A great day for the boys!

Today the boys definitely got into the Christmas spirit! First, Nathan and Luke had an ice-skating party with the homeschool co-op. Another mom, also with 4 boys just about the same ages as ours, and I worked it out that she would take my older 2 and her older 2, since she's a good skater, and I would stay at our house with the 4 little guys (she has a 3 y.o. and a 5 mo. old). Caleb had a great time playing with Daniel, the baby, Joel, took a good nap, and Jonathan just wandered around, not really sure about seeing someone else on his changing table, in his crib, and in his high chair! So we had a great time here. Nathan has been looking forward to this party for a long time. He has strong memories of ice-skating at the Air Force Academy rink when we were stationed there (we left when he was 3 1/2), and he was quite confident of his skating abilities ("Don't worry about me, Mom. I already know how to skate.") I was less sure, and I didn't know how Luke would do without me either. Well, I needn't have worried; I certainly wasn't missed! As it turns out, Nathan apparently DOES know how to skate just fine, and he just skated around by himself the whole time, having a wonderful time. When he got back home he told me wistfully, "That brought back so many memories." Yes, 4 years ago--it's like a whole different lifetime . . . Luke did well too, although he mainly held the hand of the lady that took him. He did skate a little by himself, so I was very proud. Unfortunately neither of them took my advice and wore the thicker socks I suggested, so Luke has a nasty blister on the side if his foot (it's those narrow Monteith feet!). Hopefully he will be able to soldier through with that--he was unsure he was going to be able to make it all the way through his shower tonight, but fortunately, he survived.

Then this afternoon we rolled and cut out the sugar cookie dough we made yesterday. The boys were very impressed with my abilities with a rolling pin, as well as with my capacity for getting seemingly stuck cookies off the wax paper and onto the cookie sheet with just a spatula (Nathan: "That must just be natural talent."). After dinner we decorated the cookies that we made . This is always a highlight for the boys, and I hope they treasure the memories so they can look back at these times fondly when they are older. That might possibly make the mess worth it! Right now, however, I am not thinking kind thoughts about the person who invented all those crazy little balls, sprinkles, and other decorations that must be on every cookie or little boys do not think them worthy. I have "liberal sprinklers" in my family, and so there are sprinkles all over the floor, rolling around, looking for ways to dodge the vacuum. We did 2 different kinds of frosting too, one just my regular cake frosting that Caleb can have, and then also a powdered sugar/milk one that their Aunt Melinda can have (she's allergic to soy so can't have crisco). Caleb decorated the ones with his kind of frosting (but I bet you'd never be able to guess! : ) ). He never used a clean knife for any different color, so the cookies are all very colorful, in unique, festive ways. And of course, they all have plenty of sprinkles! Nathan and Luke had a more thoughtful approach to their colors, and they did have a somewhat lighter hand with the sprinkles. I can see much artistic progress here!