Monday, December 29, 2008

Build-A-Bear

The finished product, purse and all.

Putting on the shoes. Notice the bear's underwear.


Tia Jen's Christmas present to Maya was a trip to Build-A-Bear. I suggested the present because I had taken Maya to Build-A-Bear several times, but we never bought a bear. Instead, we just browsed, picking our favorite bears and watching with slight concern as other kids stuffed their bears. 

My thought was that Jen and Maya could pick out one of the least expensive bears, and there were plenty for $10, add a heart and get out of the store for $15 or so. Maya doesn't know that the store also sells clothes for the bears so skip that section of the store, I told Jen. 

Well, Maya knows now. When she and Jen pulled into the driveway after their trip, Maya was asleep but she was hugging a beautiful bear that was wearing white underwear and a hot pink satin dancing dress. "Teddie Bear" was also wearing two bows in her hair and holding a hot pink purse. On Maya's other arm, Maya was holding a sleeping bag, for Teddie Bear of course. And, in the Build-A-Bear box, were a pair of matching hot pink shoes. 

Jen said Maya loved putting the bear together and insisted on the underwear. Tonight, Maya and Big Papa read Teddie Bear books and right now, Teddie Bear is snuggled up in her sleeping bag, right next to Maya in her's. 

Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas Ornaments

Guillermo has been wanting a nutcracker for awhile now. I'm not sure exactly why, but he thinks they are really cool. His interest grew even more when his friend in our neighborhood was outside playing with one his mother had just bought him. The friend's nutcracker was a soldier and he told Guillermo that the store where he bought his also had a nutcracker with a gun. Guillermo's eyes light up. 

Guillermo and I talked about going to pick out a nutcracker for him together but we never got around to it. The other day, however, when I was shopping without Guillermo, I saw a nutcracker Christmas ornament, and this nutcracker soldier was carrying a gun. Against my better judgement, I bought it for Guillermo.

A few weeks ago on trianglemom2mom.com, I blogged about my family's Christmas ornament tradition. I've also told Guillermo all about it. I had already picked out a Superman comic book ornament because this was the year he discovered comic books and one of his favorite things to do is go to the comic book shop with Will. 

Anyway, I bought the nutcracker ornament and gave it to him when I came home (I gave Maya a gingerbread man). He was estactic and right away said "I am going to keep this until I have my own kids and then I am going to give it to them and they are going to love it too!" Melted my heart. And then, he named the nutcracker "Gun Hand." 

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas

Guillermo, with his new boxing gloves.


Maya, with her new rain coat. She wore it all morning. 

Merry Christmas. 

I am exhausted, but we had a wonderful day. The kids loved their gifts. Will and Jen spent a good part of the afternoon putting together the Legos Star Wars X-Wing Fighter with Guillermo while Maya played with her new snack shop, cupcakes and cookies (Maya's new pretend food wasn't the most healthy, but she sure loved it!). 

Maya napped in the afternoon and Will, his father and Guillermo went for a hike. Later Will took Maya and Guillermo to the park while I cooked. I made beef and cheese enchiladas, rice, and beans we picked up cheese tamales from Tres Amigos. So good. I'm still full. Must. Get. Sleep. I'll follow up tomorrow.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

The playground, hockey and train cakes

Maya and Guillermo and their train cake creation.

Today was so fun. 

We started the day at the park, where we met several of Guillermo's friends from school and their parents for coffee (and Bailey's), bagels, cookies and muffins. We wore those kids out. They played for about two hours, mostly running and chasing after each other. 

When we came home, we should have had them rest. Instead, they played outside with Guillermo's remote control car and painted their refrigerator box clubhouse. We also played hockey with noodles and Maya rode her bike. 

Later, we packed in the car for church. Maya was exhausted and if we had brought milk with us, she surely would have fallen asleep. Instead, she whined, wiggled and squirmed. Thankfully, we attended the children's mass, so there were plenty of kids there, and plenty of them were wiggling and squirming just like Maya. 

When we came home, they opened one present: A small Star Wars Lego set for Guillermo and a puzzle for Maya. They loved them. Then ceviche, and then we finally decorated the train cake. Maya had so much fun and would sneak candy every chance she could. Guillermo ditched us when he discovered Will and Will's father watching Pirates of the Caribbean. (Hey, it's Christmas Eve!). They went to bed without a peep. 

