PCL partay.

matt's company christmas party was this saturday.

it was really fun to get dressed up all fancy and go on a date with my favorite boy.

matt looked especially charming in his light-up christmas sweater.

we left our kids with our friends jordan and james.

chet had been excited to go spend the night with their kids for a couple weeks.

so i wasn't overly stessed about him.

but holden is kinda clingy these days, and he is a tad bit on the destructive side, so i worried more about him.

but, as far as we know, the kids did really good. which i was so happy to hear.

although, james did say "holden is.... active!"

haha but, like i said, i'm not really surprised by the comment. only that he didn't use a stronger word like "a nuisance'!"

since moving to california, 8 months ago, matt and i have only gotten away from our kids when we have had family in town.

[in april, june, and october]

so this was truly a treat!

thank you green family! we owe ya.

the party was down in huntington beach.

which means it was about 60 miles away.

we left ourselves just over an hour to get there.

but it took us 2!

ugh. LA traffic is a beast.

luckily, we only missed the cocktail part of the party.

which we weren't super enthused about anyways.

the rest of the night was a fancy dinner, dance, and fake casino.

PCL handed out fake money to everyone and we got to use to win [wait for it] more fake money!

so we figured we may as well give it a go.

since we don't know the first thing about most casino style games, we picked roulette.

we figured it didn't take much skill.

and, after playing, i would like to change my opinion to: it takes absolutely no skill.

but perhaps i am just saying that because matt destroyed me!

matt works for a great company. and he works with really fun people.

it will be exciting to see what the new year brings.

and, just for kicks, here is a picture of that 'active' little boy of ours.

thanksgiving in texas.

this thanksgiving post is late because i am ipad illiterate.
long story short, our pictures from texas are on our ipad [not on my laptop, like every other picture we have] and it took me a ridiculous amount of time to figure out how to get them on here.
ipad's are cool and all, but i still like my good ol' laptop.
and yes, i realize that statement makes me really uncool.

anywho..
as i have been watching the horrid weather that calgary has been enduring this winter, any doubts i have had about moving away from there seem to fly away.

far, far away.

i do not miss that.

not one bit.

last night we made hot chocolate to take with us to go see christmas lights. it was 21C/70F.
and chet thought the world was ending when i made him walk tank the other night in 11C/52F degree weather.
we are going to die in calgary!
and this wimpy-ness does not just apply to the kids and i.
matt is softening up real quick too!

we were in texas for thanksgiving this year.

we did the traditional 'go around the table and say what you're thankful for' thing as we ate our turkey dinner.

and - of ALL people - matt was the one to say he was thankful for the weather.

he said something along these lines: ' i am thankful to be some place where there is no snow'.

what?!

who are you? and what have you done with my husband?

i thought he was being sarcastic... but he wasn't. dead serious.

i find him even more attractive after hearing those words come out of his mouth.

and i found him pretty well irresistible before that, so this is a big deal.

we flew to houston on wednesday night.

we were told that the wednesday before thanksgiving is the busiest day at LAX.

awesome.

but the airport was surprisingly painless.

we gave ourselves plenty of extra time to get to our gate, and ended up spending most of it walking around the terminal.

easy peasy.

the actual plane ride was a little trickier.

chet is at a perfect traveling age.

give him a window seat, a couple snacks, and an ipad, and he is a happy camper.

holden was the tricky part.

he doesn't like sitting still.

ever.

like, never.

so he was constantly squirming around in the teensy little space between the rows.
which, of course, resulted in some head-bonking and some meltdowns.

the flight was certainly do-able, but i would be traveling back alone with the boys, and watching how busy holden kept both matt and i made me feel stressed.

especially because the return flight was about 45 minutes longer.

stupid head wind.

but, seeing as how i am writing this, you can see that i did, indeed, survive the flight alone.

my 8,000 prayers were answered when holden fell asleep for about an hour.

yay! 1 hour down. 3 to go.

another huge blessing was the lady who was lucky enough to share our row with us.
i knew the plane would be full, but i still let myself hope that we would get the row to ourselves.
not necessarily for my sake, but for the other person's.

