The Best Early Christmas Gift

Years ago, for a few years in a row, Craig's work Christmas party was a fabulous night out at the steakhouse at the Seneca Niagara Casino, along with some money to gamble.  It usually worked out nicely to drop off the kid(s) with my parents on the way, and have a fun adults-only evening.  It was always one of my favorite nights of the year because fantastic food, a little wine, and some risk-free gambling was definitely a welcome break from the norm of frugal living and parenthood.  Due to various circumstances, that ended a couple years ago, and it seemed like the fun was over.

But then came this year's Christmas party invite, and it almost seemed too good to be true (and after the scrapped Vegas trip a couple years back, I worried it might be).  But sure enough, it happened...and it was awesome.

I took the day off on Friday because I had some Christmas things to accomplish.  I had the added bonus of a lunch date with Craig (oh, Olive Garden, I have missed you), and while I wasn't as successful as I'd hoped to be on the Christmas front, I was thankful to have the day.  Craig grabbed the kids from school, and pretty quickly we were on the road to Niagara Falls, Ontario for a fun family weekend!  And the best part?  We barely had to pay for anything--the hotel, two fancy dinners, and one special daytime diversion were all included!

We arrived in the Falls around 6pm and checked into our hotel, one I'd long admired just over the Rainbow Bridge.  It's quite the historical landmark, hosting guests such as Marilyn Monroe and Queen Elizabeth.  The lobby was full of classic details.  The room was old-school small, which is challenging with two kids and four pieces of luggage, but then I peeked out the window and saw we had a view of this:

Niagara Falls!

And this...

The Casino Niagara Tower, once the Kodak-sponsored observation tower at Maple Leaf Village

The boys were excited to find a fun hospitality gift on our table--snacks, candy, and drinks for the family to share!

We cleaned up and got ready for dinner, and as we went downstairs to catch our Uber to the other end of the Falls tourist area, I found myself obsessed with this double stairway down to the street level.  Between the chandelier and Christmas décor, it was so stunning.

We took a beautiful Uber trip along the Falls, through the Festival of Lights.  Our destination was Brasa, a Brazilian steakhouse, to meet up with Craig's co-workers.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but we had such a wonderful dinner.  Having meat constantly hand delivered to your table is a treat!  Carter practically out-ate everyone, plowing through three or four pieces of bacon-wrapped chicken and a pork sausage, along with a couple rolls and some kielbasa from the salad bar.  Jacob could have eaten most of the meat, but he ended up being obsessed with the sweet cinnamon-crusted grilled pineapple.

We ate our fill and had a lot of laughs, and then it was time to head back to the hotel for the night.  The lights outside the restaurant, across from the Fallsview Casino, were so pretty!

On the drive back in our fancy Mercedes Uber, I decided to video some of the lights.  Since the video is probably motion sickness-inducing, here's one small sample.

And here's the video...it attempts to do it justice.  It was really pretty!

Upon arriving back at the hotel, we opted to take a quick stroll down the way to the Hershey Store.

We walked back through the Coca-Cola Store and a souvenir shop to our hotel, and I attempted to catch a better picture of this gorgeous two-story stairwell.

Friday night was a very rough night of sleep in our room.  Carter's sleep apnea is worse than ever, and I could not get him to stay in a good position to stop the snoring.  With each unsuccessful labored breath, he'd toss and turn, and by 1:30am, Craig switched beds with me.  I slept a little better next to Jacob.  Craig struggled, but I know from his snores that he slept a bit!  Regardless, it was nice waking up to see this out the window!

We grabbed (a stupidly-expensive) breakfast at the hotel Starbucks and headed to our main destination for the day--the indoor waterpark!  It was connected to the hotel and, again, was not on our dime!  We were so excited to enjoy some summer-like fun despite the chilly weather outside!

There were four main tube waterslides, two extreme body slides, two extreme mat slides, a wave pool, a water play area with additional slides, and an outdoor pool with basketball hoops.  Much to Jacob's disappointment, the outdoor pool was closed for maintenance, but we made do inside.  Carter and I rode slides over and over, and he was most excited to be able to go on a "toilet bowl", much like he can't go on at Seabreeze.  I think the difference here is that these slides all end in a shallow chute, rather than a three-foot-deep pool like at Seabreeze.  He loved swirling around the toilet bowl, and found it hilarious when he and Craig got stuck going around and around on their ride together!  We climbed through the play area and rode smaller body slides there, and Jacob and Craig did some time in the wave pool.  I finished off the day with a ride on one of the extreme body slides, and then it was time to dry off and grab some lunch on Clifton Hill.

We headed to Boston Pizza, where we knew Jacob could eat, and after lunch we spent some time in the arcade.  Arcades are really Jacob's favorite thing to do, and he was happy to see a basketball game.  He beat the record on one not once, but twice!  This was his first one, but he later got it up to 63!

