Santa is scary (and sometimes drunk)

We've had two visits with Santa, and neither has been what we would consider a success. The first was at our Ward Christmas party, where Will watched as one of his friends from Nursery sat on Santa's lap and started shrieking. Since Will was next in line, he didn't do any better. Then we tried Ethan, who screamed as well. The only picture I got of either was Anthony taking Ethan away from horrible Santa:


Our second try was at Anthony's work party. That was a whole different experience. The boys got to learn firsthand why we do not drink. We're pretty sure some of the Airmen had started the party a couple hours before on their own because I don't think it's possible to get that drunk that fast. One guy from Anthony's shop was trying to talk to the boys, and they weren't having any of it. Will just kept staring at him, and Ethan put his head on my shoulder and stared off into space as if the guy didn't exist. Then Santa arrived, and we found out he'd been hitting the sauce as well. He drove up in his sleigh and chucked a candy cane at a kid, and when Will's turn came to sit on his lap, Anthony told me Santa smelled like a brewery. Will wasn't thrilled with this Santa either, and once again started crying.






The only way we could get him to sit was if Anthony sat with him. And even then he wasn't too happy and spent the rest of the night saying, "No Santa!"




Ethan felt the same way.


Will also heard Anthony refer to Santa as Jeff, so now he says it's Santa Jeff. Santa Jeff did a pretty good job (we'll turn a blind eye to the candy cane incident), and I was glad to at least get some kind of picture with Santa. A photographer also took pictures of the kids with Santa then printed them off for us so we could put them inside glass ornaments to take home. The rest of the party was pretty great. Will LOVED the bouncy house. Every time we turned away from him, he was off and running to get back in. Even when we left at 11 p.m., he was still begging to, "Jump, jump, jump?"









Anthony's favorite part was the Sumo suit.



My favorite part was letting him struggle to get up in the Sumo suit.


We won a couple raffle prizes, including dinner at a local steakhouse. Anthony stayed to listen for our ticket numbers because the final prize was a 32" Sharp Aquos t.v. He wasn't really paying attention to what prizes were left, but he heard our number and jumped up to claim our prize. He started to hand the ticket to the announcer, who said, "Don't worry about it. It's the only prize left on the table." Anthony took this to mean the t.v. He started to get really excited, until the announcer pointed out what the last prize on the table really was.


And to think we almost got stuck with a t.v.

So we got some free stuff, learned a new drinking game (Eggnog Flip Cup), spent time with friends, and took home some really good leftovers. All in all, not a bad party.

The boys are getting excited for Christmas (and mostly I mean Anthony), and they've been very good about not messing with the tree or presents too much. Ethan likes to rip the name tags off the presents, so I guess it will be a free for all on Christmas Day. And Will's pretty good at guess what each present is. They were playing with one and somebody found a button that turned on the siren, and Will knew it was the fire truck we had picked out a couple weeks ago. I'm going to have to be more tricky when they're older.

We've also been making all kinds of candy and cookies. Some have turned out pretty well, like the Snickerdoodles, Butter Toffee, and Turkish Taffy (although we may have pulled it too much because it started to fall apart the next day, but it tasted good!). The fudge, on the other hand, was a disaster. No Theresa, it didn't back up into a fan. I followed every step exactly, but what a mess.


Anthony said if we ever needed to make chocolate bricks, this was the perfect recipe. So, anyone planning on building a palace in India, let me know. "I will not eat my palace! I intend to live in it!" Ah, I do so love Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Just to back up a little, we did have a wonderful Thanksgiving too. We spent the day playing the Wii and eating too much.






Will did his impression of Randy from "The Christmas Story" eating like a pig. Really. We watched the movie a few days before, and he was pretty interested in that scene.



And Ethan was grabbing turkey by the handful and shoving it in as if we never feed him.


We missed being around family, but it was nice to have a relaxing day to be together and remember all of the things for which we are grateful.

Will is learning so many things every day. While I was putting on his shoes for church a few weeks ago, I told him which was his right foot and which was his left. I only showed him twice, but he can still tell you which is which. He can tell you his hands, arms, ears and eyes as well. He's also learned to count to 4, and Anthony taught him to read "Mommy" and "Daddy." He saw one of those commercials for Your Baby Can Read, so he tried it out, and it worked. Who needs an expensive program?

Ethan's becoming very mischievous. His sole purpose in life is to pull out every plug in the house. His favorite is the wireless router, so multiple times a day we think the Internet is being very slow until we realize Ethan has struck again. Most of the time, he waits until you're paying attention, and then he laughs hysterically as he tries to get the plug out before you can cross the room to get him. Will likes to get involved by following Ethan so he can be told to stop too. Ethan's most amazing feat is that he's started walking. He's not incredibly steady, but he's getting better every day.




Here are just a few more pictures we've accumulated:

This is how much snow we got earlier in the week
and why Anthony had several snow days.



Since the snow doesn't melt until next Spring,
they have to cart it away in big trucks.



While my parents were here in September, my dad and I
visited Test Cell and got to sit next to an F-22 engine
while they ran it. It was loud, cold, windy, and very cool.
Yes, that is the actual flame coming out of the engine.





Ethan sporting his Cheerio's.



Will putting in his contacts.




Will throwing his moose down the stairs