It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Isn't it though?



Title from Andy Williams (c'mon, you know that album rocks)

Officially this is the Christmas post but before I get to that, a little news first. So you know last time when I showed my poor toe? Well, the freaking nail finally came off. I wish it had actually fallen off but there's no point in complaining about it now. I now know what it sounds like for a nail to rip off though... yeah, it's kind of weird. I didn't post pics of the toe after the nail came off in this post because it's kind of gruesome but if you're curious and aren't easily grossed out, you can look at them here.  It looks a little better now that I've gone to the podiatrist about it but it'll take a full year to grow back, ugh.

Anyway, Christmas!  Last year was pretty good when Gavin was three but this year has been a lot better with him being four.  Man, I can't believe how much that kid has grown up since last year!  We've been winding him up about Santa and the whole thing all month long.  We went and saw Santa a few times and he kept going back and forth on what he wanted from Star Wars games/movies/toys to a bike to not knowing what he wanted.  Parker isn't any easier since he can't even tell us what he wants, nor does he really care at his age.


Snockered by snow! Click for more random kid pics.

As you can see, we've had snow most of the month which really sets the mood for Christmas.  I'm glad it snowed because we didn't put up Christmas lights on the house this year and the snow at least adds something.  Maybe next year when we haven't just bought a house we'll do lights.  We still did a Christmas tree and Leslie got a lighted garland thing to put on the stairs that looks nice.

Christmas Eve was pretty snazzy.  I didn't have to work and Gavin was about as wound up as could be.  After hanging out at Leslie's parent's house, we opened up the kids' new pajamas and got ready for Santa.  We put out some cookies and carrots and wrote a little note for him.  We also read some passages from Luke from the Bible to remind Gavin and ourselves why we really celebrate Christmas.  I think he got the point but I'm sure he forgot it all fairly quick that night.  After we read that, we read The Night Before Christmas and sent the kids to bed.  I was worried Gavin would have a hard time sleeping but he went right out.  It took us a while to get to sleep however but we weren't up that late.

The next morning Gavin ran into our room telling us that Santa had come!  So we all got up, grabbed our cameras and had a look at what he had left us.  It was kind of funny because the living room is still empty except for the Christmas tree and the new toys but having the extra room was kind of nice to sprawl out on.  I think everyone got what they wanted and there were enough surprises for all.  Gavin got his first 2-wheeled bike, a Batman car toy, Star Wars Play Doh set, Star Wars movie, some underwear, an outfit and a few books.  Parker got a busy table, a crocodile car, stacking toy, an outfit and a few books.  Leslie got a curio cabinet (that's a story in of itself, we totally made out like bandits on that), a cell phone, nativity scene piece and some clothes.  I got the hookup with a new cell phone, a jump drive, a game, a digital photo frame and some pants.

The bank already feels the pain of Christmas but with some savvy shopping, I think we got a lot for little money.  This is a good thing because in January we have the car registration, anniversary (7 years zomg!) and then Parker's first birthday.  I hope we survive OK through all that.  All I can say is hooray for tax refunds.

Hope you had a great Christmas as well and have a happy new year!

No More Runnin'

Title from Animal Collective

So yeah, that's my poor toe. I was at a store looking at some sleds with Gavin and the whole stack fell on my foot. Hurt like crazy at the time but it looks worse than it feels. The toenail looks about the same but the rest of the toe has healed up ok, just waiting for that fun day when it falls off. Good thing I'm sort of a masochist or else I would really be dreading it.

So the holidays are upon us in full force! It really is true that the older you get, the faster time seems to fly because I feel like I blinked and the month went from August to December. But before I get into that, there were some good times in the last few months, first of which was Halloween.


Best picture we got of the kids for Halloween, too bad Leslie wasn't in it. Click for more pics.


Halloween was almost like Christmas for Gavin for some reason. Part of it was because of the promise of tons of free candy and the other part was because he was able to dress up like a Jedi this year.

Now, I need to explain the whole Jedi thing. I have a coworker with kids around the same age as mine and with the whole "geek cred" thing we have going on, we got to talking about what our kids were into. He was going on about how much his kids were into Star Wars and how cool that was since it was something he was into as well. I thought it would be pretty cool if Gavin could get into Star Wars too but his favorite things at the time were Thomas the Train and Curious George. I wanted to see if I could get him into Star Wars but had to find out how.

The first thing I tried was having him watch Star Wars - A New Hope. With him being 3 years old, that lasted like 10 minutes. I then showed him some of the clone wars cartoons (not the CGI ones, the good ones drawn by the same guy that did Samurai Jack). He seemed to really enjoy those since they were cartoons and they were only like 10-15 minutes at a time. Then he would watch me play Knights of the Old Republic and would really get into it.

Gavin had already warmed up to Star Wars but I figured I'd seal the deal with Lego Star Wars. Holy crap did that work, and then some. That kid can't get enough of that game. Now he's all about Star Wars (not to mention when he sees Legos at the store he says, "Hey dad, Star Wars!" regardless of if they're Star Wars themed or not).

This has become a dual-edged sword with him though. On the one hand, he's all about Star Wars now and we have something we can do together and will even watch one of the movies with me. But on the other hand, whenever he's on the computer, it's Star Wars, Star Wars, Star Wars and first thing when I get home from work it's always "Can we go play Star Wars?". Which can be good since it's a good way to get him to be obedient. My mom would be very familiar with this "do it or be grounded from the game" tactic. I just wish he'd play more educational games when he's on the computer. Oh well, I'm sure we'll figure something out.

Anyway, for Halloween I helped feed the beast and got him an Obi Wan Kenobi costume and a lightsaber. He was just over the moon about the whole thing and was more excited about wearing the costume than getting the candy. I even got him saying "These aren't the droids you're looking for" and other phrases at random, pretty funny stuff.


Probably the first of many cakes that I'll design for the kids. Click for more birthday pics.


I hate for this post to be all about Gavin but the next post should have a lot more Parker action. Gavin turned 4 in November! And as soon as he turned 4 he said he can't wait until he turns 5. Enjoy being 4 son, you only get to do it once.

We once again fed the Star Wars beast and went with a Star Wars theme. We got him a Darth Vader costume that ended up having the pants sewed on sideways (we took it back and got one that wasn't messed up) and a Darth Vader lightsaber. The whole Vader costume was kind of a gamble since he actually asked for a "shoot gun" but he really likes it. He'll dress up like Vader, hand me the blue or green lightsaber and say, "I'm gonna get you daddy!". We'll smack sabers around for a while until Leslie tells us to knock it off but he really enjoys it.

The Other Holidays

I ran out of pictures but we also had a great Thanksgiving this year. We were able to go down to Price and see the whole family down there including all the new baby cousins. Actually, I lied about new pics, forgot about these:


ZOMG Babies!

Those were taken back in September so they're a lot bigger now but holy crap lots of boys. We got them back together in the same pose at Thanksgiving but I forgot my camera :-(.

Anyway, I usually don't like driving to Price because it's the land that time forgot but I'm always happy to see my parents and siblings. It's nice to remember how I should act and aspire to be like when I'm around them all. The meal was good and the kids had a good time.

Christmas is right around the corner so I won't go too far into that but I'm pretty excited about this year. It's easier to get Gavin excited for something and Leslie isn't pregnant like last year so hopefully we'll be able to travel a bit more and enjoy ourselves. We've also got about half of Christmas sorted out so that only adds to the excitement. Next post will probably be about the Christmas aftermath so you'll want to watch for that. Also, look for me on Facebook as I finally caved in and reactivated my account (got sick of the wife knowing more about my family than I do).