December: A Whole Buncha Stuff

December got away from me. Then again, every month does, but especially December. It's that month where I consciously try really hard to enjoy the season and yet my underlying anxiety makes sure I don't get to fully enjoy anything.

So, let's start with...SNOW!

We finally got snow, so the boys started out the month building the biggest snowman they could. With Dad's help of course. (Miles had to have a carrot after seeing the carrot nose being put in.)

HARRIS CHRISTMAS PARTY

Then there was the Annual Harris Christmas Party. Best Christmas party ever. One hour of paper snowball fight, songs, treats and Santa. It's quite exclusive as it is only past and present Harris students from the autism small group class.

Miles didn't cry this year, but made sure he didn't make eye contact with Santa. In fact, he didn't even look at him. He did, however, answer the Yes and No questions. 

 Jett once again brought his Christmas list. This time, it was about three pages of practically half the Christmas catalog from Target pasted onto each page.

 And Cruise was very thoughtful as to what he really wanted for Christmas. He has done really well not spoiling the whole Santa thing for anyone else. He learned this last year about Santa and was really sad to not have that belief this year. But he made the best of it and had fun making the magic for Jett & Miles.

OTHER CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES
We tried a few new things this year. Because Thanksgiving Point stopped doing the drive-thru lights and the reindeer for free, and introduced a much better but much more expensive option (even for members), we tried to find some other fun activities. The first one was the live nativity in Alpine, which sounded great but ended up being a very cold, crowded and frustrating experience. My sister, Abby, and her son Liev joined us and honestly, the nativity was very well done, but they just had way too many people and no standing heaters. So it was hard to see anything and everyone was just really cold. It was a free event, so I guess I shouldn't complain, but we won't be doing that again.

To make up for that, I bought tickets to the lights drive-thru, Christmas in Color, at the Provo marina. It was pretty spectacular and something we will definitely do next year. The kids loved it and so did Dave and I. Much better than the old Thanksgiving Point one. I loved that the snowman sings to the songs and that all the lights are timed to the music.

MOMMY & SON DATES 

This month I also implemented Mommy & Son dates. I have been wanting to do this for some time, but after a few weeks of Jett having some behavioral problems at home, I realized it was due to lack of some positive attention. So he was the first to go on a date with me. He chose to do the ropes course at the Museum of Natural Curiosity. He wasn't scared at all and loved it! I got too hot and tired after a few times around, so I sat and watched him until he decided he was done. Then we went to the creamery at Thanksgiving Point and Jett got a giant ice cream sundae that he couldn't finish even with my help. It was a lot of fun talking with him and seeing what was going on in his world. And I think he had fun having his mom's undivided attention.

 Miles...well, every day is a date with this kid. But I did take him to lunch at The Habit in a snowstorm. And then to Hobby Lobby to get things for the boys' class parties, where he went to the bathroom 3 times in the toilet and then pooped his underwear right before checkout. So that was fun. He's a good kid. I like him.

 Then I took Cruise one evening to the arcade at Jack & Jill's here in Lehi. We didn't get very many tickets unfortunately, but he did end up getting some foam nunchucks with what little we won. Then we went to Macey's where he picked out a giant maple glazed donut. Cruise also enjoyed the undivided attention and loved that I played Terminator and Jurassic Park at the arcade with him. We were a good team.

SCHOOL CHRISTMAS SING

On the 21st, the boys had their school Christmas sing. They perform it twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, and they divvy up the crowd by last name, so technically I was supposed to go in the afternoon, but I'm a rebel. Actually, I went in the morning because Dave had to work in the afternoon and hanging out with a 3 year old for two hours who wants to go on stage the whole time is not my idea of a good time. So Miles stayed home with Dave and I sat through the program and recorded. 

The 4th grade sang Christmas Cookies and Where Are You Christmas? 

 The first grade sang Holiday Lights and We Wish You a Swingin' Holiday.

The next day were the boys' class parties. I did ornaments with Jett's class from 11:00-12:00, then grabbed some lunch, sat down for a few minutes, and then went back to the school to help with Cruise's party from 2:15-3:30. 

