Jason turned 5 

Emmett turned 3

These little loves went ahead and grew up, despite very explicit instructions not to.  Because I knew we would be in Utah for Christmas (and we were already lugging all the kids' gifts up with us) I wanted to celebrate the little boys' birthdays before we left.  They have been loving Jake and the Neverland Pirates cartoon, and so we decided to have that as their theme.

They had hot-dog pirate ships and golden doubloons jello.  Nothing too fancy, but the kids like it. 

All of the kids...

Here is their cake.

All the kids got into singing the birthday song.

And blowing out the candles.

Both the little boys love pink and so we had a strawberry cake with a strawberry glaze.

Before we gave the boys their main present, we had them running through the house with a treasure map.  They did a great job figuring out the clues and when they came back down to the living room they found this pirate ship.  It was a regift, actually.  We gave this pirate ship to the big kids when they were about the same age.  The Ethan and Austin spiffed it up a little and the little boys had a good time playing with it.

I can't believe how fast these little guys grow.  I swear that they are growing much faster than my big kids did.  I keep trying to hold on to my sweet babies and here they are, acting like big boys.  It's tragic and wonderful.

The kids had a Christmas dress up day.  Alaina was excited to go, but woke up feeling really sick to her  stomach.  She was a trooper getting ready and even made it through a couple hours of school before she had to come home.  She was a Christmas Tree.

Austin was tiny Tim (he planned and executed the whole look himself.)

Can you guess who Ethan was?  By the end of the day, he was a giant green smear.

Here they all are.  Festive big kids.

I really hate Mall Santas.  The line is always a little crazy and those pictures always cost an arm and a leg, when all you really want to do is take a picture on your phone and get out of there.  That is why I was pleased to hear that our local Kneaders was hosting a Santa for an evening.  I packed up the kiddos and we went to pick up a little dinner and see Santa at the same time.  Really...that was a great two-for-one, if you ask me.  

The Santa that they had was tiny.  I mean, smaller than me, tiny.  The little boys didn't seem to mind, however.  And better than that Mall Santa, this one came by and chatted with all of the kids as they ate dinner.  The boys seemed to believe that hanging out with Santa for an evening was perfectly reasonable.  I sure hope I haven't doomed our future Christmases to disappointment if I can't find us an equally chatty Santa.

Here are a couple of Christmas Emmett stories for you:

One blustery day, Emmett decided he needed to go outside to play.  He asked Robert if he could and Rob replied, "Okay, but it is very windy out there Emmett!"  Emmett, my most stubborn child, stuck his chin out and said, "Not if I can help it.  I am very strong,  daddy. '  A minute later, out wind-tossed two year old pushed his way back into the house and said, "It is so very windy out there!"  What always gets me is just how articulate that child is.  He clips out each word like British aristocrat...without the accent, of course.

Another example of his grasp on language came when he walked over and asked me to play with him.  I asked him if he would like to do a puzzle and he said, "I do, indeed!"  When I laughed, he thought that had messed up the wording so he repeated, a little less sure of himself, "Sure - Indeed!"  What a clever chap.

Near the end of the school semester, the kids put on a winter concert.  All three of them did well, and the concert was fun to watch.

Here they are all together.  Ethan was kind enough to come down to their level for a picture.

These brothers of Alaina are starting to make her look so little.  It's a good thing she has such a big personality.  :)

While the big kids are away at school, I was able to take the little ones to a small aquarium downtown.  They especially loved the birds.  Can't you tell from Emmett's posture?

Jason did a little better.  They had about 100 birds in that catch and I had to do breathing exercises just to avoid replaying scenes from 'The Birds' and start panicking.  I'm thinking that movie scarred me for life. 

Our little train conductors.

How do you know when it's Christmastime?  Is it the music on the radio?  The lights on the houses as you drive by?  The giant inflatable snowmen?  Or is it when you find these gems at target?  Now, I'm way to cheap to spend $30 on two hats that will only be worn once.  However, I am nice enough to let my kids wear them while doing my shopping.  (I'm trying not to think of all the other kids whose parents were just as kind as I was and who may or may not have lice. AND... Since this was three weeks ago, I'm pretty sure the lice is a non-issue.)  

Aren't they cute?  Emmett, with his small features actually does look like a little elf to me.  

When I told them we'll have to put them back....

We also had a chance to go and see Santa.  He was a wee jolly fellow.  Shorter than me by a few inches at least.  When the little boys sat on his lap, he still looked the part.  The boys were ecstatic to see him in person.

Ahh, the Christmas season is upon us.

December came before we were ready for it.  Rob's birthday was on a Saturday but that weekend was insanely busy.  I knew that Robert was leaving on a trip on Sunday however, I thought he was leaving at 8 p.m. and not 8 a.m.  In my mind, I thought we'd be able to have his birthday dinner Sunday night, early, before he left.  I only found out that I was wrong at about 5 p.m. that day.  What made it all worse was that on Rob's actual birthday we were going to a friends house for an ugly sweater party.  So, while I was rushing around trying to get both us and the kids ready, Robert decided that he needed to cook his Birthday dinner by himself.  It was good.  But really sad.  Not only did he have to cook it all, but we had to eat it in a rush.  Sad little birthday.

To make up for it, when Robert came home, we had a proper birthday dinner made for him.

Emmett has a hard time when Rob travels.  When he gets him back, he really never wants to let go again.  I do believe that Robert spent most of his dinner in this position.

Austin had spent the whole afternoon making this ice-cream cake for Robert.  He had planned it out earlier that week, sent me to the store with a very specific shopping list and executed it jus the way he planned.  He is a mini-engineer.  I didn't realize until I looked that the picture, just how much that looked like 91 and not 41.  I think Robert feels like he is 91 some days with his poor knee/hip/shoulder problems.  However, we are happy that he is 41, with lots of years ahead of him, Old Man body or not.

Happy Birthday Robert!  

Back at Mom and Dad's we joined up with Jonathan and his family and Arianne and the kids.  We had a wonderful After-Thanksgiving meal and spent the next day playing .

On one of our walks to the creek, Austin checked up on a geocashe that he made last summer.

We spent an afternoon at the cultural hall at church.  It was a great choice because it was freezing outside (especially to us Nevadans) and there were so many kids that needed to get some energy out!

They did fun races...

played basketball and just hung out.

This picture was especially important to Ethan.  This was the first time that he was taller than Makenna.  He takes these things very seriously.  :)

Jennifer and the kids playing games.

 Unfortunately the kids had homework over Thanksgiving break.  Since Alaina has an extra class at home, she had the most to get done.  This is how happy she was to be doing it (grandpa was helping her with the math.)

This is her fake smile.   Plus...she was happy to be with all the family.

After that whirlwind of a trip, we packed up and headed back home.  I guess everyone else had the same idea since a 9 hour trip turned into a 13 hour trip.  Still.  Totally worth it.  We sure do love being with our family.