Christmas Eve...

Christmas Eve was a lot of waiting. I put in a movie for the Misters so I could do a bit of last minute super secret sewing. I made fabric gift bags to wrap all the boys presents. So while they sat quietly watching "rudolf the red nosed reindeer", I sewed and wrapped all the presents so I didn't have to do it late at night.

Then around 4pm my sisters came over to celebrate with my parents. My Uncle Don and Paul stopped by a dressed as Santa. So we took a group picture.

Then we got a few family shots before I forgot to do it. 

After a taco dinner we sat down to visit with our cousins in Hawaii. There was a bit of excitement and perhaps a lot of jumping, but then we opened presents. 

They Boys went down to sleep and the "elves" helped put together a few toys to go under our tree. While Jerimy built a lego set for the boys, I put all our wrapped presents out and filled a couple stockings. Together we watched the movie "Elf" because it added to the late night Christmas cheer.  

Everything was all ready for Christmas morning.

Lucius turns FIVE...

The morning of Lucius' birthday the boys and I went to Skyzone to jump. We got there a little later than we hoped but we still got about an hour of jump time in.

After jump time was over, we drove to Maplewood mall to look for a Christmas present for Daddy. Mormor met us there and bought the boys a ride on the carousel. Then we went to the toy store where Oliver and Lucius took turns shopping for a christmas present for their brother.

All day Lucius was calling himself Birthday Boy. "Because I'm the birthday boy can I have brownies for dinner?" "The birthday boy wants to go somewhere" "I'm the birthday boy all day today" and "I'm the birthday boy... That's why!" and "Could the birthday boy say the prayer?"

After a yummy dinner (which was not brownies), we had birthday cookies. Lucius dipped his cookie in Daddy's cup of milk.

Then he open a few gifts he received from Mormor and Morfar. 

Happy Birthday Little Man. I can't believe you're 5 years old!

Cousin Christmas...

Our family tradition has been to have a bunch of Marmee's MN cousins gather on Christmas Eve. This year the gathering took place on the Saturday before Christmas. Marmee's Cousin Josie hosted this year down in Lakeville. It's always fun to see everyone and ever year the group gets bigger and bigger.

We all sat down to dinner together which is pretty fun.

Then we took pictures of the littlest kids. These are first and second cousins.

Then we took a picture of Marmee's cousins. The parents of all those littles. 

We opened a few presents and spent time connecting.

After a long day, the boys and I headed over to a light show near my cousins house before heading home. 

Quotes...

Lucius said "Oliver, I mentioned this: we can make our beds"

After telling me he had "a great idea" for cleaning their room.

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"Marmee, I feel real comfy in these. I feel real comfy in jeans to but they're crunchy- that's the issue with jeans"

Lucius quote about wearing athletic pants instead of jeans

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Oliver quote one night when he was trying to fall asleep but thought he couldn't. Daddy asked him what was wrong and he said:

"I'm trying to get to sleep but I have too many thoughts in my head. I keep thinking about bananas and snowflakes but then I think of the words 'banana' and 'snowflake' and think banana, snowflake, banana, snowflake and I can't get to bed."

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I found the below couple paragraphs in my notes to myself from this spring (I forgot to blog it). Just recently Lucius asked me "remember my friend Jackson?". He's not mentioned him since this spring when Jackson had "died" (continue reading to know what I mean):

Lucius had a made up friend, I'd call him an imaginary friend but we never had to set an empty place at the table, or buckle an extra seat or anything of that kind. This made-up friend was more of a way for Lucius to jump into conversations. Someone would be talking and Lucius would pipe up with "my friend Jackson told me", "Jackson went to that place", etc.

He'd talk so much about Jackson there were times he'd infuriate his brother and Oliver's ask him not to ever talk about Jackson again. I've grown somewhat fond of Jackson and his adventures. Just this spring Jackson moved to France and Africa with his family. Then suddenly, Lucius informed us Jackson "died in south Mexico." I'm a little sadden by the news but Lucius says it'll be okay, "a new friend was just born- the same day Jackson died. His name is Pirate Kung. His wants to be a pirate but most people just call him Kung. He lives in south Mexico."