For the teacher gifts this year, I got Mr. Middleton a Target gift card since he requested no food this year. Jett's teacher, Mrs. Hiatt, got a nice Burt's Bees fingers and toes set along with some fuzzy socks. And all 4 of Cruise's aides and his speech therapist got fuzzy socks and Burt's Bees foot cream. They turned out cute and of course I forgot to take a picture. 

CHRISTMAS EVE

During the day on Christmas Eve, we made gingerbread men for Santa and built graham cracker houses. The boys had a lot of fun decorating their houses. Once I was done cooking all the gingerbread men, I built myself a house and of course the boys were mad that mine was bigger than theirs. I told them it was because I'm the mom and I do what I want. Ha ha!

In the evening, we had our usual spaghetti and meatball dinner, then read the Christmas story from the scriptures, and then opened family gifts. We had the boys buy each other gifts this year and I think, despite the complaining of having to spend their own money, they really enjoyed being able to wrap and give presents to one another. Miles, of course, didn't have any money, but I took him to the dollar store where he picked out stuff for Cruise & Jett.  

Jett had received a paintable car bank from the Harris Christmas party, so he painted it and gifted it to Miles because Miles was the only one who didn't have a bank yet. 

 He also got a Santa PEZ dispenser, which ended up being Miles' favorite gift that whole evening. I'm pretty sure he went through 3 or 4 sleeves of PEZ candy that night.

 Jett got an Elf PEZ from Cruise and a foam ball gun from Miles.

 And Cruise got a police set from Miles and whoopee cushions from Jett. They played with those whoopee cushions for hours and into Christmas day until they finally got holes. Short lived, but they had fun with them.

 Then the boys opened our gifts. Miles got another pigeon book. He loves those books.

 Cruise & Jett got these books to share: The Dangerous Book for Boys and Sewing School.

Then they opened their pajamas. We went with a TMNT theme this year. I couldn't believe that Cruise's were slightly too small! I got him a size 10 but they must run small. He just wears the pants now since he has to wear special shirts to bed anyway. He gets too itchy if he wears the wrong shirts. 

 I got Dave the only thing he asked for, which is peace and quiet. I got him a sleep mask and earplugs. Best I could do.

 Dave got me what he always gets me when he doesn't know what to get me: chocolate. And I am always okay with that. He got me an apple pie caramel apple and a box of chocolates from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. This is the face of someone who knows she shouldn't eat any of it but knows she will eat all of it anyway in less than two days.

 Jett made this calendar for us at school and it is super cute. He was so excited to give it to us and asked if we could open it early two days before. I told him I wanted to open it on Christmas Eve. He tried very hard to be patient.

The boys took forever that night to finally fall asleep. Dave and I finally got going and set everything up: plugged in the scooters, blew up the water weeny, and spent about an hour putting together the TMNT lair. We ate the cookies, the carrots and the milk, and then headed off to bed. That night, the kids took turns waking up too early and we had to kick 'em back into bed. 

CHRISTMAS DAY

Christmas Day started at 5am, and then at 7, and then finally at 8:30 when we agreed to get out of bed.

The gifts they got to share were the Jumbo Dog water towable for the boat. This one I wasn't happy about blowing up, but Dave insisted. It didn't stay up for long since it took up way too much room, so Dave had to deflate it. He's really excited about boating this summer. The kids also got the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle lair, truck, and action figures. They also each got an electric scooter which they really wanted for Christmas and six laser tag guns made by Nerf. They are pretty awesome. (Don't know if you can tell or not, but we were trying to make up for the fact that we refused to get them the one thing they really wanted, which was an XBOX One).

Cruise got a tennis racquet and some tennis balls. He really wants to take tennis lessons in the spring, so he can't wait to use those. Jett got a play cash register he had been begging for. It is actually pretty cool. Unfortunately, we forgot to buy C batteries, so he had to wait until the 26th to play with it. Miles got a matching and sorting box game as well as a great big Playdoh set.