He did a great job getting tickets so Carter could get the prize of his choice, and soon enough it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready for the company-wide Christmas party.  This one was in the grand ballroom and was attended by about 100 people from the team owner's company up on the reserve in Canada.  He hosted all of those people at the hotel, by the way, so it was truly a special weekend for everyone.

The party was pretty low-key but nice.  Carter entertained Craig's co-workers and the meal was very good.  And then...Santa came!  Through a fun fake chimney, no less!  Carter got a cool Captain America car/motorcycle/shooter toy that goes with a lot of his other superhero/Imaginext toys, and Jacob was surprisingly cool with a remote control truck.

Trying to make it go up a ramp made out of cardboard

They had a photographer taking and printing pictures on the spot, and I wish my scanner was hooked up right now, but these will have to do.

An actual family picture!

That night's sleep was still rough but a bit better.  After going to bed around 10pm, I woke up at 4:30, which is probably about a normal night's sleep for me during the week.  Not ideal, but it could be worse.  I tried to fall back to sleep, and managed to rest, but when it just didn't work, I got up around 7:30 to take a walk to Tim Hortons on Clifton Hill to get a reasonably priced and much more enjoyable breakfast for all of us.  It was a cool, damp morning, but I was awestruck by the quiet at 8am.  For an area that's usually bustling with tourists and traffic, the roads were silent and sidewalks almost bare.  It was almost surreal.  As I got to the base of Clifton Hill, I noticed that some of the Christmas lights were still on down near the Falls.  I couldn't help myself--I had to take the five minute detour down there.

I can't really explain quite how peaceful it was there.  With the Christmas lights, the roar of the falls, and not much else, it was just....nice.  And the better news was that I could take pictures all I wanted with no one to think I was a total weirdo.

The view as I headed back up was pretty, too.  Our hotel is the shorter one on the right.

Clifton Hill was equally eerily peaceful, and I bought a whole bunch of food at Tim Hortons for about half of what a few items at Starbucks cost.  I brought everything back to the room and started rousing the troops so Carter and I could fit in a morning session at the waterpark before checkout.  We could have stayed all day, actually, but the logistics of packing the van, changing clothes and drying off without a hotel room didn't really appeal to us.

The first order of business upon arriving at the waterpark was to see if the outdoor pool was open.  Jacob really wanted to play basketball, and sure enough, there was no "closed" sign this time.  However, there were also no balls hanging around, so I asked around and apparently they were still looking for them!  So I texted Craig and by the time Carter and I were on our second slide, the other two arrived and immediately headed outside.  And yes, it was freezing out there.  But the pool was warm enough to steam, so I guess it was manageable.  Craig said his head was frozen, but I suppose it was worth it to see Jacob have a blast!

Soon enough it was time to dry off and check out, but we had such a great time!

Extreme slides to the left, wave pool below, tube slides to the right

The water play area--lots of squirting and dumping!  There were three smaller body slides to the left.

Once we checked out, we headed over to Clifton Hill for a bit to kill time before a Mighty Taco lunch back in the states and a stop at my parents' house.  Jacob wanted to sit in Robert Wadlow's chair at the Guinness World Record Museum.

We stopped in a bunch of cheesy souvenir shops, and finally popped out at the dinosaur mini golf.  We couldn't resist...

Notice Jacob looks like his head was eaten off...

Clifton Hill has always been one of my favorite places.  It's cheesy and full of tourist traps, but it's so fun!

Ripley's Believe it or Not! to the left, the Frankenstein Burger King ahead, and Wizards' Golf to the right

I love taking pictures of Clifton Hill every time we go, because it changes seamlessly over the years.  Places constantly reinvent themselves!  It's fun to look at what's changed and what's stayed the same.  I actually just looked at some old pictures and then had to go to Google Street View because I had to see what used to be where!

We had a truly great weekend that gave us the most priceless gift - family memories!  We enjoyed each others' company (for the most part), tried something new, and got a little respite from the holiday craziness.  Of course, I'm paying for it now as I run around trying to wrap up Christmas preparations, but it was totally worth it.  I'm just so thankful we were able to do this.  It was a wonderful opportunity for all of us and kicked off our holiday in the best possible way!

Pre-Christmas Catch-up

Before I get to our fabulous weekend, I realized that I never got around to posting anything about last Sunday's Christmas program at church.  It was Jacob's last one and Carter's first one as part of the "big kids", rather than one of the preschool angels that join for only the last couple songs.

Unfortunately, I can't say we're the best about this stuff.  I mean, the children's Christmas service was Christmas Eve for me as a kid.  We practiced for weeks and even did a couple Saturday rehearsals leading up to the big night.  And they gave us an awesome piece of chocolate as a reward.  It was a given I'd do all the rehearsals and participate in the main event.  But for my kids, inevitably we miss a week or two of church for some reason during practice season, and the Saturday rehearsal always seems to be a tough time for us to make.  This year we had the bowling birthday party.  But even without the full commitment, they always seem to make it work!

