On Friday afternoon we went to Dave’s work Christmas party. Santa made an appearance and handed out toys to the kids. I saw Luke eyeing the toy car another boy had received and watched as he looked back and forth between the car and Santa. I could tell he was thinking about that car and trying to decide if it was worth getting close to Santa.

Adam went over to lend some brotherly support, but that was as close as Luke would get.

After Luke ran back to the table where he had been coloring, Adam explained the Duke’s dilemma and Santa was happy to find a set of toy cars for Luke.

In addition to a visit from Santa and coloring, the boys also enjoyed playing in the bounce house and making a graham cracker house. Aunt Stacy went to the party with us (she was Adam’s date) and the two of them did a great job on their house.

Adam asked me if he could help me make his oatmeal yesterday. He got out a green bowl and spoon for himself and an orange set for Luke. He said that we were the oatmeal cooks and Luke was the waiter.

I asked him what a waiter does and he told me, “He waits for the oatmeal”.

This picture is a month old, but it’s adorable, so I’m sure you’ll forgive me for sharing it so late. We were out shopping and the boys (all three of them) were getting antsy. So while I waiting to checkout, Dave took Adam and Luke to wait near the exit.

All on his own, Adam climbed up next to the other “kids” and posed with them. He was so still that he tricked a few other customers that were coming in to the store.

He’s pretty fantastic.

Luke has been acting like quite the little bully lately. This morning in the bathtub he got mad at Adam and hit him in the head with a toy fish. He was not pleased when I took the fish away from him.

Mama took my toy fish away, just because I whacked Adam in the head with it.

Wait, she is taking my picture…

I’m supposed to say cheese when she takes my picture.

Cheese!

Cheeeeeeeeeese!!!!

Thankfully his bad mood was short-lived and he was back to being my happy little guy again in no time. Luke’s main complaint lately (besides a big brother that picks on him sometimes) is the two teeth that are really close to breaking through on the right side of his mouth (one on the top and one on the bottom). Hopefully they’ll be in soon and his poor mouth will stop hurting him.

Last night we packed up the boys and headed out for an early dinner at IHOP. Adam thought it was so silly that we were having breakfast for dinner (even though scrambled eggs for supper isn’t anything new at our house since that child only eats like five different things). After eating and a quick trip to the store, we were off to the train station.

We changed the kids in to their pajamas before we went in and they were all set for a ride on the Polar Express.

Adam was not a fan of the sing-a-long that the elves led before we boarded the train. That isn’t to imply that the elves didn’t have nice voices, it was just too loud for him.

I was really hoping for a nice picture of the two of them together (that’s always my mission really – and I fear it’s going to move even closer towards impossible next May).

Luke was a little scared when the train first started to move, but he got over it quickly.

Getting a decent picture of me with the boys wasn’t going to happen last night either. Luke didn’t want to sit still and Adam refused to keep his eyes open.

Mickey stole away for the  trip as well. He didn’t have a ticket, but he did wear his pajamas – so we’ll let it slide.

After the train stopped in the “North Pole” Santa got on board and spent some time visiting with each child.

The Duke loved waving to Mr. C (from a distance), but was not happy about sitting on his lap.

Adam shared his wishlist with Santa. He’s been asking for the same three things for months – the Huckle Game, a play kitchen, and a pogo stick*.

Before leaving, Santa Claus gave each boy a bell from his sleigh and Adam promised to leave some chocolate chip cookies out for him on Christmas Eve.

* Adam will not be getting a pogo stick and if you get one for my son I will beat you with it. I have no desire to start 2013 with another trip to the ER.

Whenever Luke hears the theme song to the show “The Big Bang Theory” he stops whatever he is doing and dances to it. It’s hilarious and Dave and I can’t get enough of it.

We had a light bulb blow earlier and when I told Adam I was going to change it he said to me, “That’s a daddy job Mommy. You can just make me lunch and then when Daddy gets home from work, he will fix it.” Apparently I am raising Archie Bunker.

I started to take out the burnt bulb and he got so upset, thinking I was going to hurt myself that I had to stop. We’ll work on gender equality later.

Adam loves to take pictures with my camera. He’s very careful with it and is good about returning it to me when his allotted number of photos is up (when I want it back I’ll give him three last pictures).

So it’s always a surprise when I put the memory card in my computer to see what is on it.

He’s also been interested in the solar system lately. The other day he brought me a rubber ball and a hair tie and asked me to “make the ball look like Saturn, with rings on it”. Later, when Dave got home from work, he asked Adam if he knew any other planets. Adam was quick to respond with Mars. Dave then asked if he knew which planet we lived on and Adam said, “Planet Earth”. I’d say that’s pretty good for a three-year-old. Dave asked if he knew any more and Adam’s response was, “Yes, but I don’t want to tell you”.

So Dave grabbed some crayons and drew him a diagram of the sun and planets (I am allowed no part in space discussions/education after Dave heard me telling Adam there was a planet named Pluto). But later, I asked Adam what the planet closest to the sun was and he told me “Bakery” (instead of Mercury).

That is a planet I would like to see.

We spent last weekend visiting my family. I think Adam’s favorite part of the trip was baking cookies with Mabel. She let him make his own recipe (after he kept trying to add random ingredients to hers) and he took it all very seriously.

He has a cookie in his mouth in this picture (one of Mabel’s), which is why he’s sporting chipmunk cheeks.

It quickly turned in to a bake-off and Adam declared himself the winner at the end.

Mabel accepted her defeat graciously and still sent Adam home with a care package full of her (slightly inferior) cookies.

If you’d like to try to recreate the winning recipe at home you’ll need mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, crushed graham crackers, white sugar, and powdered sugar. Mix them all together and cook them in the oven for 7 minutes (but don’t tell Adam I shared his award winning secret recipe).

This past weekend I was taking advantage of some of the online shopping deals and ordering some Christmas gifts. Adam was sitting on my lap and we found a pair of pajamas that he really liked. I added them to my cart, but when I went to complete my purchase, they were sold out.

I explained to Adam that we weren’t going to get the jammies after all because a lot of other people liked them too and there weren’t any left. He told me that I needed to go to the store to go shopping, because then, if I saw someone going to buy something I wanted to buy, I could yell, “STOP, put that down!”. Then, when they put it down I could go buy it.

He’s got it all figured out doesn’t he?