Pre-Christmas Catch-Up

So, as I mentioned in my last post, as I pulled Christmas pictures off my camera, I realized we'd had December events I hadn't even blogged about.  I'm sure I had a moment where I thought I should, but between Christmas busyness and my assumption that every post I write will end up sounding complain-y about the daily struggle of parenting two boys that cannot seem to get along to save their lives, I guess I just avoided it.  But we did have a couple fun things happen, so here we go...

Two weeks before Christmas the boys had their Sunday School Christmas program.  God knows we all needed a dose of Christmas spirit since this happened the day before:

Does your branch hang low..?

Yes, the boys broke the tree.  Really, Carter fell into it, but there is some question of how that actually happened, as I think Jacob had some sort of intimidation going that may have led to him backing into it.  I still have no idea what actually happened to the tree itself, as it seems that will be a mystery uncovered only by flipping the tree upside down when I take it apart, but at least I was able to rig it up with string to get us through.  I'm surprised we haven't had more Christmas decoration damage with how they play in the living room!

Of course, the morning of the church program Jacob woke up with a nasty cold, but I really wanted him to stick it out and just get through that hour before spending the rest of the day on the couch.  He just had to sing (and stand for some of it), but admittedly when I could see how wiped out he looked, I felt bad.

But it was pretty in the church, and a very cute service...

Like I said, he looked wiped out!  I swear he didn't look that bad when we left!

It was a pleasant surprise to see both kids of friends of ours (the lacrosse family we had s'mores with over the summer) having major parts in the program.  The boy was one of the narrators, and the girl sang in a small group of soloists.  About 2/3 of the way through, they finally brought the Pre-K kids in--they keep them busy in the classroom to prevent them from getting antsy--and we finally got to see our little angel...

He did a really good job with his songs (and Jacob did, too, even if his energy level was a bit low), and seriously, how sweet is he?

Afterward, we stopped into the gym and attempted to use their photo backdrop, but of course Jacob was ready to go home and getting both kids to pose is a bit of a hassle...so I got this with one of the props:

At least Carter was happy to smile!

Jacob ended up missing lacrosse practice that afternoon, and we were worried the cold would threaten his game the following weekend against his old team.  He'd been waiting for it pretty much since he switched, and definitely since the schedule came out.  Luckily, the cold was pretty mild and he was ready to go by the following Saturday.  I don't think it was quite the domination he was hoping for, but his new team got a solid victory over his old one, and he even got a goal!  After the game, we got together Jacob and his three travel teammates for a picture, since there were four of them playing between the two teams.

After Jacob's game, I had set myself up a haircut at a real salon with a reputable hairdresser.  For years I've mostly just gone to the no-appointment-needed places whenever my hair started to make me nuts or when I realized I had a chunk of time to do it, but after a couple crappy cuts in a row, it was time to get someone I can count on.  However, that last crappy cut was back in May, and I somehow managed to ignore just how bad it was for seven months!  It was so nice to get back to something I know looks good every day, even if I'm paying a bit more for it.  I had forgotten how much I love having someone wash my hair, and the blowout was fabulous.  I felt amazing for dinner and Christmas shopping out with the family...

I have one more adventure to share, but that's enough for another post.  But see, stuff happened in December...