Christmas the First

To be followed by Christmas the Second next week in Toronto. Yesterday afternoon, we went to church. Luke wanted to be in the extremely low key Immaculate Conception Christmas pagaent. Everyone was sick the weekend of the Sunday School pagaent, so we let him. It meant getting to church an hour earlier than normal. Justin and Michael endured fairly well. None of the pictures came out because the lighting was weird, but Luke made a perfectly fine sheep. Then we came home for gnocchi, got cookies and ginger ale for Santa and got the kids to bed. It's become an annual tradition to make room for Santa by purging some of our old toys. We packed up some and got rid of two big garbage bags worth.

Good thing we did, because Santa was generous. Santa brought Luke a dragon, a Pterodactyl, a pirate book and some other things. Michael got lots of play food, a t-rex and Uno Moo. Justin got a shape sorter and a ring stacker.

Then came the grandparent gifts. Poppy and Nan sent each boy a different racetrack. Grandma Carole got Luke a Trio castle, Michael a Diego train and Justin a crocodile pull toy. Great Grandpa Bo sponsored a lightsaber for Luke, a video game for Michael and a ball toy for Justin. Add that to some Last Airbender and Cars gifts from Mom and Dad and it pretty much looks like Toys R Us just threw up at our house.

I made the kids roast chicken drumsticks and mashed potatoes for dinner, then we put them to bed, so that Matt and I could enjoy an adult dinner. Matt made a terrific rack of lamb. Too bad Justin decided he was going to have a bad night. He screamed and screamed, but is finally asleep. We are soon to follow. Merry Christmas, everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Meanwhile . . .

While I was busy uploading videos of my firstborn, this is what was happening to my thirdborn. Overtired Justin was trying to pull the baskets out from our coffee table and smacked his head on the table. I'm pretty sure the other two kids made it to at least 10 or 11 months before they got their first goose eggs. Poor baby boy.

Full Yellow Belt and More!

Tonight Luke was promoted at Tang Soo Doh. He tested for his full yellow belt a couple of weeks ago. Stupidly, I didn't tape it because the camera battery was dead and because, honestly, I wasn't sure he would pass. His curriculum routine seemed very tough to me and they didn't go over it all that much. Turns out he was spectacular the day he tested! Now I'm fuming because he'll never perform that specific routine again. Here he is receiving his belt. You can hear Justin cheering him on in the background.



And we were in for an extra surprise (well, I had a bit of a suspicion which is why I hastily turned the camera back on). Luke was chosen as Student of the Month because he performed so well on his test! There were two students chosen this month, so you have to listen to Master Circle talk about the first kid before he gets to Luke. Luke gets a patch for his uniform and a pizza party! We are super, super proud of him. This time, you can hear Michael asking to go home in the background.

Fast Food

Christmas errands inevitably leads to dinners-on-the-go. We went to Steak 'n Shake the other night and the boys had a blast. Made us wonder why we bother with McDonald's since it cost us about the same.And what do you do when you go to see Santa, but the line is too long? Stop for pizza instead.

Michael will do anything for soda. He will choose soda over dessert about half of the time.

EBC Holiday Party

I was too busy eating and talking to get any good pictures this year except for this one of our lovely hostess Ali and Justin.

Elf Yourself 2010

Christmas Card Outtakes

A post about laundry--exciting stuff.

I don't have the kind of blog where I recommend products or tell people how I manage my house or feed my family . . .BUT . . .

I realized over the weekend that I was almost out of laundry detergent. So what? So, I don't think I've bought laundry detergent since before Justin was born! Last spring, my friend Michelle posted a link to a recipe for homemade laundry detergent and non-crafty me decided to try it. It cost less than $10 for the supplies, all of which I found at Meijer. It took 20 minutes to make it. It made ten gallons (five gallons and you dilute it by half). It's lasted 8 months--with two little boys and a baby in the house! Today I had to make another batch. I had to spend $1.50 on a bar of Fels Naptha, but I had plenty of Borax and Washing Soda left from the first batch. Amazing.

I haven't really noticed any difference between the homemade stuff and the low end liquid detergent I was using before (Purex or store brand). I treat my stains with spray and they generally come out (as much as they ever have--I admittedly suck at laundry and let stains dry all the time). The high end stuff like Tide may work better, but I don't really know because I've never been able to afford Tide!! This stuff is awesome and it has really helped me do a better job of managing the laundry in the house because now I just do as much as I need to do without agonizing over how long the detergent is going to last.

