This is the face Leo makes when you tell him to smile:

This is the face he makes when you make fun of his "smiling" face:

Merry Christmas!

Jaxon was less than thrilled about meeting Santa.

The funny thing is that he ran right up to him,

bypassing everyone else in line,

and the freaked out when Santa picked him up.

It was kind of hilarious.

Not even a candy cane would console him.

This year was the first time that Leo was willing to sit on Santa's lap.

It was also the first year he expressed doubts about whether or not Santa is real.

He said, several times,

"Well, I believe, but I kind of don't believe."

We'll see how next year goes.

Jay has always been pretty uninterested in seeing Santa.

He asks about him a lot, but doesn't ever want to see him.

We pretty much had to force him to participate in this picture.

Pre-Christmas Festivities

A few weeks before Christmas we decorated gingerbread houses with our friends.

(They were actually Halloween houses bought on clearance.)

I was surprised at how well the kids handled the icing bags.

And Jay Alvin was in candy heaven.

I'm pretty sure he ate as many pieces as he put on his house.

They were pretty happy with the end result.

And the frosting was hard enough that it even took them a few days to get the whole thing eaten.

 I'm so glad we bought the boys a bunk bed so that they could 

sleep squished together 

on half of the bottom mattress.

I mean, it really is pretty cute.

And convenient too.

Because now we have a well-used

"napping bed"

in the dark space behind the couch.

It's a win-win really.

This boy thinks any drink with a straw should be his.

 And if you don't give it to him he will take it for himself.

And he smiles so cutely that you don't even mind.

He's Walking!

Jaxon decided today that he was ready to walk.

He let go of the chair he was holding and took 9 steps,

then stood there for a minute, turned around

and sat on the ground. 

And then he did it over and over again.

What a stinker!

(I say that because, up until now, if we so much as tried to let go of his hands

 he would just plop right down to the ground.

He refused to even try to walk on his own.)

Also, having brothers is hard and makes things more difficult.

And here's a bonus video of Jaxon trying to climb the ladder on the bunk bed:

Leo started 1st grade (nearly 3 weeks ago)!

So far he really seems to like it.

Except every time I ask him about his day he says,

"We did a lot of work. That's all

we do at this school:

just work, work, work."

He's learning Arabic, which is very exciting for Ty.

Just this week Ty came home and 

asked Leo a question in Arabic.

When Leo responded the right way I thought Ty might

pee his pants with happiness.

It's our first year dealing with school uniforms.

After the initial struggle we had to get the right stuff

it's been pretty good. 

It's definitely easy getting Leo ready in the morning,

but he hates that he has to change clothes ever day

when he gets home.

One of the options for the uniform is a white, button-up shirt.

I initially bought just one

because they have to wear them when they go on field trips

but I thought Leo would prefer the polos.

He ended up choosing it any time it was available.

I asked him why and he said,

"Well, mom, I really like science

and scientists always wear white shirts."

There's no arguing with that, so I bought 

him another one.