Happy happy joy joy LIGHTS!!

Tonight, after dinner, we headed out to Liz Simmons' house in the Hollywood Heights/Santa Monica neighborhood of Dallas. Every year, Simmons goes ALL OUT with her 150,000+ lights display. It is truly incredible, not only because it is so dazzling but because she recycles a lot of stuff in putting it together. Everything from some old vintage plastic owl decoration to an old mega-Skyy vodka bottle (her entire front walkway is lined with old bottles filled with Xmas lights). It is notable for both its abundance of cheer and funkiness, which somehow for me outshines all those other generic lights displays I see around town. They're nice, too, but Liz's just rocks my world. I find it impossible not to be happy there. Anyway, I posted some photos over on Facebook ... you can find them here. Mwah!

Video time

The video above is of Wilder singing some song he's learned at school. It might be hard to make out, but he's singing about the artists they've studied so far: Monet, Mondrian, Cezanne and Michelangelo. I particularly love the flourish he gives to the "Michelangeloooooo!" part, which comes near the end.

One of two videos I got of yesterday's Christmas program at W's school.

And the second video. The blurry blog of color at about the 1 minute mark is Hunter dancing on Jerry's lap. And yes, that's my child pointing repeatedly at the audience at the end, as if to say: "No, you guys! You guys, my fans, are GREAT!" Wilder is so awesome.

Oh really? Care to confirm Uncle Ty?

Me to Wilder: Where does Uncle Ty live?
W: In Uncle Ty City.
Me: And Uncle Jay?
W: In Uncle Jay World ... and Uncle Ty lives in a fashion show.

Bwaaahahahahahahaha!

Snow Day! On Jer's Birthday!!!

OK, so the use of explanation points in the title of this post might be a little overkill. But suffice to say we were all pretty excited that it was snowing on Jer's birthday yesterday shortly after we woke up, with Wilder and I both taking credit for it (at least in our own mind's, if not out loud) and with Wilder declaring that it now "must be Christmas!" for it clearly can snow on no other day. ;-)
At any rate, it was a great day for all involved, I think. I've been remiss the last few years in making Jerry feel as special as the birthday guy should feel. I think it has something to do with the fact that it's damn near impossible for me to get anything done without surgically removing a boy from the top of my head. But this year, we pulled it off.

Below are some photos, of the snow and the festivities. Enjoy. And love to all.

Didn't turn out as good as I'd hoped, but I still love the hugs.

First taste of snow.

Hmmm, it's kinda cold out here.

Wilder kept commanding me to "taste the snow, Mama. TASTE IT!"

Bundled up and ready to ... stand stiffly and wonder what the hell is going on out here?

Wilder ... so pleased.

A post-cake game of hiding under/over the coffee table.

Zee chocolate-mustacioed one!

Poking the cake. Good game.

First, a taste test.

They were supposed to look like a "4" and a "3"

Wilder, VERY excited about lit candles. And who can blame him.