Operation ECQJ

What a fun holiday weekend!  I love spending time with my little family, I love the littleness of my boys and the way they make everything fun...like tonight when we made snickerdoodles and Caden was so covered in cinnamon by the end he had to change his pajamas.

On Friday night we watched Home Alone and had a slumber party under the Christmas tree.  Clark and I were a bit stiff the next morning.

 On Saturday Ethan came with me to Zumba, and I had a grin on my face the whole time, he is quite the dancer and can shake it with the best of them.

 On Saturday night we went to the Botanic Center in Fort Collins to see the lights.

 

 Afterwards we had planned on taking the boys Christmas shopping to find gifts for each other.  On our way there we told them how we had wanted to do something special for a family we know that needs some extra help.  We told them it had to be a top secret mission and that they can't tell anyone about it so it remains anonymous.  Well, using the words secret mission got the boys right into the spirit.  They are real secret agents you know.  They went back and forth arguing about what to call our secret mission.  They finally agreed on Operation ECQJ...(using all of their initials).  We had a lot of fun completing our mission, and the boys loved picking out presents for each other.  They were so excited when they got in the car they immediately started telling each other about the present they had picked out for the other.  So much for top secret!  It cracked me up, but it made me smile to see them so excited about what they had chosen.  I hope at their ages they find joy in giving and not just receiving.  I'm not sure that they really got any great life lessons out of Operation ECQJ...but maybe one day they'll remember and use their secret agent powers for good.

Here are their letters to Santa this year:
Ethan's list included several items including a new baby sister, accessories for the baby sister, and his own set of utensils...but on the back he wrote "uspeshle" especially roller skates.

 Caden kept his pretty simple.  He wants a stuffed animal dad lion, and a baby lion.  Also a pack of Skittles and 2 Starbursts.

When we ask Quinn what he wants for Christmas he says a candy cane.