Paling Around.

Only the best uncles get promoted to great uncle. Fun fact: John was a name we seriously considered when naming Adam Howard. But we thought since I already have an uncle and cousin by the same name, we'd give Adam a name all his own. Still, looks like they enjoy each other.

Christmas Day Photography

The kids slept in well enough and woke up ready and raring on Christmas morning. As usual, the favorite toy for Adam was a cheap stocking stuffer.

And then he tried to use it on Ellie. She got a spirograph from Santa! This is in no way related to her mom's love of spirograph. Just a happy coincidence. 

Post brunch dance party!

Also some tea party action

Mimi and Poppy and Jake came over afterwards, and in addition to some loud driving around of new RC cars, there were some quiet moments of reading (Adam is reading to Jake, obviously.)

He also got a chance to snuggle with his godfather Daniel, home from college, at Cathy's that evening. And Hailee got to come along and run around with the scrum of little girl cousins.

Today in big fun, Adam got to have a day with Grizzy, the cousins all went up to LA to tool around, and Gigi took Ellie, Hailee, Aunt Betty and Grandma Rosie to the American Girl store at the Grove for tea with their dolls.

Which, it seems like they had quite the good time. The Grandmas came home as enthused as the girls, and they didn't even get any matching clothes for them and their dolls!

I got to eat Diddy Reese and spend the day with my cousins and their spouses. Everyone wins!

Christmas Eve!

A crazy night of opening presents, including the cousins White Elephant, in which Kari and David ended up exchanging the toilet themed items that they'd brought...

And in the morning, perhaps Santa will leave something for these two cute little elves.

Happy Birthday Poppy!

Here's to 70 more wonderful years!

Here is the poem that Tim and Jake wrote and read for their dad tonight, after a rousing game of Don Ford/1945 trivia.

To see the world through dad’s eyes

Is to see the world as great.

Every person does their best

No hearts are filled with hate.

But look too long through dad’s eyes

You’ll want to turn and run

You’ll find that every word you speak

Is a groan-inducing pun

To see the world through dad’s eyes

Is to find the good in other folks

If you deprecate yourself

He likely won’t get the joke

To count ourselves among his friends

Is a monumental treasure

To see us grow and lead good lives

Is his life’s greatest pleasure

To see the world through dad’s eyes

Is to see it pure and good

An optimistic view for sure

Not often understood

But I also see the world his way

You might think us both mad

How could this world be any better

When you have him for a dad

Also, good news, Adam and Santa made up. Though I think in the end, Adam's favorite part person of the night was Uncle Brad, who gave him a tickle attack and had a pillow fight with him. Tomorrow, finally some time with the Thiel cousins!

Christmas Vacation.

It all starts tomorrow! Tim took the day off of work, we have Poppy's 70th birthday party in the evening (I hear Santa might come!) and the Thiels are on their way in from Wisconsin for the first Christmas with our cousins in twenty five years (I hope this year Santa brings me a present that's as awesome as the Samantha doll I got back then! Or maybe I'll just bust Samantha out and play with her. OR let Ellie bring her to the American Girl cafe on the 26th.)

This morning we went over to Nicole's house and decorated a whole bunch of cookies for Santa. It's the fourth year we've been doing it with those girls and their little ones, and it runs smoother every year - the kiddos had a blast, and it was nice to have a glass of champagne and some lunch with some mom friends who I sadly haven't seen in awhile - things just feel so crazy now that everyone's in preschool!

The kids have been loving having Grandma Rosie in town. When I asked Adam what he was going to do with her, he said "play marbles!" Sadly, she didn't bring the marble game, but she's willing to read any book he picks up, as always, and both kids ran in and gave her huge hugs on Sunday afternoon. That's the Christmas spirit, right there! (it's always more present after everyone takes a good nap.)

Love Remains an Open Door.

Over a year ago, we bought tickets to see Frozen On Ice. Different than Disney on Ice, because it has the Frozen princesses - everyone's favorite. Yesterday was finally the big day, and it was really fun. We were there for a matinee, so got great seats for much cheaper than it would have been in the evening. Ellie, Lexi and Whitney wore their matching leather jackets from Sara Jo, because they are a girl gang, and Ellie also wore her Anna dress and her hair in pigtails. It was like I was there with the REAL ANNA!

I thought this production was even better than Disney on Ice. Perhaps because the moms had a couple of glasses of wine while watching, along with all of the snacks we bought for the kids. But the best part is seeing the looks of pure joy on the girls' faces. They LOVED it.

Ellie informed me that she's going to be in the production next year, and we're going to have to come see her in action. I don't know if she realizes that the child skaters were played by adults. Or that Sven was actually two dudes in a reindeer suit (very impressive, really.)

Speaking of costumes, check out this sweet sequined outfit I got for $5 at a yard sale today. The elastic is totally blown on the skirt, so I'm going to sew on some buttons for straps so that Ellie (and friends) can wear it as a dress. It's not one, but TWO new Elsa costumes.

Lastly, here is Adam helping me make lemon bread on Thursday morning.

Ho Ho Ho!

We had a really nice pizza party last night for Tim's final birthday party of the weekend. Ellie didn't do any planning, because she was dedicated to running around with Lexi and Whitney. I bought a ton of chips and dips, because that's what the man loves. What a fun weekend!

Today, ALSO AWESOME! We picked up Sara after school and went and had lunch with the ladies, and then Nana Jill invited us over to her house to meet her new kittens, Wesley and Rikker. Ellie is absolutely and truly IN LOVE. The kittens are sweet natured and friendly and adorable, and very willing to let the kids love on them. They were in their kitten bed when we arrived, and immediately began purring up a storm when we petted them, and then happily let us scoop them up and snuggle them. Ellie was over the moon to hold them, and tonight when I tucked her in she said "I can't believe I got to hold a tiny baby kitten!"

By the time we got Sara home and said a quick hello and goodbye to Gigi and Grizz, and then returned to our own house and read stories, went potty and got ready for naps, it was almost 2pm. Both kids sacked right out, and slept until almost five, when I woke them up so we could go to the Christmas train. This year, we were able to buy tickets for a particular time slot, as the Irvine Park Railroad is trying to make sure that things never get too crowded.

It went really well! We met up with our awesome neighbor friends, and got on the first train, after a little wait. I had let Ellie pick out her own outfit to meet Santa, and she wore a floral party dress, striped pants, and her Hello Kitty hoodie. She also had a braid in her hair, and not pictured, a ribbon tied in a bow. She'd even drawn me a picture of how she wanted the bow to look before we went, just so that I'd be clear on the look she was going for. Adam was wearing a perfectly nice sweater under his coat, but refused to take it off. This is after I had to fight him to get him to put it on and keep it on while we were in line.

Suffice to say, it was a fun night. Despite being cooooooooooold.