Not surprisingly, the boys are doing their activities in the underwear. They have some thing against wearing pants once they get home. Anywho, Maureen said, "Let's make sure they are wearing pants next year." They're still placing different ornaments on the tree and asking about presents. It's going to be 10-more days of that. God help us!
We headed to Home Depot this morning to pick up a Christmas tree. John was a bit upset because he wanted to go to the OSH on La Brea, but it is still under construction. He was crying and saying that he was ready to cancel Christmas because OSH wasn't open yet. When Maureen turned onto Santa Monica Blvd., he changed his tune because he thought we were going home.
So, we get home and place the tree in the base and Maureen starts trimming some of the lower branches to clear the base. Guess who grabbed their own scissors and started trimming and pruning a few branches. Yes, the boys were quite helpful at that.
As one of Nicholas' birthday treats, we said that we'd do anything he wanted to do. John had all sorts of ideas about what he wanted to do, especially ice skating. We had to break it to him that it was Nicholas' choice. Nicholas chose miniature golf. Sadly, we had to tell him that it was raining and that it wouldn't be too much fun to golf in the rain. I was running out of suggestions when Maureen mentioned bowling. Immediately, he said, "Yes, I want to go bowling." Both have been dying to go bowling since Mother's Day when we stopped in to the Mission Bowling Alley to check it out.
Grammy even joined us for some bowling in Koreatown. She said that she hadn't been bowling since high school which was many moons ago. The boys enjoyed themselves quite a bit. John and Nicholas didn't use any help at first and rolled the balls very, very, very slowly down the lanes. The attendant was kind enough to bring us some ramps to help with it. They really liked that as well because they got to push it down a hill. They also loved the ball return machine and called it the bowling ball train. Honestly, they could have watched that and been as happy as could be. In any event, we found out that they both liked bowling and it was relatively inexpensive.
Sadly, I was unable to attend because I had to work, but they had tons of fun and fell asleep as soon as they got home. I'd say that was a success.
The boys all plotted against the one lone girl, Adriana. They had plans to do karate chops and to throw rocks at her to prevent her from joining them in the creek. Thankfully, they didn't do that because that would not have been a good. 
As the night went on and dessert time was upon us, the boys picked up their cupcakes. Actually, they wanted their cupcakes before dinner, but we were able to convince them to eat their meals. John wanted to go eat the cupcakes outside so we did. He kept on insisting that he heard wolves in the hills and was scared until Jesse told him that there are no wolves in California. That saved the day. The rest of the boys went inside, but John and I were still talking and enjoying the fresh air. It wasn't horribly cold, but it was rather nippy.
Wednesday was Soup Day at Plymouth School. The kids each bring a vegetable to be added to a communal soup. As if that weren't enough participation, the kids get to chop up the vegetables. Maureen asked if I would help chop in the Big House aka John's class while she helped out in Fran's class. Now, my mother made me a nervous wreck when it comes to knives and small children and I mentioned this to Maureen. She allayed my fears by saying they would be cutting with plastic knives, so I was ok with my assignment.
Exactly what Nicholas did, I cannot say. I will say that he decided to bring an orange bell pepper and chop it up because it was orange. He also brought the requested carrots, but he was adamant about bringing a bell pepper. His teacher Fran was kind enough to allow him to do his thing. Like Pharoh, he's quite obstinate when he wants to be.
I've always sworn that we wouldn't try to schedule too many activities in any given day for the boys. I like have one or two tops because I like to have some flexibility in the schedule. Today, we deviated from that just a little bit. We had three events to attend and it's been a really, really long day.
First, we headed over to LAFD Station 61 for a pancake breakfast. It was rather foggy and misty as we walked along the street to the fire station. This really excited John quite a bit. We got to the station at about 8:15 and they were still cooking the first batch of pancakes. We headed over to the fire trucks to see how many cool things we could see. The boys really loved the old fashioned fire truck with the hand cranked siren. They were also excited to sit in the modern fire truck. Their friend set the siren off as someone was making a speech. The firemen were kind enough to say it was ok and didn't make the kids exit the truck. As we were leaving, several of the firemen thanked us for visiting and invited us for visits at any time. They said that we were always welcome to visit and tour the facility.
