A visit (or two) to Santa!

We've been to see Santa a time or two already. I know, I know - it's not even December yet. But it turns out, visiting Santa early is a pretty awesome deal! We got a discount on the Santa Photos, which I'll upload soon, and there was almost no line, so the experience was way more relaxed than usual. Gabe wasn't freaked out by the huge crowd, so he even talked to Santa!

Actually, the first time we visited we didn't even realize Santa would be at the Mall yet. There was no one in line, and Gabe said he really wanted to talk to Santa. So in we go, dressed in grubby play clothes. No photo, of course. Santa's greeting the boys, ho ho ho, and Gabe is staring at his feet. He mumbles, "Toy Story bike please". Santa does not hear him. He's going on about how next time they visit they can sit on his lap...meanwhile, since I've told Gabe he can't demand one item from Santa, Gabe is mumbling towards his feet, "and Toy Story Scooter, please. And Bash, and Dash, and Ferdinand, please." Then he hugs Santa super fast, snatches the proffered candy cane and runs out of there as fast as possible. Ben was stoked to get the candy, but he did not say anything to Santa. Max was oblivious, of course.

Obviously a bit of practice was in order. After a couple days of practice, Santa visit number two was attempted, this time bringing our friends Tina and Nathan, always guaranteed to be a good time. The boys were excited but manageable during the short wait to see Santa. We played games and giggled and snacked; they even posed for photos. Then it was the big moment. Ben was still pretty silent towards Santa, and he didn't technically sit on Santa's lap, but he did stand close and allow his photo to be taken. According to Ben, the whole point was to go back for more candy canes anyways.

Gabe Was personable and friendly to Santa. He greeted Santa, waited to be asked, then told him about his dearest wish (Toy Story Bike) and alternate possibilities (although if that bike doesn't appear, it's obviously going to be an issue). He even smiled for the photo. Max waited until the whole photo session was over, then squealed with delight and gave huge smiles....30 seconds too late. How do babies have such good sense of timing?

                In any case, the boys all did well, and no one cried! We got a good (ok, a decent) picture, and Gabe spoke to a complete stranger (Santa). All in all a big success, and now the pressure is off! Everywhere we go there's a Santa now, and Gabe is high five-ing and being super friendly to one and all. Ben is getting less and less afraid of Santa as he watches his normally stoic brother get down with the man in the red suit. After our behavior struggles since our super fun snow day before Thanksgiving, it was a nice way to kick off the holiday season...Merry Christmas, indeed!

Trike walks...how we'll miss you!

One of our favorite activities laely has been to take the boys out on a trike walk. Ben and Gabe ride their trikes, and Max usually goes in the Big Red Car. Actually, we've been taking Max everywhere in the Big Red Car, since he cries a lot in the stroller, but only squeals at the top of his lungs with happiness in the Big Red Car.

Anyways, the boys ride, sometimes with friends, sometimes just with Mommy and Daddy. It guarantees a good bedtime usually, and they have so much fun tooling along on their trikes. Ben is still figuring out how to pedal, so if we let him use his own steam, it's a very long, slow caterpillar type walk. Gabe pedals so hard and so fast that he occasionally tips his trike right over, even on a straight-away.

Now the rains are here, and we won't be trike walking again anytime soon. Sometimes we'd walk the boys up the street to Target and let them use the trikes in the store like strollers - way easier than fighting to get them into a cart, and they never abandon their trikes to run away after something shiny! I will really miss out trike walks...until it snows. Then we are totally taking a trike walk in the snow!

Halloween Happiness part 2

I know, we're way past Halloween, but I've got a couple more photos I meant to share. We did a couple of community Trick or Treat activities, one at the zoo, one in Downtown Hillsboro with Tina's bookstore and Radio Disney and one out in Forest Grove with our friends. The boys were thrilled to wear their costumes so many times! 

Gabe and Ben had a great time at the zoo, even though it rained a bunch. They put togehter a huge floor puzzle of a Tiger, and Gabe made a paper penguin. They got fruit leather in their zoo goodie bag, so they were jazzed, even though there wasn't really any trick or treating or candy.

In the end, even afte we trick or treated so much, they didn't really bring home a lot of candy - nor did they miss it much. Gabe did notice I ate one of his big long skinny tootsie rolls, and he was a little bitter about it - but we got them a whole bag of fat tootsie rolls. Their favorite haul was a Toy Story 3 puzzle from the Radio Disney folks. They each got one...probably left over from promoting the movie, but the boys didn't care.

Max wasn't terribly thrilled with his Wheezy costume, but he did like being wheeled around outside so much, so he didn't complain much once we were out and about.  He's finally getting in the rest of his teeth, so no more jack-o-lantern smile.

It was a lot of fun to run around Forest Grove with Penny, Henry, and Tasha. I hope that even as the kids get bigger we'll all stay friends. It's nice for the boys to have friends they've known since they were babies. With Gabe in preschool every day it's hard to get out there as much as we used to, but it's always a blast!

Henry even got Gabe to wear his Buzz wings with his costume. Every other time Gabe refused to wear the wings. It's was certainly a case of "be careful what you wish for", though. We couldn't get Gabe to agree to push the wings into the folded back position to work his way through the crowds, so he kept bumping folks with his fully extended wings. Gabe claims that next year he wants to be Zurg...because Zurg is his favorite color (purple)! Ben just wants another lollipop. Til next time!