Shell Thieves

Last week Hunter came home from school and proudly pulled a sea shell from her pocket.  After a little light questioning it was revealed that she took the shell from school without permission.

Discussions were had, Barbies (and their house) were taken away, and the shell was returned to her teacher complete with uncomfortable, embarrassed, and nearly inaudible apology.

Lesson learned?

Only time will tell.

Later that evening, Michael revealed to me that when he was five-years-old, he too, took a shell from daycare without permission.  He doesn’t remember the details, or the punishment, but he remembers taking the shell.

Interesting, no?

Neighborhood Recycling Record

Here it is, the biggest pile of post-Christmas recycling on the block:

In all fairness, we did host the Hillman Family Christmas Eve festivities.  Therefore this pile contains the remnants of wrappings belonging to many children, not just ours.

Race Car Bed

Hunter woke up early on Christmas morning.  Much too early for parents who had been up much too late doing, well, things.  (Minds out of the gutter, folks…)  Anyway.  Hunter came into our room spouting nonsense about how there was a giant Lightening McQueen downstairs.  “And it looks like it has a bed in it…”

We tried to get her to go back to sleep, but she wasn’t having it.  “Really, Mom, you have to see this…”  So we finally went downstairs and found the Race Car Bed.  Hunter was impressed, until she saw what Santa had left for her.  Magnus came down the stairs a short time later and was suitably impressed.

Magnus freaking loves his Lightning McQueen bed.  He’s still pretty psyched to see it every time he walks into his room.  “McQueen, Momma!  McQueen!”

An excellent Christmas had by all.

Barbie’s on the Roof with a Machine Gun

Santa brought Hunter a Barbie Dream House for Christmas.  And Hunter was very, very, happy.  Of course, the night before, Auntie Shannon and Uncle Mike gave Magnus a G.I. Joe doll that Hunter claimed Christmas morning for Barbie’s boyfriend.  About ten minutes into the relationship though, it seemed as though Barbie was just using Joe for his munitions.

We looked up to see Hunter placing a mini-skirted, high-heeled, armed-to-the-teeth Barbie doll on the roof of the new Barbie house.  Auspicious?  Probably not.

Hunter couldn’t really tell us why she went there, but it was good for a laugh.

Christmas Eve

The kids took a moment before the present orgy began to show each other some love.

Holiday Baking

Have found that a good way to entertain the children over the holiday break is to engage them in various baking tasks.  The mommy bloggers talked me into some epic fails…  (Brownie Christmas Trees, anyone?)  And Martha led me astray on some checkerboard cookies.  (Those weren’t bad, they were just a little labor intensive…)  But, by far, the baking task from which I derived the most entertainment was the buche de Noel.

The traditional French Yule log cake turned out mostly awful.  I made the cake too thick so that when I tried to roll it, well, it didn’t go so well.  And trying to ice it to look like a log…  every time I opened the fridge and saw it, I laughed.  (Michael says maniacally…)

It wasn’t a complete fail because, if I do say so myself, I nailed the meringue mushrooms.  More than one member of Michael’s family stood over the cake and asked, “Why are there mushrooms on it?”  Ha.

Anyway.  The whole thing was amusing.  Will try it again next year.

Birthday Boy

On the 22nd of December 2011, our baby boy turned three-years-old.  He weighed in a just over forty pounds and measured just under forty-two inches tall.  In the words of his pediatrician, Magnus is a “big, healthy boy.”  Of course, his pediatrician also asked me if I was worried about his speech.  While it is true that Magnus doesn’t speak very much yet, I think it’s mostly because he can’t get a word in edgewise (that’s directed at you, Hunter…).

And he does speak.  He says things like, “Don’t hurt me, Hunter!”, “No Leo!  Bad dog!”, and “What, Momma, what?”

Magnus does lots of other things too.  For starters, he is an amazing jumper.  He hauls ass on a scooter and tricycle.  He has a lovely singing voice.  And he is in possession of one of the strongest wills I have ever personally come across.  There are some days when Magnus makes us work for everything.  Every bite of food.  Every toy picked up.  Every outfit selected.  But the majority of his temper can usually be soothed by a snuggle.

Magnus’ favorite foods include hot dogs, “fish” (goldfish crackers), pizza, milk, and “trick-or-treat” (Magnus speak for ‘candy’.).  Magnus loves to read books, he’s a big fan of princesses (especially Ariel), dancing, dress-up, Buzz Lightyear, Lightning McQueen, Thomas the Train, and his sister.

Enjoy a few snaps from his birthday…

Looking forward to the chocolate cake:

His new cape:

And his impersonation of the King:

We love you, Magnus.

Mantel, My Mantel

The weekend before Christmas Michael had many things to accomplish on his to-do list.  Sadly, they were all of the yard work variety, and, horror among horrors, it was actually raining in beautiful, (mostly) sunny, southern California.  What did poor Michael do?

Did he:  (a) take a nap, (b) kick back with a beer and practice his Tebowing technique, (c)  while away the afternoon scouring eBay for God-knows-what, or (d) take his family to the home improvement store to pick up project supplies?

(a) would be a good guess.  As would (c).  (b) is just silly (as is Tebowing…)  But the correct answer is (d).  Michael took his family to the home improvement store (in the rain) to pick up project supplies for this:

We’ve been talking about adding a mantel to our fireplace appliance for a while now and this is the result.  Nice, huh?  It looks especially festive with the Christmas stockings, if I do say so myself.

Of course, he wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the help of his “Boss”.  (That’s what it says on her hat…  really.)

Potty Training

Potty training has taken a promising turn lately.  Magnus is getting better at interpreting his body’s cues and actually getting up to do something about it.  So much so, that we’ve been able to have a few prolonged stints of big-boy briefs.  Magnus is mad about big-boy briefs.  Especially when they feature Buzz Lightyear:

As you can see, he’s quite pleased with himself…  and we are too.  Five plus years of changing diapers is drawing to a close and we couldn’t be happier.

My Handsome Men

Usually, when Michael lays down on the floor, the children interpret it to mean wrestling-rough-housing-tickle-time.  But on the day this photo was taken, Magnus just wanted to snuggle.

It’s rare to catch either one of these handsome men sitting still for any length of time…