a bike (and a couple of Giants shirts!)...

The day before he told Anna that he was about to turn special. Then he started counting, 1, 2, 3, special, 5, 6... and burst out laughing.

So he turns special, and he wakes up to a bike:

And a present or two...

Dressed for camp

And back from camp for more...

And then... waiting for the party!