A Wonderful Christmastime

I figured before the year ends, I should get back on here and write about the end of our year.

 

 The Wednesday before school ended, the kids had a little winter concert during school.  Josh and I both made it and it was...interesting.  I have some notes on things I'd change, but it was still cute, and the boys were beside themselves with excitement that we were there.

 

 

 

(I LOVE the picture of Zeke.  I always knew he was tall, but I didn't realize how tall until this day.)

 

School ended that Friday (Thursday for Deacon), and winter recess started.  With winter recess came CHRISTMAS, and what a Christmas it was.  I don't know about the rest of my family, but I had a great couple of days.

 

Christmas Eve we went to my uncle's house for the extended family Christmas party.  It was nice seeing everyone again, and especially funny watching Finn spend a good portion of the afternoon hanging out with my cousin Molly, whom he has never met before (I think?).

 

After the festivities at my uncle's were finished, we rolled on over to my mom's to do Christmas with all of my sisters.  Once the many presents were opened (we all seriously got spoiled this year) we had some dinner, put the boys in their new "Christmas jammies" and headed home in the snow!

 

The next day was Christmas Day and again, what a day we had!  Zeke woke up a little before 7am but had to stay in his bed until his brothers woke up, which wasn't too much later, about 7:15 or so.  At 7:30 we let them loose, and it was so sweet.  Zeke and Deacon had gone "shopping" at the Christmas "store" in school this month, and they were both so excited, that they insisted on handing out the presents they bought before they opened the presents they got.  Soon enough though, all of the presents were handed out, opened, and being played with. 

 

Once presents were "finished" and Christmas donuts were eaten, Deacon and I got to work on making a birthday cake for Jesus.

 



 

Around noon Grandpa Bob, Grandma Karen, Uncle Bobby and Great-Grandma Vint came over to have Christmas.  More wonderful presents, more fun and another great time with family.  Which was followed closely by a second round of visitors.  Grammy, Pappy, Tia (Katherine), Tante (Kirsten), Great-Grandma Rudy, Shawn and Ivan (K&K's boyfriends) came over to hang out and have Christmas dinner.

 

And what a Christmas dinner it was! Besides the normal green bean casserole and cranberry sauce, we did things a little differently.  Instead of mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes, I made homemade potato soup.  Then, instead of the "usual" turkey (or ham), Josh deep fried a goose.  All of it was so good.  Dessert was cookies and treats that I had made during my week of nap time baking, and our cake for Jesus.

 

As you can see, I let the boys decorate it. I guess I shouldn't've wasted time writing on it. Heh.

 

Eventually it was time for bed for the boys, then time for guests to leave, and time to relax and reflect on a really good 2 days. 

 

The Friday after Christmas Josh's parents came up and spent the day with us, having Christmas all over again.  Again, more spoiling of us, more fun time with family,  and another great day celebrating the birth of our Savior.

 

And since this post is getting pretty lengthy, I'll post another day about the fun the kids have been having in all of the snow we've been getting.  But I hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas as well, and may you have a wonderful New Year!

Trimming Our Own Tree

Saturday morning we all piled into the car, and we went out and got our Christmas tree.  We got a really nice tree for a really nice price.  When we got home, Deacon was so excited by the whole thing that he was more than happy to help us set the thing up.  (Zeke decided to color and Finn curled up on the big chair with the iPad.)  Here we are, cutting it free after putting it in its stand

 

 

After nap time was over, the older boys helped Josh string the tree with lights:



 

 

Because Deacon was the only one who helped set up the tree he got the priviledge of helping Josh put the star on the top of the tree:

 

 

Once the star was up, the rest of the ornaments followed.  And I must say, we have the most ecclectic collection of ornaments ever.  There's no rhyme or reason to it at all, and I love it.

 



 

Once the tree was all set up it was, apparently, time for dancing.  After all, who doesn't love a good wild man dance around a newly set up and decorated Christmas tree?

