The Mother of Geese

Please watch this video. Brad did not want to do it but I think he did awesome. So awesome in fact, I couldn't help myself in the end.

During one of Abbie's choir performances this winter, Max thought he would go ahead and join the choir. I was not about to go grab him and alert his inner-tantrum forces-so I just let him be, like any other awesome parent. I am so glad that I had Abbie do choir (she kept calling it Squire). Music is such an important part of the season. If you want your ears to bled, go ahead and listen to this video from her school's Christmas concert. And I thought it was hilarious that Amelia slept through the whole thing. (and they sang it 3 times!-and we were by the 6th graders.) Speaking of Amelia, I forget how sensitive she is to music. Abbie is definately my artistic one who notices the small details visually that I miss. Amelia is all about audio cues. She was sitting in the back of the car and she was crying and saying "I am a little bit sad." After some probing about how she needs Christmas-the words Where did the Christmas go eeked out and I didn't even realize that sh...

I love how an exhausted Max is clutching the rolling pin. You know the problem with being super-organized? Like having all your christmas shopping completed, wrapped (hidden), out of state gifts mailed, neighbor gifts delivered, decorated, daily baking projects with the kids completed? It makes me available to help with all the other things that go down. (dear future Heather. Just. Say. No) I am tired and I miss my blog. (chugging Diet coke)

I was coming back downstairs from putting Max down for a nap and I hear Amelia singing Mary's Lullaby to herself. She is playing with a nativity set and is sweetly retelling the story of the birth of the Savior. My heart swells a bit. Then her version of the story makes an adventurous plot twist. (I grabbed a pen and scribbled word for word what happened next) "Then a dinosaur came and scared all of the people. And the dinosaur was kind of soft and not soft just really squishy but really scary! And the sheeps were all really dead. And the dinosaur scared them all. So the baby Jesus said hey let's get a ride out of here (at this point she empties my folded piles of clean laundry out of the basket and pimps a get away car for everyone). Then they take a ride. Hold on! (she dumps the nativity out). Run baby Jesus! run! hurry! AAAAHHHH! We knocked over all the people! And baby Jesus said let's go again!! and baby Jesus began to cry and the people said no! no babies crying ...

We made a gingerbread house while Max was sleeping. Amelia's roof was so heavy laden with candy it kept causing the house to collapse. Abbie's perfect little patterned roof tiles. Take a bite! Take a bite! (but please don't really take a bite because I'm not making another one...) on the Seventh Day of Christmas about a half hour later...I was scrubbing stupid royal icing off my cabinets. Every. Where. But we sure had fun!

the girls hosted a holiday music dance party! wish you were there? Want to recreate it? Blast Chipmunks Christmas over and over and over again on the IPOD and there you have it!

We cuddled under blankets while watching Santa Claus is coming to Town. (is it inappropriate for me to mention the blatant nazi-ism going on in that weird little film? Kris Kringle just got thrown into prison. Nice.) Also, is it braggy to mention that I wrapped all the presents while the girls were at school? I let Max test drive all of his presents. When I finally wrapped them up he kept pointing at them and yelling DAH! DAH! I always think I can do these kinds of things thinking that my kids aren't really that bright and they won't figure it out, but it is always ME who is not that bright.

We hosted a fabulous cookie exchange!