Crime of Opportunity

I was busy painting the adjacent room of our home, when I returned to find the following items ransacked and stolen:

The suspect is approximately 3ft tall and 30lbs - with curly blonde hair and brown eyes - and was last seen wearing blue ruffle-butt pants and a Frozen hooded towel.

'Twas the Season

It was going to be 'Tis the Season - but true to the season itself, there was so much going on that I never got around to posting these.

However~

Younger Brother lives for this time of year!  His joy and enthusiasm for Christmastime are infectious!  And I couldn't possibly let it slip by without sharing a glimpse into his world and the one he creates for us here.

I love this kid!

~~~

I really have zero interest in putting up outdoor lights.  Not because I don't like having them, but just because I don't like being cold - and it's usually cold.  Younger Brother, on the other hand, couldn't care less. He'd be thrilled to do it if it were 5 degrees outside, so I'm happy to hand over the job.

Luckily, we did get a few nice days about a week before Thanksgiving, and he came to us and asked if he could put up some lights.  We said, "sure" - on one condition:

It couldn't be hodgepodge; it had to look nice.

I should know better by now than to grant permission to Younger Brother to do anything under only one condition.

Not 15 minutes later, I looked out of an upstairs bedroom window and saw him in his climbing gear, fully harnessed, and belaying out of the tree - wrapping the branches in lights on the way down.

        I can't say I've seen lights put up in quite this fashion, but I suppose it makes sense.
And he did anchor himself at least, right?

He completed that task without incident and moved on to the house.

Being that Younger Brother does everything at "maximum enthusiasm" capacity,  I thought this shot of his radio (which was projecting music across the yard from the All Christmas All the Time channel) next to his climbing harness was rather poetic.

"THIS IS NOT A STEP"

Except when it is.

He did pay very close attention to detail - 

making sure everything was evenly spaced.

Per usual, his adventures were closely followed by his most loyal spectator,

who was super excited, not about the lights, but about the reanimation of

Frosty!

This snowman has been a beloved part of our holiday decor since Younger Brother received him as a gift when he was a toddler.

In fact, I know there are posts on the blog from way back when Frosty used to take up residence in our living room.

Speaking of living rooms, Younger Brother decorates both inside and out.

He is in charge of the lights on our tree, the girls' tree, his own tree, and general decor.  Every year he turns the room he and Bubs share into quite the Christmas wonderland.

This picture (taken last year) is one of my all-time favs.

It was the first time we lit the tree in YB and Bubby's room and he was in awe.

I'm so glad I stopped in the midst of the bedtime chaos to capture it!  I wasn't so sure at the time.

Along with the tree in their room, there is a light-up train painting, a giant snowflake, multiple strands of lights trimming the perimeter,  

and (new this year) icicle lights on the door frame.

Bubby was a spectator for that too.

In addition to the main tree in the dining room, he added lights around the back door and set up a Star Shower for the ceiling and walls. The Star Shower is really intended for outdoor use, but he decided the moving lazer light show was much more effective inside than out - and less likely to get stolen as some of the others in the neighborhood did.  Plus, it makes dinnertime way more fun.

I told Younger Brother I would take a picture of the outside of the house, and I was really hoping I would be able to do it when there was snow on the ground.  The snowfall we had on Princess A's birthday turned out to be perfect!  I love the moonlight on the trees and the snowman keeping watch in the yard.

Of course, it seemed a little less magical at the time, with Biggest Brother (who accompanied me because it was dark and I'm a chicken) facetiously groaning, 

"Mommm, why do you make me come outside with you in the middle of the night to take pictures of Christmas lights?  You know it's like 20 degrees right?  Oh my gosh, you're taking more?!?! What, were they not smiling the first time???"

But look how pretty!

This year's decor was anything but hodgepodge.

Thanks, Younger Brother!  

Christmas spirit increases ten fold when you're at the helm!!!

Disruption Junction

Question:  How many toddlers does it take to irrevocably disrupt a one-room schoolhouse?

Answer: 1

Don't let the Magna Doodle fool you.  She was not, in fact, writing with it.  Rather, she was "walking it" around the room by the string like a dog about thirty seconds prior to this.

Baby Sis is a master of distraction.  

I love her dearly.

That's probably why she's a master of distraction; I've gone soft by her spot in the birth order.

Still, it is pretty astounding how skilled she is at her trade.

Last week, while engaging in independent play, she pulled out the oven drawer and marched on the stack of cookie sheets inside, made cymbals out of the stock pan lid, completely disassembled the Mr. Coffee, and required relocation to another part of the house entirely in order for the big kids to hear their science video.

At that point, the big kids were 3 minutes and 22 seconds into the video.  3 minutes! 

How is that even possible?!

Today, she got chewy granola bar stuck to the couch, had a saltine cracker picnic on the stairs with the dog, made two siblings scream, "Mommy!," had an award-winning Edward Scissorhands moment

(those last two might have been related),

"walked" the Magna Doodle,

and ran the schoolroom pencil sharpener for a reeeeally long time - mostly on erasers.

So basically, I'm thinking it's a really good thing this is the kids' current memory verse!
We're certainly getting lots of practical application this week!

Nap Evaders

Unfortunately, nap time means having to take the "Let It Go" towel off of your head.

And this is not ideal.

Luckily, I'll never spot them in here!

See?

No clue where they went!

Rainy Day

The back of this rain jacket pretty much sums up life with my dear toddler this week.  Holy moly!  In fact, everyone has been in need of some time out - in one fashion or another.

 I'm pretty sure our kids have been suffering from a perfect storm of cabin fever, Day After Christmas Syndrome (who knew that was a real thing, ha), too little structure, and waaay too much sugar.

In any event, I have been pretty much a glorified referee from the time my eyes have opened until bed. 

And actually, I discovered this week that my eyes don't, in fact, have to be open at all, as I was approached to resolve a dispute over a bad My Little Pony trade deal before I had even achieved vertical status for the day.   

But just when I was starting to think I should get a whistle so I could at least referee from one spot, we got just what we needed - 

a rainy, warm day!

I don't even care if it's raining.  If it's not freezing, we're out!

First, we walked Libby - who is the sweetest dog on the planet - but the most backward, impossible-to-walk canine ever created.  She stops literally every seven feet and digs in her heels with staunch, elderly dog entitlement.  And my left arm brings me to a screeching halt while Bubs and Baby Sis pull away from my right and scatter like chicks in opposite directions - usually in the street.  It's tons of fun.

I knew better than to attempt to bring my camera for that.  And I wasn't actually going to bring it at all - until we dropped Libs off and walked over to our favorite bridge, and the kids were playing, and they all looked so cute in their raincoats and boots.  Then I may have caved and called Biggest Brother to bring it over to me.  :)  

But look!  How could I have missed capturing that precious face?!

She was so happy.

Playing in the rain was exactly what she needed!

Even the big girls aren't too big for that.

They were loving the way their running, rainboot-clad feet sounded like a herd of horses.

Bubs loves anything gross.  Most relevantly, trying to stick his hand down a backed-up drain to see what he could pull out.  Blech!  That's like reaching into after-dinner dishwater to unplug the sink - except you don't know what was for dinner.  No!

Apparently, making faces gives one a distinct advantage in games of Red Light Green Light.

Baby Sis is quite good at making faces.

Bubs enjoys it much more than our fellow parishioners probably do, so we're working on that.  ;) 

 All of these matching lefts and rights were totally worth the hour it took to find them!

We arrived home with a couple of wet, happy, sleepy, small humans, a much more peaceful house, and loads of gratitude for a warm, rainy day.

Thank goodness!