 



This Kid Is So Sweet

Zeke came home from school on Wednesday and said, "Look, Mom.  I pulled my wiggle tooth out on the bus today."  Assuming he meant on the bus ride home from school, I asked something like, "Wow.  Does it hurt at all?" and Thomas (who had come over to play) said, "It fell out on the way TO school."  I looked at Zeke and asked, "It came out on the way TO school?!" and he replied, "Yeah.  I was wiggling it back and forth and it came out so I put it in my coat pocket."  And that was that.  No visit to the school nurse, no mention of it to anyone all day, no making any sort of a deal out of it at all.  He is, after all, a big kid now.

 

 

When I put him bed that night, we put his tooth under his pillow had the following conversation:

Zeke: I hope the tooth fairy doesn't bring me another dollar.
Me: Well, what would you like the tooth fairy to bring you instead?
Zeke: I don't know.  Where's my tin? (He has a tin he keeps his money in.  I should probably get him a wallet or an actual piggy bank soon.)
Me: It's right here. (As I take it down from the top of his dresser.)
Zeke: Another dollar would be okay then.
Me: Do you know what you can do with your money?
Zeke: No, what?
Me: You can go shopping and buy something for yourself!

Zeke: OR, I can give it to the church!!

(I told you he was sweet.)

Me: Or, you can do that.  That would be great.
Zeke: Oh! OR I can share it with my brothers!

Me: You are too sweet.  You can do that too.

 

Yes Zeke, you really are too sweet sometimes, and I am so proud of you and your gentle heart.

Two Excited Little Boys

Today at PWOC (the women's Bible study group I go to on base) had everyone bring in a dozen homemade cookies, which we divided and handed out to the gate guards around base.  We had so many cookies, we were able to give some to the fire house as well.  After Finn and I picked up Deacon from school, we gave one bag of goodies to the guards at the gate as we came back on base, then headed on to the fire house.

 

One of the firemen, Jeff, goes to chapel on the weekends he's working up here.  Jeff happened to be working today and answered the door before I could even ring the bell to be let in.  He said, "We saw you coming a mile away."  So we brought in the cookies as the men were eating lunch and I told them who the cookies were from and all that kind of thing.  I said it was PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel) and one of them guys said, "More like CWOC - Cool Women of the Chapel."  I think they appreciated the gift.

 

As we were making our way back out, Deacon kept looking around.  I told Jeff he was probably looking for all of the trucks, so Jeff let us go into the garage and look around!  Oh man, was Deacon thrilled.  Finn was pretty excited too, but the smile on Deacon's face was priceless (and lasted the entire 15 minutes we spent in there).  They walked all around every truck they had in there, as Jeff told them what each truck did.

 

When we had made our way all the way around the garage, Jeff asked Deacon if he'd like to "drive" one of the fire trucks.  Would he ever! Of course, as soon as Deacon was up in the seat Finn started trying to climb up saying, "Mine turn!"  When Finn got his turn, he refused to come back down.  But down he came, and off we went, super excited, and wanting to be firemen when we grow up.  At least, that's what Deacon said as we were getting in the car.  "When I get bigger and growed up, I'm going to wear the fireman clothes and hat, and I'm going to drive the firetruck and help people who need help, because that's what firemen do."  Sounds good sweet boy.

My Sweet Deacon

I'm not sure what happened.  Deacon started off the school year LOVING it and having a great time every day.  The only day there were tears was book fair day.  Then all that changed the week after Thanksgiving.  Three of those days he came out of his class at the end of the morning crying.  One day he got hit in the shoulder by another boy and was so upset he cried, but cried for so long he missed snack time, which upset him further.  Another day he was crying because he lost his hat on the bus.  That Thursday he came out crying because he missed me so much.  When he got home from school that Friday (Josh picked him up that day) he told me that he cried a little in school again, because he missed me.

 

The following week (last week) went a little better.  He only cried twice (I think) during school, but came out happy enough.  Thursday though, Thursday he came out crying again, climbed into my lap (I was sitting on a chair waiting for him) and continued to cry.  When he finally calmed down again he said it was because he missed me so much again.  Now, it does melt my heart a little when he says this, but it also has me a little concerned.  I mean, why now? What's going on? Nothing is different from the past 3 months he's been in school.

