Dear Santa.....

Our neighborhood has a special little mailbox that comes out around Christmas time.  It's shaped like a small, red, sleigh, and if you put your letter to Santa inside it, chances are he'll actually write you back!  It's pretty awesome!  One very cold night, Lizzy and Peter finished their letters, and we put on our coats and ran down to the mailbox.  They were so excited, and it felt so magical to be out walking at night, in the chilly clear air, with all the Christmas lights twinkling.  And guess what?  A few weeks letter, what should arrive in our mailbox, but two amazing letters from Santa!  He had received their letters and wrote back to them!  How exciting!  Now, I think we're finally ready for Christmas to come.

Hello, Santa!

Every Christmas, we get all dressed up to visit Santa.  This is always an adventure, to say the least!  Herding all the kids into their nice clothes, hoping everyone will have a nice smile and nice little chat with the big guy is no small accomplishment.  But for some reason, perhaps a Christmas miracle, it always seems to work out.  Perhaps it's because Grandma and Papa always come with us, and they bring their lucky energy with them.  This might have been our best year yet!  Everyone got dressed with no complaints, and there were no tears or worries, and some sincerely happy smiles!  Wow!  Afterwards we ran around the mall and grabbed some hot chocolate and treats- yum!  When we got home, the kids were so beat, they all took a nap in the car.  Now that's a Christmas miracle in itself!

Gingerbread Fun

It's not Christmas around here without our annual tradition of making gingerbread houses.  Each year, daddy is in charge of assembly (he's the house engineer master), and I'm in charge of supplying ample decorations and reigning in the madness (a near impossible task).  Lizzy and Peter love decorating their houses.  They take such care to make them extra special.  Maybe next year, we'll have three little houses in a row!

Lizzy's Christmas Concert

What a sweet night!  Lizzy's school had been practicing their Christmas carols for weeks, and finally they got to put on their special Christmas concert for all of their families.  Grandma and Papa came to see Lizzy's special show, and we all loved seeing all the adorable children all dressed up, and to hear their lovely songs.  The night seemed to be going off without a hitch.  That is........until I got a phone call mid-way through the concert from our babysitter saying I had to come home right away because Catherine had climbed out of her crib and fallen on the floor!  Whew, that made things exciting!  Thankfully she wasn't hurt, and we lowered that mattress as far as it could go so that little rascal won't try that again anytime soon.  Except for that tiny little problem, the concert was a very lovely night;)

Happy 4 1/2 Sweet Peter

Peter just couldn't wait until the end of the year for his big day, so he decided to celebrate his half birthday instead.  It's tough with those summer birthdays.  We usually just do it at the end of the school year, kind of close to the real day.  But this time, Peter was anxious to do it a little bit sooner.  I love how excited Peter gets to celebrate his birthday at school.  He was thrilled to make his special snack (banana chocolate chip muffins and bananas) and he kept talking all about the cool things he would get to do at school.  For someone who often plays it pretty cool, Peter loves his chance to be the birthday boy in the spotlight.  He got to pick out his own birthday badge, assemble the special birthday cake, and open the birthday mailbox that held his card and a tiny music box he got to play with the happy birthday song.  Every year at pre-school when I watch the simple, thoughtful, and lovely way they celebrate birthdays, it chokes me up.  Each child gets a chance to feel so special, so loved, so treasured, in the most low-key, low-pressure way.  It's just wonderful.  Happy, happy, half birthday to the most special boy I know!

Chaperone Adventures

Now this is a sign of the times: a great big line of booster seats, expectantly ready to get packed into cars and move off on an adventure.  When I was a little girl, we didn't worry about silly stuff like car seats and booster seats.  When there was a field trip, we just packed all the kids into some moms' cars and we were off.  And guess what?  We all survived and there were no casualties, believe it or not.  Nowadays, these giant kids squeeze into these little booster seats......but, I guess safety first!  Anyways.....I got to chaperone Lizzy's class as they went to a local high school to watch a play- super fun!  I love when I get to be a driver.  It's fun to be a fly on the wall, listen to all the little chit-chat, and see the kids in their element.  Plus, I could tell that Lizzy was excited to get to have "her mom" be one of the drivers, which made me feel extra special.  

Tunnel of Love

Pat would tease me if he saw this shot, because he knows I'm such a sucker for a great tunnel shot.  I'm not sure why, but I just love taking pictures of my kids in tunnels.  I've got a ton of them- at parks, at gym class, really anywhere you can find them.  I think they're so neat!  I love the big smiles, the pure childish joy that emanates from crawling through a tunnel.  Like you're going on an exciting journey and you just can't wait to get to the end.  There's just something about them, and boy does Catherine look adorable in this one.