To be honest, Jacob has never really embraced it, unfortunately.  Last year he woke up with a cold that morning and looked like death by halfway through it.  This year he had no excuse but the enthusiasm was still definitely lacking!  This picture, taken as the kids were lining up by a friend of ours who had a much better view than I did, pretty much sums it up.

Jacob's in the white shirt and tie, hands in his pockets.

Once everyone was lined up, Jacob's just to the left of center in the midst of the whole group, near the top.  He's next to a kid with a red vest.  Carter is right in the front to the far left, in the green sweater.  He was much more enthusiastic!  Here he is mid-hand motion...

This was my view.  At first I could see both kids, but then Jacob shifted behind someone and I lost him.  But Carter was mostly in my view the whole time.  He did a lot of fidgeting with his sweater--mostly sticking his hands in the opposite sleeve.  But hey, if that's the worst, I guess we're doing okay.

Our friend also got video.  I'll share the three best.  Ignore Jacob and just watch the sweetness that is Carter.  What he lacked in remembering words and motions, he more than made up for in earnest enthusiasm.  Gotta love that kid.






The only video I got happened to be of a couple parts Carter didn't know that well, but he played along adorably well and I appreciated the acting effort.  I hope someday he wants to have a speaking part or something, because I think he'd be great.  So would Jacob have been, if he'd have given it a shot.  Sigh.  Heck, if I can play Mary with a speaking part (gasp, a microphone!), anyone can do it.  I was petrified and did just fine, and my reward was being able to raise my hand when, prior to this program, the pastor hilariously recalled his own Christmas program parts over the years and asked who else had played a wise man, shepherd, angel, Mary/Joseph, etc.  Ahhh, memories.  Anyway, the program was lovely and the kids did great.

Even though I didn't actually need a Christmas card photo this year (miraculously the kids happily posed together enough this year that I had plenty to choose from), since the kids were dressed nicely, I had them pose together when we got home.

See, they almost love each other!  (Never mind that it took about two minutes and multiple attempts to get one without bunny ears or where they weren't almost falling over each other.)

So, another one is in the books.  One more Christmas tradition done for the year.  Following that, we had another busy week full of Jacob's sports, Craig's evening work commitments, and one of my work holiday parties, and suddenly it was Thursday night, when we suddenly had to get packed and ready for a busy Friday and an awesome weekend!  Stay tuned!

Sports Overload

Once upon a time, it felt like there weren't enough sports in the world for Jacob.  He loved every sport and couldn't get enough.  He constantly had a stick, bat, or ball in his hand, and he'd play every chance he got.  Our living room has been a hockey rink, lacrosse field, football field, soccer field, and even a basketball court.  But lately, it seems we've hit our limit.

Jacob is currently playing for three lacrosse teams - his FCA travel team, his Greece Storm house team, and his team in the Knighthawks box league.  As much as we've enjoyed box, I'm not going to lie--we're all looking forward to that finishing up this Monday.  It's 40 minutes from home, and it definitely starts our week off a little hectic.  We don't get home until a little before 8pm, and usually one person or another still needs to eat dinner.  In addition, Craig usually has to stay for two more games after Jacob's, so he's getting home late, generally right after we've rushed through dinner and moved directly into bedtime.  Tuesday is Storm practice, which is done by 7 but still makes our evenings a little nuts.  We've had crazy Tuesdays lately, too, from Jacob's equipment accidentally being left in my trunk twice, to Craig having work events that night.  That's usually my grocery shopping night, too, so when that doesn't happen, another night is going to get thrown off.  Jacob's Storm games are on Fridays, which either means we rush through dinner early or eat late.  Sunday is his FCA practice, which is for two hours from 5-7.  And Craig's been working the last couple weekends, so it's made for a long couple hours to kill with Carter, plus 20ish minutes there and back, meaning dinner is once again a mess.  Our schedule has been intolerably crazy, and it's really starting to wear on all of us.  Jacob's also been frustrated because neither team actively playing games right now is winning, and FCA is just months of practice for only two tournaments in the spring.

Everything takes a break after this week, and while we lose the box league for good, in January we start basketball, which will include one night of practice and one game.  So, that's potentially five out of seven days that will include sports.  None of them are ideal to quit, but it's just too much.  Add in Craig's crazy schedule and the fact that Carter's been asking to do karate for months, and I just find myself at a loss.  Jacob is none too thrilled either, but he's been so excited about basketball that now he's talking about wanting to drop the Storm.  I'm guessing they're first on the list because they're pretty awful this season, but I think that would hurt his FCA skills a bit, and we've already struggled enough there.  But we may not have a choice.  Jacob says he's exhausted, and I feel like I'm stretched too thin with everything else--I haven't worked out in weeks and I'm totally off whatever moderately functional dinner groove I was in.  I can't seem to coordinate buying ingredients with when I actually have time to make things, and even the instant pot can't seem to save anything.  And that's not even counting the nights I'm alone with the boys and shouldn't bother making anything fancy.  But when we have too many nights like that, I start running out of options fast!  We have so few choices to eat out, and who wants to eat that crap at 8pm anyway?  And yes, it seems like most nights we've been eating closer to 8pm.  Not good.  We're just sort of one big mess.