In their stockings, they each got a toothbrush and floss, a small Lego set, a candy bar, a Kiss filled candy cane, a box of Star Wars bandaids, a sketchbook, and markers. I would've included the oranges, but they were too soft.

I forgot to mention that a couple weeks ago, Dave and I put up this peg board in the playroom to hold all the Nerf guns, lightsabers, and all the ammo. We ran out of space to put them all, so with the new Nerf guns they got for Christmas, the wall is full! Sure, it's not the best decorating choice, but it sure is useful! 

 For breakfast we had our usual waffle breakfast complete with bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, fresh fruit and whipped cream, along with orange juice and hot cocoa. This picture below is the sixth one I took after yelling at everyone and saying, "Smile and act like you're happy, dangit!" They thought that was pretty funny.

 That afternoon, the kids spent most of the time playing with their new toys and watching Elf. I hadn't slept well the past few days and as much as I wanted to go to church, I was so tired it hurt. I also had a sore throat and Miles had woken up with a bad cough. So I ended up just taking a long nap. As it got later, Dave took the boys outside and pulled them on their sleds behind the Jeep since the streets were icy. While they did that, I made dinner.

I had planned on making a nice gingerbread trifle the night before, but I decided to buy desserts instead since I knew I had too much to worry about. I did, however, buy a footless trifle bowel that was perfect for the salad I made. It lasted two days in the house until it was shattered into tiny pieces on the tile floor by a certain child who shall be unnamed.

Anyway, for dinner I made ham, garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, loaded sweet potatoes, green bean casserole, cranberry almond spinach salad with homemade dressing, and rolls. It all turned out great and I think everyone liked it. Even Miles said, "Mmm, good food Mom!" For dessert we had pumpkin pie and cheesecake. I bought a box of 4 different kinds of cheesecake from Costco, they were amazing! I was so glad I got them. Dave's parents and his brother Joe joined us for dinner.

At one point, Jett brought out the whoopee cushion and sat on it right between Grandma & Grandpa, with the biggest smile on his face. He thought he was so clever. He laughed like he was the funniest kid on earth.

After dinner, the Ybarras gave us some presents. I got some nice Christmas placemats, we got a mini cupcake pan, liners, and a cake mix from Aunt Shelley, and a VR headset from Mom & Dad. The boys were extremely excited about it and wouldn't stop fighting over it, so we had to put it aside. Since then, they've had fun trying a couple different apps, however, because Dave & I have Windows phones, there are pretty much only 2 or 3 apps that will work, so hopefully we can get some Android phones in the near future so they can try some other ones.

To finish the night off, we all worked on a puzzle that Grams had sent the boys of kittens and chicks. We didn't get very far, but the boys had fun with it.

And that was Christmas!

The 26th: Outdoors & a Movie
Monday was a beautiful day! The snow was still here and the sun was out. We ran a couple errands and then headed to the boys' old school in Saratoga Springs that has a perfect hill for sledding.

Dave and the boys connected the sleds to make a super train. They first tried 3 sleds but the last sled kept falling off, so they just did two and it worked perfectly! It was pretty funny watching the four of them sled down like that, especially with Miles holding onto Dave around the neck. Ha ha! Dave had to keep telling Miles to choke him so he would hold on tight enough. 

Here is the same run from two points of view:

 Cruise and Jett wanted to get some snowboard practice in before Dave takes them to the slopes. They were a little rusty, but it started to come back to them after a few tries.

 

 After sledding, we went home and some of the ice on the road had melted, so we let the boys take their scooters out. Miles is still trying to figure his out, but Cruise & Jett figured their scooters out pretty quick. We did realize, however, that we need to buy another helmet since the boys' heads grew again. 

After that, we made some cocoa, sat down for a bit, ate leftovers for dinner and then left for the movies to see Star Wars Rogue One in 3D. Unfortunately, it was not as great as it was hyped up to be, and the kids became terribly bored. Miles walked around most of the time making "biew biew" sounds to imitate the guns. Cruise and Jett kept asking how much longer until it was over. Definitely not the best Star Wars. It wasn't bad, just not what we thought it would be.

And that was December...for the most part.