Santa Claus is Coming to Town...Again and Again

Santa's First Time Coming to Town...
We went to the annual lighting of the Christmas tree at the outlet mall in El Paso, where Santa makes a grand entrance and does the countdown for the tree lighting each year. This year, while waiting for Santa to arrive, all of the children were invited onto the stage for a dance contest, where the winner would win a $10 gift card to the mall. Jaden got a sudden burst of courage and asked if he could go up on the stage to dance. He was so cute up there dancing his little heart out, and was thrilled when they announced that all of the kids on stage won the contest and would all get a $10 gift card to the mall. While the kids were still on the stage, Santa arrived in a beautiful sports car and the US Marines were lined up at the entrance to the stage so that Santa could make his grand entrance through their lineup and onto the stage. Jaden happened to be standing right at the edge of the stairs, and by the time Santa was headed up there, I could barely see him anymore, but I could imagine that he was either having a minor panic attack at the close proximity of Santa, or was thrilled beyond belief. And as the crowd began to sit back down, I could see that Jaden was anxiously awaiting his turn to talk to Santa. It was a very fun opportunity for him, and even got to help with the countdown to the lighting of the Christmas Tree!

Jaden's at the edge of the stairs in the brown and green jacket, waiting for Santa to arrive.

They had fake snow falling, which was actually bubbles of some sort. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever!

We concluded with hot cocoa and cookies!

Santa's Second Time Coming to Town...
It's amazing how Santa can be in so many places at one, all throughout the month of December. Our second time seeing Santa was at the Railroad Museum. It started raining, so we went inside to keep warm and missed his arrival on the train, but still got to see him later.

Santa's Third Time Coming to Town...
Our third time seeing Santa was an unexpected surprise! We went to see my Grandma's Christmas choir performance, which is always a treat (Grandma's the adorable lady sitting in the front row). Jaden had commented that one of the gentlemen in the choir looked like Santa. I admit that he did, but told Jaden that that wasn't really something he should keep announcing! And at some point during the performance (must have been while we were on a potty break), "Santa" left the group. And what a surprise it was while we were jammin' to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," to see Santa enter through the back doors with Mrs. Claus, both wearing the most beautiful, authentic looking Santa costumes I've ever seen, and handing out candy canes to everyone! It was wonderful. Then Santa took his place back up on the stage with the choir, and Jaden gasped and said "I knew that was Santa!" We were sure to find him after the performance for a photo op. And when we were leaving, Jaden wanted to get a good look at the building rooftop because he was sure Santa would be up there getting ready to fly off with his reindeer and he didn't want to miss it. Right away I noticed Santa helping Mrs. Claus into their white Honda. So I had Jaden looking up, down, over...anywhere I could to distract him until Santa drove away. Didn't want to ruin the magical moment for him.

The Adventures of Arthur, Our Elf on the Shelf

As usual, I've got some catching up to do on my poor neglected little blog! I visit it often, maybe with the hopes that someone else has started updating my posts for me, who knows. I've got about a thousand posts to post, but every time I start, I seem to run into technical difficulties, then end up frustrated and turn to Pinterest for some cheering up, which gives me tons of wonderful ideas and activities to do with the kids, which I then want to post about on this lovely blog of mine...eventually.

And thanks to a technical difficulty-free picture upload session, I can finally begin posting some of our holiday festivities, traditions, and highlights from 2011, starting with Arthur, our Elf on the Shelf. After seeing all of the wonderful Elf on the Shelf ideas (on Pinterest, of course), I had to jump on the tiny red bandwagon and get the boys an elf of their own. It ended up being such a wonderful new tradition, and definitely one of the Christmastime highlights for Jaden and Elijah. After just seeing the movie Arthur Christmas, the boys decided to name their elf Arthur, and Arthur quickly became a part of our family. He was a hot topic in each day's conversations, an influence on extra good behavior, and the reason why I went to bed way too late (or jumped out of bed in a panic in the middle of the night) many nights, just trying to make sure he had the most perfect hiding spot when two excited little guys awoke with anticipation each morning, ready to begin their search.

So here are some of the many adventures of Arthur...

Arthur's farewell gifts for the boys...

While Christmas Eve meant the excitement of Santa's arrival, this year it also meant saying goodbye to our sweet Arthur, who brought so much fun, joy, and surprises to the lives of two little guys for 24+ days. They were very very sad to see him go, and even though he will be back next year, it's just so far away! The rules of "elfery" specifically state that in order to preserve your elf's magic, no touching is allowed. The boys were very dedicated to this rule the entire time, but on his final day, I assured them that a final hug goodbye was perfectly okay!

T-Ball!

I think all of summer went by without a single blog post! And it's definitely not because we had a dull and uneventful summer, or due to lack of effort on my part - I've tried uploading Jaden's T-Ball pictures about four times now. In this case, I hope the fifth time's the charm!