i am always so stressed flying with kids.

but i feel like i hear so many stories about kind people helping out with busy kids on planes, and i am never the exception.
once again i had the answer to my prayers sitting right next to me.

people like my helpful stranger always make me want to be better at acting when i see an opportunity to serve.

holden decided the best time to take a dump would be while we were taxiing out to the runway.

which meant anyone within 10 rows of us was treated to the stench of holden poop while we reviewed our safety brochures, sat in line behind a couple other aircrafts for our turn to take-off, and waited for the captain to turn off the seatbelt light once we reached the appropriate cruising altitude.

that felt like the longest 20 minutes!

i didn't really know what the acceptable thing to do is when you have 2 kids on an airplane and one needs to hit up the potty.

there is hardly room for 1 person is those deathtraps.

2 is pushing it.

3 is just absurd.

 so i made the decision to leave chet in his seat that was 8 rows from the potty.

[don't judge me! i now realize that i should have put one of those trusty flight attendants to work as chet's babysitter.
but i was too focused on the poo smell at the time.]

i knew chet wouldn't be thrilled at the idea of me abandoning him [duh], but apparently he ended up being more sad then i had anticipated.

and, when i returned to my seat, chet was wrapped in a blanket, sitting on our plane-neighbor's lap.

she didn't speak a word of english. literally, not one.

so i did this super awkward thank you thing, [ie. nodding, smiling, hand movements, etc] and plopped chet back in his seat.

an hour later, chet was the one who needed to use those lovely facilities.

so i kindly asked the lady if she would let us out of our row. again.

i picked up holden, and instructed chet to follow close behind me.
when i got to the front, i turned around to make sure chet was there, and he was.. in the arms of that same lady!

she had picked up chet and followed me to the front of the plane!

i was kind of caught of guard, but really grateful.
at that point, i still hadn't figured out where holden would go while i was helping chet.
now i didn't have to worry.

i used my best hand gestures to explain that chet was the one who needed to go potty.

so she put chet down and put her arms out for holden.

i knew he would cry. and cry he did!

but she handled it all so calmly. classy lady.
she also helped me when our plane landed.
i honestly can't bloody stand the people on an airplane who are sitting behind me and, for some ridiculous reason, think that if they smush themselves into the aisle i will actually let them off the plane before me.
in. your. dreams. buck-o.
we will be exiting this plane in an orderly fashion. starting with row 1, then 2.. and so on.
if you need help counting, i will help you.
if you try and cut in front of me, trust me, i will take my sweet time gathering my stuff.
[too much?!]
my new friend helped me gather my stuff, helped us deal with the crazy aisle smushers, and carried chet (again!) off the plane.
what a nice lady.

she made it about 900 times easier for me to deal with my kids during those tricky moments.
thank you plane-friend, where ever you may be!

we had tons of help with our kids while we were in houston too.
it was such a treat!
spending time with family is always nice.

some of the highlights from our trip included:

spending extra time with my hubby.
watching chet and holden play with their cousins.
my parents took all the bigger kids too see the movie 'frozen'.
walking around the mall with my sister.
turkey dinner - ben treated us to 2 different kinds of turkey.
our little makeshift turkey bowl.
playing outside in a yard and on a driveway.
playing basketball with the kids. i forgot how much i love that sport.
going on walks to see christmas lights.
going to see an enormous christmas light display at college station. amazing.
not having to wake up at 4am for my daily run.
making homemade christmas ornaments.
staying up all hours of the night chatting and laughing.
family!

