Happy December, and Merry Christmas!

We've been having a lot of fun decorating the house for Christmas!  We had some major car problems on our trip to and from Washington over Thanksgiving, which caused the beginning of December to be a bit stressful while we were car shopping.  Now that I've joined the ranks of "soccer moms" everywhere and gotten a van, the car stress has gone away and we are fully in the Christmas spirit.

When we first got out the tree and ornaments, Miriam and Mathias were both very excited and wanted to put ALL the ornaments on the tree.  That lasted about 15 minutes before they decided they just wanted to sort through all the ornament boxes and pull out their favorites, but never put them on the tree.  Then, they both got excited about helping Mario put up lights outside...so while Mario was putting up lights, they were both climbing up and down small ladders to "match Daddy".  Mario has been very excited to have a fresh canvas for his lights this year.  Luckily, we live in a neighborhood where people use a lot of lights to decorate their houses, so Mario feels right at home!

We've been doing a lot of fun Christmas activities that the kids are really enjoying.  They have an Advent calendar they open each morning (filled with small treats), they open an Advent calendar each night (small chocolates), we open a "25 days of Christmas" book each night, and we have a paper chain that counts down the days until Christmas.  Miriam is happy to rip a link off that chain every morning.  :)  In addition, they've been helping me bake Christmas cookies and do some Christmas arts and crafts; they even decorated paper trees that we use as decoration on our mantle!

Surprisingly, Mathias has been very good about leaving all of the Christmas decorations alone.  He really loves the Christmas tree but only likes it on colored lights (we have an artificial tree that has both options).  He has figured out how to change the lights and will always change it to colored if they are on white lights or if they are turned off.  He also loves to sit and look at the Christmas tree; sometimes, the house will be quiet (which always worries me, because it usually means he's getting into something), and I'll find him lying on the floor in front of the Christmas tree, just staring at the lights and the presents.

We went and visited Santa the other day at Mario's work, and neither Miriam or Mathias wanted to sit on his lap or have anything to do with him.  (I told Mario I was thankful that we hadn't waited in line at the mall to meet Santa!)  Miriam did consent to stand next to him and take a picture, but Mathias wouldn't go within 10 feet of him.  He kept saying "scare me, scare me!"

Miriam had her Christmas performance earlier this week.  It was only about 15 minutes long, but she happily stood up with her class and sang a couple songs.  Mathias was enthralled (he seems to love singing and dance performances!) and was happily waving to her the whole time.

Here are a couple pictures of our December so far...hopefully you are having a wonderful holiday season and no matter how or where you celebrate Christmas, we wish you a blessed day and time with loved ones!

Funny kid sayings, and Mathias' first haircut!!

Now that Mathias is talking all the time and competing with Miriam for airtime, we've had a lot of funny kid sayings around the house lately.  Here are a few that I'd like to share and record for posterity.

Miriam:

-She still calls animals "aminals", which cracks me up.

-We've been playing card games recently and she sets the cards out and then asks me if I'm ready to "scuffle them."

Mathias:

-Anytime we are holding his hand or holding him in our arms (and he wants to be free), he claims he has an "owwie" and we are "hurting me."  But he says it all squished together really fast, so it sounds like "owwieowwiehurtme."  It always makes me laugh.

And they both love to play knock knock jokes, so here's what that sounds like:

Miriam:  Knock Knock
Me:  Who's there?
Miriam:  Car
Me:  Car who?
Miriam:  Have you ever seen a car climb up a tree and eat leaves?  (She doesn't quite "get" knock knock jokes yet.)

OR

Mathias:  Knock Knock
Miriam:  Who's there?
Mathias:  I don't know
Miriam:  I don't know who?
Mathias:  Basketball hoop!
And then they both giggle like crazy.  And repeat it again and again.

In other news, Mathias finally got a haircut a couple weeks ago.  His hair was very long and always in his eyes, so we (Mario) decided it was time.  At first I was going to cut Mathias' hair in our kitchen, but after some hesitation on my part (and Mario's - he kept asking "have you watched any Youtube videos about how to cut hair or anything?"), I decided to have a hairdresser friend cut it when we were in Washington.  I let Boo watch some nursery rhymes on my phone and he sat almost perfectly still for 15 minutes.  I loved his long hair, so I'm still adjusting to his shorter haircut.  But he definitely looks older and more like a little boy.  I may have to let him grow his hair out again next summer so he can pull off the beach/surfer boy look, complete with some board shorts.  And because I like his long hair.  :)

Here are some pictures from recent weeks, including a couple before and afters of Mathias' hair.

My attempt at cutting his hair (although I didn't actually cut anything!)