Anyway, Jaden's been wanting to play on a baseball team pretty much since conception. Unfortunately for him, my softball days were long gone while I was pregnant, so he didn't get to play in utero. And another bummer for him - there aren't any newborn to 3 yr. old T-Ball teams in Las Cruces. When he was three years old, I remember us driving past a field where a little tiny T-Ball team was practicing and he begged us to stop and ask if he could be on the team. Sam stopped to ask, but they said he had to be four. Imagine the disappointment on my little baseball fanatic's face.

Well after recruiting me, Sam, Elijah, Nana, Papa, aunts & uncles, and any other willing participant to play on his backyard baseball team, we were all very excited when Jaden was finally elegible for the city's real T-Ball league. And nobody was more excited than he was! His team was the Dust Devil's and he was ecstatic to have a "real" uniform - jersey, cleats and all! We got to pick his jersey number, and we chose 18 because of his birthday (Jan. 18) and his idol baseball player's number (aka Uncle Jeremy).

I loved everything about T-Ball season, for us and for Jaden. I was so happy for him to finally get to do something he had been anticipating for years - literally. And I think there are so many wonderful lessons that kids can learn through organized sports or activities, like the rules of teamwork, being a grateful winner (and loser), trying their best, never giving up, and just having fun! And for me, T-Ball season felt like the beginning of a new family chapter and family traditions. I remember growing up, my brother, sister and I always had sports or other activities going on and my mom and dad were ALWAYS there in the front row - our biggest supporters - all the way until my dance performances in college. My mom said that her and my dad agreed that we could do any extracurricular activity we wanted to, and that they would be there for every game, performance, or show. And I always remember them being there. So I loved getting to start this special tradition with Jaden, and hope it's something he will remember and cherish in years to come. Who knew a simple T-Ball team could be so sentimental!

The Dust Devils - aren't they cute! Jaden's on the bottom right.

There's my little catcher! They don't really have official "positions" in T-Ball, but Jaden was the catcher for most of the games.

Batting was his favorite part of the whole game (other than snacks after). He was a really good hitter - too bad he wasn't the fastest runner. Getting tagged out broke his heart.

There's his biggest fan!! (Along with Nana and Papa, who came from El Paso for every single game)! Such a lucky boy

Elijah's Second Birthday!

My sweet Elijah turned two years old in April...TWO! Where has the time gone. It's so much fun to watch him follow in his big brother's footsteps, while becoming such a little person all his own. His little personality has really shone through this second year of his life and it's neat to see the person he is becoming. He loves humor and laughs very easily at silliness, which Jaden works very well; he is a rough and tumble little guy and likes to just pound on things, including people at times; he's also very sweet and gentle, and will randomly walk up to us for a hug. He is very strong-willed and knows what he wants; he is always on the go until the second his head hits the pillow, and then he's out. He has become quite the little parrot, repeating anything and everything that anybody says (Sam forgot this the other day and was holding Elijah while telling me a story about a coworker who was "pissed." Elijah repeats, "He's pissed! He's pissed!" Oops, daddy)! And he's at that fun age where there's a nice mixture of terrible and terrificness -perfect example: he'll get into something he's not supposed to and make a mess with it all over the floor; then give the most heartfelt "Sorry mamma" and rush to get a towel to clean it all up. Just so precious. Fortunately for us, the scale weighs heavier on the terrific side. And even if it didn't those puppy dog eyes of his can keep him out of any kind of trouble!

Two Year's Ago...

Happy Second Birthday, Elijah Norman! We love you so much!!

Elijah's second birthay happened to be over a weekend and Jaden convinced us that there was no place Elijah would rather wake up on the morning of his birthday than Nana and Papa's house, so we loaded up all of his birthday goodies and headed to El Paso! I think children's birthdays are so special and I am always excited to stay up late making all the special preparations and finishing touches for the next morning's surprise. I encouraged Sam to join me in my enthusiasm, so he and I stayed up late wrapping his gifts, blowing up balloons, hanging banners, stringing streamers from one end of the house to the other, and putting together Elijah's big gift, which was the super adorable Little Tikes Neighborhood Market!

Elijah's such a sleep-lover that we weren't sure if his birthday surprise would take place in the morning or the afternoon by the time he finally woke up; but he must have known something was up and didn't want to miss out, so he woke up bright and early for a change. He loves the "Happy Birthday" song and was so excited for us to greet him as we serenaded him with his favorite tune. And as soon as he got downstairs, the excitement(and sugar-high) began.

Once he discovered that one of his gifts was a little bag of cotton candy, nothing else mattered but that bag of fluffy blue sugar. It's your birthday and you can eat cotton candy first thing in the morning if you want to!

Once the cotton candy was devoured, Elijah finished opening his presents and checked out his Little Tikes market! It was an instant hit!

Jaden was his personal present opening assitant, and was just as excited (or more) about the presents Elijah got!

This new red balloon is the best surprise of all!

For Elijah's birthday dinner, we stayed at my parent's house and ordered takeout from our favorite Chinese food restaurant. We had some family over and the kids just played and had a fun time!

Happy Birthay to you! Don't you just love those cupcakes! They were so much fun to make! And when a 2-year-old can tell right away who they are, you know they look authentic!

