Coal and Switches

Luke and Steve went to run some errands last Saturday. They saw a friend from church at Safeway. He asked Luke what he got for Christmas. Steve said, "tell him you got coal and switches." Ever the obedient child, Luke repeated what Steve said, having no idea what it meant.
On Sunday, Steve went to church very early to rehearse with the praise team, as it was his Sunday to help lead the worship time. Luke usually goes and plays with another boy before church starts. But, we elected to keep him home because there wasn't any Sunday school this week. Any child older than 2 was expected to sit through the service with their parents. Keep in mind, Luke has gone to church for more than 4 years and has never sat through an entire church service. There is almost always someone available in his classroom to watch him. But, feeling brave, we marched into the 'big church' as Luke calls it. Of course, he spotted several of his friends and wanted to sit with all of them. The place was packed and there wasn't room, so we chose a place near the front where he could see Steve singing. I managed to hold him through all of the opening songs so he could maintain his view of his dad. We finally finished and settled in to our seats when they announced that all the children could come forward to hear a story. I figured he would be afraid. But he surprised me with his bravery and insisted that he go up front. If I had known what was coming, I would have sat on him to keep him in his seat.
Our friend, Mrs. Plett, worship leader and most excellent kindergarten teacher, sat everybody down on the steps at the front of the sanctuary. Luke muscled his way in to sit beside her, then saw his buddy Brayden at the back, so he raced down the steps to sit beside him. Mrs. Plett announced that she needed 5 people to share what they got for Christmas.
"Oh, me, me!" Luke shouted from the back of the group. "I have something to tell you! Pick me!"
"Yes, Luke? What did you get for Christmas?" she said, handing him the microphone.
"I got coal and switches!"
Silence. "Steve?" Mrs. Plett asked, looking around for Steve to translate.
Steve and I were too busy sinking in to our seats. Did I mention it was a packed house?
"Oh, oh, I mean, Geotrax. I got Geotrax." He quickly corrected himself. I guess he wanted to make sure he told the truth. We are in church, after all.
I took solace in the fact that only Steve and I knew what he said. He really seemed to enjoy the spotlight, because he clamored for the microphone once again. Mrs. Plett did an excellent job of fending him off, though, and finished the story without further interruption.
He strutted back to his seat, clearly quite proud of his achievements.
I took him out in the narthex toward the end of the service because he couldn't keep quiet. Several people came up and complimented me on his 'cuteness'. It was obvious to me that they had no idea about the coal and switches. That's good news. Be careful what you tell a 4 year old, they might actually repeat it at a most inopportune time.

T'was a very merry Christmas

Steve and his Wake Forest jersey
Papa Dave

Grandma Nancy

Heather

A nearly perfect family photo

Andy

Luke

We are recovering from quite the merry day yesterday. Our big plan was to get up at the crack of dawn (because that's when Luke gets up), enjoy our Santa gifts, then pile everything and everybody in the car for the trek to my sister's house. Well, there was a wee bit of snow in the driveway. I can't remember the last time we had this much snow. Perhaps this is a first. Luke didn't want to stop opening gifts, but we convinced him that if he opened everything by 7:15 am, he would be quite distraught by midday. Surprisingly, he listened to us and we were able to put a few wrapped gifts in the car. Andy only cared about one thing: the brand new police car he found in his stocking. If that thing didn't cause more problems between here and Puyallup...good grief. We were all fighting about that stupid car. Who gets it, who doesn't, who is going to confiscate it...it went on and on. We arrived at my sister's and enjoyed a delicious brunch, lots of delightful gifts and good conversation. My parents were able to pick up my grandmother and bring her over, as well. I think everybody did very well, given the number of people involved and the amount of gifts that needed to be opened. Heather had more company arriving, so Steve and I loaded up the boys (and all of our loot) and followed my parents back to their house. Grammie was a good sport about all of the chaos. We relaxed, ate some more, played with the boys' new toys, ate some more. It was all very fun. We came home totally exhausted but thankful for our delightful family and somewhat cooperative weather for traveling. We spent most of today just trying to recover and the boys were busy enjoying their toys. They are totally in to trains and hot wheels cars. Very fun.

Ugh. Cabin Fever!

