Christmas Show

The boys' school has a Christmas pageant every year.  Traditionally, the show features the children in every other grade, thus giving each family a year off in between attending the festivities.  Unfortunately for our family, the every other grade thing didn't really work out and the boys were staggered in years that would require our attendance and participation every year.

I was not thrilled.  Chris was not thrilled.  Yes, I realize this makes us sound a bit like a Grinch.  I know.  But for as much as we adore the boys' school, we accept it has come with a trade off.  And that trade off is a lack of a true music program.  They have a music teacher, but well, he doesn't do all that much.  He is fairly awful.  The Christmas pageant for us has become a symbol of all that awful-ness, a thrown together, dismal failure of a program that I have found, frankly embarrassing.  So much so, that I had stopped inviting family members to attend.

It is that bad.

I am on the school board for the boys' school and I have spent much time bemoaning the music program.  It is my mantra, but while we are making some progress, we aren't quite there yet.

But this year, things changed a bit for the annual Christmas show.  Another teacher at the school decided to actually work on the pageant.  She created skits.  She added narrators.  She gave us music that was actually our children singing instead of them mouthing along to a pre-recorded cd featuring other children's voices.

It was like a real live school Christmas pageant.  Really!

She also eliminated the every other grade tradition and put all grades in the show.  We had hope and even invited family members to come watch.

We watched our boys perform with pride.  Brennan was a narrator for his skit and a horse.  Griffin was Joseph.  And Aidan had quite a part as Mr. Willoughby in the skit entitled Mr. Willoughby's Christmas.

It was beyond adorable.  Just so cute.  The boys and their schoolmates did a fantastic job.

But my favorite part of the whole show, by far, was the last song song by the entire school.  The kids were seated in the first four or five rows of the audience.  As the show came to a close, they turned around and sang, with great gusto, "Go in Peace."

It was a moment of sweetness and reflection for me, hearing all the childlike voices rising together to sing something so simple, but profound.  It was a reminder of how blessed we all are, to be there in that gym at that moment, to listen to our children sing.

Brennan's Lego Extravaganza

To usher in his eighth year, Brennan asked for a lego themed party at our house.  I agreed quickly, set the date, got the invites out and then a few days before the party had a panic attack when I realized I had nothing planned for the actual party.

A brainstorm session with pinterest and google gave me some great ideas and a lego party (with a concocted lego cake!) was born.

Our B is 8!

Brennan, today you are 8 years old.  My head knows you are growing up, so fast.  I watch you grow, taller and taller each day.  You have shot up like a weed this year and are tallest second grader at your school.  But my heart has a harder time accepting that my sweet snuggler of a middle child is a whole 8 years old.  It just doesn't seem possible.

At 8, you are still our laid back, easy going boy with a smile on your face.  The little things just don't seem to bother you.  You love to joke around, make people laugh, and simply enjoy the ride.  You love to build legos, play with your guys (making all the necessary sound effects) and snuggle with your stuffed animals.  (You have so many stuffed animals making a home with you in your bed that I often wonder how you get any sleep at all.)

You love animals, especially dogs.  You love to watch movies and will sit entranced, kneeling on the floor in front of the tv to make sure you do not miss a single moment on the screen.  You love riding your bike around the neighborhood and could play outside in the snow for hours after any other child would admit to being a frozen popsicle.  I love watching you play outside in the snow.  Every five minutes or so, you stop whatever you are doing and just fall back into a drift of snow.  You lay there, in the snow, for a while, content to just watch the snow fall all around you.  I love that about you, your ability to simply be in a moment, to appreciate it and soak it up.

You enjoyed swim team this summer and swam on the silver medal boys' relay for your age group.  You played on tennis team and are on a basketball team.  I love watching you play sports because you do it with such abandon.  You love to snowboard and can't wait to get back to the slopes with Aidan and your Daddy.

Your favorite foods are chicken wings, ice cream and popcorn.  Hot sauce is a food group in your world.  There is nothing you would not dip in hot sauce.  (I even watched you dip your turkey in it on Thanksgiving.)  Your favorite tv shows are Ninjago and Endurance.  You love movies, any movies, but have truly loved the superhero movies we have started letting you watch, like Ironman and the Amazing Spiderman.

You are a love, our snuggler and cuddler.  You are the first to jump into my lap for hugs and sometimes, hog your momma's cuddle time over your brothers.  You love to lay with me, snuggled under a blanket, rubbing each other's backs or heads.  This is time I treasure with you.  You do the same to your Daddy and your dog Chewy, always eager to love those around you.

Happy 8 to our Brennan, our B.   You have brought so much love and joy to our family.   Thank you for being you, our own special boy, wrapped up our Brennan.

You Said What?

There are things you say as a parent that you just never imagined you would ever have to say.  Today, I had to say the following to Brennan as he visited the bathroom:

"Brennan, please don't play with tinsel when you are on the toilet."

Because tinsel and the toilet, just, well, no.  But who knew I would have to spell this out someday?

Wedding Weekend!

In the midst of all this holiday hullabaloo, one of my dearest, oldest friends got married.  This wedding brought together friends I have not had the chance to see in much too long.    And we got to sing together too.  (The pipes may have been a bit rusty, but I muddled through.)

We laughed harder than I have in ages, laughing and smiling until my cheeks hurt.  (Yes, I am sure the tequila shots had nothing to do with it.  Really.)

