Holly Holidays!

I think we're all healthy - hallelujah!  And just in time for all sorts of holiday fun this weekend!
It started with Friday night's Girls Night Out in Seattle with a few buds of mine - including this one....

She flew in all the way from Idaho to spend the weekend with us and we had a fabulous night out.  Swanky hotel, too-cool restaurant, lots of laughs!  It was great to spend some time with friends feeling very non-mom like.
Meanwhile the boys were with Brian at a Christmas party at church - having a blast!  Brian took the day off to volunteer at school - the Watch DAWG program - and had a great time popping in and out of classes and helping out wherever he could.  No one let him hide behind the computers like he wanted, but he did a great job and the kids all loved him.  He also did a great job getting the boys (and all my last minute props) to the church for the party.  I wish he would have gotten some pictures, but I do know there was lots of sugar involved and a lot of laughing.
Saturday I ferried back over and we took over my parents' house for a Christmas party.  We invited some of the boys' closest friends (10 kiddos in all) and their families and had a whole bunch of fun!  The big event was the book exchange - think white elephant exchange without the opportunity to "steal".  The kids loved getting to go up and choose and all ended up with a book they were excited about.

 We did a bunch of crafts....  some of which ended up nice and some that were just a glittery, gluey mess....

 All the kids were great and played for a long time together downstairs.  There were lots of funny personalities and I loved getting to see all our friends interacting.  Only one really bad injury - Lucas' gave another boy a bloody nose...  He ran and hid under the bed covers after he did - feeling guilty!  And rightfully so!  Ethan had a bit of trouble sharing all his friends and his stuff - Dawn caught him making up rules to Clue that only benefited himself....  It was funny-  clever - but naughty!
We adults also had fun - ate way too much - and swapped parenting stories about our nutty kids.  We loved having it at our parents' house, but the problem was cleanup.  We couldn't just leave it for the next morning - blech!  It was exhausting!  But we managed and then we were off - as we had a busy day the next morning.
It was finally time for our church program!  We got there and costumed up.  We definitely had cute magi!

 We ran through rehearsal once  - which was very encouraging!  The kids were just awesome!

Ethan and his fellow magi practiced giving the gifts - which they took very very seriously.

They all looked so awesome in their costumes - but then were getting wound up as we got closer to showtime.  You could literally feel the excitement in the air.

Ethan saw the crowds and freaked out.  He had total fear in his eyes and told me, "I don't think I can do this."  I reassured him that he'd be great and it would be fun.  He took a deep deep breath and then put on his big smile.  I figured he probably wasn't the only one in the crowd panicking and so went and high-fived all the other kids.
And then we were off - and boy were they cute!  The nursery kids came in and did one song.  For which Lucas stood there absolutely frozen.  He did sing, but did not one of the movements.  Nor did he smile.  But he did it - he went up in front of all those people and sang!

 Ethan was not afraid of singing, or of the hand movements.  That boy sings just like his mama - lots of projection, not a lot of tune....  He was awesome - you could hear him from the back of the room!  The best part was that since he didn't know the verses too well, he just would sing the ends of all the lines.  I loved it. One proud mama.

 But the proudest moment was afterward when he told me how much fun it was and he can't wait to get on stage again.  That's my boy!

I also loved getting to work with a bunch of the kids at church.  I really didn't know a lot of them before and enjoyed working with them - there are some pretty darn cool kids there!
And then it was home to finish my report cards.  Brian took the boys to Happy Feet 2 - which according to Lucas was too scary.  Hmmm...  Dancing penguins are scary?  But I think I'm finally about done and ready to get ready for the actual week.  I'm exhausted - what a crazy weekend, but it's all worth it when I know the boys have had all sorts of memories burned into their brains.  And that, I think I have accomplished.

By the way - Ethan has learned to dribble the basketball!  We had all sorts of people work with him and it's there!  It actually comes back up to him - though control may still be a bit of an issue.....