Maybe it's not fair to make this claim now.  After all, it's Christmas, which means we're incredibly busy anyway and therefore I'm extra sensitive to lost time.  At every moment I'm trying to figure out how I can get another gift or use my time more wisely to make sure everything gets done.  Last Sunday when Jacob had FCA practice, at the last second I grabbed an item I had to return to Target because there was one down the road from practice.  We killed about an hour there between the long return line and doing a little more browsing.  The second hour was spent in front of my laptop while Carter played games on the tablet.  I spent the entire time online shopping on no less than three sites.  I placed orders on all three, but it seemed like I barely made a dent.  There's just too much to do right now, and we have big plans this weekend so our shopping time is limited.  Christmas is going to be here before we know it.  I can't believe how quickly time is passing, but I guess when we're just surviving a week full of sports, one day at a time, that's bound to happen.

I'm not sure what the answer is right now.  Maybe we just need to get past the holidays and see if it's any better.  Four or five nights a week is pretty significant and I'm not sure how long we can sustain it.  The question is who will crack first--us or Jacob?  I'd never have thought that sports would be such a sore spot for us, but here we are.  Only time will tell, I guess...

Savoring the Moment

Lately Jacob says at least once (or maybe a dozen times) a day that he can't wait until Christmas and just wants it to be here now.  I, on the other hand, am in a quiet panic about Christmas being two weeks away.  We still have a lot of gifts to get and I need to start thinking about things like food to bring with us, when I need to drag out wrapping paper, and any last minute stuff I just haven't remembered to think of yet.  It's going to be here so fast.  But it's clearly not fast enough for him.  He wants it here and done so he can have his presents and start playing with them.

As we were working on the gingerbread houses the other day, it hit me that his hardcore focus on the presents is really such a fleeting thing.  I mean, let's face it--every kid is like that.  We all wanted Christmas to hurry up--the advent calendar windows couldn't be opened soon enough, all because we couldn't wait for presents.  I remember the struggle.  And yet, as much as I loved my presents, you know what day I probably disliked the most?  December 26.  I hated waking up on the 26th and realizing it was over.  Yes, I was thrilled to play with my toys and that always softened the blow.  But the 26th always bummed me out.  Now that I'm a grown-up, I totally understand why.

The best part of Christmas is the build-up.  The anticipation of what presents you might get, seeing the light displays, hearing the music, all of the Christmas pageants and parties, so much good food--everything is simply more sparkly and exciting this time of year, and all of it pretty much peaks before Christmas even happens.  And yes, the day itself is awesome, but the days before are where the fun really gets cranking.

As you grow up, presents for yourself become a lot less prominent in the Christmas landscape.  They're nice, yes, and Christmas wouldn't be the same without those exchanges.  But particularly as a parent, you start deriving more joy from watching other happy people open your gifts than anything else.  It has never bothered me that there are no Christmas presents under the tree for me on our Christmas (Eve) morning...well, aside from some charming homemade craft from the kids.  I'm so excited to watch them get excited about their gifts that I don't even miss having some of my own.  Maybe part of that is just respect for the institution of parenthood and being proud to take on the same observatory role my parents did all those years.  It's probably also my aversion to "stuff" that I've talked about here before, but oddly that doesn't stop me from enjoying the kids--at least not at our house!  But I think it's really just the joy of watching them get so excited.  Nothing else compares.

Because presents become less important, other things need to step up.  I think that's where traditions come in.  As you get older you have so many great memories to look back on that fill that void just fine.  I think that's why so many of us try like crazy to get our kids into holiday traditions--whether it's visiting Santa (ummm, never been a thing for us, though) or making gingerbread houses or driving around to look at lights.  For me, it was spending a lot of time at church and a lot of time with family.  We had a lot of school traditions too, from Advent programs and making a gift for our parents, to Christmas caroling to shut-ins and the inevitably awkward class gift exchange.  All of those things did a decent job of filling time before the big day, but who knew that those would be the things that mean the most now.  The gifts were great and I have wonderful memories of a handful of precious ones I received.  But I remember the setting around those gifts more than anything--the chaos of cousins at Grandma and Grandpa's, the mess of wrapping paper and smell of cinnamon rolls at our house Christmas morning, or the excitement of doing our Christmas party at school and knowing Christmas break was just hours away.  Heck, the other day I was even recalling the lack of Christmas spirit I usually felt this time of year at college when I was studying like a maniac for exams and all we could muster for Christmas spirit was some dorm room décor and Christmas carols on the oldies radio station in the evenings.  It all becomes something special all these years down the road.

