Christmas morning!

Every Christmas with the boys just gets more and more fun. This morning was just wonderful.

The boys got up around 6:45, but I made them stay in bed til 7 because I’m mean like that. Last year I got up before them (miracle) and was able to have coffee and turn on the fireplace channel before they got up. I was kind of hoping that would happen again this year. Not so much. Oh well.

First, they opened their stockings and got their presents from Santa.

Checking out stockings

Reese’s Pieces!

Miles was excited about the snowman he asked Santa for.

What’s this?

Santa really hopes the boys will play outside more now.

Then, in the most heart-melting part of the day, they opened their gifts from each other. I’ll let the photos speak for themselves.

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The rest of the morning was spent opening the rest of the gifts, and then I cooked, and all of the grandparents came over, and we ate a ton of delicious food, and then after they left, I went to Steph’s house to hang out with friends and drink wine.

More random pics from the day:

The necklace George gave me. Love it!

A frenzy of gift opening.

Saying hi to Granny

Gifts from my Mom and Larry. Perfect!

MORE PRESENTS!

My date cake came out of the bundt pan perfectly.

Christmas ornaments from Granny and Grandpa

A bottle from my own little troublemakers.

Such a great Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Photo by the wonderful Christina Childress.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Nothing says Christmas like snowmen, candy canes, and Creepers.

Monthly photos from 2014

Because, well, I’m me, I’ll be posting a lot of year-end recap posts. It’s just the way I am, man.

First up, the monthly picture recap!

It’s weird, I feel like they don’t look any older from the first picture to the last. Maybe a bit taller, but otherwise not very different. And so it goes as kids get older…

Christmas fun with my boys

Yesterday, the boys and I had a fun Christmas adventure that hardly involved any whining or tears. It’s a holiday miracle! But truly, it was a wonderful day with my boys, and lucky for you…I brought my camera.

We took the ferry over, which we haven’t done much lately since it costs so much for us to make a round trip ($2 per person, each way) but it is way more fun than driving.

Posing at the big tree by the ferry terminal

First, we went to Christmas in the District, which is held in the Convention Center. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I knew there’d be a Santa. Well, it was awesome. One thing that wasn’t there that I was anticipating was crowds. It was the Sunday before Christmas and it was dead. There were no lines for anything. It was nice, but also made me a little sad.

Visiting the giant Santa

Miles running

Linus running

Giant fire!

Don’t get burned!

They loved this guy

It was great. Santa was there with his elves, as well as a snowman who chased the kids around and Mr Bingle. There were inflatables and a rock climbing thing…

Inflatables…

Rock climbing.

Not very high.

Oliver gives it a try.

Sure looks like he got up there, eh?

Don’t be fooled.

At least he had fun.

MR BINGLE!!!!

…and amazing gingerbread houses and a really cool wall of beads that the boys got to contribute to. (Another one made the Guinness Book of World Records, and they’re trying to beat that, so maybe the boys will be a tiny part of making it!)

Linus’s favorite was this one of the inside of Galatoire’s

Beautiful decor

Ollie loved the Superdome (it was very impressive)

My favorite was the replica of the Roosevelt Hotel, complete with their famous lobby decor

Miles loved this one

Adding beads

It’s Natchitoches, in beads!

Natchitoches!

After Christmas in the District, we hit the Riverwalk (a mall that recently re-opened as an outlet mall) and did a little Christmas shopping for Daddy. And some cookie eating.

We got on the ferry, where a nice (or drunk post-Saints loss) man paid for our ferry fares. Yay!

I’d like to say the evening finished quietly, but no, after that, we drove to the mall and searched for new sneakers for the boys. Didn’t get home til 9. Exhausting. But the boys started camp today, and Miles and I are going to have some one-on-one time this evening so he can get shoes and a gift for Linus.

Yeah, this year we’re starting a thing where the boys will pick out a gift for one brother (Miles for Linus, Linus for Oliver, Oliver for Miles – only because I’m cheap are they not getting gifts for both brothers.) We’ll see if they’re able to resist picking out something they really want instead. Ha.

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My heart is not going to survive this school year. Miles informed me this morning that his class is learning FIVE dances this year. The Merengue was just a start. They learned SWING already. Can you even imagine?!? This is too much.

Dancing Miles

This afternoon, I got to watch Miles’s class perform a dance they’ve been practicing for a while. What might you expect from a class of first graders? Square dancing? Maybe a waltz or a line dance?

Betcha wouldn’t have guessed the Merengue, eh?

They performed twice, so I was able to take photos the second time around.

Since I’m going to Spain next month, I guess I’ll have to get Miles to teach me his moves. So I’ll fit in and everything.

One week to go

So I’m assuming this is the last year the boys are going to believe in Santa. I mean, I could be wrong, but either way, we’re in the home stretch. It’s hard to believe their childhood has gone so fast. I know that sounds dramatic, but not believing in Santa kind of seems like the end of that truly innocent childhood era and on to more cynical times. Maybe I’m being a little dramatic.

