"No, Jack, No"

The has been the phrase of the week at mealtime. Jack has discovered how to take a mouth full of food, hold it for a short while, and then spray it across the room. I admit, the first time it was funny and I had to laugh. I even went and got the camera. But, after the 21st time...no one was laughing...except for Jack. He has sprayed Mommy, Daddy, GG, Grandma, and the nanny with a variety of fruits and veggies. We all put our serious face on and say, "No, Jack, No". He returns a serious look for about 2 seconds, smiles, and follows it with a giggle. Almost as if he is so proud of his new talent. The other day I had to pass the spoon to Daddy because I just couldn't take anymore green beans in my face. Daddy was very patient and tried to teach Jack table manners... unfortunately it didn't work. Sunday morning I woke to the sound of giggles and Daddy's voice again saying, "No, Jack, No". I was upstairs in bed smiling and so thankful it wasn't me down there covered in pears and cereal. I truly hope this is a short phase he is going through. It is so unlike Jack to give up any food, even if it is for fun!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Jack met Santa Claus for the first time ever today. He was a lot different in person than in the pictures and books that Jack had seen. I wasn't sure how Jack would react to the jolly old man...would he be naughty or nice? I should have known that he would be neither! Jack was just plain curious. Curious about Santa's long white beard, curious about Santa's red pointed hat, and curious about Santa's white curly locks. Jack started with his usual intense stare which was followed by a gentle touch to the white beard. Hmmm...he thought, who is this chubby man and why am I in his lap? When Santa gave a soft, "ho ho ho", Jack was even more curious. His stare grew more intense...he looked at me and Grandma and then back at Santa and then back again. I enjoyed every minute of it, taking as many pictures as I could get on my camera in his short visit. After leaving Santa's lap, Jack, Grandma, and I went to enjoy a warm latte across the way. Just as I was ready to drink up, I took a look at our recent photo shoot. Oh No! Jack's eyes were squinted in EVERY picture..the sun had peeked out only for our Santa visit. There was no way I could leave with this set of disappointing pictures. So...back to see Santa. Im sure Santa's elves thought that I was a little crazy or maybe they had seen it before. But, we waited in line and did it all over again. This time Jack was much more familiar with the situation and relaxed a bit. Luckily this batch of pictures turned out much better...no sun and no squinting! Not to mention, Erin, Michael, and baby Nate arrived to see Santa too. Perfect...we then asked Santa for one more visit and both babies took a seat in Santa's lap. Jack was a pro by then! By the third visit, Santa quit asking Jack what he wanted for Christmas...thank goodness!

Santa's Little Helper

Jack has been a very busy little Elf this week. The hustle and bustle of the Cibula household during the Christmas season has kept his "things to do" list very full. Luckily for me, he has been a huge help...that is why we felt the need to put him in uniform. Not to mention, he is very cheap labor. All he asks for is a full belly and lots of kisses...we can handle that! Take a look as his holiday job description:

Help Grandma in the kitchen with dinner and Christmas cookies...yum!

Supervise Christmas tree decorating.

Shop for, organize, and wrap Christmas presents. (and monitor Mommy's spending)

And most importantly... give us that adorable grin when things get too busy in order to remind us what Christmas is really suppose to be about!

Oh' Christmas Tree

It is officially Christmas at the Cibula household. Christmas cards are in the mail and the Christmas tree is up. Today we took Jack for our first "new family Christmas tradition"....tree shopping. For a brief moment I considered making our tradition one of which included visiting a tree farm, searching for the perfect tree, and chopping it down ourselves. Then as we were leaving Mass this morning I saw the sale sign for Christmas trees and I quickly came to my senses. That would be so much easier and much less stress, which in turn would make it a "happy new Christmas family tradition". Plus I've never seen Clay use an ax and I don't know if I want to. So after Jack's afternoon nap, we loaded the car and headed back down to the church. I had the camera in hand and Jack was dressed in festive attire. Before even walking in to the rows of trees Jack posed next to the sign that had caught my eye earlier in the day. He giggled as soon as we sat him down and this wasn't even the fun part yet! As Jack and Clay searched for our first family Christmas tree, I stayed nearby camera in hand. Someone even passed by and said, "first Christmas?"...how did you guess, I thought to myself. Between tree scouting, Jack tried to eat a few leaves, starred at a little tree shopper in a Santa hat, and became mesmerized by the sound of a chainsaw. It didn't take long before they found the perfect tree (and we didn't even have to chop it down). The boys waited for my approval and it was a done deal, or so we thought. As we made our way to the pay stand and have the tree loaded on the car, we noticed other shoppers placing sheets on their rooftops. Oops!, we didn't bring a sheet. How were we suppose to know that? In the past Clay and I have gone to Home Depot and the roll out a large piece of paper and lay it down under the tree. We just assumed it would be the same at the church. It wasn't. So, we had to go home, get a sheet, and then return for our tree. You can imagine my anxiety worrying if someone else would get our perfect tree while we were gone. But, we returned to the tree lot to see it safely waiting for the Cibula family. It is now standing tall in our front living room by he window. Tomorrow afternoon Jack and I are going to decorate it...we may even wait for Daddy to get home...another Christmas tradition in the making.