Andes Christmas

Sunday was Christmas with all the Andes. First order of business: get a cousin picture.

Then began the great opening of presents. Once all presents were unwrapped, the kids starting opening some. Here are the main Lego builders in the family.

Bill bought a few cans of Make Your Own Snow. The kids (minus Max who was asleep) enjoyed playing with it.

Paige decided her dolls would enjoy playing in the snow.

And then came the karaoke. Chris and Patti brought their new karaoke machine. Lucy and Paige definitely enjoyed it the most. Some members only watched or sang along in the background. (Lucy knows and sang most of the Taylor Swift album).

Bill chose Don't Stop Believin' by Journey.

The kids were happy to sing along even if they'd never heard the song before.

The adults put their names in a bowl and Bill and Patti were chosen to sing I Got You Babe (but not the Cher version :) )

Once we'd had enough karaoke, the kids used the microphones to tell jokes. (I think I got each of them on video telling one below. Some jokes were funny. Some made no sense.)

The girls

Me, Dad, and the boys

If these uploaded correctly, they are proof of some of the craziness that went on during karaoke and joke time!

Rudyisms

Song Rudy has been singing recently: "Make the world nice. Fill it up with ice."

During one of our recent snowstorms, Rudy was all excited and asked if it was Christmas again and would he get more presents. (Unusual for us, we had snow at Christmas this year, so I guess he equates snow and Christmas.) I told him, no and tried to explain how Christmas was a set time. Paul had been out at his mom and gram's house. When he returned he had a present for Rudy - a toy his mom and gram had been holding on to but decided to give to him at that time. So I'm guessing now he REALLY thinks snow and presents go together!

The other day we were discussing milkshakes. Rudy asked why they were called milkshakes. I said "maybe because when you make it, you add milk and then shake it up." He said , "Maybe because you put the milk in and when you drink it, you shake because you're cold." Considering that's what I do almost every time I have ice cream, I couldn't argue with his logic!

In the car Rudy said, "I already know how to drive."
Me: "You do?"
Rudy: "Yeah, You turn the wheel and put the music on."
Me laughing
Rudy: "I love music!"

Rudy has always been very aware of nuances in language. Even at 2 or 3 years old, if he would say "There's an elephant." And we would respond, "Yes, it does look like an elephant." He would say "Why you say LIKE an elephant. It is an elephant." It has made us more aware of what we're saying.

Rudy loves telling riddles and jokes. For the longest time it was knock knock jokes with some variation on "orange" - "Orange you glad I didn't say...". Although he usually didn't use it correctly. Now he likes to tell other jokes. Recent jokes:
Why did the chicken cross the road?
To get to the other side.

Why did the bird sit on the nest?
Because he didn't have a chair.

Rudy went through, and is still in, a "why" phase - he asked it about everything. He still uses it a lot but the most common phrase right now is "watch this". All day long he says it and we are expected to watch him as he jumps, twirls, 'skateboards', makes a silly face or whatever action inspires him at the moment.

Rudy continues to tell us stories about when he was little. Most recently he told us about a storm he was in, that picked up the house. And Grandma Sheila saved him. (We really think he often confuses the names Grandma Sheila and Mama Cruz). (Can you tell he's seen the Wizard of Oz recently?)

When Rudy gets mad at us, usually when we don't do something he wants us to do or we correct him or put him in time out, he starts giving us ultimatums:

"If you don't be nice to me, I won't be your friend."
"If you don't play with me, I won't let you play with me."

And my personal favorite "I'm not going to come sleep with you when I wake up." (I'm still trying to figure out how to hold him to that!