That's why I have been trying to impart to Jacob that he should start focusing a little less on the presents and try to embrace other traditions.  Try to enjoy the Sunday School Christmas program, do the Advent calendar, look at the ornaments on the tree, be patient when we drive to see Christmas lights, and especially enjoy these years while you still have all your grandparents and time with your cousins.  Someday the gifts you had to have will fade away--either be sent to off to charity or be packed away only to reemerge for your own kids--but those memories will stay.  I know it's normal for a kid to be obsessed with the gifts, so I try to be patient, but I hope some day he understands and appreciates all we try to do this time of year.

Another thing I realized is that all my worrying in early parenthood about whether my kids' memories of Christmas itself would be as good as my own has slowly faded away.  I do still worry (see above) that they're probably not getting the same saturation as I had as a kid when it comes to school or church activities, or even some home traditions (they're boys, for one), but now that we've been at this parenting thing for 11 Christmases, my concerns with our odd Christmas schedule have faded away.  I was always sad my kids wouldn't have the same kind of Christmas morning memories that I did, because we never wake up in our own house on Christmas day.  But you know what?  We've now made our own memories, and they seem to be just fine with the kids.  I'll admit I'm not sure how it would have gone had we continued to try to do gifts on the afternoon of the 23rd when the kids came home from daycare/school, in an effort to get to Buffalo early.  But now that we've comfortably settled on waking up on the 24th to morning presents and cinnamon rolls, it's clear the kids love it.  After a couple hours of fun, we aim to get on the road by lunchtime, hit up church in the late afternoon (if we didn't already cover it at home, which we did the last two years), and then start the family time with Aunt Marie's house first, followed by our exchange with Craig's immediate family to finish off the evening.  Then it's early afternoon Christmas Day with my parents and later with my dad's extended family.  This year we should actually be staying at my parents' house for Christmas Eve, which I haven't done since before I got married!  There may not be a treeful of gifts Christmas morning, but I might still make my kids sit in their pajamas at the top of the stairs, just because that's what we used to do in that house.  Or maybe I'll sneak an extra gift there for each of them as motivation!  Another new tradition in the making? :) 

Anyway, it amazed me to realize that we'd been at this long enough that we've officially blazed our own trail.  This is the stuff that's going to be the kids' Christmas traditions to look back on, and it's becoming just as special to them as my traditions are to me!  All that worrying for nothing--ha!  I know I can't force my kids to stop fixating on presents--we've all gone through it--but I do hope that they take a few moments here and there to realize that there's more to Christmas if they can look up from the presents for a moment.  Remember the family time, the lights, the sounds, and the joy that just seems to envelop the holiday.  Santa's great, but it's that stuff that truly make it magical!

Say it ain't so, Santa...

Thursday night, just a little bit of Christmas spirit quietly trickled out of the house.  We're down one believer. :(

We've known Jacob was on the fence for the last year or so.  We reminded him that he won't bring gifts if you don't believe.  We talked him out of staying up all night to catch Santa in the act.  We shushed him when he'd being up his doubts in front of his brother.  But for a while he still seemed on board.

Thursday night I had to drag the kids to Wegmans to get last minute ingredients for birthday cupcakes for Craig.  It was his birthday but he had to work late so we didn't make plans...until the last moment when I said I'd make dessert for him, and then it got amended to him getting home a little earlier so we could do dinner after all.  But by then we were already at the store.  As we walked in, Jacob was talking about how reindeer can't fly.  I gave him an evil eye and said we'd talk later.  At that, his eyes brightened.  He then became very eager to talk, but it would have to wait.  I knew he's wanted to know for sure for a while, and I figured he knew this was his chance.

We had a nice dinner out and then cupcakes at home (which I sort of botched but at least they tasted good!).  At bedtime, we went into his room.  I pulled up a blog post I read long ago for reference and when he asked if Santa was real, I explained--as in that blog--that St. Nicholas died years ago, but we have all carried on his legacy so we make Santa real for the little kids.  He liked the thought of being in on it now, and is excited to help us with stuff for Carter.  I explained that he is strictly forbidden from telling Carter, not only because Carter needs time to believe, but also because if he has doubts he could share them with his friends and ruin it for them, which would be even worse.

Since then he's been overcompensating a little when things come up with Carter, but he seems fine.  He's a little worried it won't feel as magical, and he's probably right, but for the most part things will still be status quo since we need to keep it the same for Carter.  He'll still get Santa gifts, we'll still put out cookies, and much to his dismay, he can't eat them since he'll still have to go to bed before Santa comes.  As long as he stays in good spirits, we'll be okay with it.  It's a little sad to think we've hit this phase with one kid and we only have (at most) a handful of years left of the Santa phase, but it's a good reminder to make the most of it!

The holiday season is in full swing and will be picking up steam starting this week with one of my work parties and inevitably a lot of shopping.  I've got two full carts on a couple websites right now because we have a busy weekend next weekend that will prevent much shopping, and I'm starting to panic.  The kids are already so excited...and the good news is, I'm close to done with them for a change!  I'm starting to formulate some other ideas for other people, too.  One thing at a time!

