'Twas the Day Before Christmas

Goofing around after Church. Getting ready for the big day.

So Sad that Courtney and Aaron Aren't Here

We could be having a good time, if only they were here. Ho hum. What will we do? We are so bored without them. Ho hum. Soooooo sad.

Lutece's Wish List

Lu could hardly wait to have a tete-a-tete avec Santa. She is eating up the whole Santa thing this year. Earlier in the day while we were out walking, Lutece tripped and fell and started to cry when, lo and behold, at that very moment, a Santa in a vintage red convertible sports car drives up and asks her if she's all right. It took her so much by surprise that she stopped crying. After he left, Lu asked "Santa drives a car?"

I didn't hear their conversation, but it was lively and animated. Hopefully he'll get her everything she asked for. Notice her holding his hand.

Phoenix Meets Santa

Before Santa did the whole kids-on-the-lap bit, he mixed and mingled and had some dinner. Phoenix would walk past him and stare for minutes at a time. Stayc finally sat him down and gave him a close up look at Santa. He sat and studied him for the longest time before the inevitable . . .

Why is Santa so scary to little kids?

Gingerbread Houses

After dinner, the main activity of the night was making gingerbread (aka graham cracker) houses with the kids. It was a blast . . . for kids and adults alike. How better to talk with friends than to set 8 bowls of candy in front of your kids and let them go at it with wanton abandonment. It was hard to get any good photos of Lutece. You try getting a smile out of someone shoving gumdrops into her face.

Phoenix got the leftovers. Seriously. After all the kids were off doing other things, he attacked the tables. At one point, while I was talking with a friend, I absentmindedly looked over to find him shoving gummy bears into his mouth as fast as his hands would go and certainly faster than he could swallow them. All I can say is, I don't want to change the next poopy diaper.

But when it makes them this happy . . . who cares?

Jumping New Jammies

The kids got one present each from Grandma and Grandpa DuBravac early this year . . . their Christmas Jammies. We were in desperate need of some footed jammies that fit so we pulled out these presents and opened them. As you can see, perfect fit! After their bath, the kids like to jump on the guest bed. Phoenix can't quite get off the ground, but he tries as hard as he can.

Lu, on the other hand, doesn't have a problem. We took video of her Christmas program yesterday and although it drags a bit (even after generous editing), it's funny to watch. Unfortunately, each time I try to post it, numerous errors occur. Sorry folks, I don't know what I'm doing wrong. You'll have to see the video when you come to visit.

Dressup

Lutece was sorely disappointed when she realized that the package from Courtney contained nothing for her. However, as soon as I told her she could try on the clothes, all was forgotten. She had to try on everything. "Who do I look like?" she asked the first time. I told her she looked like Dad. With the next shirt she said, "Do I look like Scott?"

Hey There, Little Bear

Phoenix loves dogs and bears (among other things). He was very excited when he came across this bear cub statue at the Christmas tree farm. Just a little iron bear sitting in the middle of a field. Very odd now that I'm writing it down. Anyway, he approached it very gingerly and then got bolder when he realized it wasn't real.

Phoenix and the Bear.

At the Christmas Tree Farm

Poor little Phoenix has had an unshakeble cold for the last two months or so. Now I know what it's like to have a "snot-nosed kid." The frequent wipings have left his face red and raw. But you can just pretend like he has rosy cheeks from the cold. Or maybe you could have pretended if I hadn't given you all that background. Hmmm.

We drove down to Richmond, about 30 minutes south of Lexington, on Saturday to a Christmas tree farm so that we could cut our own tree. It was quite a trip for just a tree, but well worth the effort. You can see all the Christmas trees behind Lutece (and above, behind Phoenix). It was really fun to pick our own tree and chop it down ourselves. Well, fun for Lu, Phx and me. Perhaps not so fun for Stayc, who actually did the sawing and hauling.

There's our little tree in the corner of the picture! Can you see it there? Right there. It's rather nice.

Ho, Ho, Ho

Here is our cliche attempt at a funny family shot, sans the head elf, aka Mom. Not too great. I'll spare you attempts 2-15, except for the next sequence of shots, which happened on its own after we had already decided enough was enough.


Hmmm. That looks good. I want what she's getting.

Heeyyyy. Gimme. Gimme.

Whatever! How come I don't get any Dad?!

The Many Moods of Lutece

Happy Lu.
Grumpy Lu.
Bored Lu.

On Top of the World

While in Nashville, we took the kids to the Science Museum there. The museum, housed in a huge dome-shaped building went up and up and up. The last several levels, built like a huge jungle gym, were uncomfortably low for an adult, but just right for a child. Lu just kept climbing.

Twins

I didn't even notice the matching-action until I posted the picture. Wow. Stayc followed Phoenix while I tagged Lu. He didn't lose track of his ward nearly as much as I did.

