I want taco!

At Thanksgiving, my family always has lefse. It is a traditional Scandinavian food and is similar in appearance to a tortilla (although, not the same).

We were eating Thanksgiving with my family and I was seated next to Gemma. I was busy trying to keep things from being knocked over, keeping the food moving on to the next person as we passed around the dishes, keeping Gemma's hands out of the jelly and filling both of our plates as well as consulting on the big kids' plates (ie: how many vegetables should they eat).

Suddenly, Gemma was beside herself and trying to climb on the table. At first, I couldn't understand what she was loudly demanding.

Then I saw the l lefse plate.

She was furiously pointing and demanding "Taco"

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Christmas whirlwind

We are enjoying our Christmas break immensely. There has been much family visiting, game playing, snowcat building, playing, eating, baking and memory making. It has been delightful (except for the vomit on Christmas Day, could have done without that).

Ballet open house

Once a year, the ballet teacher allows parents to sit in on the ballet/tap class. Her door is always open during class, but she prefers to teach without distractions from parents and siblings. This open house happens at Christmas time and is so much fun!

Unfortunately, the evening didn't go as planned. Gemma got sick (all over John) on our way out the door. We had to quickly regroup and come up with a new plan for the evening.

Amelia is progressing very well with her ballet and the new addition of tap. We are so proud of our girl and the hard work she is doing!

Class parties

Wednesday was the much anticipated winter parties for the big kids at school. Having both the kids at same school makes things a little more tricky as the parties are the same day and the same day.

I was in charge of providing games and crafts for one party and snack for the other. I managed to make it to both parties and see both kids in action, but boy was I tired afterwards!

Christmas clothes

Tuesday was Gemma's school program and party. Wednesday was Amelia and William's school sing a long and school parties. It has been busy week for us!

The kids wanted to wear festive clothes to school for their parties, including William, which is a bit of a surprise. He is usually primarily concerned with being comfy and not at all concerned with being matching or attractive.


Once fancy, the kids agreed to more pictures by the tree. But only if they could have their stuffed animals. The last picture shows William's reaction to my suggestion that his sisters lean in for a kiss...

Christmas program

Gemma had a Christmas program at school last week and she wore a pretty dress. She was very happy and proud of her dress- she even let me take some pictures of her with her sister by the tree.

Please note: she was dressed, but I hadn't combed her hair yet! It's still a mess. I promise I combed it before we left the house.

Sometimes

Sometimes I flip through the pictures on my phone and I find little surprises. Unexpected gems that I didn't take myself and I had no idea that they were there.

Like these:

It's the little things

It is the little things that make it Christmas to me. We recently acquired a Swedish angel chime. Growing up, we had one and would light it during the Christmas season. This night we were eating spaghetti. All the kids refused sauce and ate just noodles. I tried out a new recipe for cooked carrots and the kids were not having it.

But, the angel chimes were in motion, we were eating off our Christmas dishes and using the Christmas napkins. It was perfect.

Teenaged mutant ninja gingerbread boy

William brought this gingerbread boy home this last week from school.

St Charles Christmas Festival

For years, I have been hearing about the St Charles Christmas festival. Yet, we've never been. We are always so busy getting ready for Christmas and then traveling, we have never made time to go. For the first time this year, we figured out a way to make it work. At the last minute, of course, but still it happened.

The historic area downtown 15 minutes away (if you have ever been to visit us, we have taken you here) puts together a celebration with characters, music and other special events.

We loved it. The kids were unsure at first, but warned up quickly when they realized the charters were handing out trading cards.

Surprisingly, William was the one to warm up first and willingly approach the different characters. I was so impressed with him. Some characters demanded performances in order to receive one of their specialty cards, and William went along with it.

He bowed to the Snow Queen, he let Jack Frost make fun of him, he impersonated a bell ringing for the town crier, made a silly face for Suzie Snowflake without hesitation.

Amelia played along too, after she had some time to watch William at it. She too, bowed to the Snow Queen, recited nursery rhymes with Mother Goose, and told the Sugar Plum Fairy her favorite treat.

We enjoyed the fife and drum parade and then some cookies.

What a special day and great memories. This is something we will have to add to our holiday circuit for next year. I mean, we didn't even get to see the parade, meet all 35 characters, or pet the reindeer!

Santa

We went to a really fun event in an adjacent town 15 minutes away this weekend that was a lot of fun. One of the features was a number of Christmas themed characters, including many Santas.

The first Santa we met was wonderful. He was jolly and had the longest, curliest beard I have ever seen. I was dazzled. I found myself smiling with Christmas cheer.

I looked down at Gemma in my arms to see if she was as charmed as I was.