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Almost Christmas

I'm so excited for the next few days. Here's what we have planned:

Christmas Eve breakfast at the park with friends from Guillermo's school. 
Decorate train cake (I finished it tonight and it looks pretty good. thanks Emily and Nick)
Pick up tortillas, tamales
Children's Christmas mass
Dinner: ceviche courtesy of my father-in-law and sister-in-law
Kids open one present
Kids play and then go to bed
Finish wrapping 
Bedtime

Christmas Day
6 a.m. alarm clock
Get dressed, put on makeup so I don't look hideous in pictures
6:30 - 7 a.m. Kids wake up 
Open presents! 
Play all day
Make enchiladas, frijoles negroes, rice for dinner
Friends join us for dinner
Play some more

I can't wait. I love this time of year and I so much love being a mom this time of year. Guillermo and Maya are so excited, Maya especially, it seems. Throughout the day for the past several days, she has picked various presents from under the tree. "What's in there?" "What's in the present, mama." "For me?" "Oh, present for you."
I hope their childhood Christmases are as magical as mine.

Friday, December 19, 2008

She's crafty

"I'm a butterfly, and I look sooo good!"
"This isn't what I meant when I said Batman, but it's still pretty cool."

"I love cookies!"

We had a fun morning, and an equally crafty afternoon. The Carrboro Parks and Rec. Department today held Kids, Cookies and Candy Canes. Our first stop was the cookie decorating room, where Guillermo and Maya piled the frosting high on their cookies and then topped them off with a ton of sprinkles. Next, face painting. Guillermo asked for Batman. He loved it, but later told me he wanted the mask. Maya was a butterfly. Last, we went to the craft room and made reindeer clothes pins, reindeer candy canes and pom pom snowmen. It was fun.

This afternoon, we made bells from paper cups and jingle bell bracelets. They finished the afternoon paining Guillermo's refrigerator box clubhouse. We're crafty!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Christmas Pageant

This should have been our Christmas card


He didn't want to be angel. "Only girls are angels"

Guillermo's Christmas pageant was last night and it was so sweet. The pastor at Carrboro United Methodist Church, where Guillermo's preschool is located, read the Nativity of Jesus. When she read about the angels, Guillermo's walked to the alter in their angel costumes. When she read about the wise men, another class came to the alter in their costumes, and so on. 

The pageant was wonderful and the kids were great. Only a few cried. Afterward, all of the kids left the stage except Guillermo's class, the oldest, and they sang two songs. Guillermo did great and seemed to have a lot of fun. 

Before the pageant, Guillermo insisted to me that he didn't want to be an angel. Only girls are angels, he said. I think once he saw his costume, he was pretty excited. 

Saturday, December 13, 2008

Bloody Riddles


Maya and Guillermo watch the Chapel Hill/Carrboro Christmas parade with some neighbors.

Guillermo is into making up riddles right now, though they aren't exactly riddles. Today, for instance, he offered this riddle ... well, let me set it up for you.

As we were leaving the parade, Guillermo and Maya were playing train, which means, Guillermo walks behind Maya with his hands on her shoulders. They then walk, saying choo-choo and have a great time. Well, somehow during all of this Maya fell down and ended up with a bloody nose. I took her into the bathroom of a nearby restaurant and cleaned her up and we were on our way. 

As we get to the gate to leave the restaurant patio, Guillermo blocks it, and demands that we solve his riddle first. 
"What comes out of you when you fall down?"

Anybody? Anybody?

"Blood?" I offered. 
He smiled, shook his head yes, and we were on our way.

If you know of any riddles, or knock-knock jokes, please send them our way.  As you can see, we clearly need some assistance.

Friday, December 12, 2008

The real Santa is at the North Pole, eating


The Elf Santa

On our way to see Santa tonight, I asked Guillermo what he was going to say he wanted for Christmas. 
"A Star Wars sticker book," he said from the backseat of the car.
"A Dora sticker book," Maya answered.

"If he asks you if you've been good, what are you going to say?" I asked.
"Yes," he answered.
As I started to list for him all the ways I thought he had been good, Guillermo informed me that the Santa he was visiting tonight was not the real one. This guy, Guillermo said, was just an elf, filling in for Santa.
"Really," I asked. "What is the real Santa doing?
"You know, he's eating" at the North Pole.