 

Last Thursday when we got home, I gave him and Finn some lunch, then put them down for naps.  While Deacon was napping I got out my knitting stuff, found a pattern online and knit him a little heart shaped stuffed "animal" thing.  I gave it to him when he woke up and told him it was for him to keep in his pocket while he's at school.  Then, if he starts to feel sad or starts to really miss me again, he can go in his pocket and take out his heart and hold on to it and know that I love him and I will be seeing him soon. He was super excited about it and put it right into his pocket.  He even put it by his pillow that night to "watch over him while he slept".  The next day he put it back in his pocket, I sent a note to his teacher so she knows it's there, and sent him off to school.  When I picked him up he said he got sad again, and missed me again, and forgot about his heart.  But we had a nice weekend with Josh home, and I thought having some time with Daddy, and all that would help.

 

I thought wrong.  Yesterday when I went to pick him up, he came out okay (not crying), but when I asked him how his day was he said he was sad for a little bit, then he was okay, then he got sad again.  I asked him if he used his heart and he said he forgot about it again.  I asked his teacher how he was and she shook her head and told me it wasn't good.  Yesterday he got so bad he refused to do his work or participate in any class activities for the first hour and half he was there.  She remembered the heart and told him he could take it out and hold it if he wanted, but he was just so down, for whatever reason and wouldn't come out of it.  (This, by the way, resulted in him having extra homework becaue he didn't do his work in class.)

 

So I talked to him, and Josh called and talked to him, and he just kept saying he was really tired in school and he was missing me too much.  We told him was okay to be sad, but it was not okay to not any of his work.  While his brothers watched TV last night, I put Deacon in bed.  We spent extra time reading together and we prayed for him to have better days at school, and we talked some more about the heart and his behavior.

 

Today went super well.  He came out of class smiling.  His teacher said he was happy all morning and did a great job as line leader and weather watcher.  He was like normal Deacon again.

 

Now this has me thinking.  Yesterday on the phone, Josh and I brainstorming different ideas as to what could suddenly be bothering him.  One of Josh's suggestions was that maybe he has a little touch of SAD (Seasonal Affected Disorder).  So now I'm wondering if maybe he does.  Last week, Monday was a gorgeous day, and he did fine, but the rest of the week it rained and he was sad most of those days.  Yesterday was a foggy, wet day and he had another rough day.  This morning was sunny and nice and he had a great day.  (I can't remember back to the week it started - that might have been when it snowed?)  I guess I'll just continue to watch him and the weather?  I don't know.  I do know I hope it's just a phase that he gets out of quickly.  I don't like sending him to school, wondering if he'll be okay that day.  I don't want him to stop liking school because he cries most days. 

 

I'm also wondering a little if he's just a wee bit too young for kindergarten.  He won't be 6 until after school gets out.  I'm sure he's old enough academically, but what about emotionally?  Of course, if I do decide he's not old enough and take him out, would he be bored next year because he's not challenged enough even though he's more emotionally stable and ready?

 

Sigh.  Maybe the holiday break will set everything right and if we can just make it through the next 2 weeks, we'll be back on track.  Maybe he has SAD and I should take him to a doctor's.  Maybe he's just a "special in his own way" kind of kid and this is just his thing.  Although, I've never really pegged him as a cryer.  Maybe we'll just have to wait and see.

He's Quite the Little Man

After Finn and I loaded the car with groceries at the commissary the other day, I told Finn to get into his seat.  He looked up at me and said, "But I want that one."  This rather confused me so I asked, "What one?" to which he simply replied, "That one."  This went on for a few rounds until I picked him up and put him into his seat myself, which is when he finally pointed at what he wanted, saying once again, "I want that one."  I looked where he was pointing and I had to take a picture:

 

Oh yeah.  Apparently my car isn't cool enough for my 2-year-old anymore. As I buckled him in I said, "Sorry buddy.  That's not our car."  He replied with an "Awwwww-WUH" but then dropped the subject when I asked him what song he wanted to listen to on the 2 minute drive home.  Oh, it's going to be fun watching this one grow up.

