Sunday, December 14, 2014

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

When you hear your kids scream, "Take a picture of us, Mommy!" from the other room, that's not an opportunity you can pass up. With my camera in hand, I walked in to find these two snuggle bugs cozied up together watching a show. 
Am I the only one out there who thinks Christmas trees shouldn't be set up until after Thanksgiving? If you ask Jeff I am!
Eli was a pro at twisting the tree around for Jeff which made stringing the lights a breeze.
Christmas has arrived!
Maybe I want a girl because I'm longing for one of my children to like me and I have led myself to believe a girl may like me as much as our boys like Jeff. When he is home, he doesn't get one inch to breathe. These little rascals are all over him from the moment Jeff opens the garage to the moment they insist only he sings them their songs at bedtime.
The kids love me by default when Jeff isn't around. I love it when Eli plays next to me on days I'm stuck behind the sewing machine. This day he found a bag full of buttons and raced them around the table for a good hour pretending they were race cars.
Joe and Kenz came over one evening and cooked us some pizza! Eli said the dinner prayer and recited his latest favorite phrase, "Thankful for Jesus, The Holy Ghost and John the Baptist." I'm convinced he's the only person who regularly expresses gratitude for John the Baptist and I love him for that.
See. The boys. And then imagine me all by myself. Lonely. Talking to myself. Being ignored because these three are in a manly bubble of bonding.
Last Sunday we bribed the kids to watch the Christmas Devotional with us by offering them hot chocolate while we watched. The setup was risky, but I'm proud to say the kids slurped their hot chocolate down so fast they didn't even get the chance to spill a drop on the carpet!
Since the weather has been heavenly, we figured it was a good week to venture to Temple Square to see the lights.
The boys were complete wild hooligans. They spent the evening climbing over everything, jumping off every ledge they could find, and running in opposite directions. I'll just tell myself that their excited behavior was a result of the energy they had from feeling the Spirit during our lovely outing.
Also any time the camera was out, they posed like this? Ready to defeat bad guys at a moment's notice.
Jeff and I swapped turns sneaking away for pictures while the other one chased the kids around.


Last week I taught Eli how to write his last name. I was so proud when I opened his backpack one day and saw he had attempted to put his full name on one of his school papers. So close!
We had our ward party yesterday.
My kids butt in front of all the other kids and maaaaaaaaaybe I didn't make them go to the back of the line because I didn't really want to have to wait either. So we went with it and I only feel mildly guilty about it.
As we were driving home from the party, Eli began this reasoning, "That wasn't the real Santa."
We asked why he thought that wasn't the real Santa. "Well, he didn't have any reindeer. Or toys. He was just a pretend Santa."

Eli's doubts were only solidified when we were running errands later that day and unexpectedly ran into another Santa at JoAnn's.
The questioning continued, "Ummm. Mom. That Santa did not look like the other Santa."
Me, "So which one do you think is the real Santa? The one that was at the church or the one at JoAnn's?"
Eli shook his head while replying, "No. They both aren't the real Santa."
Me, "Who are they?"
Eli, "I think Santa has a machine he uses to make Santa helpers who go around to all the stores. But Santa stays in the North Pole."

We may be in trouble with our logical little boy!

4 comments:

Kenzman said...

I love them with their little hoods up at temple square. So adorable it makes me almost want children. Almost.

Rebecca said...

I love the boys' Temple Square poses. Hilarious.

I also love the picture of them in front of your tree with Eli's arm around Carson. Cute little brothers.

Kim said...

I enjoyed seeing the hanger poking out of the pile of the boys snuggling with each other on the couch. Brotherly love. How adorable. Especially when it includes fatherly love. So cute seeing your three boys together. Can hardly wait to see #4 in the mix soon.

David and Mary said...

Cute post Sarah! I loved the picture of Jeff and the boys reading...it warmed my heart!