Radio City Christmas Spectacular

The day after Christmas, we went to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular show at Bass Concert Hall. Other than the kids-centered live shows, like the Wiggles, or Sesame Street Live, this was the first time we've taken the boys to see a live show. They loved it, and when the Rockettes first came on stage and started dancing, Ryan's jaw dropped down and his mouth stayed open in awe for several minutes without moving. It wasn't long before both boys were bopping around in their seats. We had a great time, and afterwards, they wanted to play near the fountains.

A very merry Christmas

Christmas started bright and early, at 5:33 a.m. Santa's clever idea of leaving a few mini-lego packs in the boys' upstairs stockings was great, but it didn't last long. Those packs were a bit too "mini" and by 6:00 a.m., they were back in our room, jumping up and down on the bed to go downstairs.

Other than starting to early, it was a perfect day.

We all got things we wanted and desired.

The DSi.

Robo-Hamsters, quickly named Alex Jr. and Ryan Jr.

The Police Station Legos.

Hogwarts Castle Legos.

 And a few Twilight goodies.:)

Some of us even got things we didn't know we wanted and desired, but we loved all the same.

(me unwrapping a box of the boys' toys which they picked out from the toy box, put in a box, and wrapped themselves when they were feeling particularly festive).

(Carl has a bit of a crush on Alice, so I bought him the Alice Barbie doll. Also known as a gift for myself. ;) )

Our new waterproof hi-def video camera which I researched and purchased on my own - a total surprise for the king of all things electronics in our house.

We spent the afternoon and evening over with Carl's family, and a good time was had by all.

Sunday morning, we slept in as late as we could (almost nine a.m. for Carl and I). And when I first came downstairs, I was greeted by this lovely sight in my living room.
 

 

The Night Before Christmas

Our "night" before Christmas actually started about 3:30 p.m., when we arrived at church for the Christmas Eve Family Pageant.

We only had one shepherd this year. For whatever reason, Ryan could not be persuaded to dress up and join the flock of shepherds in jubilee.

A good chunk of the day was spent tracking Santa's flight on Google Earth, thanks to NORAD. The boys LOVED, LOVED, LOVED doing this. They especially enjoyed the times when Santa would arrive at a destination, and would run around cities like Moscow and Baghdad so fast that Rudolph's nose flying through the skies looked like little lasers. A big, big hit.

After church, we came home and the boys opened one present each - a tradition from my family when we were growing up. The boys scoured underneath the tree for the ones they most wanted. Alex selected a box from Uncle Beau - he tends to especially love presents from him since my brother is cleaning out his collection of Star Wars toys by passing them on to his nephews since he ended up with two little girls. This present was the Sebuba Pod Racer ship from Star Wars, Episode 1. Beau worked on that movie, so he bought the motherload of toys featuring that movie.

Ryan opened up the largest box he could find - one from his brother. Alex gave him the Kung Zhu Arena - a present I thought was crazy at first, but Alex insisted upon, and it was at a pretty good sale price at Toys R Us. Ryan's reaction when he opened up immediately quashed any misgivings I might have had. He was unbelievably excited, jumping up and down with joy. "I wanted this! Yes! Its just what I wanted, Alex!" He was a bit concerned, though, because he was "getting this for Christmas," (as he had put it down on his list). We explained to him that this WAS Christmas, and he gives us this exasperated look. "No, Mommy. Its Christmas Eve." Ryan was so in love with his new present that he his it away from Santa Claus, lest Santa Claus try and steal in and give it to another little boy.

After dinner, the boys wrote a note to Santa, and put out milk and cookies.

We then made hot chocolate and put on 'A Christmas Story,' which the boys had never seen.

 Ryan still wasn't that into it - he kept disappearing to check on Santa's flight status - But Alex totally identified with Ralphie, the little boy who wants one thing for Christmas, above all others: the Red Rider BB gun.

Alex's own version of the Red Rider is the DSi.



We've resisted buying this for him since it first started topping the list at his 6th birthday. Having disappointed him for two birthdays and last Christmas (and with a little nudge from HEB Plus who had the suckers marked down to $99.99 last Sunday) we've taken the plunge, and the DSi is now waiting for him under the tree.

 
 We wrapped things up reading 'The Night Before Christmas,' and then tucked both boys in together in Alex's bottom bunk. They got concerned Santa had made his way to the America continents, and didn't want to risk being up when Santa hit Austin, lest he skip our house. Thus, we had two little boys go to bed remarkably easy this Christmas Eve. No one even got up for a last minute potty break. I guess they are too busy resting with visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads.

Invasion of the Mashmallows

Last Tuesday, we had our last official scouting event of 2010. (I say "official"  because Carl has all sorts of plans for Alex to do lots of electives and earn more bling in the form of belt loops and beads while Alex is out of school for two weeks and a day.)

Tuesday night was the Pack meeting, when all 15 (or so) dens of the Pack get together for the monthly meeting. As part of the meeting, the Pack held a Holiday Bazaar. Each den had to make something that was then sold at the Bazaar. Our den made these bug catchers.
 

