Game On!

Video games are the forbidden fruit in our house, the toy that Joey wishes he had at his fingertips. Unluckily for him, he has two parents who would much prefer he be shooting hoops outside, building Lego creations, or playing outside with neighbor kids. But when he gets the chance to play video games at friends' houses, or at the Arnold cabin, he's in heaven! 

So we couldn't resist ringing in his 8th birthday with a video game binge -- a huge trailer truck pulled into our driveway two weeks ago loaded with all the latest and greatest (G-rated) video games, and Joey and 27 of his closest buddies were in video game heaven.

Luckily, we have a big driveway, and these kids were way too enamored with the massive game truck to even think about entering the house. I think one kid used the bathroom during the entire party.

They gobbled up pizza (scarily calling to mind feeding lions at the zoo), and noshed on cupcakes and a special video game controller cake handmade by Mommy (which Joey gallantly watched me decorate and then announced, "Well, only a professional baker would really make it look perfect."). 

Little sisters and cousins even got in on the action.

I'm pretty sure there's not a cooler way to ring in "8." Luckily we have a pretty cool 8 year-old who deserved this shindig and more!

Pint-Size Pageantry

I can't close out the month of December -- and close the books on 2013! -- without sharing a glimpse of our fourth annual Christmas pageant at our wonderful preschool, where teachers and staff magically shepherd more than 200 small kids onto the altar for adorable songs and an even more adorable nativity scene.

Molly May loved all the songs she learned, and treated us to many private shows in the weeks before and after the real deal, even mastering complicated lyrics like,

Tired donkey, tired donkey,

on the dusty road,

Gotta keep on plodding onwards,

with your precious load!

 

Here she is with her class, getting to hold the class "mascot," a stuffed pony, before heading to the pageant. 

On the way into the church, she couldn't have looked more pious...

 

She loved seeing us in the audience, along with Grandma and Grandpa! This pint-size little girl definitely loves the stage!

Cousins for Christmas

I'm pretty sure our kids would throw all their new Christmas presents aside if they had to choose between celebrating with cousins or receiving gifts. Luckily, they get both, but time with their cousins on both sides of the family is the highlight of the holiday!

On Christmas Day, we joined the Cecchin clan in Pacifica for lunch, Ping-Pong and playtime with Tommy, Marco and Lucy.

The next day, we packed up the car and headed up to Arnold to reunite this group of kiddos (who dressed in matching jammies during Thanksgiving weekend so they could grace Hop and Mop's holiday card):

We also got a (very small) taste of snow, celebrated Christmas Part II with Hop and Mop, and enjoyed getting to spend 24-7 with cousins!