Grandma and Grandpa arrived on the 23rd to spend the holiday weekend with us.  As usual, as soon as they arrived to the house, Logan brought out the chess game to battle Grandpa.  He was so proud that he was close to beating Grandpa.  On the 24th, we hung out with the grandparents in the house and we also did our final preparation for Christmas.  I bought a box of gingerbread ninja cookie mix; other than some initial issue with the icing, we managed to make some yummy and cute cookies for Santa.  The boys also helped me make some other treats too.  During the day, we had a nice little visit from Karen and Kyle; it was great to catch up with Karen briefly.  In the evening, the boys became more excited and were counting down to bedtime.  They set out some cookies and milk for Santa before going to bed. 

   Logan came into our room on Christmas morning first and was thrilled to wish us Merry Christmas.  We then woke Connor up and quickly had a breakfast.  We opened the stockings first and were happy to see some cool little gifts.  When the rest of us were ready, we gathered to start opening all the presents under our tree.  The boys were excited; they tried to slow down the process and distributed some gifts to grandparents and us in between theirs.  The boys received many nice gifts and things that they really wanted.   Afterward, everyone settled in to play with our new toys.  The only time we left the house was a short walk to school to get some fresh air in the afternoon.  The boys had a chance to show Grandma how to play their favorite Two Square game.

   I made a turkey for our Christmas meal this year, and we also were prepared with some holiday crackers.  Logan and Connor both ate a huge portion of the turkey legs, and the rest of us were stuffed with dinner and desserts as well.  During the dinner, we were playing with the puzzles from the crackers and Connor also tried to tell us some jokes that he made up to entertain us.

    During their visit, Connor had requested to set up the ping pong table several times.  Grandparents also played with us and they both became quite good at it after some practice.  Connor loves the game and he is very determined to win.  He had some really great shots that I could not return even if I try.  Logan and Connor also had some great battles.

   After a few homemade meals, we also enjoyed a couple nights out with the grandparents.  Here are other pictures from our holiday together.

   Both boys had their classroom parties on 12/22.  Since I volunteered at Connor’s class at last holiday, I signed up to help at Logan’s this time.  I arrived at school near the end of lunch break and some parents had been working hard to get things set up.  Once the kids returned from lunch break, the activities started.  Half of the class did Bingo while the other half worked on a picture frame with their own photo, then they switched off.  I was the photographer for the day, so I went around taking pictures and helping with the photo frames.  Logan was somewhat grumpy looking whenever I looked over to him; he did not seem to enjoy the activities as much as his classmates.  Next, it was the big event, White Elephant gift exchange.  All the kids had bought in a present for a boy or a girl.  The teacher explained the rules to the class and there were so many questions that arose from the students; they were all excited and appeared nervous with the game.  Since the weather was nice, we decided to have the game outdoor.  The boys plus one girl (who wanted boy’s toys) sat around in a circle while the rest of the girls sat around another to begin the game.  It was cute that the girl circle was very quiet and they were all politely choosing gifts from the unopened pile.  The other circle was more noisy and the boys truly engaged in this White Elephant game.  Everyone was a good sport, and there were no hard feelings with all the stealing.  Logan was able to steal a Lego gift from a boy and he was happy with it.  After the fun game, we took a group photo of the kids with all their gifts.  The class had a snack the parents prepared and later the teacher had them watched a movie until the end of the school day.  It was a fun afternoon for the class.

     Connor had requested that I stop by to see him like I did for Logan during his Halloween party.  So after I left Logan’s class, I decided that I would walk over to Connor’s classroom to see if I could peek in.  As I was walking through the playground, I heard a loud “mommy”; it turned out that Connor and his classmate were out for a bathroom break during computer lab.  Fortunately that he was able to spot me from faraway, we met up and walked him back to the computer lab.  I chatted with the teacher and found out that their holiday party also went well.  Connor was so happy to look around to give me a smile periodically while working on the computer.

