Like Christmas Cookies
Had a great time this past weekend with some new friends and our families. We went to the San Antonio Aquarium which is an AMAZING place, and if you’ve never been, here’s your sign. It’s kind of like an aquarium, a zoo, an arcade, and a bouncy castle playground all in one.
Anyway, with it being Christmas and all, we got chased around by the Grinch a little bit while we looked at the Stingrays and the Sharks, took a picture of the kids in a shark’s jaws, and tried our hand at “glow in the dark” ping pong. That was interesting, because my first reaction to there being glow in the dark ping pong was “oh great…I can hardly hit the ball in the light,” but somehow it actually seemed a little easier.
The next day we did breakfast and Playdough time. And I will say if you’ve never had your children create you out of Playdough, you should try it. You might be surprised at all of the interesting features they see in you! Later we all went to Devine Acres. One of my favorite parts there was seeing all of the boys (little and big) try their hands at the “tractor pull”, which is literally an old tractor with a rope tied to it. We also enjoyed our encounter with the Goat Races, fishing (though the perch were a little stubborn), played a little Tether ball while the kids scoured the playground, Dino Paintball, and we even got to run through the “snow” machine on our way out in 80 degree weather! I feel like from the time I left my house to when I arrived at Devine Acres, the temperature rose by 10 degrees so I was pretty dang hot. But still, walking through the snow on our way out was pretty magical. For a moment, I almost stopped sweating when I saw that beautiful bubble “snow” coming down!
As we went to sleep last night, me and Tucker said our prayers, our normal prayers. And then we started saying our “made up” prayers from the heart, and it was a cute one. He was saying “Thank you God for the bestest family in the whole wise world” and then followed that up by proceeding to thank God for a whole laundry list of very practical things….It went a little something like this: “God, thank you for cups. Thank you for trash cans. God, thank you for tooth brushes and tooth paste…” and that’s when I lost it. I had held my breath through a list of things, but when he thanked God for toothbrushes, a snicker burst out of me. It didn’t phase him too much though. He was serious about this prayer for very practical things. He just reached over and covered up my mouth while he continued.
It’s only a few days til Christmas now, and I have to say around this time of year, I am always wishing it was a little farther away. The preparation and excitement of getting ready for Christmas day is more than half of the fun. My daughter has the ceiling of our hallway lit up like a runway for Santa’s sleigh, and every morning I listen to Christmas music without anyone accusing me of being crazy, and our living room tree and fireplace with the stockings just make me smile. Every day I look forward to Christmas morning, but I don’t want it to end. I like looking forward to it.
I will admit, we have baked WAY too many Christmas cookies this year, and decorated them with WAY too much icing, but everything about it is just too fun. Speaking of that, you might be surprised what your face looks like as a Christmas cookie decorated by your children too. It’s always fun to see what they come up with.
I guess that’s the best part about kids, seeing and listening to the silly stuff they come up with and the sweet things they do. Kids are kinda like Christmas cookies…they are just too fun and too sweet…and the more the merrier!
Like Christmas Cookies
