Adventures of Whit and John - Holiday Edition

Today I took Whit and my nephew John to the National Botanical Gardens to check out the holiday decorations and the train display since Heather had some holiday shopping to get done. I originally thought I would take them to my gym day care but I have felt that we haven't done as many holiday things as in years past and was feeling the need to be festive. I think that is in large part to Mae having school everyday. I also don't feel there seems to be as much to do here around the holidays - surely that  isn't true. I just feel that I had my Seattle holiday routine down (Swansons Nursery, Gingerbread Houses at the Sheraton, Teddy Bear Suite at the Fairmont, Conservatory, and Holiday Ships). And the Seattle things didn't seem ever that crowded. 

We got there a half hour prior to it opening and decided to play around at the base of the Capitol. The boys loved stair jumping and despite it being on the chilly side no one complained. Once the gardens opened we headed in and were thrilled by the decorations and the boys loved the trains. They sat there just watching them go around and around. It also helped that there was a Thomas train. The boys were especially smitten with throwing coins in the pond. If I had more money on me I have a feeling we could have done that ALL day long. We did the loop around the garden TWICE because they wanted to the see the trains again and we even took the elevator up to the catwalk to overlook the jungle. The boys were a pure delight, listened beautifully, and didn't destroy anything. Well, John picked a fruit off one of the trees but I told him we weren't allowed to do that and it didn't happen again. 

I had just as great of a time with these two boys as they did with each other. The decorations were beautiful and being in a warm toasty green house in the middle of winter just feels cozy and special.  

As you can tell from these photos these two boys are like peas in a pod. They love playing together and  love each other so much. As the photos show, they rarely leave each others sides. This is the reason we moved back to Virginia. 

My Little Angel

Here is a video of Mae's performance in the nativity play last night. I don't know if I mentioned that in fact she did go out for the play and insisted on a speaking roll. She was given Angel #1. She had her line nailed within the first day of practice. As you can see from the video she is talking/yelling loudly. Reason being, I told her to talk loud so that everyone could hear her. Didn't realize that she didn't know the difference between screaming and talking loud? When she recited her line everyone laughed (so did I) but I also beamed with pride at my little beautiful angel. She was so confident and perfect in every way.

In case you are wondering what she is saying she says, "Joseph do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. She will bear you a son that you will name Jesus and he will save everyone from their sins."

PS - I also realize I would make a horrible stage mom. 

A Visit with Ol' Saint Nick, Sledding, and Carols!

As my last post stated we woke up to snow on Sunday, which was then followed by an ice storm Sunday night resulting in school being canceled on Monday. Then on Tuesday morning we woke up to discover there was no school again because another snow storm was coming in that morning. Thankfully Mae had school today because it was the day of her big Christmas concert for her preschool. Here are photos of how we have been spending the last few days. Don't be fooled though, we have been watching quite a few hours of TV around this house. 

So on Monday with nothing to do but get on each other's nerves, I decided we needed to get out of the house and we were going to go visit Santa. My hope was that there wasn't going to be a long line even though everyone was off school because most people would be deterred by the ice. I was correct and there was only one other person in line when we got there. It was a great visit - meaning neither kid cried or was scared - and Mae and Whit got a lot of time to talk to Santa. He asked the kids what they wanted and Whit responded with a "race car." And Mae responded with "the princess ultimate dream castle" and a "Sleeping Beauty doll" and the Frozen dolls." I was pleased that they weren't all greedy asking for a bunch of things. They chatted with Santa about whether the had been good and if they listened to their parents. They responded by saying "most of the time." I wish it could be "all the time" but thankfully they didn't lie. 

Meeting Santa. Prior to seeing him Mae exclaimed, "that she was a little scared of Santa." To which,  I told her, "You aren't scared of anything and anyways Santa has to be the nicest person on the ENTIRE planet because he brings toys to all the kids in the world." This turned her around to talking to him. 

Official photo with Santa. 

Mae has asked for a Sleeping Beauty doll this year since she has all of the Disney princesses but her. To further emphasize her point that she needed her, she brought all her princesses with her to tell Santa they would like Aurora to join them.

As mentioned the kids didn't have school again on Tuesday. If you asked me they could have totally gone to school. It was not bad all. We took advantage of it and headed out to play in it. The only problem being I don't have a complete set of snow clothes for both the kids. I only have one good pair of pants, one good pair of gloves, and one good pair of boots. I was worried how long they would last without proper attire. Oh we also didn't have a sled. However, when we showed up someone was leaving and we asked to borrow theirs and told them we would return it to their house. So the kids took some turns down the hill and then we played in the field. We were out for about an hour and half, which by that time Mae started complaining about being cold. In fairness she didn't have proper boots or gloves and since my feet were freezing I know hers were too. 

Whit loves putting on makeup. Here is getting ready to just hang out in the house. 

After applying he loves checking himself out. 

Today was Mae's preschool Christmas concert. Holy cow was it cute. She has been singing the songs off and on for the better part of the last month so it was great to hear all the kids sing [yell] them.  You can't tell from this photo but Mae is on the bottom in a white dress with black polka dots. 

My dad with Whitaker at the concert. In order for Whit to get through the concert we had to give him two lollipops and about 4 sticks of gum. He also had a donut before the performance and after. 

Mae walking out of the gym after the concert was over. We were all so proud!