"Don't stand in front of a t-shirt gun when it's loaded"

The title is sage advice from James. You never know what's going to come out of his mouth or where he gets this stuff.

We'll start off this post with a good smile from James. He has been busy making presents for just about everyone he knows. He works exclusively in Legos. He makes custom made trucks and trailers and wraps them up. If he doesn't have gifting remorse, he even leaves them under the tree! Most of the time though, he changes his mind, unwraps it and forgets all about giving his little neighbor friend a Lego jeep.

This is the smile I usually get from him. The struggle is real.

We cleaned his room after it being a disaster for like a week. He was excited to "finally roll around like a tootsie roll."

There was this one Saturday where it finally snowed so we decided it would be a good time to go see the Festival of Lights. Apparently half the county also thought it was a good time. The line was more mile long. After waiting for 12 minutes and moving 8 car lengths, we called it quits and would attempt it again. We tried again Monday night with success! And another of James's classic cheesers.

Our dutiful designated driver. He looks serious in this photo but he gets a kick out of the kids' reactions. And the Christmas dinosaurs.

This is Erica's favorite Christmas frog.

I like the winter sports portion. Every year at this point I think to myself, are there Olympics this year?

Justin's favorite is the ski jumper. I like it too.

There are some things that would be weird to do without kids and this is definitely one of them. 

James: Mom, what does it say on the ninja turtles belts?

Me: Viacom. Viacom owns the ninja turtle brand.

Before I could clarify, James's eyes got wide and he asks: Viacom controls the ninja's brains?

Further proof that 4-year-olds are the best: This was James's entry in the ward art show. 

"Mom, I made 7 eggs in like 3 hours." He really did. He was like a short-order cook all week. "Anyone else want an egg?" He can only make over easy or over hard and he only makes them one at a time and sometimes he leaves the empty pan on the still-on burner. 

But he enjoys cooking and I love to see this serving side of him.

When I picked the kids up from school today, they were excited as kids who have just finished school before Christmas break can be. Strangely, we still have a week before Christmas. We still have a lot of movies to watch and cookies to eat so good thing!