The North Pole...

Well there is a new gig in town... Seven Peaks has somewhat converted itself into "The North Pole" for the Christmas season.  Like good little Pass of All Passes holders, my sister and I decided to check it out with our crew of crazies.  We're full of Christmas spirit and we don't even care.

Anyway, once we waited in line, figured out the basics and booked our reservations for our "boat tour" around the North Pole, we entered the park to *some* winter wonderland.

Two striped noggins in their various renditions.

 I'll be honest with you.  It's clear that this is the first somewhat disheveled and unorganized year that Seven Peaks has decided to foray into the world of winter and it shows.  But when you're a kid and you're out past your bedtime with cousins, these details make no impact.  So we headed to the sledding hill to give it a whirl... some of us did so hand-in-hand.  :)

 While not super intense, very long or really fast... the sledding hill IS fun.  And once we docked our meat sleds after the first round, the kiddos RAN to repeat their allotted three times each.  Eventually Ash and I joined them with the littlest of our crew.  Somehow I crammed the belly in there even though I looked like a holiday elf in my pom beanie smuggling toys out of Santa's shop!

Go Team "Less than a month to Go Pregnant"!

 Some obligatory Christmas light pictures.

Though I clearly need lessons on how to take night time photos.   

Suthie Girls

 Gardner Guys

And who did we run into then?  Well the big man, of course.  He was not the jolliest of elves, but he did have a basket of candy and asked each of the kiddos if they had been good.  Ace hadn't had his meltdown quite yet so they all answered somewhat truthfully that indeed, they had been trying hard! 

 And then we were off to the river tour of the North Pole.

The cuzzies waited in line Von Trapp style which was totally cute.

 And a little panic inducing since we thought for sure we would lose at least one in the frigid water.

Ace was convinced there was jelly fish in the water.  And due to the "cotton fluff" that had fallen from some of the North Pole scenes and the plethora of leaves, the water did look as if it contained creatures from the dark abyss.  :) 

 It was all smiles when we finally loaded our ships and took off down the lazy river!  

 With a side of serious "Captain Face".  Ha Ha. 

 The vignettes were hit and miss.  Sometimes there were many lights and figures - sometimes they'd blown over and were not too enticing.  But an A for effort?

And a huge A+ for me and Lou.  We're SO on the nice list for braving a cold and blustery night at the North Pole with our crew of crazy cousins.

 You don't have to take our word for it - Santa said so!

The Elfkins...

We took it upon ourselves to show up on the most blustery day of the year for a Preschool field trip to Gardner Village to totally dominate the "Elf Scavenger Hunt".  It's free and easy (two adjectives that describe the perfect Christmas activities for my gaggle of Gardner Guys).  The kids roamed from shop to shop and around (or nearly in) the duck pond locating all the Elf displays to earn a piece of hand pulled Salt Water Taffy from the Candy Shop.

My little dudes were feelin' it!  The race, the thrill of the wind in their hair, the magnetic pull every little man cub feels to get close to and possibly catch and/or torment the water fowl.

This place is quaint.  And all dolled up for Christmas it looks like a darling little village straight out of a book about the North Pole.

We totally nailed it.

Found every last elf display on our Scavenger hunt and felt pretty darn giddy about it--

Obviously.  :)

The reward was sweet indeed.  This candy store is basically what my dreams are made of.

Go for the carmel taffy - just trust me on this one.

And our cute Miss Amy had hot chocolate and gingerbread men waiting for the little troops in the Bakery once our hunt was over.  

See the Christmas Elfkins that have overtaken Gardner Village?  CHECK.  Another holiday memory to light our festive Christmas fire... and we're fanning the flames over here!

Naughty & Nice...

Grandma "Jam"ice and Grandpa Bob gift Christmas ornaments to the kiddos every year.  The boys love it because (see previous post) they have more "cool stuff" to put on their trees.  This year, we took a little outing before the ornaments were delivered.

Off we went to see the Reindeer at Thanksgiving Point!

You'll never believe which reindeer was there this year... Sven!  The most beloved of all reindeer (except Rudolph) thanks to Disney's Frozen.

Sven is clearly overworked and underpaid.  Ha Ha

But nonetheless, he and Acey hit it off.  Truth be told, Ace was the only kiddo not spazzing out with "Christmas Feels" and he was the only one who would hold still long enough for the pictures.  The crowd of 5 and 6-year-olds were complete beast children... Just sayin' -- precious little lambs.  :)

There were fire pits to warm yourself, and carolers, and an intricate ice sculpture of a swan taking flight.  It was roped off for safety, but at the rate of crazy we were running I was still terrified.  Happy to report that no one we were traveling with led to the demise of the icy swan.  Whew.

 

After we had sufficiently burned their little retinas (note Dax's protective eye wear below), Grandma suggested a treat at the cafe.  I think she is either a Saint or a glutton for punishment -- But either way, she ordered blue bubble gum ice cream and cookies in equal parts for the little partially human ticking time-bombs, and then accordingly, Ace took his turn being a holy terror.  It was a great night.  :)

When we made it back home, the ornaments were unwrapped with complete glee.  

And hung on their trees with great care fine - haphazardly.  

And moments after Grandpa & Grandma departed, the little gents were promptly ushered to bed.

Scout had LOTS to report that night.

