Merry Christmas 2010

As I write this, the boys are stirring, the coffee is brewing, the bread is baking, the shower is running, and Christmas is about to begin for two little boys who have no memory of Christmases past and so have no idea the fun they're in for this morning.  Merry Christmas to all!

Fun at the Firefighter Museum

Last Saturday, Micah's last flag football game was (mercifully) rained out, leaving us with 20 Capri-Suns (it was our snack day) and a free Saturday morning for the first time in a few months.  What to do?  We headed to the free firefighter museum in downtown Tampa.  Sort-of-kid-friendly, lots of space to run around, and zero other people there made for a good morning.
The boys couldn't quit playing on the kids' replica fire truck.  It had a button you push to turn the lights on and start a fan that blew wind in your hair to make you feel like the truck was moving.  I can't even begin to tell you how many times they pushed that button!

Liam let Micah drive.  I love the look on Liam's face.  He has such priceless looks.  For a kid who still isn't talking much, his face often says everything.  Here it looks like he's thinking, "Is this all? Can't we make it move?"

Thankfully the ax was securely fastened to the truck.

Checking out an old fire truck.

They had a completely open upstairs that gave the boys lots of room to just run.  It was impossible to get a non-blurry picture of them, but they were having a blast!!

There was a fire pole that went down to the first floor.  The hole was covered over in plexi-glass so that you could pretend like you were going to slide down the pole, and you could check out what was happening on the floor below.  It took the kids a little while, and a lot of coaxing, to step out on to the plexi-glass.

But they did enjoy seeing Daddy look up at them from the first floor!

Liam thought this was pretty entertaining.

Micah finally got the guts to stand and hold the pole so that he could look right down at Daddy.

Micah taking another turn at the wheel.

Liam climbing up the truck all by himself.

Liam enjoying quality time with, well, Liam.

Finally Micah wasn't around long enough for Liam to get to take a turn driving and pushing the green button!

He was pretty happy about it.

On the way home, we stopped at the dump to recycle and trash some old things.  Is there a better day for two boys than firefighting and going to the dump?

Gingerbread train

Gingerbread houses were not a tradition in my house or Tim's while we were growing up, but this year I built a gingerbread train with the boys.  Earlier in the week, Micah and Liam had been particularly well-behaved and patient on a trip to Bed, Bath and Beyond with me so that I could do some Christmas shopping, and those corporate BBB rascals had this train sitting at eye level at the register.  Impulse buy for a good little boy who will take a train any way they come - and if it's edible, even better.
So we built it on Thursday night.  These things are way harder than they look. We started with the caboose.  Micah is way elated in this picture because he got to eat a crumb of the gingerbread. 

He was pretty thrilled when the engine started to come together.  Mercifully, the thing was only two cars long.

A better view of it all put together.

Micah got to start putting the candy on, which he just loved.

Liam just loved eating the candy.

The end result.  Can't you just read Liam's mind again?  "Is she looking while she's trying to take the picture?  Because I could totally snake another piece of that candy..."

Liam's first haircut

As I just said to my friend Sarah, there is a fine line between cute toddler curls and scruffy little boy mullet, and Liam finally crossed the line a few days ago.  So the whole family traipsed to Fantastic Sam's on a cold evening to watch/document Liam's first haircut.  All I have to say is, thank goodness for the food bribe.
He was pretty tentative sitting in the chair.

Seriously not so sure what was happening to him.

Looking like the tears might start flowing...

...so it was a good time to bring out the treats!  Notice how his concentration totally shifted to the food and he lost all interest in what she was doing to his head.

Micah watched the whole thing with a great deal of curiosity.  It was his turn next.

Seriously, how adorable is this picture???  And how crazy are the stylist's nails???

We forgot to get an "after" shot at the salon, but this is a side view the next day.

Posing with my mullet-less little boy.

Micah's Christmas Pagaent

Micah's Christmas Pageant was last Tuesday, and if you were in the area of First Presbyterian, you probably heard these children singing their hearts out.  Talk about putting us in the Christmas spirit!
Uncle Matt came to visit us for a few days last week so he got to come to the pageant with us and watch Micah perform. 

Here he is in his fancy Christmas suit coming in with his class.

Sitting and waiting to perform.

Daddy and Liam were waiting in the back of the sanctuary.

When he saw us, he waved, one hand in pocket as per usual.  I love it!

 

We really thought that this would be somewhat in the same vein as last year, which, if you'll recall, featured a much more stoic Micah. This year, we really made it a point to encourage him to sing loudly on stage and try to do all the motions.  

He did much better this year.

This is "Away in a Manger" at the "looked down from the sky" part.

And here's the live-action version.

All of the school's three-year-olds singing, "Jingle Bells."

Ringing his jingle bell...

...and singing the song.  He must have some Williams blood in him, as the Blacks have much better timing than Micah exhibited in this video clip.  Check out when he says "hey!" vs. when the rest of the class does!  (On a different note, notice how he grins when he spots us in the audience again.  So cute!)

Some things never change.

 The finale number was "Give Your Heart to Jesus" to the tune of "Hokey Pokey".  Here is Micah, giving his heart to Jesus. 

And here is the song with the motions.  Notice he's one of the only ones really doing them!  (Don't pay attention to him sticking his right hand in when he's supposed to be sticking his right foot in though. :)

His reward was a cookie of his choice!

Liam looked on in awe at the size of the cookie.

And a special visitor!!  Micah was a little shy, but he did manage to whisper to Santa that he wanted trucks and trains.  Do you think he's been good enough??

Uncle Matt, hanging with his nephews after the pageant.  Thanks for coming, Uncle Matt!

More t-ball pictures

Daddy helps Micah learn to hold the bat. 

Little brother watches big brother!

And on a different day, Micah gets ready to take a swing.

Making sure he's got his hands in just the right place.

A hit!!!

Running to first.  Little head, big helmet.

Telling the first base "coach" all about his hit.

Micah seemed to like t-ball.  The final three weeks of this league is flag football. It starts on Saturday.  We're hoping for the best, but not sure that our non-physical kids is going to want to play lots of football, flag or otherwise.