Blow Dry

Mmmwwwhahahahaha

Is that how you spell that? Anyway, Phoenix is ready to blow up the world. The ENTIRE WORLD!!! Mmmmwwwhaahaahaahaa!!

Christina's Birthday

Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to MEEEEEE, Happy Birthday to me. Lu's not looking at the camera because she can't keep her eyes off the brownie dessert cups that Gayle made. Yum!

Poor Phoenix didn't get any. We put him to bed before the chocolate. But this is what he WOULD have looked like had he gotten a taste. Happy.

And the Winner Is . . . !

Leg wrestling was the pre-Family Home Evening/pre-Birthday activity. First it was just the boys, then Lutece got in on the fun.

Looks like Stephen is winning! But you never know . . . Ben and Lu could pull it out in the end.

WEEEEE'RE BAAAAAACK!!!!!!!!

Back from the suburbs of Tennessee! We had a great time with the TN DuBravacs and are quite sure that as long as they stick around for Thanksgiving, we will make it a family tradition to visit them. Here are just a couple of pics from the trip. Since my time is limited (yes, it's true) and it takes oh-so-long to post blog entries, I will post a couple every day, in chronological order, to catch up on the holidays. You can all stop sending me impatient emails now :)

At the Park in Tennessee

Gayle took the next three pictures. Actually, most of the pictures I will post from Thanksgiving, including the previous one of Lu, were taken by Gayle, who got some great shots of the kids.

As long as Phoenix was outside and/or with Ben, he was happy. He just loooooooved Ben. He actually said Ben's name (a little grunt of a "be") and then made up a sign for him. He would do the sign for "bear" and say Ben's name. Very cute. The boys (Stephen and Ben) were great to their cousins, and the kids had a blast in Tennessee.

Concentrate. Concentrate.

Here's Dolly in tow, as usual. What a pair of dare-devils!

Raking Leaves

GO BIG BLUE!! Oh wait . . . wrong "big blue." How embarrassing! We need to get Phoenix a UK sweatshirt. He truly loves to rake leaves with Stayc. It's never too cold outside to rake leaves.

Phoenix's New Haircut

I figured Phoenix deserved a little blog-time. I gave him a haircut on Saturday night. He always looks older with a haircut. He could probably pass for 15 months now, instead of just his mere 14.

Wrestling

It's so fun to wrestle with Dad. Things always start out nice and calm.

When Wrestling Goes Bad

"I want to be on Dad's back!!" "NO, I DO!!" "He's MINE!" "NO, HE'S MIIIIINE!!"

Heater Weather

Does this remind you of anyone? That's the heater grate in the kitchen she's sitting on. All she needs is a glass of apple juice to sip, and she'll be set.

Winnie on Watch

Every once in a while when the kids are upstairs and Stayc or I have to run downstairs, we will ask Lu to watch out for Phoenix and tell us if he tries to come down the stairs (don't worry Scott, he never attempts it on his own, he just sits at the top step and yells for one of us to come). So today I heard Stayc tell Lu to "watch out for Phoenix on the stairs" while he ran downstairs. Then I heard Lu downstairs. I went over to the stairs to see if Phoenix was still upstairs and saw Winnie (see below) sitting at the top of the stairs. When I asked Lu what she was doing there (I thought maybe a time-out), she responded that "Winnie was watching out for Phoenix on the stairs." She's good at delegating at least. I wonder if Winnie could do the dishes, clean the house and make the dinner for ME.

Winnie, "watching out."

Jammies

These are Phoenix's new jammies from Grandma & Grandpa DuBravac. As you can see, they are a bit big (which means that they will fit for TWO years!), but Phoenix shuffles around in them the best he can. Lutece, for her part, may look as though she's trying to bring back the 70s (if only she had some gold chains). She gets too hot with her own footed jammies, but refuses to wear anything else. This is her way of compromising.

Maus and Fledermaus

So maybe you're thinking . . . "A mouse? I thought he was supposed to be an elephant?" He was. But then I made the headpiece, and the ears looked more like mouse ears than elephant ears. And I didn't feel like spending the next 2 weeks explaining why a mouse had a trunk. So Phoenix was a mouse for our ward's Trunk or Treat last night, and a pretty cute one at that.

Lutece's costume turned out a little better, which is good, because I don't think she would have been happy going as a cat or a rat. Every year she enjoys Halloween more and more, and this year she ended up with a very full pumpkin . . . which she enjoys even MORE.

Fly Away Little Bat

"NO! I'm not a little bat, I'm a BIG bat!" And so it goes.

First Lollipop

Phoenix has already consumed more sweets in his first year than Lu did in both her first and second years combined. Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration, but I THINK this is still his first lollipop, a nice parallel, since Lu experienced her first lollipop at a Trunk or Treat too. Hey! Maybe I can find that photo too . . .

Yep! They are brother and sister.