Where does all the time go?

This month is flying by and so many fun things are happening but I have no time to blog. My job has been very busy and we have a lot of evening and weekend activities this time of year and so there's very little free time! I'm counting on a few quieter weeks as the month winds down so I hope that everyone around here cooperates with my mandate. Any bets on whether or not that will happen? The kids are doing well, everyone is healthy (at this moment in time) and the house is all geared up for Christmas. We talk about Christmas a lot and the kids have helped us with some of the shopping and decorating. I can't get them to write Christmas cards though. Darnit. We've had to temper our Christmas talk because some of us have a hard time understanding timeframes. Friday morning, Will came racing and flew into the living room (naked! I don't know why!) and asked, "did Santa bring us presents last night?" He didn't take it well when I informed him that he still had two more weeks to go.

On Saturday, we took the kids to visit Santa. We talked about it in the car and Will was pretty excited. When we got there, I asked Reina if she wanted to see Santa and she clearly said "no." Big brother didn't pay attention to her wishes and grabbed her hand and marched up to Santa without looking back. Reina never made eye contact with Santa or Mrs. Claus but she did answer him when he asked her if she'd rather have crayons or a Barbie for Christmas. "BAHBIE!"

Look closely at Reina's body language. Does she want to punch Will or Santa? Santa must think that we are in the transportation business because Will talked his ear off with requests for a green semi-truck, a red semi-truck, another racecar, a policecar, etc. etc. etc. He was not shy one bit and we are now firmly in the Santa camp at the Pauley household. At this point, I don't think we'll be able to tell him when it's Christmas Eve. The kid won't sleep!

Tonight was Reina's Christmas program at Montessori. The toddler has a great little program where the kids sing a few sings, do a book exchange, eat a cookie and go home! The whole thing lasts about 45 minutes which is just within their time limits.

Reina was a little concerned as to why we were back at school. She joined her friends for the singing but didn't crack a smile the entire time. She did ring a bell with amazing proficiency. She scored a big Disney book in the book exchange which means that we'll have a whole new cast of characters for the kids to become enthralled with (Mickey, Minnie, etc.).

Finally, she grudgingly posed in her Christmas finery. I could never get her to look at the camera.
Finally, it's becoming a tradition for one of the kids to do something weird with their clothing during the Christmas program. (See last year's post about Will and his self-induced front wedgie whilst singing "Up on the Rooftop.") Reina didn't disappoint this year. She crammed most of the overskirt into her mouth while waiting her turn during the book exchange and started to recreate it while I was trying to take her picture afterwards. Ah well, good thing she's so cute!