    Both of the boys had the Winter Performance last Monday.  Connor was excited about it, and had rehearsed a couple of the songs for us a few times prior to the day.  His performance was first at 9am.  Stuart and I decided to sit in the back of the audience, so I could stand up to take pictures.  But later we both had to move since Connor was being blocked by a slightly taller girl in front of him.  The first graders sang 8 songs and they were very entertaining.  Connor was singing and doing the movements, but he did not look as cheerful compared to his solo performance for us.  He however did smile every time he made eye contact with us.  After the great show, we had an opportunity to get a class picture.  Then we gave a big hug to Connor before all the kids followed the teacher back to their classroom.  Logan’s performance was next at 10:30am.  Stuart and I hung around at school until then.  This time we picked the seating on the side so I could stand up to take pictures.  Logan had told me prior to the show that he would only wave once to us and the rest of the time he would look at the music teacher.  But once all the classes were in, Logan waved and smiled to us a lot, and again after each song.  The third graders also sang eight songs and did a great job.  After the class picture, we said hello to Logan and he gave us big hugs, then Stuart and I left to resume the rest of our day.

p.s. Because of the low space on my phone and because I wanted to enjoy the shows more, I just filmed a few of my favorite songs from each performance as a sample.  Unfortunately I did not realize the app I was using only partially loaded the videos on Youtube until after I had deleted the originals.  I was so disappointed with the mistake, and was not able to show the boys much of their shows.  Fortunately Stuart and I did enjoy watching them live. 

     Connor is the worst secret keeper.  As soon as he finds out any secrets and he gets very excited to keep it, but he would turn around and accidentally give it away.  Even Logan knows that Connor can’t keep secrets and reminds us not to tell Connor any.  In November, Connor was given a nice lightsaber as a party favor; as soon as we left the party, he told me that he would like to save it to give to Logan for Christmas.  With his good memory, Connor remembered where he hid the lightsaber many weeks ago and he wrapped it and put under the tree for Logan.  What a nice little brother he is and he was so happy of this great gift. 

     One day Logan, Connor and I we talked about lightsabers in a different context, but suddenly Connor grabbed the present out and told us that he was worried the surprise would be spoiled.  With Connor pushing the button and the light turning on, Logan obviously found out this nice surprise.  Connor was very disappointed, but fortunately I am sure that the joy of giving and receiving will still be there upon opening.

     Connor loves being a teacher.  On the weekends, he sometimes asked Stuart or I to be his student, and he would teach us random subjects using his books.  He was a strict teacher.  He wanted our full attention; sometimes he even closed the door to the game room, so we could not leave until recess.  He however rewarded us with tickets if we did good work.  He is a fair teacher.

     We were behind schedule this year or the holidays suddenly crept up on us.  If it was not because of Connor, we might not even have the outside lights up and the stockings hung by our fireplace yet.  On Tuesday, Stuart went out to pick up a tree; he discovered that many places were already selling out and he managed to find us a decent tree.  By Saturday I finally had energy to decorate the tree with Connor supervising me and putting on music to cheer me on.  All of us helped doing some decoration, and at the end, the tree came out quite nice.

     We needed to go out to buy some kids’ presents, and we decided to go to Diddams in the afternoon.  As soon as the boys entered the toy store, they immediately got drawn to the marble tower as always.  Only Stuart and I shopped around, and we found some interesting toys for what we needed.  After dinner, we decided to go check out Christmas in the Park.  Actually it was only Connor and I who really wanted to go that night, and Stuart and Logan just had to come along.  The drive there was quite busy and we should have figure it out then.  When we drove into a parking structure, it was very difficult before we found a spot.  Then we bundled up nicely as it was very cold out.  As soon as we walked out of the garage, there were people everywhere on the street.  We realized that this was the first time we visited Christmas in the Park during the last weekend before Christmas, and maybe we had not experienced this kind of holiday crowd before.  We walked around through the displays and there were some new ones this year.  Next we walked through the area with many Christmas trees and Connor was determined to find the tree decorated by their CDC, but of course we were not so lucky.  The boys were hoping to get some hot cocoa there; however with the crazy lines, we convinced them that we would have it at home instead.  On the return trek, Logan was ready to go home, but when the boys saw the choir on stage, they were drawn to sit down to listen to the carols.  Finally it was cold and it was time to go.  Even though it was crazily busy there, it was still a nice night stroll to get some holiday spirits.