I knew we shouldn't have let him watch Elf last year, but it was on on Christmas Day and it is just so funny, too funny to turn off, even if our then 3-year-old was watching with a look of confusion over his face.

We went to see Santa at the ArtsCenter. This Santa is great. First off, there was no line and nobody waiting behind us for awhile either. He talked to Guillermo and Maya for at least five minutes. He told them a story about how Rudolph's nose was red (the story had something to do with Rudolph not being able to fly and then some fairies gave him a red nose that gave him the power of flight), showed them pictures of the rest of the reindeer, told them he liked chocolate chip cookies best (Guillermo, by the way, said his favorite cookies were raisin. Yuck!) and that he needed three on Christmas Eve. Santa said he also wanted milk and that he needed nine carrots, but only the small ones. 

When Santa asked who their favorite reindeer was, Guillermo said Rudolph. Maya, of course, gave her favorite answer: Dora.

Potty Talk




I was cleaning Maya's room when Guillermo came in to see me.
"Mom, Maya said a bad word."
"Maya, use nice words," I shouted to the kitchen where Maya was eating pumpkin bread.
"She said poo poo," Guillermo told me, as I remembered my pledge to encourage the kids not to tattle.
"No tattling, please," I told Guillermo.
"I didn't tattle," he answered.
"Tattling is when you tell me that someone did something bad," I said.

He ran to the kitchen. 
A few seconds later I heard this:
"Don't say poo poo," Guillermo told Maya.
"POO POO," Maya shouted.
"No potty talk," Guillermo scolded.
"Please, potty talk?" she asked him nicely.

Then, without reason, they moved on to another topic.

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Yummy snowmen

Yeah, I know they look gross.

Guillermo, Maya and I made marshmallow snowmen the other day. It sounded like a fun project, but I have to admit, they were pretty disgusting. My kids didn't seem to notice. They licked the whipped cream snow and gobbled up the snowmen. Guillermo wanted to make a soldier snowman, but the green icing gel we bought wasn't properly sealed so I threw it away. Instead, we made alien snowmen, and we put two on snowboards. 

Saturday, December 6, 2008

Christmas Tree Hell

We have a Christmas tree. We picked it out this afternoon. And, it's beautiful.

Every year I have this vision that we will take awhile picking out our tree, sipping hot chocolate while we compare the Frazier Firs to the White Pines, while Guillermo and Maya run around and play hide and seek. But that never happens. Will doesn't like cold weather so browsing for trees even in 45 degree weather is not fun for him. Plus, he didn't even really care if we had a tree, mostly because he doesn't want to spend the money on it. 

So, we picked our tree out right away and while Maya and I stopped to chat with an acquaintance, Will and Guillermo waited in the car. We were probably there 15 minutes tops. 

No worries, we get home and set up the tree. Luckily, a friend of Will's was at our house and he helped us. The tree barely fit in the stand, and that should have been a sign, but we crammed it in and did our best to get the tree to stand up. Unfortunately, it kept leaning one way or another. After it nearly fell over, I went to buy a new stand. 

Even then it took awhile to get it to stand up straight. We thought we had it, but as the kids and I were decorating it, it started to fall again. We tried again, and Will thought of anchoring it to the wall. Luckily, a neighbor suggested putting wood blocks in the stand to keep the tree upright. Problem solved, but by then it was 8:15 p.m. We'll have to finish decorating tomorrow. (Will swears we are getting an artificial tree next year). I'll post pictures tomorrow when it's finished. 

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Helicopter Tour



A friend of mine, who is also the mother of Guillermo's best friend, arranged for us to go on a really cool tour yesterday. 

We got to check out the helicopter at UNC Hospital, where my friend, a nurse, works. It was really fun. Guillermo, Maya, and Guillermo's friend, Charlie, sat in the helicopter as one of the nurses who flies in the helicopter told them all about the chopper and her job responsibilities and those of her crew.

As the nurse was talking, Guillermo interjected: "I have a doctor's kit."
Charlie chimed in: "I have a toy ambulance, but it's just a toy."
Maya wouldn't be left out either: "I have a Dora backpack. D-D-D-D-Dora, the Explorer."

Loved it.