[ben's gonna hate me.]

holden wasn't nearly as enthused as london about holding hands.

can you believe he is 15 months YOUNGER!?

see the white specs in the middle of the lake?

those are ducks.

the kids tossed an entire loaf of bread into the lake and the dumb ducks refused to act the least bit interested.

perhaps there was a reason why the ducks wouldn't come close..?

chet loved being around all of his cousins, of course, but he especially fell in love with bailee this trip.
she was so sweet to him.
chet talks about 'bay-wee' all the time!

this christmas light festival we went to was amazing!
it was well worth the trip to see it.
2 things especially stood out to me about the event. it was:
1. very christian.
which was surprising, after spending the last 8 months in southern california, where such a thing would never happen.
2. it was very prideful.
which didn't surprise me in the least.
God bless texas!
[see..]

fake snow.

the line up to see the real santa was painfully long, and out in the cold, so we got our picture with this guy instead.

it was not quite the same!

santa.

PCL has 2 christmas parties every year - 1 for families with kids, and 1 for just adults.

since we have kids  [and are adults]  we get to attend both. jackpot.

i knew having kids would pay off one day.

the kid party was this past weekend.

it was quite the event.

the party was mickey mouse themed. our boys loved that.

we came home with a wide variety of mickey mouse stuff. just what i wanted!

they had crafts, a marionette show [yep, those apparently still exist. and yep, they are what nightmares of made of.], and santa!

and not just any santa. the - hands down - best santa we have ever seen.

holden hated santa this year.

chet loved him.

i really thought it would be the other way around.

but i think chet liked santa this year because he was calling up each child by name and handing them elaborate gifts.

that santa actually stole our big gift idea for holden. rude!

so we had to come up with a new idea.

this is a not-great picture of some of the newer kids in the LA district of PCL.

teddy bear toast.

this morning i made some teddy bear toast for breakfast.

i found the cute idea on pinterest a while back, and i thought it would be a fun way to start our saturday morning.

i thought it would make my boys think i was this really fun mom.

but i was wrong.

wrong. wrong. wrong.

chet instantly fell in love with the bear.

so much so, that when we told him he needed to eat it, he lost his mind.

tears started flowing, and he down right refused to eat that bear.

unfortunately, we were in a hurry.

matt's work was hosting a kids christmas party this morning, and we had to leave for it right away.

so our patience was pretty thin.

we tried our best to explain that the bear wasn't a real bear.
and that he would not be sad if chet ate him.
we told him we could make another bear tomorrow.
we tried to make a game out of it.
but nothing worked.
so then we just flat out told chet he had to eat the bear, or he wouldn't be attending the party.
and then things went down hill even faster.
he sobbed and sobbed.
he could hardly breath.
over a bear.
no, over a piece of toast that looks like a bear.

why is this happening?!

and matt was all frustrated because he hates being late for things.

[which is actually pretty bad luck, because he married me - who is late for everything.]

and i was all upset because my - what was supposed to be a really nice gesture - is now the reason why my husband is annoyed, and why my son thinks i am a monster.

and chet was just beyond repair by this point... torn between eating an innocent bear and missing out on a party he has been looking forward to for weeks.

ugh.

and the whole time, holden is quietly sitting at the table, chowing down on his food.

like a normal child.

in the end, chet's breakfast went in the trash.

instead, he ate a banana in the car on the way to the party.

and that, my friends, is the last time i try and make breakfast fun.

gingerbread house.

we made our gingerbread house last night.

the whole time matt was concerned about the structural integrity of our house,

chet was stressed because it didn't look exactly like the house on the box,

and holden and i just wanted to eat frosting..

what a bunch!

 we all had a lot of fun.
and matt and i agree that this is our best looking gingerbread house yet.

before:

after:

soccer is done.

chet finished up soccer the weekend before thanksgiving.

it was a 10 week season.

of the 10 weeks, chet was nervous for 6 of them.

