Joy

Grant's bath time serenade. He calls it "that joy, joy song."

Also, I love how this kid eats (licks) ice cream.

Smith Christmas

After tearing into Santa's delivery on Christmas morning, we celebrated with my family.

The broccoli tree looked cute. But we don't eat raw broccoli, so it all got packed away to be cooked later.

 Have I mentioned these kids love to play??

Ellyson and her Aunt Alecia.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Christmas Eve breakfast with our long-time friends resumed this year (last year had to be rescheduled due to Jack's work schedule). These kids have known each other since birth, and their dads have known each other for more than 20 years.

Christmas Eve evening was family time with the Dillards.

Grant made himself at home.

I made Christmas tree pancakes for the kids, for brinner.

Carter broke out his new Scrabble Jr. game. Shh ... Don't tell him it's helping him with spelling.

Christmas Is Exhausting

I remember, as a kid, having Christmas dinner at my Grandma's house until what seemed to be a very late hour. I don't know how my parents did it. Jack and I were wiped out before dinner on Christmas Day.

But it was so much fun. The kids are at the best age. Graham loves everything. Grant squeals with delight at every - single - box. Ellyson loved the simplest gifts. Carter was excited enough to help us with everything we needed. No one made comments about things they didn't get, or implied they wanted anything else.

Birthday Dates

Last Saturday was my birthday. As my gifts, Jack gave me one-on-one dates with each of the kids. It sounds funny being a stay-at-home mom who is lacking for time with her kids. But I almost never get individual time with them. I almost always have at least two of the kids, and then there's errands and housework ... So it was a treat for all of us. They got some say in what they did with me for their dates.

Grant took me to breakfast at Waffle House, where he ate all but a couple bites of his chocolate chip waffle.

Ellyson and I went to one of those paint studios. Her first choice was swimming, but the indoor pool near us wasn't opening until 2 p.m. that day. Since she is crazy about all things art, we tracked down a kid-friendly painting session. She did the whole thing herself, and was in heaven!

Graham joined me for lunch at Chili's. He mostly wanted the French fries and bread. He also was in a silly mood, and decided to wear the Lorax mustache he found in my van, paired with my sunglasses.

Carter's choice was bowling. He beat me in back-to-back games.

We went to Stone Mountain Christmas, but the lines were so long we didn't stay long. Plus, Ellyson had thrown up in the afternoon ... So we were proceeding with caution.

Jack made a chocolate-and-peanut-butter cake for me.

Sister Suzy Sitting On a Thistle

Gosh, oh, gee! How happy he'd be, if he could only whistle!

Carter's second top front tooth came out. I think he forced it out simply so he could sing "All I Want For Christmas is My Two Front Teeth."

That gap on the bottom is not a missing tooth ... Those teeth are in. He just has one that is half the size it should be. We'll have to see how the rest of his bottom teeth fill in. Yay, orthodontics!

Last week I was perusing Pinterest (I know, I know), and found an idea to use the kids' hand prints and foot prints to make a nativity scene.

About an hour after I saw the idea, I had a finished product (I keep canvases on hand).

And then I saw some Pinterest ideas that made handprints into the three wise men's camels ... And footprints that made the roof of the barn ... And a handprint donkey ... And I realized I could represent 10 or 12 or more children in one scene. But where would I find a dozen children? My kids' preschool classes!

So I spent my day off, at the preschool. I made two posters for G&G's teachers, and two for Ellyson's teachers. It took two hours with the kids, plus about two hours of background/details at home.

Here is Grant and Graham's class of nine kids:

And Ellyson's class of 13 kids:

I am not very artistic, so there is room for improvement. But the teachers really liked them.

Today was the Christmas Celebration Marathon. Not a literal marathon, though, as I've only logged eight miles today.

One program, three adults, and four parties. Jack was able to see the program and share party time with Nana. Which is good, since I had to run my own class party and then hurry off to run Carter's class party.

Alas, we survived. Weary and ready to start fresh tomorrow. But thankful for pictures and video.

Here's a glimpse of the preschool program. Our tiny boys are hard to see behind their peers, though Ellyson stands tall and proud. I especially like that you can see Grants arms doing the Shepherd Shuffle with his thumb still in his mouth. (That habit is BAD and it's ALL the time, but we are trying to discourage the thumb outside of bed. You'll see how well this is working.)

And some pictures.

And then I ran to Carter's party.

So, it's nap time now. Right?