Claus Tales

One of our holiday traditions (even though we're Jewish) is going to see Santa. It started when Squash was just a little Squash, and looked like this:

[Santa and Squash, December 2003] Unfortunately, things soon progressed to this:

[Santa and Squash, December 2004 (guest appearance by Mommy)] But then this:

[December 2005] And then this:

[December 2006] 2007 is the year that shall not be noted because my computer crashed and I lost several months worth of pictures. Poor Noodle, no shots of her first visit with Santa. But fear not -- by the time she turned two in 2008, we were torturing her as well:

[Santa and Squash and Noodle (with Mommy!), December 2008] Noodle was still terrified in 2009. Daddy did the honors of leaning her in toward Santa:

[Santa and Squash and Noodle (with Daddy), December 2009] And then there was last year -- our first Christmas with three kiddos. Truck promptly told Santa what was what:

[Santa with the brood - Squash, Noodle and Truck, December 2010] Which brings us, in a long round-about way, to this year. Our bank does a meet-and-greet with Santa on a Saturday morning. It is very low-key, not crowded, and they give you free pictures, so we always go. It's next weekend. BUT -- the Saturday after Thanksgiving, we needed a couple things from Wal-Mart (light bulbs, bananas, the basics), and I remembered I needed gift tags. So we went into Wal-Mart Christmasland, and who was sitting there on a big display of Pepsis but MR. CLAUS HIMSELF! He was there all alone. His elf asked us if we'd like to say hello, and Noodle marched right up and sat down with him. They had a chat. Then Squash went over and relayed his requests (I told him to sit NEXT to Santa, not ON Santa - he's 8, after all). Finally, it was the turn for our skeptical Truck who had been in the cart the whole time. Luckily, he had watched his brother and sister be rewarded with candy canes, so he was totally cool as he walked over, sat on Santa's lap, smiled for the camera, then grabbed his candy cane (shouting "MOMMY, OPEN PLEEEEASE! OPEN PLEASE!") They gave us a free 5x7 print of each kid with Santa, plus another one they did of all three kids with Santa. I was impressed. And did I mention NO ONE - NOT ONE KID - cried? Bonus. We'll see how it goes at the bank next weekend.

Yes, Badminton

In case you ever wondered how people in Kansas spend their Thanksgiving day, here you have it.

Badminton. What can I say? The weather was gorgeous, and when it's like that in late November, you take advantage. One of the things I love about the midwest is how much people appreciate the nice days (because we know they're few and far between), which was very different when I moved here from California, where people complained if it "got down" to 60. In any event, badminton. Gotta love that.

Sending Cards and Letters to People...

Just ordered my Christmas cards! I did a montage, including one group shot where you can see the adults (it's been a year or 2 since adults made the card). This one is my favorite, and of course, it got included:

I order 125 cards every year and send out around 120. I like to have a couple extras. A couple years ago, I ordered 100 and boy, was I sorry!? How can I only send ONE HUNDRED CARDS? Yes, I realize the crazy in this paragraph. Also, I don't pre-print my address labels. That's a lot of addressin'!

Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving is blissful when you are a little Truck who only wants "more butter! MORE BUTTER!" We accommodated him.

Pin the Tail

You know what kids' parties don't have enough of these days? PIN THE TAIL ON THE DONKEY.

So when this showed up at a party last weekend, I was very excited. And then very miffed that the Noodle, almost FIVE YEARS OLD, did not even know what to do. I watched as she and her friends all got blindfolded and then tried to pin the tail. And then I watched my daughter be the biggest Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey-cheater I have ever seen. This is her tail, yes, EXACTLY where the tail should be (apparently Joseph -- whose tail is on top of hers -- is a cheater too).

She totally peeked. We will have to work on this Pin the Tail on the Donkey thing. And perhaps incorporate it into her birthday party, which is fast approaching!!

Indian Summer

Here we are...November 12 and 65 degrees! The sun was shining today, so we were outside as much as possible. Trucko got a few more swings in on his baby swing that he is (sadly) almost too big for.

Fall Has Fell

It's gloomy, cold, rainy and dreary today.

So I thought I would put up this picture to remind me of one week ago, when the munchkins were heading out to gather candy! Maybe I'll just keep posting Halloween pictures until spring...

Woof (by Truck)

I am in awe of this picture my dear friend Kristen took of my little Truck last night. Woof! Halloween in Kansas was fabulous this year. Seventy degrees, no wind, gorgeous gorgeous night with so many fun friends and adorable kiddos running around. Facebook was lit up with pictures of the snow back east and I was thanking my lucky stars to be sitting on the porch in my tee shirt handing out candy, sipping my wine, and chatting with the neighbors. Daddy took the three kiddos around (actually, the big one got to go with two friends and their big sister; how is he old enough for that!?) so I handed out the 600 pieces of candy (all but 20 by the end of the night!). Storm is headed for us tomorrow from Colorado, but our picture-perfect Halloween was one to remember!