Christmas, Round #1

A good weekend: small group on Friday (Jaclyn sat both boys with her usual aplomb) and friends for pizza and holiday cheer on Saturday night. Sunday I worked with Sam to make an ornament for him to give Susan as a Christmas present. Then we opened gifts from Nana, Grandad and the Westerville Collinses. A good time was had by all.

This was followed by a viewing of The Nativity Story, which none of us had seen. I have a real fondness for that movie. And I think it helped make the events celebrated at Christmas much more real for Sam. Certainly did for me.

Next stop, South Dakota! Merry Christmas, all.

Zombie brains

 From Susan:

Sam got the Dr. Dreadful Zombie Lab for his birthday from a friend. I have to admit, it's kind of cool! The little "experiments" really work and are quirky (pour stuff into the skull, press something and it comes out the nostril and fizzes...stuff like that). 

Yesterday while Sam bounced in his exersaucer, Sam and I made the Zombie Bugs (inject stuff into molds to make gummy candy) and Zombie brains.

The brains were actually quite good. Sam, amazingly, doesn't like any of it. But, purist that he is, he still enjoys the ``experiments.''

Again from Susan:

The first thing we made with this "lab" was called "zombie vomit," and it was way, way grosser -- had a mucousy texture and I can barely bring myself to taste the tiniest bit. The zombie brains were much better.

Saturday we left Josh briefly in the crib and returned to find him standing, laughing and looking extremely pleased. It was as if he were saying, "I see you guys standing all the time--and look, I am standing too!"

Sucking on the railing as well. That's more his thing than ours.

Finally, he Joyful Singers (1st grade and under) singing Mary Had a Baby at our church. We are officially not supposed to sit up front and videotape our kids. (The focus of worship is God, after all.) Didn't stop me. Fortunately, the ipod is small enough to surreptitiously palm. Notice the kids are actually singing! Ms. Walsh did a great job with them.

I have come down with S. A. D. D., so this post may be fragmented. No, it's not Seasonal Affective Disorder. It's Seasonal Attention Deficit Disorder. Finding it hard to maintain a train of thought.

So, the photos.

Josh playing with tinsel.

We have an Austrian pine. What do you have?

Also, several photos of a gingerbread house Susan and Sam made. Susan provided the construction materials and Sam did the assembly and decoration.

This is was for a classmate's birthday party a week ago. The friend's mother bought gingerbread houses as a group activity. They weren't safe for someone with a peanut allergy, so Susan made one ahead of time for Sam to use. As you can see, it worked splendidly.

As is usually the case, the cake was also not Sam-safe. So Susan made and brought a cupcake for Sam. Turned out to be a good thing, since the chocolate cupcakes the friend's mom bought had chili powder in them. Yes, they were meant to be gourmet, and in the spirit of some spicy mole sauces, they were zippy. It's unclear why the bakery cashier didn't mention this when told they were for a birthday party.

Happily, Sam's just tasted like chocolate. :-)