Christmas Tree!

We ventured to Middleburg to chop down a Christmas tree.  It seems that it was an off-year for the tree farm as the trees were so small that I actually considered getting two tiny trees - one for Diego and one for Charlie.  Sorry Sofia.  In the end we settled on a medium sized tree.  Despite the small size, the kids were so worried about getting hit by a falling tree that they stood back probably 25 feet.  Aunt Mary came to meet us and we put her to work as you can see...

 

We had a few of Charlie's friends over to decorate gingerbread houses this weekend. The kids were super excited and had lots of fun decorating....and sneaking a few candies.  Cici was the only girl and was subjected to a boy-centric comments, lots of talk about poo and wrestling.  Having her juxtaposed against the boys' behavior was really shocking. I had no idea how civilized girls were compared to boys!!  I am also shocked at the level of anti-girl talk floating around 5 year old boys.  Charlie doesn't criticize girls, but he does interpret and then generalize what he sees in a way that frustrates me: girls don't play baseball, or football, he is faster than girls, girls don't like kickball.....

The gingerbread decorating was fun and Charlie and Cici (and Diego) spent 9 straight hours playing nicely (and quietly) together (once the other boys left).  I promised Diego he could choose his own friends to have over too so we are planning another gathering.  I've been trying to spend more time dedicated to Diego. He is super sweet when he gets our undivided attention.  He is also quite amorous with his classmates - he wants to hug everyone and then gets sad if they don't want a hug.  Given how tough he is, I find the hug thing weird.

Sofia loves to try to walk around.  She nearly runs.  I think she may start walking around the same time as Charlie - 10 months.  She waves hello and seems to have full conversations with her high-pitched squeals.  Saturday afternoon Carlos took the boys so I got to spend a lot of time alone with Sofia and it was so precious.  She is a total delight - she smiles a lot and can spend an hour unpacking the food-truck fabric food that my mom made a few years ago.  She examines each piece, tastes it for awhile, flings it out of her way and then is on to the next piece.  She has really taken to the pickle in particular!