Christmas is Coming

and the goose is getting fat, as they say.

Here is the update.

We got our tree! It is mostly decorated! (JT lost interest before he finished.)

We made peppermint bark! (For some reason the layers didn't stick together, but it was tasty.)

Nikolaus came! And (amazing!) brought JT the same ginormous kiss that he had asked for at the store the week before!

I had this crazy idea of volunteering to be room parent at JT's school this month. So today and yesterday I baked cookies with the kids. (Oddly they were really amazed that I could use one drop of yellow and one drop of blue food color to make one bowl of frosting green - um, why did they not know that yet? And why did I think I could do sugar cookies with the kids? I soon gave up on rolling out the dough (it was sticky) and let them have balls that they just flattened.)

Now I am worn out and still have to sew some presents and our stockings, clean the house, shop, etc. before our first wave of guests arrive on Saturday. And Tiny, while he has been amazingly patient and sweet (he feel asleep on my back in the ergo carrier while I was working with the kids at the school and Monday he had to endure 4 shots at the doctor), is no longer such a great sleeper. Hey! He is 6 months old! Where did the time go? He can already roll all over and scoot on his back, he can sit and can 'play' some with JT, eats bits of food with us at the table, has started making cute 'kkkk' and 'sss' noises, passes his toys from hand to hand, likes to bang things on the table or rotate his wrists. He likes to hold on to his pacifier and bite on it, then yank it out of his mouth. He really has a sweet disposition and tonight he has fallen asleep in his chair patiently waiting for me to finish typing (well, he did get dinner, then a bath, then a walk to see Christmas lights, then more milk, then more holding, etc. first). And he is snoring. I think we'll keep him.

(Here the boys are playing - Tiny was playing with scraps and JT showed him different textures before demonstrating how to do silly tricks on the bed.)

Which reminds me, JT has really ramped up his German. Two things he gets wrong (and are cute) are: "Ich bin kalt" and "Ich will du." Just thought I would mention that before I forget.