mommypalooza™ ~ a daily dose of mommy mayhem.

DDD: Day twenty-one

I took the boys to the mall for a free jingle jam concert with a great local performer. The boys had a great time rockin' out to her and Nathan was even selected out of the audience to come up and help play the maracas. Maybe she could sense we are a musical family and that we have TONS of maracas around our house in the form of shakers, homemade instruments, and even the real deal. He was so cute just sitting quietly with his hand raised, waiting to be called upon. Then, when she pointed to him and said 'you, Sir, waiting so quietly, come on up here', he popped up like popcorn and took to his instrument right away. Will also had a great time jammin' out and dancing.

Actually, I should backup. We arrived a little early for the concert and were fortunate enough to get in line for face painting with only two people in front of us. Nathan was all stoked for a Christmas tree to be painted on his face but then once he got into the chair, he told the face painter, MJ (who was a wonderfully sweet woman!), that he wanted it on his arm. When I asked him later why he changed his mind he said that he wanted to be able to see his painting so that's why he wanted it on his arm. Duh! What a smart kid!

So after face arm painting we did the concert thing then it was of course time for a ride on the ever-popular merry-go-round. Now, normally I tell the kids (Nathan) that we only do that when Daddy's with us but I guess I was feeling especially festive because I was actually excited to be the only accompanying adult with two kids to look after as we went 'round and 'round. It was fun. We lived. Then it was time for lunch and we decided to walk over to Panera. We gobbled up our lunch (YUM-O!) and walked around to look for a few last minute gifts for family and friends. Nathan was an excellent shopping helper. He picked out a special gift for his Popo all by himself! I was very impressed!

Needless to say, the kids were all pooped by the day's end and quite frankly, so was I.

DDD: Day twenty

Today was SUCH a fun-filled day! We headed out to Crown Center for our visit with Santa and so much more. After the kids sat with Santa for a bit, they enjoyed the great Crayola play area right inside that was just their size. Then we went and had lunch out in the food court area and enjoyed looking at the huge gingerbread house village display they had there. Nathan and Will were mesmerized by all the little miniature trains making their way through the village. After lunch we headed outside to show Nathan the ice skating rink. But showing him was not enough. He wanted to DO it! So, David obliged and braved the ice skates. Although they didn't skate much or stay long, Will and I enjoyed watching them from outside the rink and Nathan said he had fun. Then it was off to play in the giant sized outdoor Christmas village just next to the ice skating area.

Note to Sarah: Like the boys' sweaters?

DDD: Day eighteen

Nathan's Christmas program at school was tonight and boy was it FUN! He and the rest of the boys in his class were the shepherds. Nathan looked great in costume, if I do say so myself! Nathan did great - practically screaming out all of the songs he's been singing and practicing for weeks. He was having a blast up on stage and we were loving every minute of it. Just when we all thought the performance couldn't get any better, Nathan decided to overtake the microphone that was conveniently positioned right in front of him. At first, he kept saying gently, "hello? hello?"

Then, at one point during the end of a song where there were just instruments playing, he cried out softly, "I love you". David, Season and I busted out laughing.

Still Life With Elephant - a novel.

I just finished reading a fabulous and funny little novel that was a really refreshing read. I'm usually not into reading fiction all that much but thought the cover of this book looked interesting when I saw it being reshelved at the library a while back.

Anyway, turns out the author really writes in a style that I love, so looks like I'll be checking out more of her novels. Needless to say, this book was entertaining and I highly recommend it if you want a wittingly charming story about marriage, love, work, and growing up.

DDD: Day seventeen

Nathan had a great preschool Christmas party. The kids played "Reindeer Hokey Pokey" and "Santa Says" games, made a cute foamie angel, had yummy treats, and just enjoyed each other's company. Will of course came along for the fun and he just wanted to be a part of everything.

William’s mugshot.

I was going through the pictures on my camera and noticed this one.

Nathan must've gotten a hold of my camera and decided to take Will's mugshot. Look at those little doe eyes!

DDD: Day sixteen

Nathan and I made the most awesome Snowball Cookies today! They were so fun, easy and tasty!! Will, of course, helped us eat them and we packed a few of them into a holiday themed Chinese takeout container to give to Nathan's preschool teacher along with a cute ornament for Christmas.

DDD: Day fifteen + Nathan’s first sleepover.

Nathan hosted his very first sleepover. His buddy, Brennan, was over here while his parents hosted a company Christmas party at their house. The boys had fun all afternoon dressing up as knights and Batman, and running around playing in Nathan's room, the basement, and everywhere else they could find.

They also found some time to sit and watch the Buzz Lightyear movie that they both love so much.

Will was the token little brother, following them around everywhere and trying to hang with the big boys. When it was time for bed, Nathan gave up his bed without hesitation. Brennan wanted to sleep in the race car bed so Nathan just set up his sleeping bag on the floor. It was fun for him!

*******UPDATE***********

After Brennan left the next morning, I asked Nathan if he enjoyed having a sleepover and he replied with a resounding, "yes!". I then asked if he'd like to go over to Brennan's one day for a sleepover. He then replied and told me "no", that he didn't like going over to other people's houses for sleepovers, just having people over at his own house. Let the hosting begin!

A little behind, I know.

I've been doing my DDD layouts, just not uploaded them yet to the blog. No worries, mate, I'll be getting to that later today hopefully. We're snowed/iced in again and I am dreaming of a Hawaiian Christmas at this point.

I have some fun pics of the past few days though, so I'll try and get my DDD entries up this afternoon - amidst cleaning and playing with the kids of course.

DDD: Day fourteen

Nathan made the cutest little ornament at school for us as a Christmas gift to David and I. He couldn't wait for us to open it up when we got back home from school. Normally, I would've waited till Christmas day, as I am one of those who doesn't believe in opening up gifts beforehand. I had a feeling it was an ornament, though, so I was fine with it. The packaging was so cute too! A little Santa bag where Nathan had wrote in, "Ho, Ho, Ho". After we ooh-ed and ahhh-ed over the ornament gift, Nathan ran over to the tree and found a great spot for it right up front.