My Griffy at Six

Griffin, today you are six years old.  It is hard for me to believe that my baby boy is growing up so quickly before my eyes.  But, you are, and have always, been, my old soul with an independent spirit.

At six, you remain our strong willed, joyful little guy.  Strong willed, with just little bit of drama in the mix.  Your default is happy, oh so happy, but when pushed, you can easily and quickly turn to tears.  You are our chatterbox, regularly carrying on conversations with everyone and anyone.  You are so full of life, and love, so energetic and eager to take on the world.  One of the things I love most about you is that you do not feel the need to keep up with anyone but yourself.  You aren't concerned with what other people think, say or do, you do what you want to do and you do it with a huge smile on your face.

You adjusted easily to kindergarten this year, so happy to finally be off to the big school with your brothers.  You do well in school, enjoy school and already have a posse of buddies that greet you each morning with huge bear hugs.  

After my and your father's failed efforts to teach you how to ride a bike, you simply decided one day to teach yourself and since then, riding your bike is a favorite pastime of yours.  You ride all over our lawn, circling our house, with our pup Chewy following you closely behind.  You also love to skateboard and when the weather doesn’t cooperate, you will hole up in the garage amusing yourself with tricks on your board.

You still love to dance.  Our extended family calls you the next "Bieber."  Your moves were the talk of our family vacation this past summer in the Hamptons.  You danced like a rock star with your cousins on the rooftop deck for hours upon hours.  If there is music, you will be grooving and you take it as an invitation to jump up on any stage you can find to flaunt your stuff.  You started dance class this year and have loved learning new “tricks”.  And of course, you asked that your big birthday party be all dance themed and personally selected some of your favorite tunes to groove by.

Your more recent new love, is singing.  You love to sing.  You sing to yourself here and there, but will often close yourself in a room, shut the door and sing full out.  We have heard you singing in the bathroom, in the basement, in your bedroom.  It brings me to tears every single time.

After all the dancing and singing, you love to draw.  You are constantly grabbing pens, pencils and paper from our kitchen drawers and sitting at the table to create.  You bring home more artwork than both your brothers combined, drawings with elaborate tales to accompany them.  You have a vivid imagination and spin yarns of tales to entertain us.

At six, your favorite book is Pete the Cat, Rocking his School Shoes.  It was your Book Fair purchase this year at school and I think we have read it every night since.  You insist on singing with inflection every line, right up until the end of the book, drawling your favorite line out:, “Because It’s Alllll Gooood” with a grin on your face.  You also still have a fondness for “No David No” because it is a book you can ready entirely on your own.

Your favorite television shows are Arthur, Wild Kratts, and Dino Dan.  You are still my fruit and veggie guy.  There are few things you love more than fresh fruit or chopped up vegetables.   (I never get tired of seeing the waitress's face when you order a side salad with your meal.)  You are partial to blueberry muffins, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies and vanilla greek yogurt with chocolate chips mixed in.  

You are my little gentlemen.  You insist on holding doors open for me and love to open my car door and then shut it firmly behind me.  You share your love with all of us, so eagerly and openly, telling us you love us a million and one times a day.  I treasure it, each and every time.

You have brought such joy to our family, our Griffy.  Your spirit, your happiness, your energy has made our family complete.  My third sweet boy.  Happy Six to my Griffy.  We love you so.

Christmas Party!

One of my favorite holiday traditions is the Children's Christmas Party at OPCC.  There is Santa, dancing, crafts, a cotton candy machine, ice cream buffet, good friends and fun to be had.  And of course, a giant bounce house in the dining room.  What's not to love?

Our first stop for this party is always the family picture.  As I do every year, I bribe the boys with freedom for the rest of the party if they just give me a nice smile for three minutes.  (The sight of the  cotton candy machine in the not very far future is a powerful motivator.)

I loved our pic this year.  Truly.

After our photo session, it was ice cream, cotton candy and pizza logs for everybody!  And well, some wine for me, of course.  Ahem.

Our Annual Hunt for the Tree

Our day to hunt for our tree got a little out of hand.  I tend to prefer to savor our holiday traditions, soaking up each one like a treasure.  Christmas is a special time of year for me and I want to enjoy each part of it.  Unfortunately, life had other plans.  As our boys get older, their commitments grow.

Aidan had basketball practice at 9:30 am.  Griffin had dance class at 10 am.  Brennan had basketball practice at 11 am.  After Brennan's practice, we all jumped in the car to head to the tree farm.   Our time allotted for the tree hunt was only a few hours, but we couldn't seem to agree on a tree.

I found a perfect tree.  It was a good height, and perfectly chubby.  The boys declared it just wasn't big enough.  Off, we wandered through rows and rows of trees until the boys found what they declared our tree.

It was a hunk of a tree.  Too tall.  Too bushy.  Chris loved it too.  And so we cut it down, loaded it up and headed home.

We got home, threw the tree into the garage and quickly changed to head out to a birthday party for the friend of the boys.  We didn't get home until later that night.  We put the boys to bed and Chris carried the tree into the living room.  We decided we would get the tree up in its stand to decorate the next day.

Chris set it up in its stand, still bound in twine.  Carefully, he cut through the twine and the tree burst out into its full shape.  It's huge, ginormous, gigantic wider than can believe bushy shape.

This tree took up half our living room.

We were both laughing so hard, so quietly, we had to clutch our sides and bend over in hysterics.

Yep.  It's might be more more bush than tree.  But it's ours.  All ours.