Oh Christmas Tree

Man, I loved our Christmas Tree this year. It was so big and beautiful! So what if I paid a slight fortune for it.  The boys loved it and wanted to play with the ornaments the entire time it was up. 

They were especially fascinated with the star on top. 

We started a new tradition this year... we will definitely keep it for the next few years, and hopefully longer. We let them unwrap a new book each night in December leading up to Christmas. Some of them were ones I ordered specifically for this, and some were ones I was able to find at our local book fair. 

They loved taking turns each night opening one and then reading it with our other stories for bedtime. It was a big hit!

Another Christmas project I did this year was this little nativity set I painted on little wooden blocks. I got the idea from a friend on pinterest. A kid-friendly nativity, what fun :) They boys played with it a bit...most of the time it ended up with the angels holding Baby Jesus with a camel and a sheep stacked on top of him on top of the manger. What was important was the story that went with it. They seemed to pick up on it quickly though. 

My little Lizard Whisperers :) 

Daily, we catch lizards, which they no longer call 'wizards' :( and they 'train' them to be their pets. Sounds easy enough right, but it is kind of sad to think the poor things are frozen in place due to shock and are probably on the verge of dieing as they fiddle them around on their arms and bellies. 

We definitely don't have a shortage of lizards around our yard though. 

My little dudes with their 'pets' before they get some much-needed haircuts. And just for the record... Emit likes to pick out his own outfits nowadays which is why he's wearing something about 4 sizes too big for him to play in. 

Emit always looks terrified when he's holding the lizards, but he's the first one to come running over and say he wants to hold one when one gets caught. His mind says one thing his body says another :) 

Caleb is putting another one on Joss' shoulder. You know... one lizard just isn't enough. 

This one in his hair makes me laugh.  He found a hiding spot...

To All Our Lizard Friends: 

Thank you for all the entertainment you bring to my sweet boys. They won't harm you, intentionally, and they try not to scare your tail off of you. If you don't like playing with them, I suggest staying high up in the trees... way up high or else they think you want to be their pet for the day and play with them. 

Love Your Big and Rowdy Human Friends!