up on the housetop

I've been busy customizing the verses of this song to sing at bedtime. Here's how it goes.

Me: First comes the stocking of little Tess, O Dear Santa she's the best (girl)
Fill it with rabbits and kitty cats, and a little pink striped hat.
Tess: Stocking, Mama. Again.
[repeat 4 to 10 times.]

* * * * *
Me: Next comes the stocking of Mr. Finn, O Dear Santa, fill it in,
Fill it with trucks and a tool set, and a penguin pillow pet.
Finn: And a feller buncher.
Me: And a fell-er bunch-
Finn: And a fire truck. And other kinds of trucks.

Only two days til Christmas. I think we're gonna make it.

pageantry

Last night was the Waverly Presbyterian Church 90th Annual Holiday Pageant. As Andrew noted in the haircut post, Finn was the next in a long line of Barbers to participate as a page. His role was to walk up to the stage with one of the three kings and present a gift to Jesus, then they all sang "Away in the Manger" and he had practiced the words so that he was able to sing along. It was very sweet and we were so proud of him. Also proof that I'll be a basket case stage mom.

So adorable in his page costume, which Mimi

originally made for Aunt Heather back in the day!

I mean really, the cutest costume EVER. 

Way to go, Finn!!

First Haircut

With the holidays here we decided that it was finally time for Finn's first haircut. He will be appearing in the Waverly Presbyterian Church's pageant tomorrow as a page (the fourth generation Barber to do so --Papa played the same role in 1954 or thereabouts) and there will be many, many other photo ops throughout the season so we wanted his hair to look a little bit neater.

The whole family took a trip to the barber that Daddy goes to (and where Finn has been many times before while Daddy gets his hair cut). Mommy was a bit overwhelmed by the rows of mounted deer skulls with trophy racks, hunting/gun magazines, turkey calls etc. but was quickly put at ease by the friendly atmosphere (note that Finn is draped in a camouflage sheet while getting his haircut).

Finn was initially a bit skeptical (as you can see in the first photo) and never got comfortable with scissors near his ears and neck (which is hilarious when you consider the reckless abandon with which he attempts to play with Papa's power tools, tractors and just about anything else that can cause bodily harm) but he sat still long enough to get the job done.

cheese!

This is the new smile I use in ALL of my photographs! Isn't it pretty?

Dentist!

Today was Finn's first dental check-up. It was such a trip, but I'm still not sure why they charge twice as much as the grown-up dentist... Although he "sure had fun having his teeth checked" so I guess there's your answer.

santa hats

If you've received a holiday card from us in the past three years, I hope you've enjoyed the adorable photos of our kids because this year it's not looking very promising. Mimi knitted these hats for the kids and I tried to get a photo of them - maybe for a card? maybe not? - to no avail.

Such a helpful brother.

Sweet elf.

I call this the "oy vey"/"smirkarama" shot

From the looks of things you all might have to settle for a New Years card, 

or perhaps a simple Easter greeting!

intrepid playground explorers

We went to a playground last weekend that had really cool playground equipment, if it was 1984, but anyway it was a nice day out and we made the most of it. In particular, the kids really seemed to enjoy this rather scary tunnel that (while not entirely appropriate for play) made for some cool photos.

serious Granddad resemblance

I've got this!

Scary tunnel

Get me out.

Tess sings

And to think that I had only heard her sing up to "G" ... until tonight!