Christmas Festivities

This past week has been very busy with various Christmas events.  I can't get enough of this holiday! Thursday evening we attended Holiday on the Drive which is on Edgewater Drive in College Park.  They close down part of the road and have vendors, bouncy houses, singers, a train, etc.  Because it's right near Duncan's work, it made no sense for him to come home so he just met us there.  That seemed like a good plan at the time but trying to get everyone out of the house on my own proved to be a bit of a challenge.  We were trying to get there between 6:00 - 6:30 and considering that we usually don't finish school until around 5:00ish and we needed to eat supper and I needed to nurse Colby, it was quite hectic!  For the last 25 minutes before we left, Colby was screaming his head off in his bouncy seat.  Sorry kid.  I only have two hands.  By the time we got in the car and were on our way, with Colby still screaming, I wasn't feeling quite as festive.  Alas, a couple of minutes of Christmas music and a finally quieted baby does wonders.

Ron and Elaine, Jennifer and the boys, and Ricky and Ana met us there.  The last time we attended a few years ago, I remember wearing cold weather clothes.  Not this time.  In fact, for the last week, it's been unseasonably warm with temps in the mid-80's during the day and low 70's in the evenings.  Not exactly Christmasy but I know we have that coming so it's okay.  We strolled from one end to the other coming upon a little kid train at the end.  It had an engine and four cars and we got in line to ride it.  As we waited our turn, the lady ushering the kids on and off started talking to us.  After a couple of minutes she then started talking to Brady asking him how old he was and his name.  Apparently she was very taken with him because she kept telling me how cute he was.  Once the kids were loaded on the train, I stepped away to watch. Then, curiously, the lady pulled Brady off the train.  I figured he must have started crying or something. But it turned out that she was taking him off so he could go and sit in the engine with the driver and "drive" the train. Sure enough, he drove by with a big smile on his face.  Very exciting for him!  When the ride finished and I went and got him, the lady told me "We haven't let anyone else do that." So I was quite honored that out of all the hundreds, if not more, of kids at this event that Brady was the only one who got to sit in the engine.

Having some Italian ice.  Told you it was warm.

Sitting with the rest of the peons in the train cars before he was upgraded to the engine.

When we got home, I flicked on the TV to catch "The Sound of Music Live" with Carrie Underwood starring as Maria.  I love the movie so I thought to give the TV musicale a try.  I think we can all agree that Carrie is a singer and not an actress but I still enjoyed it.  All three of the kids were glued to the TV and were so disappointed when they had to go to bed.  I recorded the rest which they watched last night. Aubree totally cracked me up on that though.  You can tell she isn't used to watching anything that has commercials because every time it would go to the commercials, she would say "But that was so short.  Can we watch another one?" As if the show was over or something.

Saturday night we went to Light Up the Holidays at Crane's Roost.  We first ate at the food court in the mall and I had the best Indian food which I keep thinking about.  How weird is it that I love Indian food now? Or some of it, at least.  We made it out of the mall in time for the fireworks display which we watched from a nice grassy knoll accompanied by Ron and Elaine and the Bergherms.  I was waiting to see everyone's reaction on the fireworks and unbelievably not one of the kids were spooked.  Brady was all smiles and Colby was completely nonchalant about it.  We walked around afterwards and took in all the lights and sights and sounds before calling it a night.  For whatever reason, Brady had brought has binky with him in the car but we couldn't find it any where.  Unfortunately this was his last binky (he had like five a week or two ago.  No idea where they all disappear to.) so we had to make an emergency stop at Walgreens where I had to pay $6.49 for some binkys without using coupons or register rewards. I had a bunch at home.  That's a stinky feeling.  But the binky crisis was averted so that was good at least.

Watching the fireworks.  Love the girls.  Colby doesn't seem to know he's supposed to be looking up.

Blake and Evan wrestling.  The picture is blurry but Calleigh and Aubree cracked me up in the back ground.  I think Calleigh was trying to protect Aubree or something.

Sunday morning we had some time to get things done at home and then David and Yully came for lunch. They are in town for the weekend since they had some travel vouchers expiring.  It was good to see them back in their old stomping ground.  They stayed to watch the Patriots/Browns game, of course.  The game took a nasty turn when their best player besides Brady, Gronkowski, blew out his knee.  I felt any hope of anything disintegrating away.  We had to leave at 4:00 to go to Sea World and at that point they were losing by like 12 points with a few minutes left but I didn't even care.  What was the point?  But then, just as we were getting to the park, Ricky texted me that they had pulled off a miraculous victory while scoring two touchdowns in like the last minute and a half (they got the onside kick).  So there is still a little hope I suppose.

We met up with Jennifer and Evan, Ricky and Ana, and the Z's.  Aubree was so excited to go on the roller coaster this time (after not going on it last time).  She went the first time with Duncan and then insisted I go on with her the second time.  The nice thing about going in the evenings like this is that the linrrands es for rides are very slim so you can do a lot of stuff.  We had contemplated going to the ice skating show at 8:30 but instead opted to go to the new penguin ride/exhibit since the line has been so incredibly long at other times.  It was a good move because we waited for like two minutes and it was a really awesome experience.  I didn't get to go on the ride because of Colby but I did go in the exhibit and you are basically face to face with the penguins. I could have watched them in there for hours but it's kept at 32 degrees so you're pretty chilly in there.  The kids loved it.

In the penguin exhibit.

In other news, I'm officially revoking the title of "easy" baby from Colby.  The first few months might have been pretty good but things have gone a bit down hill the last few weeks.  The big thing, besides the problem of waking up in the middle of the night, is that he's getting a little hooked on being held.  This is particularly true in the late afternoons/early evenings after he wakes up from his nap.  What it means is that about 80% of the time I'm cooking supper to the tune of him wailing.  This also means we are more excited than ever when Daddy gets home!  He is making strides in other areas though.  He's now reaching for things and holding them and trying to put them in his mouth.  And he's still cute so we aren't holding his "issues" against him.

 Conversations this morning with Aubree:

Aubree:  "Are you going to have any more babies?"
Me: "Nope.  I'm going to just stick with the four."
Aubree:"Why?"
Me:"Because they are expensive."
Aubree:"Noooooo, Mommy.  You just go to the hospital and they get the baby out of your belly."

Me:"Aubree, I didn't realize we don't have a coat for you.  We're going to have to go to Old Navy and get you one tomorrow."
Aubree: "Do they just have old stuff there?

A few more pictures.  I've had a problem getting my pictures to come over from my phone to my computer because I changed my AppleID password.  So frustrating.  I had a lot more but this is all I could get for now.

For school we had to cut up various fruit and count the seeds.  This grapefruit from Lolo and Lala Isidro came in handy.

Working on math.  She has declared that she does NOT like doing subtraction.  Only addition.

Supper with Isidros and Bergherms at Winter Garden Pizza Company before we part ways for Christmas.

Calleigh spent a few nights on the top bunk much to Aubree's chagrin.  This night, Calleigh was back on the bottom and this this is how I found them.  I think Aubree was hanging on to her to make sure she didn't leave.

The next night, it was Calleigh's turn.

Have a great rest of the week.