Happy birthday to our sweet Elijah! You are such a special part of our family and it is such a joy to watch you learn and grow! You make us laugh every day and always keep us on our toes! You are a bundle of endless energy, but also have a calm easy-going nature about you. I love being your mom and look forward to the new adventures and learning opportunities that each day brings! You are so much fun!


Here are some things we want to remember about you at 2-years-old:

- You weigh 30 lbs. (66 percentile) and are 34 in. tall (31st percentile).

- You are Mr. Independent and think you can do any and everything, All By Yourself!

- Your hands and mind always seem to be busy discovering and exploring.

- You love to talk - sometimes it makes no sense, and sometimes it makes perfect sense. It's fascinating to watch you as you are trying to put your thoughts together to make sentences and really communicate.

- You LOVE to eat and there are very few things you doesn't like.

- Due to Jaden's peanut allergy, you have not yet tried peanut butter.

- You absolutely love books and being read to. Story time is one of the few times you will sit and allow us to cuddle with you. It's one of my favorite parts of our day.

- You love to suck you thumb while holding your lovie blanket.

- You carry your security blanket with you most of the time, but especially in the car and at bedtime. You'd cry nonstop if you didn't have it at night. You currently have three and will accept any one of them at a time, as long as you have one.

- When asked, you says you are "four" and that your name is "Jaden."

- You love to pretend like you are talking on the phone, and just about anything turns into a phone with you - a shoe, a block, a pen, a spoon - you name it! You hold it between your shoulder and ear, hands free, and just walk around talking.

- You are a major backseat driver and shout out orders and directions if we are not driving the way you thinks we should be going. I think this mainly started because you know the way out of town to get to Nana and Papa's, so any time we weren't headed in that direction, you'd get upset and say, "No, that way!"

- You can play very contently with the same item for a long time. And you and Jaden play very nicely together.

- You have quite the imagination- you point at clouds in the sky and identify what object they are; and you take bites out of pieces of food (like watermelon pieces or chips) and turn them into new objects (which actually do look like what you says they are).

- You love to randomly count things and can count up to 14. Any any time somebody asks "How many.... are there?" you automatically say "onetwothreefour," like it's one word.

- You love riding in daddy's truck.

- You love going to Target for an Icee and popcorn.

- You frighten easily with loud noises, like the vacuum cleaner or the garage door opener.

- Your favorite song to sing is "Happy Birthday" and you will break out in song anywhere we are that you see the slightest symbolic representation of a birthday. So if you see a candle, cupcake, cake, balloon, streamer, or present...you're singing...and not quietly!

- You absolutely love to dance and also love having an audience while you perform. If you don't like a song that's playing on the radio, you say, "not that one;" and it's so funny to watch you as we flip through the channels because as soon as there is an upbeat song that you like, your body instantly starts moving and you say, "yea, that one!"

- You love playing in water, whether it's the bathtub, swimming pool, water table, or with a squirt gun.

- You run pretty much everywhere that you go.

- You are obsessed with the idea of using the potty and will say you need to to go, and end up sitting on your little potty several times a day - you have yet to actually go in it though.

- Mommy Maru (babysitter) informed me that you are one of her best behaved little guys and that you plays so well with all of the other kids.

- You love to pose for pictures and always want to see them after. Then you say, "awwww, cute" as you admire yourself.

- If there's a bottle of lotion left within his reach, you can guarantee it'll be all over you. We have to watch you big time!

- I had to call Poison Control recently because you tasted nail polish remover.

- When it comes to housework, you're a big helper and always say, "I clean;" but when it comes to putting your toys away... not so much.

- You love to be loud and scream, just because.

- You love to pretend you are a cowboy and will put on a cowboy hat and hop onto any available back or leg to go for a horsey ride.

- You have the most adorable, contagious laugh.

- You are a very good sleeper and can take a 3 hour nap, and sleep up to 14 hours at night. Thank you for that :)

- Everybody says you look just like mommy.

- You love to play outside, no matter how hot or cold it is.

- You love to be on a tall stool at the counter helping whenever I am making dinner. You're a very good pourer, stirrer...and spiller.

- You love Yo Gabba Gabba - still can't quite figure out what it is about that show.

- Your paranoid mamma does not have you up-to-date on your shots. Instead you're on an alternate shot schedule that your doctor and I decided on together.

- When Jaden was playing T-Ball, you loved hearing the sound of an ice cream truck because you knew it meant a treat for you; now you have an ice cream truck radar on at all times.

- You love coloring, painting, and anything messy. And even things that normally wouldn't be messy, end up being messy with you.

- Your favorite part of saying grace before a meal is "AMEN!" And then you follow it with "Yaaay!"

- You are very friendly, and maybe a little too friendly to strangers.

- You are a very good haircut client, always sitting very still and cooperative.

- You are getting over a phase of being scared of the dark.

- When we put you in your bed at night, you like to have a lamp left on so that you can lay and look at books. It's the cutest thing ever.