Late Night Lovin'

My boy has always been affectionate, and likes to be close and cuddly. But he won't often give out actual kisses and hugs because he thinks it's fun to make them special events. He must think we won't like them as much if he gives them out easily. But late last night out of no place he attacked me with his hugs...
... and giant open mouth kisses.
And even a few combos.
I must admit his strategy is pretty effective. These are just rare enough that you hold as still as possible so you won't disturb him and have him stop giving out the love.

Is a Silent Tantrum Still a Tantrum?

Look at this crazy boy doing a back bend on horseback, while wearing antlers. Paige used her charms to acquire those antlers from a Starbucks employee.
Paige was taking a rare nap while he did this. At one point Cason took the opportunity to point out all the parts of her face. Like her eyes, which he poked pretty roughly.
We went to my Grandad's tonight for a little visit and to play taboo. The kids watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. They watched it in this cute fashion:
They also made cute doily hats.
Cason got really upset at one point and threw himself dramatically to the kitchen floor. He wasn't even crying, he just put his face down against the tile and was silent, waiting for us to make a fuss over him.
He refused to look up until Aunt Cassie tickled his back and then offered him a chip.

It's All Wonderful

Today was much better. We SEEM to be on the right track with the dollhouse. Cassie's home for a visit, and Alex and Faith came over for a while, so Paige and Cason had a great day. They played some weird game with Cassie.
Cassie was Santa, I think, and the girls and sometimes Cason were in this giant box Grammy brought over for them to play with. Cassie was delivering gifts through holes in the sides, and every once in a while there was a blizzard. Cassie was rolling the box around with them in it and Paige yelled "NO SANTA! YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO US!!" Haha. They also took turns "mailing" letters to each other through the windows.
Cason hung out inside with Cassie while she received some mail.
Cason loved having Alex pay lots of attention to him. She loves babies.
He also got a brand new purple lump on his forehead while they played. He ran from Alex and turned to look back at her, and ran right into the doorframe. Poor boy. I was baking cookies in the kitchen, and could hear them laughing. Then I heard a thunk, and then him crying. So I went running, and he met me halfway. Then he took me to the scene of the accident and reenacted it for me. He's a big fan of reenactments.

Connie also came over for a visit, which was nice, and then JESS CAME HOME FOR CHRISTMAS BREAK! 2 weeks! It's gonna be great.

We worked on the dollhouse yet again. I sat there with a razor blade, cutting little lines on the floors to make it look like tiny hardwood floors, and I'm pretty sure I have a blister forming on my palm. Now Jess is staining them for me. They'll be so cute, assuming it works out this time.

Earlier tonight Jess and Paige wrapped my presents together.
These here tissue papers were left over in the trash pile, and they are DEFINITELY from anthropologie.
So I know I'll love that one, whatever it is.

Paige went to bed a much happier girl tonight. A while before bedtime she was singing "It's a beautiful day! It's all wonderful!" Ha. While we read books tonight she told me "I SO like you." They're both asleep now, and we need to work on that project of ours.

Carpenters

Tonight was frustrating. We were putting the dollhouse together for the SECOND time. The first time we bought wood that was WAY too thick. Our cuts were all perfect, but it wasn't coming together right because of how thick the walls were. I was SO frustrated when we had to just start over with new wood. So tonight when we started putting it together and realized the wood was too THIN, and was bowing out and not becoming a very sturdy dollhouse, I wanted to scream. So Jess ran to Home Depot yet again, and got perfect wood. So tomorrow we'll start again. :(

Pretty much minutes after getting home with the new board, Jess had to leave because he had a basketball game, but it started at 9, which is a little late. So I stayed home with the babies, hoping to at least start marking where I needed Jess to cut the boards tomorrow.

Paige fell asleep at like 8:00, which is unheard of. So I tried to carry her to her bed, and OH MY. She flipped. I told her she could either go to sleep in her bed or watch a movie on our bed. I was hoping she'd just fall asleep again so I could work on her present, and I could try one more time to move her to her room. But no, no, no.

She screamed that she didn't want to do either of them, and would not stop screaming long enough to hear a single thing I said to her. I'm usually really patient(with kids anyway), but I've been staying up late working on the dollhouse every night, and was really frustrated by having to start over twice, so I was not a very patient mom tonight.

