Tripping the Lights Fantastic

It may not be the most original idea we've ever had, but last year we decided that a family tradition of ours will be to drive around and look at Christmas lights on a night near Christmas.  This year's event took place tonight.  We decided to put the kids in their jammies so it would be easy to go to bed when we got home.  We drove through Christmas Card Lane and other random neighborhoods.  Hannah was either silent or asleep, and Clara didn't seem all that interested, but Joshua would repeatedly alert us by saying "Lights" and then when we drove through a Scroogy street, he'd say "More!"

I've seen some elaborate lighting displays on houses in my day, but usually they involve every single edge of the house lined with lights and lots of lighted yard ornaments.  But tonight we saw a house that was over the top, but in a different way than you normally see.  It's in the background of the picture above, but I had to take a separate picture to fully capture its, uh, grandeur.  Here it is:

 

I admire this family, because they only had so much surface area to work with, and they maximized it like no one has before, covering every single square foot of the front wall of their house with lights, including even covering their entire master bedroom window!  And then as a bonus, they covered much of their yard as well.  That's some serious dedication.

A Partially Handmade Christmas

Every Christmas, I like to give the kids something I make. I know I can't really compete with toys and I really don't try and consider my gifts more like stocking-stuffers, but I enjoy it and I also hope that as they get older, the kids also enjoy making gifts. This year I made satchels (which I mostly made from a pair of my old jeans, which means I am totally trendy because I "upcycle") and car wallets for the older two kids, booties for Hannah, and am now working on carseat ponchos. There is always a learning curve for any project and these are no exception, but everything is turning out reasonably well except the booties were too small so aren't usable. I had hoped to have all the ponchos done by Christmas, but my new goal is New Year's. However, I will finish Hannah's today. As the first one, hers is the prototype so will be the least good one, but I bought enough fabric to make her another one if it's too imperfect. I like working on my projects and creating stuff that actually gets used. I am pretty excited about having the ponchos done. It's been cold and current carseat safety rules say no jackets in carseats so the ponchos will be a way to keep them warm without having to do the jacket shuffling we currently do.

Christmas Movie Night

One of the activities on the advent calendar was to watch a Christmas movie.  We chose the same movie we watched last year: Veggie Tales: The Little Drummer Boy.  Joshua was quite interested in it and could barely turn away from it long enough for this picture.  Clara was somewhat interested in it, but it didn't really keep her attention.  Hannah might have an extreme interest in computer-animated vegetables, or she might not.  It's a little too early to tell.

Preparing Our Hearts

Last year the little Thanksgiving surprise that was Clara put me a little behind on my projects so I didn't finish sewing the advent calendar until after Christmas. This year, I was excited to be able to use it. I wanted something that had activities and devotionals with it, so it ended up being a combination advent calendar and Jesse Tree. Each square (we will always do 25 for design reasons, though I like the idea of actually doing the entire advent season) has a reusable component that has a scripture reading and prayer from creation to the birth of Jesus. There are also round ornaments in each square that come out to mark the day. They have activities written on the back of what each day's advent activity is. I am overall pleased with how this went this year and feel it can grow with the kids. It was hard to think of 25 advent activities. That will be easier in future years when they can do more stuff. Next year we may tweak a few things, but I think we'll stick with this way of going through advent for the foreseeable future. One thing I found is it is hard to find some of the scripture references in toddler Bibles so I want to be more on top of finding the Bible stories ahead of time and having everything prepared.

G-Zus Saves... You Money?

I'm in St. Louis for a business meeting tomorrow.  My friend Clint lives there, and similar to what I did nearly three years ago, I got in town early enough tonight to meet up with him.  Jen (who has since promoted Clint from fiance to husband) was working, but Clint and I ate dinner at the same Mexican restaurant we ate at last time (which is called Mi Ranchito but is completely different from the Mi Ranchito restaurants in Kansas City).  Afterward, we went back to his house, and Jen had returned home from work, so we all had a chance to catch up on births/adoptions, ostrich rides, and harrowing Central American vacations.  Later, Clint and I played together as K-State against Oregon in NCAA Football 13, as a preview of the Fiesta Bowl.  Let's hope it's not actually a preview, because we would have been 0-2 in our games if not for some timely resets in the final minutes.

Anyway, on the way back to his house, we took the "scenic" route through a struggling part of town and came across the business shown above.  I can't decide if it's sacrilegious or hilarious, but I think it's probably both.  G-Zus is your labor savior, which might mean he saves you from the labor of fixing your own car, which of course is actually what all mechanics do.  Regardless, next time you're in St. Louis, and you're looking for a mechanic who may or may not be skilled with vehicles but who has questionable marketing skills, you know where to go.  Or maybe he's a marketing genius, as this is sure to get people talking about his business.  Either way, thank you G-Zus for your photo-worthy signage!

The Zero Cavity Club

Today I took Joshua to the dentist. I had taken him once before, but I did not like the practice so I chose a different one this time and liked it a lot better. Now that he is two, he should really go to the dentist every six months, especially because he has all his baby teeth. At this age, assuming there are no issues, they just provide education, brush the child's teeth with a toothbrush, apply fluoride, and do a prophy cleaning on the front teeth only. This makes for an enjoyable visit. The hygienist was really great, as well as the dentist. This is Joshua brushing the dog's teeth after the hygienist showed him good brushing technique. He was disappointed he didn't get to bring the dog home. If you are cavity-free at your checkup, you get to be in the "Zero Cavity Club" and choose a prize. Joshua chose a bouncy ball. He also chose to bite it into tiny pieces on the ride home. Hopefully he will be old enough to not destroy the prize at his next checkup.

How We Roll

Now that I have three kids under three, I have a triple stroller. I feel like if you have an almost-three-year-old, you can make do with a double because the only time you truly need a third seat in that case are big things like the zoo or something where you are likely to have another adult. But with a younger two-year-old, you really need the triple if you go out on a regular basis. If I let Joshua walk, which I do sometimes, it takes us at least 30-45 min to go around the block because he's so interested in everything. I love that, and I try not to rush him because I want to encourage his love of nature, but sometimes I actually want to burn a couple of calories, so a triple stroller is necessary for those times. I love this stroller, though it is not exactly compact. It steers like a dream and is perfect for either "Irish triplets" or twins and a toddler. It is super expensive new but I found it on Craigslist for half-price, which was very exciting. However, I bought it before my 20 week ultrasound and it is pink, so I was glad when Hannah was a girl since I was going to use it either way. I try to go outside with the kids every single day unless we have an appointment or it's raining, or frigidly cold. Sometimes we play in the backyard, sometimes Joshua walks and I carry Hannah and Clara rides the bike (which she loves), but we most often take the triple stroller out and everyone seems to enjoy it.