Reindeer and...Rudolph?

Right before we went out to feed Santa's reindeer, Ken ran out to the woods in the back of the house with a red flashlight and EVERYONE in the family ran to the windows saying "Boys..Boys..look Rudolph must be in the back yard"..

Blink- Blink - the red flashlight goes on/off.

"Hurry boys, Santa is here..we have to go put out the reindeer food so he knows to stay here" Nothing like filling your kids with a sense of rush and anxiety right before Xmas...

Blink- Blink red flashlight. Then the household went crazy. Phones being dialed, everyone making the scene of calling to tell all their friends that Santa just landed out in the back woods.

Let me just say Nicolas and Christian RAN to the yard to start sprinkling their food to make sure Rudolph wouldn't leave.

It was one of the funniest things I saw. The boys eyes were as wide as saucers seeing Rudolph's red nose out back in the woods and also I couldn't get out of my head the visual that daddy had a few beers and was way out in the back woods (this property is huge and the woods are way out) with a red flash light in the cold, Ken not knowing if we saw him or not. I just kept laughing and couldn't focus because Ken's sisters were saying.."How long do you think he will stay out there and do that"? Eventually, one of the phone calls was to Ken that we did see Rudolph and to HURRY back. Another yearly tradition. Oh and our creepy Elf On The Shelf, "Chuckles" also somehow made it to NY where we moved him room to room each night.

Christmas Weekend !

Grandma and Bampa arranged a awesome surprise for the boys that was very cool (Thanks Gram too so I could get out and get my nails done.....loved it)! Anyways, grandma has been doing these cute activities with the boys. Last weekend, she took them out to a giant gingerbread house and lunch. This weekend she arranged a Horse and Buggy ride in our neighborhood Saturday night! Plus, Grammy baby sat for us so Ken and I could go out to a party last weekend and this weekend. Just wanted to say THANKS GRAM!!

Here are a few photo's of them walking over to the ride and going on it!

TIZ THE SEASON TO BE MERRY- loving it! Christian wondering "Where is it"? Here is comes!

It still is weird for me this whole Christmas thing in the heat of Florida...come on cold weather PLEASE COME!!

Dressing Two Year Olds

This morning the boys were really showing their independence with me and I couldn't believe I was actually having a "clothes" disagreement with both boys.

It started out when I "quickly" opened their shirt drawer and Nicolas came running behind me to swipe out his "Truck" shirt. That in itself- no problem.

Christian then saw the opportunity to grab the famous orange "bug" shirt they both love ( which I only have one of). You can guess what happened...Nicolas saw the bug shirt on Christian and had a complete meltdown because he wanted to wear it! He was so mad and kept telling me he wanted "buggy" shirt.

Usually, I put them in the same clothes- not to be cute or make them look like twins but to avoid this!! All of this happened of course as I was running 15 minutes late to meet up with some friends at the park. I was trying to distract him with "do you want to wear a "special" jacket"? That backfired because then they both wanted the "special" jacket. What was I thinking? Quickly, I am trying to come up with which "special jackets" I had two of. Then Nicolas quickly informed me he wanted his BLUE jacket ..which was in the laundry. Another meltdown!

Now I have both tugging on my leg for their blue jackets! I seriously didn't know what to do because I just wanted to get out of the house and they were doing the "limp pose" and running from me. Finally, after what seemed like thirty minutes of wrestling shirts and jackets, breaking out in a sweat, exhausted already at 9:00 am - out of nowhere they started laughing and were happy as can be. It was like a light went off and they realized.. no jacket...no park!

Wow, they are becoming more and more independent , which I love in so many ways. I do want them to be independent, individual little boys, rather than just known as "the twins" (which I will blog about later) but geez fighting over clothes already! Morale f the story: "This is the true reason I dress them alike and I was exhausted at 9 am"!!

Day at Mote

Sunday we went to Mote Marine on Long Boat Key, FL. It was so much fun. It was the first time we did an activity WITHOUT the stroller! They are getting too big. I want to freeze time!!

I love this photo below- because I caught them in the exact same pose as they were walking. Too Cute!