Day 109

Saturday December 4, 2010

"Oh Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree, how lovely are you branches...."

If I could carry a tune (which I can't) would have been singing this song all day. Actually, I tried to sing it several times but both of the kids immediately asked me to cease and desist :( Maybe I'll start singing in Portuguese! A-ha! That's the ticket to my singing success!! I ALWAYS sound better when I sing in Portuguese, plus the kids won't know what I'm saying so they can't complain I'm butchering the lyrics or that I'm off key! Brilliant!! My parents are going to be so proud when I burst into Portuguese Christmas carols during Christmas dinner!!! Why didn't I think of this earlier?!?

Teddy thoroughly inspecting the trees!

Anyway...today's theme was the Christmas Tree!! First thing both Teddy and Nina asked after waking up, "When are we going to get our tree?" We spent the majority of the day decorating, cleaning, and doing some gift shopping. Then before dinner, we met up with the Becchios and went Christmas tree hunting. Originally, we had thought about going to a tree farm and cutting down our own tree. When the kids were super little (Nina and Braden were 2ish) we had gone to Ojai and cut down our own trees. It was sooo much fun! Unfortunately, that tree farm closed down years ago and despite searching the entire central coast for another, we came up dry.

Is this too big?

Playing hide-n-seek with David and Braden

Susan suggested that we go to a lot they had used before at a local church. We did and the kids had a fabulous time running through the rows of trees playing hide-n-seek. While the boys ran amok, Nina took "choosing a tree" very seriously. She perused each tree meticulously, asking whether or not each tree would fit in our small condo. When the answer was "no" to a particularly large tree she was interested, we'd get the stink eye before she moved onto the next tree :)

Finally, we found the perfect tree. We loaded both trees up into John's truck and headed over to Zodo's Bowling & Beyond for a good time :) We had a great time at Zodo's and at home where the kids decorated Gingerbread men! The funniest thing was when Nina finished decorating, she took a huge bite and then....instantly spit it out!! "Yuck" she proclaimed :) Too funny!! The gingerbread men looked fabulous but tasted questionably!

Everyone had a great time! I especially loved seeing Teddy in action. The humor in his personality is really emerging and it is great to watching him figure out how to navigate getting laughs without pushing the envelope too far. At all costs he wants to avoid me saying Teddy take it down a notch!

When all was said and done, we had our Christmas tree, a wonderful evening with our dear friends, and two slightly abused Gingerbread people :) Today was a lovely day!!! And to top it all off....I got the job!!!!! Yahoo!!! I hadn't expected to hear back so quickly and hadn't bothered to check my email (my friends abhor this about me!). When I did check it, I found the most wonderful email!! I cannot express my excitement and enthusiasm!!! Today was a really, really good day!!

Then, bedtime came. I helped Nina get her jammies and Todd cuddled with her. I checked to make sure Teddy had brushed his teeth (that boy has a knack for forgetting!) and then climbed into his fortress of a bed and curled right next to him. He immediately wrapped his skinny little legs around mine and draped his arm over my neck. This is how my extraordinary son ended our day:

 

I kiss him...

R: I love you Teddy

T: I love you more

R: I adore you...you make my heart happy

T: You make my heart whole, so whole

R: You're an angel

T: You're a bigger angel

I kiss him again

R: I love you Teddy (kiss him again!)

T: Mama, there aren't a lot of robbers in the world right?
R: Right sweetie

T: Nite

R: Nite