So, that really started the morning with a bang, but that was followed by a Halloween party at a friend's house. They both wore their costumes for a short time; however, they both eventually took the costumes off because it was much easier to jump around in the bounce house in their regular clothes. There were all sorts of fun activities, but all they wanted to do was jump around. A bounce house is all you need for a children's party. Aside from that, they were able to enjoy all sorts of candies. AND, John disovered that he liked bagels with cream cheese.
Finally, we headed home and we are headed for an early bedtime. I'd go on, but it has just been too darned long.
As if decorating and carving a jack-o-lantern weren't enough excitement, the boys were invited to a Halloween party this morning at their friend's house. Costumes were optional, so the boys decided to wear their costumes; however, they eventually took them off. They decided that it was best to jump around in the bounce house in their regular clothes.
John is kind of sad that the Dodgers lost last night, but he's happy that Uncle Rick Upshaw and Johnny the Mailman are happy (they are Cardinals fans). Every so often, he asks if we can go play baseball in the courtyard or in the larger park across the street.
On Sunday, we headed to Target to pick up a few things. Of course, we had to head over to the Halloween section to see all the fun things. Nicholas zeroed in on a Dusty from the Planes movie costume that was exclusive to Target. We did wind up buying it because he really wanted in and it was all he was talking about since he first saw the costume earlier in the week. We asked John if he saw anything he like and he was just very wishy washy and said he didn't want to be anything.
Nicholas woke up this morning and came into our bedroom at the ungodly hour of 5:15 after rolling around in our bed for about 10-minutes, he headed back to his bed for a little more rest. John popped in around 6:15, but then headed out to the living room. I went out there to ask him if he wanted anything special for breakfast. He said, "I know. It's a lovely day to take a walk and have breakfast outside. Let's go to the coffee cart."
So, we decided it was a good day to head out. When we stepped out of the building, John said, "Oh, it's so nice to get some fresh air, isn't it?" What 5-year old says things like that? Anywho, we walked until we reached the coffee cart and made our orders. The boys each got a muffin and shared a milk. Maureen and I had croissants and coffee/hot chocolate. I must say I was impressed with the fancy hot chocolate. I'm used to Swiss Miss or Carnation instant. This was freshly brewed by the coffee cart guy. He was a little nervous. It was his first day. He did a great job and even gave the boys a little whipped cream and with chocolate sauce in tiny cups.
A couple of weeks ago, the Beverly Hills Police Department had its annual pancake breakfast and open house. The boys were so excited because they love pancakes and Beverly Hills, not necessarily in that order. Anywho, we were quite excited to pull up and see all the vehicles from the standard police cruiser to the SWAT vehicle (we event went inside of that one). The boys were happy to wait in line for their pancakes that were catered by the Beverly Hilton. Let me tell you, free pancakes, any free pancakes, are great, but these were restaurant quality pancakes. Nicholas even got to try their chocolate chip pancakes. 
After breakfast, we headed off to see the exhibits. John was quite intrigued by the police dog. It was some sort of Belgian breed, but his partner spoke to him in German. I always tell Maureen that you can speak to any dog in German and it'll understand. Since a tour of the police station was on the menu, we headed up to take it. This was a great tour because it took us all over the place from the shooting range to the actual jail. John is fascinated by jails, so he was particularly excited to visit. We got to see the drunk tank, a real jail cell, and the padded cell where they put the violent criminals. We also saw that there was only a drain where they can go to the bathroom if they need it. The boys didn't quite understand, so we didn't push it. All in all, it was quite a nice visit and we warned the boys that this is the only time they should ever be in a jail.
As we were leaving, John affirmed his desire to be a police officer. Nicholas chimed in that he wanted to be one as well. John pointed out that Nicholas wanted to be a daddy artist, but we told him that he could be a daddy artist police officer. It's good to have dreams.
Well, she went to pick up the boys at school shortly after her trip to the farmer's market and still had her produce and bread. While John was showing his friend his new booster seat, Nicholas climbed to the front of the car and proceeded to start eating the bread. When John became aware of this, he also asked for a loaf. Needless to say, Maureen didn't get a chance to preserve her bread in the freezer. Oh well, the boys enjoyed a fine snack on their drive home.
The boys started school on Monday. Both will be going 3-days per week. They'll get a nice 4-day weekend from Thursday to Sunday. I wish I could pull that off. 