Here is the link if anyone wants to try it: Homemade Laundry Detergent

Ok, so maybe they look alike after all.

Michael decided to have his first real violin lesson today.



And here's Luke at his first lesson when he was 3 1/2.

You know it's your third kid when . . .

Wildlights 2010

It was cold last night, but we braved Wildlights at the zoo anyway! Well, we got through half of it. Justin was not very fond of temperature or the hour, so we'll have to go back to do the second half.

Michael measuring up to a panda bear. I was playing with the camera and accidentally took these artsy shots. I kind of like them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Martial Arts Recital

Luke had a skill recital tonight at Tang So Doh. He did great. He's learning more advanced skills than what he showed, but tonight they performed their white belt combinations. First, he performed Combination #1 and then recited Children's Home Rule #1: Children shall be respectful to their parents and grandparents at all times.



Then he performed Combination #2 and recited Children's Home Rule #2: Children shall be truthful at all times.


We had a neighbor stay with Justin and we took two cars so that someone could take Michael home after Luke's performance. Luke wanted to stay and watch the black belts. He stayed until the end and so he got to be in the group photo at the end.

Another Story by Luke

In January of 2010, Luke wrote a story . Today he wrote another one. It's amazing how much he's progressed in less than a year. He didn't ask for any help, he just walked into the kitchen with it complete and asked Matt to read it. Have I ever mentioned that Matt and I both minored in Latin Palaeography (a.k.a. how to read medieval handwriting) in grad school? Thus, we can provide both a transcription and a translation.

Transcription: Pedr hrd a werd soud it wus the lisrd Spidrman smact the lisrd the pls kam an the lisrd got kapchrd.

Translation: Peter heard a weird sound. It was the Lizard. Spiderman smacked the Lizard. The police came and the Lizard got captured.

Storming the Castle

Poor Justin has been down with an ear infection and has been pretty miserable, but today he felt well enough to start getting into his brothers' things while I folded some laundry.

Teething

Justin cut his first tooth this week, it's still not through enough to show up in pictures. But he's been chewing on anything and everything. I never used these mesh things with Luke or Michael, but Justin loves them. His favorite treat is "pancake in a bag." Pretty gross, but it keeps him entertained for quite a while.

Indian Summer

We've had a week of beautiful weather here. Today it was so nice that we stayed after school to play for a while. It was nice to see Luke playing with his school friends. Michael really liked the playground and Justin just enjoyed hanging out in his stroller.

Skeletons

I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner. My friend Heather posted on her blog that her daughter had been a ladybug for Halloween at 5 months and was a ladybug again this year. Well, Luke was a skeleton at 5 months and again this year!

Boo at the Zoo 2010

Skunk, Skeleton and Every Animal out and about at the zoo.

Every Animal

Here it is: Michael's Every Animal Costume. Made from an old pair of sweats, some animal print fabric and lots of fabric glue as I do not sew!! More Halloween pics to come when we hit Boo at the Zoo this weekend. Tonight was Beggar's Night, but Justin was asleep before it started and Luke got scared of his own costume and refused to wear his mask. He was home sick today and barely made it out trick or treating. Thank goodness they have the day off tomorrow because I'm sure he'll be even sicker tomorrow.

Pigeon Roost Farm

We made our annual pilgrimage to Pigeon Roost Farm after school last week. Justin was not a fan of the farm or the hour, so I spent most of my time wrangling him instead of taking pictures. But we got a few!

These giant "hamster wheels" were new this year. Luke loved them.

This was the mini-maze. Instead of the corn maze, I guess it's the weed maze.

Michael liked the giant rocking horses.

And we couldn't tear him away from the slides, even if it was a bit slow this year.

Luke tried feeding corn to the dragon.

An Adventure

We like to walk across the bridge at Hoover Reservoir. This afternoon we went and couldn't believe how low the water is. There was all this beach exposed, so we went down to explore. The kids found lots of slate and threw some rocks in the water. It was pretty cool! If you think Michael's outfit looks a bit strange, that's because he's wearing a dog costume.