We had such a fun week making memories with family & friends. Charli invited us over on Wednesday to decorate gingerbread houses. She cut out the house pieces from the scratch-made gingerbread, making her own house smell amazing. We constructed the houses while the little people eagerly awaited the decorating phase. Meanwhile, they tested all the decorating options laid out in bowls in front of them. I think they may enjoy eating candy without restriction more than they actually enjoy decorating the houses. I admired Hali as she meticulously followed a pattern by placing each candy in a specific location on her house. She even designed a rainbow front porch, adding some very nice curb appeal. Lyla & Max aren't quite to that stage of the game yet, but I guess you could say I'm looking forward to it. I should probably just make my own house if I want to be so particular about how it looks. Haha!
We joined our friend Jordyn later on in the week for a Christmas party at her school. This was extra eventful for Lyla because she got to visit a Kindergarten classroom, including real live students and even a teacher who slightly resembled Barbie. As we approached the classroom door, I watched as her bold-excitement became clouded by the undeniable shyness that exists inside. She went from asking if she could tell all the kids she is already four, to a sweet baby clinging to her momma. I have to giggle in situations like this because 1. it can be so baffling watching her disposition completely transform and 2. I know how she feels.
Max tends to have a fearless attitude and no problem adapting to new situations, especially if sugar is involved. However, I could tell he felt confused, as he wavered back and forth between mimicking his big sister [like always] and joining the party! I think Max generally chooses to copy anything Lyla is doing, but he couldn't understand why she wasn't joining the fun. She was simply too busy over-analyzing to realize she was missing out. She was like a leach to my leg for quite awhile, but she eventually warmed up and had a great time sitting at Jordyn's table enjoying the company of the other little people. She is still talking about how great it was. She claims she will be ready for Kindergarten when her time comes under the one condition that I remain in the classroom. I'm afraid that's not how it's going down, my dear child. Luckily we still have more time to build up a little courage!
We went ahead and adopted two extra children on Friday, giving their parentals the night off. It's remarkable how long Lyla & Jordyn can keep themselves entertained when they are together. They have a lot of fun together. My only gripe is Max easily gets left out of any game they are playing. He found me multiple times exclaiming the girls were being mean. Lyla is usually really good at taking her little brother under her wing, so I had to remind her the importance of that job. Poor Max eventually gave up and found more enjoyment out of helping me take care of the baby, Gianna. He is such a sweetheart to her. It sorta makes me want to have one thousand more babies, then my brain gets in a fight with my uterus, blah blah blah. It's interesting to me how jealous he used to act if I was holding another baby, whereas now he just wants to help. To my surprise, now he is very protective of his Dad. Kirk was not allowed to hold the baby. Ha!
This week also included an advent-calendar hijacking by the little brother, commonly known as Hulk Smash. I bought each of the kiddos one of those cardboard countdown calendars revealing a chocolate on each day. It's nothing special, I think we just picked it up randomly at the grocery store one day. Anyway, despite my efforts, Max destroyed his after the first few days and it was game over for him. In contrast, Lyla reminds me every morning about her calendar. We find the next number in the countdown, she enjoys the one little morsel of chocolate and then puts it away. She has been so disciplined with this silly advent calendar...more than she has with anything else in her short four years of life! I've been really impressed. Well. Somehow Max located her calendar and helped himself to every remaining closed door. We caught him red handed in my bedroom, chocolate leaking from each side of his mouth. As you could imagine, Lyla lost her mind over it. You would have thought Christmas was cancelled if we didn't complete the entire calendar properly. She was devastated, while Max basically remained clueless about the crime he committed. I had the idea to fill the empty molds with melted chocolate chips and luckily it worked to reverse Lyla's sadness. The chocolates look nothing like they did before, but for her the world is good again. We really dodged a bullet with that one.
We spent more of the weekend snuggling on the couch, watching Christmas movies. I can't say for sure what makes me happiest about Christmastime, but the assortment of festive movies is definitely high on my list. Then we celebrated [Uncle] Jordan's birthday on Sunday at the notorious Top Golf. Lyla gave him 27 kisses, followed by 27 spankings. He declined her offer for a foot massage. He's a hater like that. ;)
As always, good times with some of our favorite people!
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