On Friday I discovered that 103.7 was already playing Christmas music non-stop. I know how excited Riley is about Christmas so I turned the station on and we listened to it on the way to and from school. Little did I know the monster I had unleashed. On the way home from school, Riley decided that it was time to put up and decorate our tree. I tried to dissuade him, but to no avail. He's so much like me in that when he gets something in his head, he just can't get it out. So I agreed to put up the tree. For the past 7 Christmases our tree has been on a small table in the corner of the living room, behind the front door. This was great when the kids were little because it kept their hands off the tree. But this year, I wanted the tree to be more accessible to them and for Riley to be able to help me decorate it. This meant I had to slightly re-arrange our furniture for the first time since we moved into the house. I also really wanted a new tree this year, but that obviously wasn't going to happen, so I fluffed our tree to within an inch of it's life, trying to make it look as full as possible. Riley sweetly helped me decorate the tree and he and Carter on'y broke one ornament that I didn't care about anyway. The tree looks great and I am actually really happy it's already up and now our Thanksgiving weekend will be a bit calmer.
On Saturday, Chad had to work and the boys had 2 back-to-back birthday parties that they were invited to. The first was Caley's 1st birthday party and the boys had a lot of fun running around and playing.
Carter also REALLY liked his cupcake.
I didn't manage to get any pictures at the 2nd party, which was Atticus' 3rd Birthday Party. They had a bounce house in their front yard and the boys had fun playing in it. Although it took Carter a good hour to decide he actually liked playing in the bounce house.
On Sunday Chad headed to Kansas for work and I went to brunch and the nail salon with Hillary while the boys went to church and spent the day with Nana & Papa. Riley convinced Nana to put her Christmas tree up also and again he was a really big helper.
Carter also finally got the hang of what we were doing and wanted to put some ornaments on the tree also.
Nana's tree always looks so beautiful through her big front bay window. And Riley didn't know it, but by making Nana & I put our trees up a little early, he helped us ease into the hard Thanksgiving week. Jake died the Sunday after Thanksgiving in 2008 and we put my mom's tree up the day after Thanksgiving that year. Jake never made it out of his room after Thanksgiving day, and therefore, never saw the tree before he died. Each year, Thanksgiving week is especially hard. And putting up the tree, while it gets minutely easier each year, is also difficult. Mom has come a long way and I am really proud of her. I'm also really thankful this year for Riley, for being such a sweet and honest boy that unknowingly broke our tradition and in a way, will hopefully make the day after Thanksgiving not as difficult as it has been in the past.
The boys have gone to Nana's instead of school this week and they have had a lot of fun. Riley made Nana take a picture of him "sleeping" under the Christmas tree. Riley really wishes that he could meet Santa's elves and wants to go to the North Pole. In fact, the day we put up our tree, Riley also wrote his letter to Santa, where in addition to asking for a "long green train, like the Polar Express" he also asked for Santa to bring his elves with him so that Riley could see them and meet them and learn their names.
Yesterday the boys built a "rat cave" under Nana's dining room table. The table is covered with a quilt and in the cave they have a lantern, a flashlight and even a tiny Christmas tree. They had watched Ratatouille, hence the rat obsession.
Riley also informed Nana that he wanted to wear glasses and asked her if she had any glasses he could wear. Nana keeps everything so she actually had a pair of her old glasses. She popped out the lenses and let the boys wear them. Riley LOVES them. He brought his pair home with him and wore them when he woke up this morning and wore them over to Nana's. I told her that it was funny that a boy who doesn't need glasses would want them, and I had to start wearing glasses when I was 4 and I HATED them!
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