Birthdays and more!

Well, well, well.  Look who has returned.  It is Sparkle and Race Car!  

We have been on a real library kick for the past month or so.  We go about three times a week.  Owen is getting very ambitious. :)

Owen also is running a lab in our bathroom.  He is pretty good about cleaning it up, and when he doesn't, mom cleans it up and it is closed for a few days.  I am pretty proud of letting him run with this and not let my inner neat freak get the best of me. 

We are also in a major fort phase. They are everywhere, made out of everything.

Dad's Birthday!  the big 39.  One year from 40!  We decorated on top of our Christmas decorations, as usual.  Streamers around the Christmas tree- a new one for us this year.  

Chip got to ski with Roland and Stephan in LLC, Ivory Flakes, on his actual birthday and then with the family on his pretend birthday the next day.  It was a pretty awesome weekend full of holiday parties, birthday celebrations, and lots of soaking up what we love to do most around here- getting outside!

Zoo Lights! For the third year in a row it was fun filled with spectacular lights, lots of animals in the dark, and of course, a visit to Santa.

I hope that next year we will visit Santa again and Ruby and Owen will sit on his lap and all that....but I also hope that it is different next year.  I want us all to be in on the pretending.  We will see what happens, but as of now, we are planning on sitting Ruby and Owen down at the beginning of the season and talking about the stories and traditions that surround this time of year.  Telling them that Santa is real just felt wrong this year and backfired for us in several ways.  After an amazing day on Christmas, Ruby whispers to dad before bed, "why did G and G (our neighbors and friends) get what they wanted for Christmas and I didn't?" It is a long story with more heartbreaking details than I have time to write here, but let's just say Santa was confused, Ruby is not a wanter, and it breaks my heart that she thought she did something wrong and that that is why she didn't get what she wanted.  Owen changed his mind about what he wanted and fixated on something we had not gotten so we ended up buying more stuff, which was unnecessary and annoying.  Ruby and Owen grasped onto the whole "naughty and nice" list in a really ugly way, thinking that they could decide whom of their friends were "good" and "bad".  A conversation with a three year old about how people are not good or bad, etc., is fruitless.  

Anyway, there is SO much magic and love around this time of year and we really embrace that in our family, and Santa, we realized, is not a part of that.  He seemed to take away from the real magic, excitement, and connection for us.  So, just putting this all in writing as a reminder for next year. :)

I hope that Ruby and Owen will get to join us in hiding the elves next year too!

Ruby and Owen read a book with a piñata in it a while back and got the idea that they wanted a piñata at their birthday party.  I have always wanted to try to make one, so we went for it.  It took more time than I thought it would with the drying between layers and all, but overall, was simple and fun for us to do together.  Here are the stages of development. 

Ruby has been picking her own outfits and dressing herself for quite a while now, but I continue to get such pleasure out of watching what she picks out.  This is her birthday outfit.  It actually matched!  It is probably too small, but she loves it.  She almost never wears underwear or socks, and her hair gets to be the biggest rats nest if it isn't in these braids.  It is hard to summarize at age four, but overall, Ruby is a sweet, thoughtful, and loving little gal.  We are struggling with a bit of separation anxiety and she surprises me with how shy she can be out and about since at home she is a total goof and almost never stops talking.  She loves to do "meditations" with mom at night, her facial expressions continue to be beyond her years, and she has a flexibility of heart and mind that is inspirational.  She is also patient...so patient!

We celebrated at Monkey Mountain this year!  It was a perfect place to run around, get crazy, and leave our mess.  

Kids got costumes for their birthday gifts this year.

Cake lasted till their real birthday too! Perfect because this momma is not a baker and really appreciates keeping that type of thing super simple.

Aunt Amber got Ruby and Owen birthday jammies as has been the tradition since they were born.  This was the first time she was able to gift them in person though!  And, notice how baby got Pjs too this year.  Ruby LOVES this bonus.  Uncle Gus and Aunt Amber arrived on the 23rd to spend Christmas with us.  So perfect!

The annual height marking.  They grew about 4 inches this year, which looks like so much!

Owen is still a tad taller than Ruby.  Just enough to hold it over her...but then she reminds him that she came out of mom's belly first.  We usually jump in with comments like neither of those things is "better" or "worse", but again, some truths are just hard wired and are going to take more time to rewire.  

Owen has been challenging this year.  He tends to be more rigid in his thinking, hates to be told "no", really perfected the tantrum including pretty intense insults and actions towards those closest to him.  All of this is not the entirety of him though, and we just keep praying that some of these struggles were a developmental stage.  Fingers crossed.  He is also SO sharp, quit witted, and has an amazing sense of humor.  He still LOVES to snuggle, especially with dad and Kessler, but also with mom in the morning or any time a book is out.  Owen does look like Chip, and skis like him too.  He never skis down the main gut of a run as most 3-4 year olds do.  He is skimming the sides, looking for powder or jumps.  I am not kidding.  He also laughs at things just like his dad.  It is really uncanny. 

Ruby and Owen have always played well together for the most part, but somewhere in the 3s it seemed we were well below the 50-50 ratio of fight/nice play.  However, over the past few weeks, they turned some sort of corner and they are best buddies.  They still argue, but they pal around and come up with games and pretend scenarios constantly.  It is SO cute.  I need to take advantage of these times to get stuff done around the house, but I really just want to be quiet and listen to them play all day.  

A few more shenanigans for the elves before they go back to the North Pole for the rest of the year.