Yo-Ho-Ho, Merrrry Christmas!

No, it wasn't a pirate Santa. Arjen just thinks Santa says "yo-ho-ho!"  We checked off the box for our holiday parental duty tonight, and took the kids to meet mall Santa.  I gotta say, dinner time the Friday before Christmas turned out to be a reasonable time to go.  Line was short, got in, got out, and got our obligatory crying child photo with Santa…well, one crying child.  And it wasn't even because I tried to recover my iPhone back from him before he sat on Santa's lap (look close and you'll see Gus gripping it tight!).  He pretty much was crying because he had no clue what hit him, figuratively speaking.  Arjen was the one crying in line because the little turkey hit himself on the head by pulling the line separator thing-y down on himself.  But, by the end, Gus had chilled out a little, and was able to say "Hi Santa" before getting off Santa's lap.  And fortunately for Santa, the little coloring book token gift they were handing out had a snowman on the cover, so he got excited about that.  Arjen, on the other hand, had no fear telling Santa that he wants a little ladder, a boat, a big ding ding, and a jackhammer, for Christmas.  Don't ask.  I have no clue where half of those requests came from.  Overall, meeting mall Santa was a much more pleasant experience than I expected, and apparently, Santa asked Arjen for something in return…as we were leaving, I was told we had to make cookies!  Looks like I'll be baking this weekend...

Success!!!

I'm so going to jinx myself for posting this, but I can't help but do a happy dance right now!! The boy fell asleep for nap IN HIS BED!! Sweet. Holy. Moly. Note to self: there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes it's a really, really, long tunnel, other times, shorter than it looks. 

It's "Mickoff Ru!"

We've been watching a lot of Rudolf and Frosty this holiday season. For whatever reason, Arjen has dubbed Rudolf "Mickoff Ru". And look who showed up in our yard today!

Aaaand…we're caught up!

Now that we're caught up with the "major" events of the past few weeks, we can move on to the silly moments in life that make me smile...

Arjen was so impressed with Andrew ironing his shirt for work this  morning, that he decided to get in on the action and grab his "smoother" (aka toy sander).  He even scouted out the best place to lay his clothes flat and decided the long bench at our dining room table would do the trick.  Kids say/do the darndest things I tell ya.  

 This morning, was a pretty typical morning.  Dropped Andrew off at BART, ran to the post office, and did some grocery shopping.  Somewhere along the way (perhaps when he picked out his bananas at the store), Arjen decided he wanted to make a banana pie.  So, in a proud mom-moment, I obliged.  I even made up a peanut-butter-graham cracker crust for him to use!

Smashing the banans in, with a very curious Gus looking over his shoulder.

I even agreed to let him put chocolate chips on top! (I mean, if I'm going to be forced to eat this pie later on, I better do what I can to make it turn out edible, right??)

"Cheese"

Then, to continue our domestic morning at home, after the pie went in the freezer to set, Arjen decided it was time to continue decorating the house...

definitely need ribbon around the table leg

Putting the decorations up in his "attic"

Fortunately, when Hurricane Gus came through after his nap, and tore down all the decor, Arjen didn't actually see him do it, and a quick "oh no! I guess the wind must have blew them down" sufficed as a logical and acceptable answer.  Phew!  

I gotta say, it's mornings like this one, that make me glad I have this blog to help remember the sweet moments like these. 

Happy Birthday Baba!

Another annual tradition, is the celebration of my mom's birthday, along with helping to decorate their Christmas tree.  This year, we feasted well (a requirement, with Mom being forced to stay out of the kitchen), but we failed on the decorating part.  Lets just say that two little boys managed to keep us all busy in one way or another, and that it took three daughters and 2 son-in-laws, the whole evening to feed and properly "hydrate" the crew, without leaving any time (or anyone awake enough) to decorate the tree...and that's with the poor birthday girl having to chase after her two grandkids the whole time! But it was a night enjoyed by all, and well celebrated in honor of Mom! 

Casey has become our official Pie-maker of the family!

It's a birthday tree!

For as long as I can remember, mom has always commented that she wanted a tree that changed to beautiful fall colors, so she finally got one! She'll just have to wait until next year to actually see any leaves...

She also really loves snow, so we (and by we, I mean Andrew), attempted to make some bright, and early, on a very frigid post-birthday morning! 

Let the Christmas Season Decorating Begin!

Arjen putting the ornaments on his tree, and wearing the obligatory decorating cap!

The proud decorator

aaaand…the little brother...

Add your own caption here…

(getting both boys to look at the camera together is like trying to take a picture of a lightening bolt)

May the tree decorating commence! (can you tell I'm getting fired up to see the 2nd Hunger Games movie this week?!)

Elf Joe joined our family this year, and got the tree lighting going for us!

Gus, don't eat the ornaments!

at least you can kinda see the ornaments?

he's pointing up to something on the mantel, but I honestly forget what…one of the misfit toys maybe?

Gus's Baptism

As if Thanksgiving and Christmas tree hunting weren't enough for one weekend, we decided to throw in a baptism as well.  This way, both sets of Grandparents could be present for the event, and what better way, really, to wrap up a weekend devoted to being Thankful?

Sunday, December 1, 2013, Gus was baptized by Pastor Mueller, at the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Livermore.  Pastor Mueller married Andrew and me, baptized Arjen last year, and we were grateful he was able to bless our family again, this time in Gus's honor.

Pastor Mueller, our little fam, and Gus's godparents - Shannon and Brian

The whole gang

The progression of Gus being way beyond done taking pictures

Leave it to the big bro to bring him back for a good one! 

Thanks for getting us the pose Arjen!

 After the baptism, we had the family back to our house for lunch (and football). Aunties Shannon and Casey got crafty and helped the boys make angels to top their mini-trees!

Arjen is still working on getting his Halo just right