Toys...

The boys have been borrowing my camera to take pictures of the stuff they make with their toys. Here's a few creations that they've made lately.

This lego thing Oliver built. He said the bad guy on the roof set the building on fire (hence the flames) and was shooting lightning on the people (notice the two girls faces of terror).

A blanket fort they built all by themselves one morning while I was still in bed. They sure do get up early and have a lot of time on their hands.

Oliver built and photographed his block tower. Which was purposely knocked down directing following this picture.

This lego creation was built and photographed by Lucius. (yup that's me knitting in the background)

Bowling...

The last time I went bowling was when I was pregnant with Oliver. Needless to say it's been a while. We were visiting with Uncle Hung on Saturday when he asked us all to go bowling. Auntie Mick looked up a few places to find times and available lanes and eventually we were all out the the door for a bowling adventure.

Oliver and Lucius were pretty excited. They'd never been bowling before, they've only played bowling on the Wii. It's quite different in real life. Those bowling balls (even the lightest 8 pound ball we found) was quite heavy for them.

Oliver tried bowling grannie style between his legs, then eventually went with the ramp. Lucius tried bowling grannie style but the ball was too heavy. Then he tried pushing it while it was on the floor but it didn't go very fast. Finally he used the ramp and it was easier- he just took a long time lining up his shot.

Oliver got a strike in the last frame using the ramp to launch his ball. That was pretty exciting. I bowled one of my highest scoring games I think I've ever bowled in my life. Also exciting. Lucius and Daddy both had fun and agree we should go bowling again real soon.

Since going bowling, Lucius has decided it's his new sport that he can practice indoors. He's been really sad he can't practice soccer now that it's cold outside. I wondered what he was doing one night with toilet paper rolls and a small ball. So I watched him and figure out he had made his own bowling alley and was practicing, keeping score out loud as usual. Too inventive.

Holiday lights...

Last Friday night Daddy took us on a drive to see Christmas lights. First up, we went downtown St. Paul to the Union Depot to see the Holiday train pull into the station. It was all lit up with lights and blew its whistle a few times while coming in. The boys thought it was cool to see even if there were crowds of people and it was a bit cold out.

We didn't stay too long because it was cold and we were hungry. SO we ran over to our old neighborhood and ate Mcdonalds for dinner. The boys were excited because they got to get a happy meal with a new toy.

Then it was off to Lake Phalen to see all the Lights in the park. I moved to the back seat so the boys could be up front as we drove through the park. They got a better view through the front window and I loved hearing them laugh and excitedly point out all the light displays.

What a fun night. I think we'll be going out to find more holiday lights before they get taken down. The boys just love to see them.

haircuts...

Oliver and Lucius had their last haircut outside sometime this Fall. I don't remember when exactly, I just know everyone has been telling them their hair is getting long. Oliver wants to grow his out to be really long, so I have been just leaving it alone. But Lucius has been saying for a couple of weeks that he wants his hair as short as Daddys. So on Sunday I finally just the clippers out and cut his hair.

Here's his before and after:

It totally changes his whole face. It's like a new kid. He loves it!

Oliver who I was totally not going to do anything to his hair, hopped unto the chair and told me he also wanted his hair cut short "just like Lucius' hair". I was VERY hesitant to cut it because he's always telling me how his hair isn't long enough. But I asked him several times and got the same answer about it short. I started cutting and did the back and sides first. It looked so nice with the top longer that I asked him yet another time. He looked in the mirror and decided that was exactly what he'd been thinking it needed to look like. Well alrighty then, great, I'm glad I could read his mind. Here's Oliver before and after haircut:

It's not perfect but it's the best I can do with my limited clipper/ cutting skills. It was free and they both seem pretty happy.