Traditions - Cookies for Santa

 Jack and Max went to town making Santa chocolate chip cookies - while Daddy and William went to the store.

 They had so much fun working together!  I love watching Max teach Jack how to do things.

William and Daddy returned with store bought sugar cookie dough - because William suddenly decided he no longer like chocolate chip cookies.  

 William, Jack and Daddy had fun decorating them with sprinkles.

We put out both types of cookies for Santa and he loved them all!

Strings Open House

Max and his classmates performed an informal little open house up at school right before the holiday.  As always I was super impressed.

 I love the look of concentration on Max's face.  Jack hung out on my lap and actually fell asleep for a few minutes - I was terrified he was getting sick!

 I think our favorite song was We Will Rock You.  I loved the way Max plucked with his fingers and strummed along his cello.  It was pretty great.

Nonna, Nonno, and Daddy also were able to make it.  I swear Max was more excited than he looks in this picture.  He really enjoys playing the cello.  His cello teacher showed the kids some You Tube videos of 2cellos and now Max really wants to get good.  2cellos are coming to town in a couple weeks and Santa brought Max a pair of tickets to their show at the Fox.  I'm really hoping he picks mom to go with him!

Talented Boys

We love the music teacher at the boys' school.  She is amazing with them!  Every year the kids get to pick something to perform for their families at the talent show.  Some shows are slightly painful to watch, but the kids love it and it is so fun to see their confidence - and talent - grow over the years.  

 Will chose to sing the PJ Masks theme song with another girl in his class.  When I asked him why he picked that song he said because Jack watches the show and he knew all the words.  It was adorable.  At the end the entire class got up to sing a song they performed at the Veteran's Day assembly.

He was also super excited because he lost a tooth at school on talent show day!  He was so proud of that little tooth necklace!

We were back two days later to see this guy show off his talent!

 Max chose to play his cello along with two of his friends from strings.  I was super impressed!

 They had a few extra minutes too, so we got to hear another song from the Veteran's Day assembly.   They only do one talent show a year, and one of the mom's pointed out that Max's class only has one more talent show - ever!  I just can't seem to slow down time no matter how hard I try!

Serving Others

Every year our parish adopts a very poor rural parish a couple hours away.  They make lists, hang them on the trees in the back of church, people pick an envelope and shop.  We have participated for years - we always try to pick kids so that the boys can participate a bit more in the shopping and the joy of giving to someone else.  In mid December the parish center opens up to collect all the donations to drive them down.  Every year I want to volunteer to help and this year it worked out.  In fact we didn't just help one day - we were there both days!

 Every family is numbered and every family member has a letter.  The envelopes contain stickers that we put on the wrapped presents.  Max, William, and I volunteered on collection day.  The boys would grab the presents once they were checked in and get them to the proper boxes.

Will was super excited that we were there for lunch on Saturday - he even got a soda and a candy cane for helping!

 As the boxes filled, the boys had to double check that each box had the correct gifts and tape it up to be put into the truck.  They loved taping up boxes and labeling them checked.

I was so proud of the boys.  They worked hard the entire time we were there both days.  They enjoyed themselves while helping others.  They were both shocked that there were this many people that wouldn't get Christmas gifts and we talked about the fact that we are very fortunate and we should appreciate what we have and help out how we can.  Having a specific job and role to play made them feel like valuable members of the team and it was a joy to watch.

I can guarantee that we will be back to help next year as well!

Christmas Traditions - Stockings and Decorating the Tree

 The Christmas traditions calendar is back and the boys love it!

One day it told them to hang the stockings.  The big boys had the supplies up and were working on it before 7:00am.

 They were so excited!

 More excited than it looked in this picture - I'm not sure what Will was upset about but, that pout face cracks me up.
Next it was time to decorate the Costco tree.  I'm so grateful that I have a light helper now!  Max and William were both a huge help!

 This picture cracks me up because of Max's eyes.  We showed this picture to the big boys and they thought it was the funniest thing ever!

You might notice a new friend in this picture.  Momma is now really, really outnumbered.  Our sweet new kitty Mario means there are six boys in the house.  Oh my!

Oh Christmas Tree

We picked out a good one - from Costco on the cheap.  There were smiles all around - except for Jack who was feeling a bit under the weather.

Breakfast with Santa

I love the tradition we have of attending mass with family at the parish where I grew up to start off advent.  It is a beautiful church and I think back to masses with my grandma, our wedding, and Max's baptism.

 We followed mass with breakfast before heading to see Santa.  I'll admit I was not in the best spirits.  We had just put poor Chewy to sleep and the place was crazy crowded.  We waited in line forever to see Santa, but the boys all kept their cool for the most part.

 We spent our time doing crafts and taking pictures.  That toothless grin gets me every time!

So cute - even if Jack's face is covered in syrup.

 So sad that this is the best family pic we could get, but considering this was about 40 minutes into our wait, I'll take it!

 We also got this adorable little gem.  I love that they boys love their Great Aunt Carm just like I do.  And don't those haircuts look sharp!?

In the end the wait and stress was all worth it.  Jack wasn't so sure about Santa, but he really really wants Santa to bring him a PJ Masks book that plays music so he gave it a shot.  Look at Max's hand on Jack's leg.  It seriously melts my heart to see Max care so much make sure his little brother felt safe and heard.  I love these three more than they will ever possibly know!