Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! I hope you all enjoyed your Christmas. We went to Christmas Eve service. I told the boys all I wanted from them for Christmas were some nice pictures. Glenn cooperated fully. Alexander... not so much. First here are the pictures of the boys.

 

 

After giving up on that, and because we were running out of time, we went to the family pictures.

I'm not sure what's going on with the leg in this picture. Perhaps he has a little captain in him...

Apparently we don't want to show our eyes anymore, according to the Zander...
 

That was it! At least we have a good series of pictures to show. At dinner, I tried to get him to smile.

Glenn has been waking in the middle of the night. So we decided that Bob would sleep with Glenn and I'd sleep with Zander so that we could keep them from seeing the presents until morning. Well, Alexander woke at 3:30. So, it's good I was with him. However, then he would not go back to sleep. Finally, a little after 5:00, he fell asleep. I guess Glenn woke at 5:30, but Bob told him we wouldn't be opening presents until 6, so at 6:00, he woke us all up. We didn't wrap the air hockey table from his Aunt Cindy and Uncle Ray. So, they got to play it right away while Bob and I got ready (coffee, tea, and so on). 

 

Alexander is constantly asking us to play blow hockey. :) 

I got these Hulk hands at a toy swap. I think they are his favorite toy. When he smashes them together, it makes sounds like the Hulk. Hey, I finally got a smile!

Now he's Iron Man. He has the rest of the costume, too.

Glenn loves everything zebra. I came across a website where you can get prescription glasses for very cheap, starting at $6.99 (that includes the frame and lenses). I think they are out of Canada (zennioptical.com). But anyway, I was ordering glasses for myself and got some zebra glasses for Glenn. They are too wide for his face, but I figured he'd wear them more at home if he had cool glasses. He loves them.

He's the abominable snow man from Rudolph. He's also sporting his Perry PJs.

The Bat Cave from Auntie Lisa and Uncle Jon.

That's all the pictures I got. And I realized today that they are all a bit cloudy because somebody used my camera and put a smudge on the lens (Zander). We spent some time with friends later in the afternoon. We're looking forward to a visit from Bob's parents on Monday and spending more time with friends during the kids' winter break. 

Saturday Before Christmas

We had a fun filled Saturday. We went to the live nativity practice in the afternoon, then had a birthday party for Jesus, complete with cupcakes and candles. Then we had the live nativity during the Saturday night church service. The boys were towns people, walking in to check in for the census. Then they got a front row seat to watch the rest, which included the normal live nativity stuff, and a chicken, goat and mini donkey. 

Afterward, we went to the town square. We had root beer floats (because it was 80 degrees, and too hot for hot chocolate). Then we listened to music on the square, playing under the lights. I should have turned off the flash so you could see the lights better. 

Wrestling

Running away from Mommy, trying not to get his picture taken.

 

Alexander decided to take the camera instead.

I know that it's hard to see, but they decorated all the palm trees green around the trunks and red on the palm fronds.

Glenn's turn with the camera, and Alexander striking a pose.

 

 

 

 

I know the picture below is blurry, but you can see the lights better.

 

Early December

We've got germs! Alexander was coughing last weekend, but was fine. Glenn started coughing on Monday. By Wednesday, he had really long coughing spells. So, I brought him to the doctor. She was afraid he was starting walking pneumonia, plus he had an ear infection. That night, I really felt off. Woke up on Thursday with a full-blown cold. And Friday, thankfully I had an appointment with my nephrologist. I had a sinus infection and an ear infection. I'm sure it happened so fast because of my last sinus infection and this bug seems to work extremely fast. So, anyway, I'm losing my voice again for the third time this fall!!! Bob had to drive up to Alabama (they have a route up there now, expanding the business)! He was afraid to come home to the house of germs. He came home anyway. 

We had a productive day. He worked on the irrigation in our "flower beds" in front (some day they will have flowers). I painted the siding he had replaced last week, put up Christmas lights with Alexander's help, and our reindeer for the lawn. Of course a third of the lights don't work on both deer, but we got them cheap. Bob got both of their heads to move (one goes up and down like it's eating, and the other is the stag looking side to side). I have more lights I might try to weave on them. 

Tomorrow, after church, we're going to dip stuff in chocolate. We'll melt the chocolate and dip three kinds of cookies, pretzels, and I'm sure we'll find something else. Then we'll let the chocolate harden. That's the hardest part: waiting! 

The boys have been playing Christmas. They take turns being "santa" while the other pretends to sleep. They fill up their stockings and then when "santa" is done, he goes up to the one sleeping yelling, "Santa's been here! Santa's been here." It's very cute. Alexander asks every day if I can put a present under the tree for him and one for Glenn so they can open it the next morning. Again, waiting is the hardest part! Alexander also enjoys wrapping up anything in a box, putting a ton of tape on it, put it outside the front door, and ring the door bell. Then he yells, "Delivery!" I got two boxes of my pens and highlighters, yesterday. He tricked his brother once into thinking he had a real delivery. Boy, was he disappointed when it was his stuffed animals he already owned!

We made a gingerbread mansion this week. Yes, a mansion! That's what it said on the kit. It fell down twice while trying to let it dry because the back side of the roof was broken when we opened the kit. It supports the front roof. But we finally got it to stay. The windows and door are made of fondant, which was in the kit, too. Here's the picture. Alexander wouldn't stop twirling, so he didn't get to be in the picture.