We are happy to say they've since upped their game after a stern talk about December and all that Christmas can be with the right attitude and behavior.  One of RyGar's finest moments y'all.  Wish I would have recorded that one for all to hear.  :)

Boy, OH Boys!

And So It Begins...

One of my favorite parts of the holidays is letting the boys decorate a tree in their rooms.  It all started on a total whim... Ryan's Mom was getting rid of her "three trees" and asked if I wanted them before she took them to the thrift store.  I was at home with three tiny men and thought - sure!  They might like a little tree with multicolored lights to light up their rooms during the holidays.

WHOA.  They didn't like it --

 They LOVED it!

I think it's the thing they might anticipate most ever year after Thanksgiving.   So once our bags from Turkey day were unpacked, the boys hopped to it; dutifully unloading Christmas decor bins from the storage room to unearth their "three trees".  We loaded them into their rooms (best idea ever: we leave them lit and with the big red bows on top beneath some saran wrap!) and dug out their ziplock bags full of ornaments and BLAMMO - cue the proudest little grins you ever did see.  And clusters.  Lots of "clusters" of ornaments which I still have all the heart eyes for.  Dax is the cluster king.

We also got the living room tree up and guess what happened that night?  We got a special delivery from the North Pole... an elf named "Scout" who brought the boys elf jammies and told them he would be watching all the goings-on at the Gardner house and report back to Santa each night about the Gardner Guys antics.  They were intrigued, happy and a little sketched out by the whole thing.

I mean - just look at Dax's face!  :)

So here are my takeaways thus far this holiday season:

1.  Everyone needs a tree in their room.  Seems overindulgent at first, but listen, it need not be anything fancy... maybe even just a strand of twinkle lights over the twiggiest of Charlie Brown trees.  Believe me, with the littles - this will elicit smiles of the finest variety.

AND

2.  Everyone needs an elf from the North Pole.  Our little Scout just perches by and listens.  He doesn't do any naughty tricks or craziness - just peeps slyly from behind his killer lashes.  He is the lowest of maintenance and this time of year, he's been a great ally.

And this would be the first of the holiday posts to come this month.

Merry Memories to all and to All a Good Night!

Of Turkeys & Pheasants..

Before I launch into "elf mode" let me pause and talk for a minute about Thanksgiving.  My whole family met together at our Wayne Wonderland house and basked in the madness of eight little cousins, cold weather outside, and all the good feels inside.

The little people painted and made an entire "Fort Hotel" that took up the whole basement.  We didn't see them for hours except with strict instructions to provide sustenance and the occasional owie to kiss or argument to smooth over.

There was a rabbit hunt in the snow.

A pheasant hunt in the wind.

And successful hunters all the way around bundled up like handsome little men.

There were visits from Uncles and Aunts sharing another helping of pie.  Baking together in an overly-warm kitchen with sweating windows that emphasized the contrast between hot inside and cold out.  And there was all manner of late night giggles shared amongst adults and kiddos alike... you guys, bedtime?  SUCH a joke!

If you didn't know this already, my mama is the world's best cook so we three daughters just kind of stay nearby and "assist" as we take copious mental notes on how she achieves all the greatness in the kitchen that she has become known for.  I swear, with all the little men I have to feed, Imma gonna get it so all "my boys" rave about how their mama makes the best - fill in the blank.

It was awesome.  And the rest of our weekend has been dedicated to decorating the house for Christmas and soaking up our little family which will be just a wee bit bigger in just over a month.

Feeling grateful for family and life... the rest is just icing.

Of Miracles...

I am the lucky woman who gets to teach Ace Face in Sunbeams.  I say that a bit snarkily even though I can't think of another church calling I would enjoy more than being in Primary with my little folks.  But this past week, all those hours prepping lessons and activities for my little friends came full circle for me in the best possible way...

Ace was out playing on the Kindi playground as we waited for Kael and his buddies to finish up school to drive them all home.  I had the window down to listen to him play and a small class of students was already out on the tiny playground enjoying a warm-ish day.

Ace climbed to the top of the webbed dome toy and sat face-to-face with a little girl who clearly had only one functioning eye beneath her thick glasses.  I heard him say, "What is wrong with your eye?"  And my heart stopped beating.  "OH NO!" I thought, and I almost rushed myself out of the car to play interference.  Instead I heard her say, "Oh, it's broken.  It's been broken my whole life."  To which my little Acey in a concerned voice said, "Have you had your doctor look at it?"  The little girl nodded and said, "Lots of doctors have looked at it but they can't fix it."

Ace paused for a moment and then bravely trudged on and said, "You know, you should call Jesus.  He could put some special mud on it and then when you washed it off, your eye would be all better."

I almost died.

I love more than anything that he had such pure and unwavering faith in his Savior, Jesus Christ and the miracles that he knows He can perform for any one of his children.  I love that he listened to one of the stories he heard at church and could recount it in a moment that made perfect sense, and to someone he really felt needed to hear it.  And I love that he was willing to share what he thought would be a miraculous and life-changing aid for a little girl that he had no judgement toward - just pure love for.

Out of the mouths of babes, I tell you.

Sign me up for all the years of teaching Sunbeams.  It would be my privilege and honor to hang with the church's most pure of heart.

Thanks for the "glimpse" Ace.  Your mama loves you so, and is most grateful to her Maker for letting her love on you & your brothers for a short while.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone.

XO