We had a little diversion earlier today because we had a birthday party!  I always cringe a little bit when an invitation arrives in the mail, but imagine my surprise when it was the TWINS in Carter's class.  Oh goodie, two gifts to buy in the middle of the holidays!  But it's fine, really, it's just one of those things you do.  We did our shopping on Tuesday, and after two stops we were happy with our choices.

We all decided to go to the party because it was a bowling party and Jacob wanted to bowl.  It turned out that all the rest of the lanes were busy or reserved, but luckily he got to bowl with the rest of the party.  Carter has done tons of Wii Bowling, but had never been to a real bowling alley!

Nice shoes!

 He was excited to get started!  He was surprised how heavy the ball was, though!

Not only did they have bumpers, but they also had ramps.  Where was that stuff when I was a kid?!

I bowled periodically as a kid.  My parents had a monthly (I think) league when I was a kid, and my mom played in a Monday morning church league until she started working when I was eight.  And even then she filled in for her friend (who worked in the same job in an opposite schedule) when needed.  So, anytime I was off on Monday I'd be bowling down the way.  I wasn't strong enough to bowl well then, and I still stink at it to this day!  I can't imagine how different it would have been had there been bumpers!  On one hand it wouldn't have been so demoralizing, but on the other there's no motivation to learn proper technique, so...hmmm.

Carter did pretty well, but it was definitely still a challenge despite the bumpers and ramp.  Jacob was very frustrated by the way the lanes were waxed, as the balls hooked like crazy!  He even started trying to incorporate the bumpers into his strategy!

He wasn't a fan of his shoes, either, but I thought they were pretty snazzy!

We had a really good time, though.  Carter ate well, made an ornament, and had a blast bowling!  When we got home, it was time for Craig to head off for a weekend in Canada for work, and the boys and I started in on our big project for the weekend--gingerbread houses!

Jacob and I did a gingerbread house when he was four, the year before his Celiac diagnosis.  He did one in school with gluten-free graham crackers in first grade.  That was a bit of a train wreck.  But since we can't just buy a kit, we hadn't attempted one since.  But the kids were asking this year, so when I went shopping this week, I bought all the materials--gluten-free graham crackers and cookies, frosting, and lots of candy!

It took some debating to figure out who was building what.  Jacob wanted to build all together, but I argued the graham crackers weren't going to be stable enough to make a big house for all of us, so I suggested the boys could work together and I could do my own.  Carter lost interest pretty early and I offered up a lot of suggestions, but after a couple hours of trial-and-error and fun, we had a finished product:

Santa's vacation home by Jacob on the left, and the elves cottage by me on the right - front view; the cookie that's his front door is so perfect!

Mine on the left, Jacob's on the right - back view

Side view of mine - there's a path between the main house and what I termed a "she-shed" (since that's currently such a thing thanks to an insurance commercial)

Back view of Jacob's - Santa is in a hot tub on the left, and also on a tree-shaped surf board in the ocean.  Notice the brown sugar beach!  I also liked his light on the left--it sort of looks like a topiary!

Side view of Jacob's - that's a garage door on the side

Gabled roofs were not our friend, so snow-unfriendly flat roofs won out.  Despite some engineering challenges, we had a lot of fun and were happy with the result.  Now we'll see how long they last!

So, maybe not all of the Christmas spirit left this week--it's just a matter of finding new ways to keep it around!

Photo Friday

I looked back in my photos and realized I had some catching up to do.  With being busy and/or uninspired before Thanksgiving, and then having a flurry of posts to do, a few things fell through the cracks.  And then a few more days passed so I might as well throw in the rest of last weekend, after our visit with my brother and his kids.  So...

Have I mentioned that Jacob has been playing box lacrosse?  I know it's looked like he's been playing box lacrosse for years, but in reality his winter lacrosse has always been a weird version of field lacrosse played indoors in a box.  But for the past month or so he's been playing true box lacrosse, just like the Knighthawks play.  It's been waaaay out on the east side of town, a good half hour or more from downtown in moderate traffic.  It's a haul, but it's been worth it because he loves it!  After slogging through multiple lacrosse seasons (including his current indoor season where they're 0-3), he genuinely seems to like box.  He's on a team with a couple friends, including a couple kids he used to play FCA with, so that's been fun for him, too.  He's been a pretty consistent scorer, with a couple goals and a few assists, and it's nice to see him contribute and get some confidence back.  Box involves getting to be a bit more aggressive (there's checking!), and while he's not a tough guy yet, he's showed more grit than we've seen previously.  We have a couple more weeks left, and while we will miss it, we won't miss the hiccup it creates in our Monday night schedule!

A few years ago, Craig received a Caddyshack gopher as a gift.  It plays the song from the movie and dances accordingly.  Carter loves it.  The one night at bedtime he was playing with it, and I caught this video of him dancing to the music.  It totally cracked me up.



He noticed me and asked me to take his picture with the gopher...

Note they're holding hands!

He was so smiley and giddy about it that I had to keep snapping!

And then he danced again.  He was just so happy about it.  It totally made my day, and even more
so to get it on video!