Anyway, one the boys had mentioned (I think it was Linus, and it’s indicative of this problem that I can’t remember exactly who told me this) that he didn’t want the same present as his brothers. It’s become habit to either get three of the same thing (so everything is fair) or three equivalent, coordinating things (three different video games, three different stuffed animals, three different books.)

But he wanted something different. Something just for him, (you know, now that I think about it, maybe it was Oliver) something that only he wanted, not something that his brothers got as well.

Case in point: my brother sent three gifts for the boys. Three completely different gifts, all meant to be shared amongst them. But when the boys saw three completely different packages under the tree, they decided they each wanted to pick one for themselves.

So I let them each claim one of the gifts, but it’s not exactly the same as choosing a totally different present for each kid.

But no problem, I can do that. That’s easy! I’ve spent the boys’ entire childhood trying to treat them like individuals. Most of the time, they weren’t dressed alike. They’re in different classes. They played different sports. But when it came down to knowing right off the bat what Oliver would prefer, what Miles would like, and what Linus would want. Read More

Christmas card fail

I totally under-ordered. In lieu of ordering more cards (they’d have to be crappy ones to get them in time) I’ll post some more photos from the session we did with Christina Childress last month. (Dallas people, get her to photograph your family! You will not regret it!)

Well, there’s the one in my blog header. There are a few in a “series” that I absolutely adore. Giggling, happy boys. Natural smiles. Love!

And here are a couple more…

And here’s my new over-the-fireplace display, with a couple of the aforementioned pics of the boys. The canvases were from Groupon, so the color isn’t as gorgeous as they should be. Those will be replaced with better quality prints soon enough.

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A post shared by Pam Kocke (@pyjammy)

(oh, and Happy Birthday Grandee!)

Friday five

1. I am feeling somewhat, mostly better. Still haven’t heard back from my doctor about the results of my bloodwork, and since it’s now 2pm on Friday, I don’t expect to. I have a follow up appointment next Thursday. By which point I’ll be feeling ship-shape, I’m sure. Hmm.

2. I think I’m about done Christmas shopping for the boys and George. That’s always nice. I wrapped a few gifts and put them under the tree, so now we are all festive ‘n’ stuff.

3. Speaking of Christmas, Maury-Frank is still “at the North Pole.” The boys haven’t really mentioned him in a week or two (I planned on bringing him out the morning after the boys’ party, but I was feeling like crap, and I forgot, and no one seems to care) so I could probably just get away with leaving him “at the North Pole” (the top of the closet in the playroom) but I think George would be disappointed. So maybe I’ll put him out this afternoon so they can see him when they get home. Otherwise I’ll forget again tonight and this cycle will just continue.

I do suspect this is the last year we will be able to get away with the elf-as-behavioral-modification, so I may as well drag him out.

4. At the beginning of the month, we had the New Orleans Moms Blog holiday gathering. It was pretty awesome, because we got a ton of great stuff. I’m really excited about my Mardi Gras scarf from Loomed (I’ve been wanting one for aaaages) and these glasses from Catstudio. So cute! Of course, I’m terrified to use them, I’m so clumsy.

(You can see everything we got here. And enter to win it all for another week!)

5. I forgot to post pictures of the Creeper lanterns I made for the boys’ party. Here you go. (I know, I should have made this a Friday Four post instead.) (Also you can see the banner I made for their first birthday.)

The 7th birthday party!

This is a really hard post to write. I don’t mean emotionally, I mean physically. This is going to sound ridiculous, but I have some kind of crafting injury. I spent some time Friday working on a big decoration for the party, and by that night, my left wrist and thumb, and a couple of the fingers on my right hand, as well as my left ankle, were in pain. Enough pain that I had to cancel an outing to a birthday party that evening.

The next morning, both wrists and thumbs and more fingers were affected, as well as both ankles. No idea what was going on – were my ankles sore from getting on and off chairs? And also my left shoulder, what was that about? I felt like I’d been hit by a car, or maybe had run a marathon on my hands. It felt a lot like muscle soreness from overuse. Pretty awful. Sunday I woke up feeling even worse, but since I’d kind of figured out on Saturday that moving kept the pain at bay, I just kept busy all day. Not hard, since I had so much birthday party prep to do.

But I was exhausted by nighttime, and the pain intensified. Woke up this morning, got the boys off to school, took a leftover painkiller from my surgery, and passed out. Took the day off work so I wouldn’t have to type all day (except to write this post, of course) and am feeling much better just for getting a solid four hour block of sleep. Hopefully I’m on the road to recovery now.

Shoot, this post wasn’t supposed to be about me, but about the boys’ birthday party!

It was great. Basically the same party as last year – rented a bounce house and a popcorn machine, ordered a stack of pizzas, filled a pinata, and let the kids play and the adults hang out. The boys got to invite 5-6 friends each from their classes, and there were kids from the neighborhood there too. Lots of fun was had by all. 🙂

Pictures!