Nope. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips were pursed. She studied Santa skeptically. She didn't say a word until we were walking away, then she blurted out:

"Hey! Where your reindeer Santa??!?!"


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Plan?

We were all in the car yesterday. There were so many things we needed to get done before Christmas. There were errands that needed to be completed and tasks to be done. We loaded everyone in the car in the hope of checking many things off our list.

I hopped in the front seat and John and I took a minute to confer about what to do first. As we discussed, a little voice popped up from the back seat:

Gemma: what's the plan guys??? Going to Grandma's house?

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Conversations

I am so sad that I can't remember every single hilarious conversation we've had.

Mama: bad news kids! There weren't any vegetables in the fridge for us to take to grandma's house!

Kids: huh? How is this bad news?

Mama: I guess this means you will have to eat double vegetables at dinner time at grandma's house.

Kids: what?

Mama: at grandma's, you will need to eat vegetables because you didn't have any at lunch.

Amelia: what if grandma doesn't have any vegetables?

Mama: well, then grandma will be in big trouble!

Amelia: you mean, grandma will have to go to jail? Do they only eat vegetables in jail?

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Ugly sweater party

Ugly sweater parties are a thing right now. Groups of people get together and try to out ugly each other with Christmas sweaters. Several stores currently carry an "ugly sweater kit"
So you can make yours to your own specified level of ugliness.

My work holiday party was this weekend and there was an ugly sweater theme. After being invited to a few such parties the last couple of years, I finally picked up a sequined, jingle bell adorned vest at the thrift store two years ago in July. It has a lot going on. There are presents, a snowman and perhaps a reindeer. There is hardly an inch to spare and it is quite special.

I donned my ugly sweater vest on Friday evening. When I came out of our room, Amelia couldn't stop admiring it. Of course, I couldn't help but have a little fun at her expense.

Amelia: oh mommy! It's so beautiful!

Mom: oh no! Amelia! That is terrible news!

Amelia: why?

Mom: Amelia! I am going to an UGLY sweater party! This is my ugliest sweater! I want to have the ugliest sweater there. Do you think I will win the ugliest sweater contest?

Amelia: (solemnly shakes her head) no. No, mommy. I don't think you will win because your sweater is beautiful.

Mom: oh Amelia! This is terrible news! I was sure this sweater was ugly! I am so disappointed.

Amelia: I'm sorry mommy, but your sweater is too beautiful!

(So far, I am having no success at getting her to tell me my best is ugly)

John comes in the room. He is wearing a knit sweater with 2 polar bears and a snowflake motiff. His sweater makes me smile, but it isn't ugly.

Mom: hey Amelia! Do you like daddy's sweater?

Amelia: oh! Daddy! Your sweater is beautiful too! I love it!

Mom: Amelia? Who do you think has the ugliest sweater between mommy and daddy?

(I'll get her yet to call my sweater ugly!)

Amelia: oh mommy. I could never call your sweaters ugly. They both are so beautiful. Neither of them is ugly. Not even a little bit.

Foiled. Foiled by a five year old. She is a smart cookie.

Ps. All that my outfit was missing were some Christmassy earrings. I swear I used to have a set of the Christmas trolls with red and green hair. I wonder what happened to them.

Pps. I didn't win the ugly sweater contest.



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It's the most wonderful time of the year

I'm juggling. I'm always juggling this time of year. Who am I kidding? I'm always juggling. Right now, I am just juggling more than usual. I always am ambitious. I always have a long list of "important stuff" I want to accomplish. This time of year it just doubles and triples. It's hard to manage- what is really important?

Baking the cookies?

Making the memories of baking the cookies with the kids is a yes. Staying up way too late to finish the task and clean up so I don't start the week behind is a no. For some reason, it is always hard for me to see the hidden hours of work in projects like this.

Someday I'll get it figured out just right.

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William's timeline

William had a homework assignment this week to complete a timeline. He and I worked on it together several evenings this last week.

My absolute favorite part is event #9: he was in a wedding (or a weeding, if you will). This was important enough to put on the timeline, but the. William was worried people might be confused. So, then he needed to add onto it.

(Not me, my uncle)

You see, William didn't want anyone thinking HE got married.

Nature, a poem

By Amelia

Nacher
Nacher is loud
Nacher is you
Nacher can be you forever
Nacher has trees
Nacher isn't osum

Translation:
Nature is loud
Nature is you
Nature can be you forever
Nature has trees
Nature is awesome

My kid is deep.

Gemma

I was making Gemma's bed after washing her sheets so she could take a nap. Gemma saw what I was doing and became concerned.

Gemma: mama! You no do that! No! I not want to sleep! I not hungry!

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Hair

William! What happened to your hair?

Oh. Yeah. Well. I slept with the Santa hat on last night.