As I said, Jacob's indoor (non-box) season has also started.  That hasn't been going so well.  They're 0-3 with two hardcore blowout losses.  Jacob has a couple goals, though, which helps a little.  He's just the victim (again) of some questionable team splitting.  The organization he plays for absorbed most players from his old organization (that he played with up until last year) that folded, and when the coach split the teams, on paper it was even but in reality it gave one team the core from last year's team together and added some key players from the other organization, and left Jacob's team with a mishmash, so gelling as a team has been tough.  His new coach is a good friend of ours and his son is on the team as well.  There are a couple other kids he's played with before, but unfortunately some old FCA teammates, plus a school friend of his, ended up on the other team.  It's not quite the bad split we had in the spring where he was playing with first graders, but it's been tough.  Hopefully they can get things on track by the time the winter season starts in January. 

I posted this on social media, but I'll put it here for posterity.  The day before Thanksgiving, as we were getting ready to leave the house, Carter looked down at my shoes and asked me why I was wearing "pilgrim shoes".  Well, I guess he wasn't wrong.  Good to know he's been paying attention at school!

It took more than a week, but on Monday night I finally finished the Christmas tree.  It had been a hectic week and I just didn't want to start that project in the evenings.  I got a good head start on it on Saturday night, then made significant progress on Sunday.  Jacob asked if he could put the star on top, so I let him.  At least we have a safe, built-in "ladder"!

As I was adding ornaments, I came across this one.  Since it's from 5th grade and I usually put up homemade ones of mine from whatever year the kids are in (so this year it was Kindergarten and 5th grade), it went on the tree.  I took a picture and posted it because a friend of mine (three years older) posted her version the previous week.  It may not be pretty, but it's history!

You can barely tell, but it's one of two years I convinced my mom to get me a "fun" photo background.  It was blue and spacey!  I loved that denim dress so much.  My grandma only bought it for me when I consented to getting another, more frilly dress at the same store.  Thinking back, that one *was* pretty classy and the denim one was bad 80s style...Grandma knows best!

I didn't finish the tree until Monday, when I needed to clean up the mess of tissue paper and boxes before the kids had a half day of school on Tuesday.  I'm very happy with the finished product, complete with new red and silver garland so my red bows get a year off.  I do think I need a second tree next year, if I can fit my six-footer in my dining room.  It will be a theme tree--angels one year, Peanuts another, sports another, and then maybe moose and homemade themes can get a try.  I think it will clear out space for others on the main tree, or at least give them some breathing room, and give me room to add more (given my yearly angel from my mom and new ones I'm getting for my kids each year) without panicking about space or getting a bigger tree.  I might need a new one within a couple years since my lights are now burning out and spares are dwindling, but we'll see how that goes.  Removing and restringing is a pain, so I think new will be better--especially because I want one that can switch between white and multicolor lights!  This is Christmas #11 with this one, so it's served its purpose and ended up cheaper than a real one would have been over that time.  But we'll see!

The other night I gave Carter a bath, and he just looked so cute with the towel wrapped around him that I couldn't resist snapping a picture.  As big as this kid looked in that school picture, he's still very much my little boy!  He is such a cutie.  Of course, ten seconds later the mischievous side showed up and he flashed me, but I think that's just life with boys at this point!

Those are the highlights, I guess.  For now we're just getting through the work/school weeks (and lots of lacrosse), dealing with Craig working weekends again, and looking ahead to the holidays.  We have a fun weekend on tap next weekend, and at least a couple fun things this weekend!  So much to do in the next 17 days, but one day at a time!

Picture Perfect

Last Saturday the boys and I headed to my parents' house to spend the day with my brother and his kids.  Craig unfortunately had to work, but we ended up having a great day.  My brother's crew is moving back to Portland at the end of December, which is a little sad, but also opens up some new opportunities.  It was nice having them within driving distance in New Jersey.  We actually never made it down there--which is sad, I know--but in the end it was just a timing thing.  Coordinating schedules and already spending so much of our travel budget on lacrosse trips proved challenging for us.  But they were able to come up this way a few times a year, usually during school breaks.  Now they'll be farther away, and some family dynamic changes could make it harder for them to come here, but I hope at some point we can take a trip out that way.  I've been wanting to get back to Seattle to see Chihuly Gardens and Glass, so maybe we can do another combo trip to both cities like Craig and I did in 2006.  We flew into Seattle, did the touristy stuff, then took a really cheap and very lovely train ride to Portland.  I'd love to do that again, and this might be our chance!

Of course, seeing the kids interact this time made me even sadder that they won't see each other much.  Carter and Max got along really well, and Kate and Jacob got along better than I would expect, too.  I guess we'll have to start relying on technology a bit more if we want to keep them closer.  Definitely a challenge, but it's one I think we need to take on--however it may need to be done.

Despite having to be up early that day for Jacob's entrance exam for his new school next year, everyone was in good spirits! 

