The Night Before Christmas

The letters and goodies are all out and ready for Santa. There was more fudge on the plate, until...well, read the next post for more info on the missing fudge.


Victoria was anxious to share the details of her letter with us.

And I was anxious for everyone to read this part:

Merry Christmas, everyone!

The Mystery of the Missing Christmas Fudge

 Now we know "who done it

The Tata and JAK Disco

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The New Haircut, Mushfellows, and a Pink Microphone

Today Justice got a haircut...finally! It was long overdue. He wiggled and squirmed all over the place, it was not an easy job for the stylist or for mommy. We made it, though, and the spikes are back!

At Grandma's house tonight, Justice asked me if he and his cousin Aubrie could have hot chocolate with mushfellows. According to my son, he just LOVES "mushfellows."

Finally, after raiding his cousin's toybox, he came out with a pink microphone which plays songs from High School Musical II. The poor BOY's unfortunate consequence for having a 9 year-old sister is that he knows all the words. Oh well, he does like cars, too.

The Dance Recital

This weekend Victoria had a couple of holiday dance recitals. It was her first with her new studio and I really enjoyed it. She was in two numbers, a ballet and a tap. She did a great job and seemed to have a lot of fun. I made a mistake, though, and picked seats on the wrong side. Thus, all of my pictures are from behind her. Oh well. Sorry in advance.

The Gingerbread, Part I

We are making gingerbread cookies for some family members. I have been waiting to post these pictures until the rolling, cutting, and decorating was done. However, because of the mess involved in the mixing, we've yet to reach that phase in the process. It was fun, though.

You can see how "in-awe" my kids are by the sight of Jackie's way-too-high-tech mixer.



Victoria loves to bake, though, and so she jumped right in to get the ball rolling.

No one knew the excitement just turning it on would bring!!!

The end result was a little disappointing for Justice who did not think the cookie dough looked at all yummy. He didn't even want a taste.

Hopefully when the cookies are actually "cooked," he will change his mind.

The Stories from Long Ago that Julie N. Says I Must Share, Volume I: "Today I bite just one more kid."

Justice was pretty passive as an infant. Enough so that his child care provider was encouraging him to stand up for himself more with the other kids. However, a couple of months ago, he bit a child after that child grabbed a toy away and wouldn't let go. He had a time-out during the day, and of course we had a serious talk when I picked him up. Since he was almost 3 at the time (WAY too old to bite) I thought that was the end of it. However, about two weeks later I went to pick him up and before I could even speak to Mrs. Julie, he said, "Hi Mommy," and then, while holding up his index finger he said, "Today I bite just one more kid. I bite Emerson." He totally ratted himself out and in doing so, lost his right to wear his Super Why costume and watch Super Why on Mommy's bed. He did not bite again.

Julie N. said this was a story that needed to be told. I hope you agree.

The TV Watching

Justice watches TV like this...

Like this...

Or like this...

He literally cannot sit still. Can you tell Victoria is used to it?

The Caroling

A few weeks ago, the mother of one of my students from last year invited me, or actually, Victoria, to Christmas carol at a convalescent home. I remembered doing that as a kid, and how good it made me feel. The girls caroled there and then went on to a fire station as well. Everyone was so appreciative and I know all the kids felt good about spreading the cheer.




Several of my current and former students participated and it was really fun doing something like this with them and their fabulous moms. Victoria read a poem about the night of Jesus' birth. She really did a good job.

If you're wondering where my baby boy was, he entertained himself with my camera. This is a self-portrait.

Thank you Mrs. Heidi, for arranging this. I hope this becomes an ongoing tradition!

The Advent Calendar

When I was a little girl, Omi (my godmother, Vicky's mom) would always buy all the kids a chocolate candy Advent calendar. I think I loved it the most, and remember that she continued to get one for me when I was out of high school. I love the tradition, and my kids do, too. Justice loves numbers and is amazingly good finding the right door.

Victoria has to help him get them open without ripping them.

As you can see, he clearly enjoys the candy.

Last night he found the eleven by himself. I didn't know he knew 11!

The Tree

So last weekend we decorated our tree. Victoria was ready and wanted to do the whole thing herself. Justice, on the other hand, wanted to play with his train table. I asked him if he could just put on four ornaments, hoping to catch some cute pictures of the two of them together. However, he was moving so quickly (had to get to the trains) that all his shots are blurry. He did get his four ornaments on the tree, though, all in a row. Not exactly how I would have spaced them.

After shifting those around a bit, Victoria and I finished the tree together. It took a little work to get the star straight, but it looks beautiful now.