The snow was delightful, I'm so glad it made an appearance. However, it is intefering with my plans for the week and I'm ready for it all to melt. All sentimental notions of a white Christmas have been pushed aside...because I want to go back to my normal, mobile minivan-driving life. We are all just a little bit sick of each other, I think. Steve devised a brilliant plan to cope with the cabin fever: he took Luke to work with him for the morning. Hooray! Andy is having a good time playing with all the toys without any interuptions and I'm enjoying a nice stroll through blogland. We are a little worried that we won't be able to see my family for Christmas. Mom and Dad live at the top of a hill that could be a bit dicey if it is covered in ice and snow. My sister's neighborhood streets are covered in snow, as well. I think we'll be a bit sad if we need to postpone our Christmas day plans.

A Very Exciting Snow Day

Andy playing in the not-so-secret passageway
Luke enjoying his role as project manager

A sledding adventure

Too cute!

Steve decided to stay home from work today, given the road conditions. We were glad to have him around and he enjoyed some snowy adventures with the boys. Andy absolutely loved being outside. He didn't seem cold at all. Luke came in first to warm up and lost interest in going back out. Steve was surveying the neighborhood, trying to see what other generator owners were up to. Supposedly we are going to get quite the wind storm tomorrow, which always leads to extensive power outages around here. In his search for an extra gasoline can, he inquired about keys to our outdoor storage area. Suddenly it all came back to me: Giving in to Luke's multiple requests to put up the tree, fetching the tree from its home in the storage area, lugging the tree in its rubbermaid container up the deck stairs, allowing Luke to hold the only set of keys to the storage area...losing track of the keys in my haste to decorate the tree before any ornaments were broken. I have no idea where those keys are. Luke informed us we put them back in the key basket, but we sure can't see them. Resisting the urge to call a locksmith, Steve was struck with a profound thought. There is a secret passage way! This involved a little surgery on the carpet in a closet, but at last the hatch was exposed and the boys were fascinated. Luke was a little concerned for Steve's safety, but short of a minor cut, all is well. The door was unlocked and now the boys are having a blast running in and out of the closet. I was sweating bullets because I have Christmas presents hidden in the storage area. I couldn't imagine pursuading a locksmith to come out and rescue our loot in the middle of a storm. We needed some additional excitement around here...

Arctic Blast '08

Discarded strollers make excellent snow toys. Who knew?
This is Andy's second winter to play in the snow, but probably the first time he's really enjoyed it. He was so upset when we had to go in. Sorry, fellas. Mama is freezing!

Pausing for a photo op

We bought this gingerbread house kit at Costco. Luke got bored quickly and Andy only wanted to eat the candy, so we called it quits fairly early. It's a sparsely decorated house, but fun nonetheless.

We enjoyed our first winter storm over the weekend. Unfortunately, the freezing cold temperatures appear to be sticking around. It's too cold for school, too cold for outdoor play...the boys decided to make life interesting and come down with colds this afternoon. Ugh.

Happy Birthday, Grandma Nancy

Luke, Emily and Allison
Grandma opening her presents

Celebrating with cheesecake

We had a little party for Grandma Nancy over the weekend. She celebrated her 59th birthday (wink, wink). She didn't want to cook for her own birthday, can't say that I blame her, so Heather pulled together a little feast and we chipped in with the dessert. Thanks to the nice ladies at the bakery, we enjoyed a plethora of cheesecake. The kids had a good time together. It's always nice to come over and see what kind of toys the cousins have on hand. I was on a mission to collect some cute pictures for holiday gift-giving. I was somewhat successful, I suppose. Happy birthday, mom.

Steve and Luke's big trip

Luke/Darth enjoying the cousins' Star Wars paraphenalia

Getting ready to cheer for the home team, the Carolina Panthers

Sending mama a nice "hello"
Luke and Steve are on their way home from a week in North Carolina, but I thought I would post some of the photos they have sent. I just spoke to Grandma, she says they all had a wonderful time. I think they'll be exhausted, but I'm glad Steve and Luke were able to make the trip. Andy and I have enjoyed our time together, once we got over the weirdness of it all. He's had some monster tantrums today, so maybe he's ready for his family to be back together. I'm ready for a sense of normalcy, myself. I'm not ready for the sibling rivalry to resume, however.