'nervous' meaning he wanted matt or i to be beside him all the time.

not on the sideline. beside me.
we tried bribing him to be more independent with slurpees and donuts.
[excellent parenting, i know!]
but it didn't work. and that was fine.

if we had've been the only parents out on the field, it would have been awkward.

but there were always a couple other parents out on the field with their kids.

and any of the parents who weren't on the field were right on the sideline.

i suppose that is to be expected with such young kids...?

we were out of town for the 7th week of the season.

and, when we returned for the 8th week, chet was suddenly a new man.

all of a sudden he was fine playing by himself.

it was so fun to watch!
i'm happy we ended the season on such a good note.

we have some really great footage of the kids playing a little scrimmage and chet is running in circles on the wrong side of the field.
soo.. he hasn't quite reached his fullest soccer potential yet.
but he was happy!

i should mention that holden was a good sport about soccer.
he attended all of his brother's practices.

painting.

holden got to try painting for the first time yesterday.

i figured he would like getting messy, and i was right!

he did not hold back.

i had fun watching him go nuts.

i didn't necessarily like watching him make a gigantic mess...

but i did like watching him experience something new.

and i sure like the new art work we have hanging on our fridge today.

nativity.

we decorated for christmas on monday night.

we pulled out our christmas box [not plural], turned on christmas music, and got the season started.

our tree is nice and homely looking. again.

but we love it.

chet was in charge of setting up a little nativity.

i thought how he did it was so sweet.

he set up each piece so it was facing baby Jesus, even though that meant you couldn't see their faces from the front.

smart boy.

pillsbury.

last night, we made some of those pillsbury rolls to go with our dinner.

the kind that come in that exploding tube.

where you have to nervously pull back the paper wrapping and wait for the inevitable.

the kind that, even though i know exactly what will happen, i still stress about.

i feel like buddy, in the movie elf, when he has to test all the jack-in-the-boxes.

you just never know when it's gonna get ya.

talk about anxiety.

i hate those things.

could you tell?

so, when it came time to open up that dang package last night, i called chet into the kitchen to help me.

he likes to help. [most of the time].

he was excited when i told him that if he pulled the paper, the can would 'pop!'.

i showed him exactly what he needed to do, and then i scooted back away from him, and cringed, as i watched him slowly tear the paper.

tear... tear... tear.

nothing.

the tube never popped.

of course it didn't.

i am pretty confident i was being punished for recruiting my 3 year old to do my dirty work.

in the end, i had to go in and push on the can until it burst.

and, even after all that time to mentally prepare, i still jumped.

stupid pillsbury.

oh, holden.

this morning, when i went in to get the boys out of bed, the canvas that is hung on the wall behind holden's crib was on the floor, there were fresh teeth marks on the edge of his crib, and there was stuffing all over the floor from the puppy he sleeps with.

awesome.

holden was smiling.

and, on the other side of the room, chet was teary eyed. quite upset about what had gone down.

how are these 2 so different?! it boggles my mind.

the other day, i turned my back for all of 3 minutes and holden had climbed on our kitchen table.

our ikea kitchen table.

no one should ever stand on ikea furniture. so sketchy.

chet would never.
and not because he knows the rule about not standing on ikea furniture,
just because it's not his thing.

but *somehow* these boys are such cute buddies.

their brother relationship is adorable.

it's not perfect, that's for sure. chet has serious sharing issues with his brother.

but it is already obvious that, deep down, they love each other.

and i hope that is always the case.

the other day, i watched as i pushed them to the park in our double stroller.

chet fed holden snacks and fixed his hoodie every time it slid off his head.

my heart melted.

chet is always excited when holden is finally done his nap, and he likes to make silly faces at holden across the dinner table to make him laugh.

holden always joins chet when he is sent to time out - he sits next to chet's chair and waits it out with him.

the boys are at the stage where they like to wrestle with each other.

[ie. take turns climbing on top of each other.]

yesterday, they built a big pile of blankets and pillows to wrestle on.

holden followed chet from room to room, gathering anything soft they could find.

holden didn't really get what they were doing - he just picked up whatever he found along the way, and tossed it in the pile - but he was happy to be helping his big brother.

chet is learning some of the perks of having a little brother.

last week i told chet he could have a treat after he ate all the strawberries from his lunch.

he stalled.. and stalled. and then realized that his little brother would eat them for him.

holden. eats. everything.

so he fed his strawberries to holden and then brought me his empty plate in exchange for his treat.

 [i may have let that one slide, because it was too funny!]

[sorry for all the creepy red eyes.]