International Christmas

Sylas joined his school choir this year and last night was the second of three performances for the group. The first was Monday evening at Cyprus High's Winterfest. The third will be an assembly for their school. Last night was for families and the kids did an awesome job! Sy was front and center and so were our seats - score!

Sylas is a pocket kid. If he's idle, his hands are in his pockets. This is not a new thing, he's been doing it for as long as I can remember. So of course I had to have a picture of him rockin' his signature look.



The theme for choir this year was International Christmas. They sang holiday songs from or about different countries. It was fun to hear some non-traditional Christmas songs.



And of course when the concert was over we just had to go get ice cream! What a great way to spend our Thursday night. (And huge thanks to the teachers who volunteered their time and talents for these kids!)

Gingerbread Casa's

My mom, the most amazing woman in the world, made gingerbread houses from scratch this year. From scratch! I'm not sure who is luckier - me for having her as my mommy or my kids for having her as their grandma! She even made individual wreaths for each house so intricate they required her to use toothpicks. This woman is amazing! Along with gingerbread house making over the Thanksgiving holiday she slaved in the kitchen feeding us so much delicious food. It really is an adventure to go to Grandma and Grandpa's house but I so completely miss having them in Utah! Thanks ma and pa for a wonderful Turkey week and weekend!

Again

Haven't seen this smile in a couple days...



My boy is sick . . . again! He's got an awesome fever (104, baby) and is playing the coming out both ends at the same time game. Every single time I hand him a tissue, refill his Gatorade, wipe his mouth after he's puked - and on and on and on - he thanks me. For example:

Sylas: Barfing

Me: Rubbing his back

Sylas: "Thank you, Momma"

Seriously? Seriously. If his fever doesn't start to come down we have instructions to head into the doctor. I'm having some major deja vu! We just went through this the first week of November!

It's Not Thanksgiving...

...without olives...



...and possibly shifty eyes. What is up with B? He looks like he's up to something, you can see the wheels turning! Food fight perhaps? That is so totally his style!

All He Wants for Christmas...

...is his two front teeth...

My Godfather

First of all, I haven't posted in two weeks because all three of my boys have been sick. Sy and B missed an entire week of school with the flu and Chris is still not better from his diagnosis of pneumonia, strep throat, and swine flu. It's been awesome.*

*sarcasm

This weekend was my Godfather's 80th surprise birthday party. Can I just tell you how much I love that man! And his brother, my Grouchy (Grandpa). Seeing them always makes me smile, seeing them together made my day! Uncle Cecil was so surprised! I loved the theme of the party; cowboys. As soon as the initial shock wore off his daughter slapped a cowboy hat on his head. I don't think anyone stopped smiling the entire party.



All the kids had a blast and were plenty entertained. B loved the plastic cowboy and Indians.



I love this picture...Isabella begged the kids to play duck, duck, goose and Sy, B, and Xar were all looking out for Ty telling her to, "pick him, pick him!"



We're starting to get back in the swing of things now that the majority of my boys are feeling better and were back into our old routine.

Halloweekend

For how busy our weekend was I sure didn't get any pictures! We did the party thing, the Gardner Village thing, the soup at Lanie's thing, the trick-or-treating thing, the catch up on sleep come Sunday thing. It was a jam packed weekend!

I guess I should mention that Sy was Darth Vader and B was Snake Eyes (from G.I. Joe). They hung out with a dead bride and Max from Where the Wild Things Are on Saturday and loved every minute of it!

Oh, and I can't forget this story...

Last weekend we went to Baskin Robbins and the boys picked up the little trick-or-treat for Unicef boxes. You know, they look like this:

The idea is to trick-or-treat for change and then donate the money to Unicef. B rode home with Aunt Lanie and they made a stop at Albertson's. B said he was going to trick-or-treat with his Unicef box for quarters from the people inside Albertson's. Why quarters? For the candy machines, of course! He was under the impression this was trick-or-treat for Bryce, not trick-or-treat for charity. So we were joking that he was collecting funds for Bunicef, not Unicef.

School Carnival

Yesterday was the boys school carnival and it was c-c-c-cold! How is it kids don't understand the concept of being cold? I was in full on teeth-chattering mode and my children were running around without coats! Brr!

Here are the boys with Zachary, my BBF Amy's son, whom they completely worship! (Notice the begrudging look I'm getting from B and the shift eyes of Sy. They wanted to get their carnival on, not have their picture taken!) (Oh, and take a look at B's feet. Yes, my baby still wears his shoes on the wrong feet and I am totally convinced it is simply for my sake only. I am going to shed some real tears when that boy starts wearing them on the right feet. It is such a "little B" trait and I am nowhere ready for him to become "big B".)



Can I just mention that my boys are NOT black spidey for Halloween this year. Those were their costumes from two years ago! Each refused to wear their current costumes, wanting to keep them nice and perfect for Halloween night. They've even been to a friends Halloween party in other costumes than their current or these black spidey get-ups. I've explained that we do in fact own a washing machine to no avail.

Now...let's talk. Can you spot the irony in the pictures below?



. . .

. . .

. . .

Need a hint?



BOYS! The line is all boys! Look at the bounce house - Disney Princess! I was laughing while shivering my socks off! Apparently there was a basketball hoop inside as well as a huge bounce area and was "the awesomest thing ever!" according to Bryce.

We've got a busy couple of days ahead of us - more festivities to come! Have a Happy Halloween!