 
Most other dens sold weaponry of some sort, the majority of them being marshmallow weaponry. It should come as no shock that our bug catchers were not a big ticket item.

For who could compete with marshmallow guns? Marshmallow sling shots? Marshmallow blow sticks? Marshmallow swords? Marshmallow "light" sabers? We had given the boys $10 each to spend, and they also each took out $5 from their piggy banks. Which gave them lots of money with which to purchase marshmallow weapons.

This was also the night they presented the boys with their awards for selling lots of popcorn for the Scouts. Alex had sold $628 of popcorn, which entitled him to a $20 amazon gift card, as well as, what else, one marhsmallow cross-bow.

So we came home with a grand total of five different forms of marshmallow arsenal on Tuesday night, as well as one very messy Carl since the top seller of each den got to throw a pie at their den leader. Our top seller was out, so Alex, as the second top seller, got the honors of throwing a pie at Carl. The other den parents all decided Nick should still have his moment of glory, so at the next den meeting, we'll make sure to have a second pie on hand. Lucky Carl.

 

 

  

The next few days were spent with lots of marshmallows being thrown in and around my house. Amazingly, nothing was broken, although things did get a bit "sticky" at times.

Friday was the last day of school for Alex before they broke for the winter holidays. To celebrate, the 1st Grade had a "Snow Day." Carl joined the class for hot chocolate and s'mores in the morning, and I went in the afternoon for "Make your own ice cream" and the Giant Snowball Fight.

The ice cream making was their science lesson, as they are studying different forms of matter. They learned how you can take milk and sugar and shake it around with some ice and rock salt for five minutes, and that the liquid then transforms itself into a solid, ice cream. I was dubious this would work, but it did, and the kids all had a great time shaking their bags of ice cream around. They were partnered for the shaking which made it all the more fun.

 

Next up was the Snowball Fight with all six 1st grade classes. Each child was given a bag of marshmallows and a plastic spoon, and they were to use the spoon to make a sort of sling shot and throw them across the way at friends.

Suffice it to say, all 113 1st graders had a blast. And I learned a very important lesson. The Jet-Puffed Marshmallows are way less sticky than HEB's Hill County Fare brand. Henceforth, our family will be exclusively Jet Puffed.

The Loose Teeth

It finally happened!

Friday night, we celebrated the start of the winter holidays by watching "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" for the first time (there are only 2 PG Harry potter movies, the others are all PG-13, so this is the last one the boys will see for a while). We made some popcorn, and about 1/2 way through the movie, Alex comments, "I think one of my teeth is loose."

This is a pause-worthy moment. I have been, to put it mildly, a tad freaked that he hadn't lost any teeth yet. He was the only one in his kindergarten class at the end of last year who hadn't lost one, and he is also the only one in his first grade class who hadn't lost any teeth. And while this isn't the type of thing I need to get competitive about, all sorts of friendly, helpful parents have been telling us for the past year about how children have to have their teeth pulled when they don't fall out on their own. And we definitely didn't want THAT for Alex.

Carl, Ryan and I all took turns feeling the magical, wonderfully wiggly tooth, and confirmed that yes, indeed, it was loose.

About ten minutes later, he proclaims, "I think another one is loose, too."

Carl, Ryan and I all took turns feeling the second magical, wonderfully wiggly tooth, and confirmed that yes, indeed, it was loose.

So there you have it.

At almost precisely age seven and one quarter (to the minute), on December 17, 2010, Alex finally had two loose teeth. Alex was born at 8:10 pm on September 17, 2003, and the loose teeth were discovered in the seven pm hour on December 17, 2010.

His first passage into adulthood!

Gingerbread and Snowmem

The other day we pretended that I am the crafty sort of mom who can help her children make works of art out of a paperclip, a staple and some paint.

We made a gingerbread house. And I was rather pleased with the finished results.

 Now, before you give me too much applause, let me show you what we started with.

Yes, that's right. A prebuilt gingerbread house. Last Christmas we attempted to make one from scratch, and a few hours later, nothing was standing, tears were shed by all family members, tempers were flaring, and no one was happy. A rather horrible memory.

So I was a bit perplexed when the boys were all about making a gingerbread house this year. Do they not remember what happened? I could only decide it was so horrific that it had been blocked from their memories.

When I saw this box at Target, though, I knew I had the answer to all my problems, all for the bargain price of $9.99.

Based on the success of the gingerbread house, we also decided to get really wild and crazy, and made these snowman hand-print ornaments. Ryan gave some to his teachers at pre-school, and the rest will go to family members.

They were ridiculously easy - so easy that I even managed to do it without Carl's assistance. Put acrylic white paint on the boys hand, put an ornament into their hand, have them grasp a hold of it, and voila! The beginnings of a snowman. A few hours later, with the help of a sharpie, we had snowmen.

A good time was had by all! Talk about a Christmas miracle.