Pump it up

We went to Leah's 6th birthday party today at Pump It Up, a sort of indoor jumping castle place. Laney had a great time even though it was during nap. She's so incredibly brave it just amazes me. I was such a chicken as a little kid and she is absolutely fearless. I believe that's her father's genes coming out. I certainly got a workout climbing through everything and bouncing around. You know you're 36 and not 6 when you bounce on those things and think "huh. My bladder does not seem to be quite the same anymore". The downside of having kids, particularly twins. The twins stayed home with daddy today since I can't climb through stuff with Laney and watch them at the same time. The inability to be two places at once when you have a very active toddler and two infants is the subject of another posting though.
Anyhoo, the babies didn't attend. I also went to Hallmark today for their open house and bought way too much stuff, but oh my gosh they have cute Christmas things! Holidays are so much more fun now, but I'm seriously needing to stock up on decorations. I opted not to purchase the cute ceramic gingerbread house that plays the Russian song from the Nutcracker. So sweet, but ultimately way too breakable. I'm proud of myself though--I've got 75% of the way through my Xmas gifts for Tucson family and secret sister gifts for the next two months (not all at Hallmark). I got these tap dancing ornament things that I think the kids will enjoy and the singing snowmen thing. We got the snowman thing last year and Laney thinks it's just the best.
I don't know what the deal is but I'm already feeling very holiday-ish. Maybe because it's suddenly got cooler. We've also bought tickets for our trip home to Idaho for Christmas. I even called the airline to figure out what to do about all the baby stuff. It's such a ripoff to fly now. The airline charges to check a bag and allows either a stroller or car seat but not both. But Charles hopefully will be able to use his status in Star Alliance to get all our stuff there free. They are also now charging for sodas/juice on the plane. Seriously. Add to that the logistics issue of going through security with three children and fun will be had by all. Security will just have to help us I guess since you must put your stroller through the xray machine and carry your child. I don't know what you would do if flying by yourself, since they aren't supposed to hold a baby for you but it would be nearly impossible to hold two babies and collapse a 40 pound stroller (takes two hands just to collapse the stroller). I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Next year we will not be flying up to Idaho for the holidays. It will be time to stay home. That kind of makes me sad but it is what it is. Celebrating the holidays in Tucson isn't quite the same for me. For my family, the holidays are a really big deal and it's quite the opposite here. For example, I have no idea what the family is planning to do for Thanksgiving this year. I know that Debbie will be here, but that's the extent of things. I guess I'd better take charge and make a plan.
PS - I'm going to go back and add pictures now. I finally downloaded the camera. I'm still trying to get a Flickr slideshow to work - that's what that picture thing in the corner is all about but it isn't working for me.