"Through the Eyes of a Child" or "Why I'll Never Travel on Christmas Day Again"

In Calvin's words, "Christmas is the best day in my whole world."

Yes, the boys had a wonderful holiday this year. What little kid wouldn't enjoy a day like this:

• waking up before 6am to find the loot Santa had left them
• receiving more than one present that mommy had sworn they would never own- incredibly fast shooting nerf guns, HALO legos, and an XBOX game of their very own
• discovering that Santa's reindeer really did eat all of the "reindeer food" Calvin had prepared at school and then scattered over the snow covered deck without asking
• getting to ride on not 1, but 2 airplanes
• playing all the v-smile they wanted while hanging out at the airport
• staying up incredibly late with no naps
• riding a sweet shuttle bus
• arriving at a hotel with a swimming pool and free donuts
  

Just a few highlights from the grownups' Christmas day:

• staying up late for... obvious reasons as well as packing for the trip
• RB sifting through the snow on the deck trying to gather all the mini-marshmallows, chocolate chips, and pretzels (ie reindeer food) without leaving tracks
• Christmas day, RB yelling at having words with an airline worker in a Santa hat about their carry-on policy
  
• the Santa hat lady informing us we have too many kids
• finding out someone was just arrested for trying to blow up a plane
  
• the 2nd leg of our flight getting canceled
  
• thanks to RB's shall we say persuasive nature, eventually finding a flight taking us to an unexpected destination, Denver
• unpacking from our carry-on's not 1, but 2 new clean pairs of underwear for the boys because mommy couldn't leave all the luggage unattended to get to a bathroom while daddy was busy persuading
  
• arriving past midnight in Denver to find the shuttle bus from the hotel only comes once every hour
• forcing Calvin and Noah to go against all mommy's taught them and butt in front of everyone in line for the hotel shuttle because waiting in the freezing weather another hour wasn't an option
  
• eventually arriving at random hotel where we would then wait 24 hours for our ride to Utah

Woohoo! Hooray for holiday travel. Alright, yes, I am whining. After the "getting there" part was over, we all had a wonderful time. We were able to see Uncle Joe get married and the boys got to try out skiing.

Spending time with family was of course, the best part. It was definitely worth the head ache of getting there, and I might even be up for doing it again sometime... maybe.

Winter Wonderland

and... we have winter.

The gumdrops are gone.

The boys and I made a gingerbread house last week. They were told it was absolutely not for eating.

Apparently the temptation was too strong for a particular little boy in our home, as a few days ago I came downstairs to find him licking the row of gumdrops atop the roof. After I threatened to move it out of reach, he promised it wouldn't happen again.

I guess I'm surprised it lasted this long.


My guilty little Hansel...

Noah's Paradise

No one enjoyed our Thanksgiving at "the shack" more than Noah. Here's a look at our little rugged mountain-man in the making:





(Hunting for arrowheads down by the river... Noah quickly switched to looking for acorn-caps, a much more fruitful search.)

I hate hot dogs.

(thanks for the beautiful pics Cindy!)

Few things are more disgusting to me than the smell of raw hot dogs. I can barely stand to touch the things, for fear of the lingering stench. However, like most little boys, ours love them and due to a "kid party" being held at the house, I gave in and bought a jumbo, family pack of them. After the party, I put the remaining hot dogs in a zip-lock bag and shoved it back in the fridge.

A few days later,when it was time to throw them out, (since I definitely wouldn't be making them again) I grabbed the bag from the fridge. While holding it, I stopped to rearrange the shelf. Malcolm was, as usual, underfoot at the time. From the corner of my eye, I saw him flinch at something. I looked down to see him actually lapping at a steady stream of something falling from the air right into his mouth, face, and hair...
leaking, raw HOT DOG JUICE.

It took all the mother-love I possess to pick up my sweet little Malcolm, now covered in nasty, nasty hot dog juice. By the time I got him to the sink, it was already forming crusty spikes in his hair and he was still trying to lick whatever remained on his face. My poor, poor, disgusting angel baby.

Rebel without a cause

This doesn't bode well:

Calvin:... and Daddy will go to heaven, and Mommy will go to heaven, and I'll go to heaven, and you'll go to heaven.

Noah: I don't want to go to heaven. I just want to go play with you in the basement.

Cubes of love

Calvin is a die hard red fan, as in the color. He doesn't understand why it's not everyone's favorite color, but he's trying to.

Calvin: Dad, your favorite color is blue, right?
Dad: Yes.
(Calvin thinking)
Calvin: How many more cubes of love does red need to win?