Celebrations!

What a busy week! We started with a trip downtown for lunch and a visit with Santa. Unfortunately, they changed hours and Santa only arrives on the weekends this year, so we had to head back home empty handed. Henry was unfazed, but Eleanor was very sad. She didn’t get upset or throw a fit, she just got really quiet. We tried to make it up with a fun lunch, and she just put her head down on the table :( She didn’t even try the brownie and ice cream desert (Henry was happy to eat his share). Later in the week we started up soccer classes – Eleanor was very excited to start again, and it was Henry’s first chance to be in the class instead of just watching Eleanor. Eleanor did an awesome job and loved participating in class – Henry wasn’t sure at first, but he loved the “racecar” game at the end, and I think after a couple of weeks he will really get into it.

On Friday we finally got to redo our Santa effort, but both kids were a bit scared of him. Eleanor told us later that it was the sitting in the lap that was scary, so we told her next year we would just stand next to Santa. On Saturday we got lots of snow, and were able to go out and build a snowman and both Eleanor and Henry took their first sled rides (we need to find a better hill). That afternoon Grandma and Grandpa arrived and we celebrated Henry’s birthday! Both Henry and Eleanor were particularly impressed with the trampoline. Henry got a taste of the birthday attention, and at one point as Grandma was singing Happy Birthday, he said “To Me!”. We had dinner at the “big” table, and Henry enjoyed a full size cupcake.

Sunday brought a fun visit from Uncle B, and then a fun Christmas party. Santa came to visit, and Eleanor was much happier sitting next to him instead of on his lap. Henry was super excited that everyone sang Happy Birthday for him, and loved hamming it up with the “big kids”. At one point he was so hopped up on sugar and skipped nap that he just started hugging everyone in the room. He had a fun school bus cake with purple frosting (Eleanor picked the color with Henry in mind).