Christmas Eve Food

Party Cake from Dorie Greenspan's Baking.....the boys favorite part of the meal:).

Meat Lasagna from Lidia Bastiniach's Italian American Kitchen

Tomato Basil and Mozzarella

My meat sauce...it was SO good. I made it on Thursday.

Jon took the boys out on "errands" Christmas Eve. I had already made my sauce and lasagna, so I baked my cake. It was a huge victory for me, because I am notorious at having huge baking failures. It was white cake with lemon flavor, buttercream frosting, raspberry jam for the filling and coconut on top. It was a party cake because according the boys it was Jesus' birthday party.

We went to church at 4 and sat with friends and then headed home for a nice meal. Jon and I had already done all our wrapping, so we watched It's A Wonderful Life and just enjoyed the evening!

Jon and the Chimpanzee

The first picture is the boys on the fake turtle at the zoo. It was 70 degrees on Monday, so Daddy decided to join us at the zoo.

Jon fashions himself as a bit of a showman. So, he decided to try to communicate with this chimp at the zoo...we were in the observation deck without the glass. Jon decided to make chimp-like sounds to be funny. I am not sure if the chimp found it funny or annoying...I guess annoying...so the chimp walks down the ravine and picks up a piece of something and throws it at Jon. Then he stands up tall and watches us, picks up either poop or dirt and throws it at Jon.

The kids thought it was hilarious and we had a very nice time! The weather was amazing, it wasn't crowded at all and all the animals were out.

Santa Pic 2010

I think it's priceless. Notice how large Evan looks compared to tiny, weeping Luke;). Within 2 minutes of getting off Santa's lap, Luke was no longer crying and concerned Santa had not heard his request for an At-At Walker through his sobbing. If he has to talk to a therapist about how we forced him to sit on Santa's lap one day, at least he will have the At-At Walker to ease his sorrows.

Holiday Adventures

After Luke's holiday show, we picked up Evan from school and headed to lunch....the boys chose Einstein's Bagels. After lunch we headed to the Galleria to see Santa. I will upload a picture, but let's just say Luke was less than enthused. The good news is that last year he was crying and picking his nose, this year just crying...surely that's progress.

The boys picked out a Christmas cookie and we tried to enjoy the very busy mall;).

The boys voted to go see Yogi Bear. Honestly, it was less than entertaining. Okay, I could have taken a nap if I were not responsible for rationing out gummi bears and popcorn.

We had a really fun afternoon and let the boys talk us into looking at Christmas lights after dinner and baths!

An old friend returns home

This is enough for a CSI episode. Right around Thanksgiving Luke's special brown dog disappeared. We looked everywhere, called everywhere we had been, asked at school and promised to get him a new one. There were lots and lots of tears. Brown dog had been bought by Jon at the hospital gift shop for Evan after he was born. Evan never really attached himself to him, but he was adopted by Luke.

When we went to congratulate Luke after his holiday show, he casually told us that brown dog was safely in his backpack and had simply gone to visit Lila(his classmate and friend) at her house for awhile. We thought he was kidding, but Brown was in his backpack and had been found in Lila's backpack. Lila's mom had no idea and Luke was sure, he just wanted to have a sleepover at Lila's for awhile.

We are very happy to have our Brown Dog back home with us....his brother "Tan Dog" will be appearing in Luke's stocking(as close to a replacement as I could find):).

Luke's Holiday Program

Post performance euphoria

He's in there somewhere...

There he is in the reindeer sweater!

Warm-up!

Luke did a great job at his holiday show....he sang every song and danced with lots of enthusiasm!

Evan was a school, so Jon and I got to show up extra early to get front row seats. He was absolutely adorable. Well, he was adorable for a 3 year old...my most favorite age ever (can you sense the sarcasm):).

Jon did lots of video and he will upload it in the next couple days.

Luke and Mommy have a sick day...

I felt under the weather all day on Wednesday...well all week really. Last night it hit me with a sore throat, fever and just general yuck.

Evan went to school, but Luke and I were together all day. When Evan was this age and I was sick with him(or both of them), it was a disaster. I would count down the moments until Jon came home or he went to bed. Luke is my cuddle bug and movie lover. So, we laid on the couch for most of the day watching movies and snoozing. Of course it included the 50th go-round of Empire Strikes Back, but we also did Beauty and the Beast, The Jungle Book and Toy Story2.

I am still feeling run down, but much better after napping most of the day. Being sick AND taking care of kids is not one of the best parts of being a Mommy.