At one point I cried, and she screamed angrily at me to "just be happy" and "DON'T CRY! Your cheeks will HURT!" Then Cason cried because Paige was yelling and I looked sad. Then I felt bad, because I was just crying out of fatigue and frustration over the dang dollhouse, but poor Cason has probably never seen me cry and thought my heart was broken. Then I laughed because Paige was only worried about my cheeks hurting, not my feelings. Ha. So Cason was fine once I laughed. Anytime Paige throws a fit she gets all upset after she's done because her cheeks hurt. I assume it's the same kind of "hurt" as when you laugh really hard for too long. After screaming at me for a while tonight, she just finally calmed down, and then was as sweet as ever again. She told me "I sorry I screamed at you." and cuddled me for quite a while. We looked like we belonged on Nanny 911.

All because of a wretched dollhouse. A wretched dollhouse that really isn't that hard to make. I'm just not bright enough to pick out the right materials. But on the upside, the staircase is ready and waiting, and it's the part I was worried would be so hard to build. Making a dollhouse has been the hardest part of parenting. Ha. Only I'm not kidding.
Today was actually a really nice day, aside from the last hour or so. From happier times:

Elfin'

Today Cason and I got out of bed while Paige was still sleeping. Tyra had sent them each a message from Santa. It was a cute video of him talking to them, and he even calls them by name, so Cason LOVED it. He was STARING at the screen and then looking up to see if I was amazed too.

Within 2 seconds of Paige waking up I told her she had a message from Santa. Her eyes got HUGE and she went running down the hall to find it. She was AMAZED when it came on and he said "Hello Paige."
That was pretty much the same expression Cason had the whole time he watched it, but with him in my lap I couldn't reach the camera without disturbing him. Anyway, as Santa went on, Paiges started to just get excited, but was trying not to smile at first.
But pretty soon she was just plain happy.
She was responding to everything Santa said. Then she wanted to show him our Christmas card, and THEN she wanted to put on her red Christmas dress with matching headband and purse, to show him. She loved it. So much so that she wanted to watch it over and over all day long.

I remembered Elf Yourself, so we made a video there of course, and both the babies were CRACKING UP watching themselves dance. I mean Cason was throwing his head back and laughing. For any of you who'd like to watch us bust a move, HAVE AT IT.

Then Paige begged me to make a ton of different versions, with different combinations of family members. Dan, Veronica, and Lily. Paige, Cason, Lily, Alex, and Faith. All my siblings, Granny Bob with the grandkids. It felt like we made a hundred versions today. Cason laughed along for a while, then he just got crazy and danced for a while, then he got bored with us. So he walked around wearing his new gloves. He didn't take them off for hours, he loves them so.
I forgot another Up moment with my kids. There's a sweet scene in Up with Carl and Ellie reading next to eachother in their chairs. They're reading quietly, and without saying anything they reach out to hold hands. It's one of those parts I thought was so subtle that Paige wouldn't even notice it. But the other night she was getting books off the bookshelf and passing them out to each of us. She got one for herself and one for me, and told me she was Ellie. I didn't really get it, but I just said "Oh, you are? Okay." She pretended to read for a minute and then said "You're Carl." I just said "Okay" again. I sat with my book, and then suddenly I felt her little hand grab on to mine. I looked up and she wasn't looking at me, just "reading" still. I realized she was renacting that scene from Up.

Cats

Paige got my eyeliner this morning and put whiskers on herself, Cason, and me. She and Cason were crawling around the kitchen, meowing. It's so fun watching them play now that Cason really pretends with her.
Then she opened up some eyeshadow and got it AND the eyeliner all over her hands before I could get it away. So then of course she touched her face.
I was helping my mom do something on the computer today, and when I turned around to check on Cason he was like this:Yeah, we still wear Halloween pjs.

The work continues on the doll house. It drives me crazy to spread it out over days instead of pulling all nighters. But Jess has a job and he won't retire yet, so....

He brought home a new saw tonight for the project. Cason excitedly helped set it up.

Car-oo

My kids are funny. Earlier tonight I was blogging, and Cason was hanging out with me. Jess and Paige were in the other room putting Up on. The movie started, and Cason heard the old fashioned music playing right away. He got all excited and said "Car-oo", which is how he pronounces "Carl", and ran into the living room to watch.