Kate and Max opened some presents from my parents, and the kids had fun playing Operation and digging back into a few of the toys my parents have kept around.  We had a lazy afternoon (my mom is still recovering from shoulder surgery but doing well), and of course we had to snap some shots of the four grandkids while they're all together!

You have no idea how hard it was to get even one decent shot!

I was going back and forth from my real camera to my phone, as you never know which one might work better for the lighting!

Even with the limited amount of time they spend together, they can still be silly together!

Switching up the order!

After dinner I randomly mentioned that I asked the kids on the drive in what their favorite Christmas memory was.  We had my car and therefore no DVD player, so we needed conversation topics!  Neither kid really had one--so perhaps we've failed--although I did offer a couple up to Jacob (his Playmobil soccer field and his Calgary trip) and he admitted those were pretty good.  But then my brother said he didn't have any specific ones either.  In case you're wondering, my top three were seeing the tree and presents (including my first bike) when I was four, getting my Hot Looks doll when I was nine, and sharing my first pregnancy with our families via a Christmas-wrapped ultrasound photo.

I know the picture of memory #3 exists, but I can't figure out where I just recently saw it again.  It had to have been at my parents'?  Anyway, when my brother said he didn't remember much, but did have a recollection of a slot car track, I pulled out my computer to find it in the family pictures I scanned.  I initially looked through each folder for Christmas shots, but then started clicking through all the photos in between because Kate was sitting next to me.  I figured it was possible she'd never seen many pictures of her dad as a kid, so this was a great opportunity for her!  She got some good laughs at her dad's expense, and we had so much fun looking through the memories.  Ironically, the Fisher-Price Little People Airport the kids had just been playing with that day was my brother's big gift for his second Christmas, so that one's hitting 43 years old this month!

I had actually forgotten that my parents didn't have the pics yet.  We started copying them to a DVD which errored out on the first try, so then we opted for a hard drive.  From there they went on my dad's iPad, and he spent the next few days looking at all of them.  That resulted in a flurry of emails and Facebook posts as he relived much of his adult life.  He probably hadn't looked at those pictures at length in years, and with so many relatives passing away in recent years, I think it meant a lot to see some of the old ones in better times.  I've now been instructed that the pictures were enough of a Christmas gift, so I think it's safe to say they're enjoying them.  My brother took a copy of them, too, so at least he has them now, as well.

When I scanned them, it honestly was mostly for me because I was worried about something happening to them and all of those memories getting lost.  I'm sort of weird and neurotic about memories and wanting to be clear on them, and in many cases the photo proof is all I have.  It's why I take a ton of pictures whenever I can, because I want--no, need--to remember.  But I figured others would benefit down the road, and I'm so happy we have them now.  Scanning 5,700 pictures seems like a lot of work, and it was, but it was worth every minute (and not nearly as painful as it sounds). 

It was sort of surreal, though, to look through those pictures and see John and me as kids, and know that we now have our own kids at those ages.  We've officially been passed the torch, so to speak--and have had it for a while, I guess--but when you really sit and think about it, growing up can really blow your mind.  I've been thinking about this a lot lately--that sometimes we have expectations in life, and barely even recognize when we reach them.  They probably don't always look the way we imagine, so they may be easy to miss.  I guess it's like that saying, "Life happens when when you're busy making other plans."  We get so wrapped up in dealing with life that it's hard to appreciate it in the moment.  I mean, I still marvel at the fact that I'm 40, and sometimes it hits me anew that I have two kids or that my house is really my house.  All these things I wanted as a kid, and now I'm like, wow, I'm really a grown-up.  Yes, I mostly feel light years away from being that awkward girl who just wanted a boy to like her, but sometimes it's amazing to think that it's been 20 or 30 years since those moments.  How did I get here?  And before I know it, it'll be my kids at this stage and we'll be as old as our parents are now.  It's happening, faster than we realize.

Case in point, the other day I took in the kids' new school pictures to put at my desk.  My frames are double sided so I always leave the last picture in on the reverse side, but when I pulled out Carter's I realized I'd never cleaned his out at all...so I had every picture of him still there.  It completely took my breath away.

To go from the picture on the left to the picture on the right seems crazy.  Look at him!  He looks so grown up in his Kindergarten picture (probably more than real life, but still), and while I barely remember life without him, I can't believe the bald baby days were so long ago.  My sweet little baby is such a big boy now.  Still mostly sweet, thankfully, but oh...my squishy cheeked, smiley baby.  Sigh.  We don't always see the changes from day to day, and yet we get here anyway. 

These days, at the store, I pass by all of the baby toys, and now even the little kid toys.  Then I pass by the toddler section of clothes entirely.  Daycare days are over and now it's just "school".  Somehow I find myself firmly in the big kid era, and it's crazy and great and scary and sad all at the same time.  And at this time of year it's even more important to savor the moments and embrace what childhood is left, because this is one of those prime memory-making times.  I'm going to capture those moments for my kids, and I hope someday they appreciate it like we did this past weekend.