Where's the B---

After I wrote this post [click here], Finn had sort of stopped overloading his bed with his toys and was usually sleeping comfy where he should be.  However, one night last week, I went in to check on him before going to bed myself.  I immediately saw the basket on his bed and said (to myself, in my head) "Where's the baby?" 

 

 

Then I took a closer look and realized Finn was not in his bed at all.  So then I thought, "Where the heck IS the baby?!"

 

 

OH, he's over here, NOT sleeping at 10:00 (or so) at night!  Great.

 

I thought maybe this was a fluke, that SURELY Finn did not enjoy not sleeping on the green chair,  and that he would never fill his bed to the point where he couldn't even be in it again.  I thought wrong.

 

 

This time, however, he did not sit in the green chair waiting for help.  This time I found him like this:

 

Fast asleep on the floor, on the opposite side of the room from his bed, using his pants as a pillow and his pillow as a blanket.  The kid is out of control.

Shoulder Time

Back when we were stationed in Alaska (I was pregnant with Finn at the time), the Bible study group I was going to did a 3 week thing on marriage.  I only made it to the first one before morning sickness really started kicking my butt, but I learned something that morning that I'm going to share here.

 

A local pastor and his wife came in to talk to us about marriage.  They had a lot of good things to say, but the one thing that has stuck with me 3 years later is the notion of "shoulder time".  Basically, they said how for most women (and some men) quality time is hanging out, talking, face to face, etc.  For most men (and some women) quality time is simply just being there.  For example, if Josh was sitting on the couch playing video games, he would be perfectly content if I were to sit next to him on the couch and knit.  We don't have to interact much, but sitting shoulder to shoulder (hence "shoulder time") is enough to make him happy.

 

Having 3 sons, I've noticed this in them as well.  Many times they've wanted me to sit on the floor with them while they play.  They do NOT want me playing too, or interfering in any way, they just want me to be right there with them.  Here's a picture I took this morning to illustrate:

Finn and I had spent a good half hour or so building castles together with our giant "LEGOs".  I got up to take the banana bread out of the oven, and when I came back Finn had moved on to something else.  As I sat down on the couch, he looked up at me from across the floor and asked me for help.  So, I got up, sat on the floor next to him to help, whereupon he promptly turned and ignored me. I tried once or twice to get up, each time resulted in him asking me for help that he didn't need.  Therefore I got my current crochet project and sat on the floor working on that while Finn sat 3 inches away playing and doing his own thing.  Shoulder time.  All of them have wanted it, all of them will continue to want it, and I am happy that I know about it, as it makes so many things make so much more sense.

Trimming Trees All Over Town

That title might be a little misleading.  We weren't all over town, we were all over base.  And by "all over base" I mean we were at Josh's office "Tree Trimming and Potluck" party for lunch, then the post Tree Lighting Ceremony later in the afternoon.  Also, we didn't actually trim any trees.  At Josh's office thing, the younger 2 boys and I showed up and went immediately to the potluck portion of the festivities.

 

 

Later in the day, as soon as Zeke and Thomas got off the bus, I scooped up all 4 boys and took them over to the tree lighting ceremony on post, just like last year.  Josh met us there, and it was a nice time.  They had people in costumes this year, waving and dancing as people showed up.

 

 

The boys had a great time running around in the snow with their friends, I had a good time chatting with some of my friends, and Josh probably didn't have that good of a time continually trying to wrangle the kids.

 

The ceremony consisted of an adult choir that sang a few songs, then a choir made up of children from the CDC, the lighting of the tree, and Santa showing up on a fire truck.

 

This year, unlike last year, the boys were thrilled to see Santa and had no problem going up to him this year to get candy canes.  It could be that they're old enough this year to understand a little better.  OR it could be that before they went to school this morning I told them we'd be going and that Santa would be there, but just like how in Scooby-Doo the monster is always a person in a suit or a machine and there's no need to be afraid, this Santa is just a man in a suit and nothing to be afraid of.  Either way, it was a fun thing to do on a chilly afternoon in November.  Let the Christmas season and all its festivites begin!

Just What I Needed

I woke up at 3:30 this morning feeling terrible.  My throat was on fire, and burned any time I swallowed.  My nose was stuffed up and running like a river at the same time.  I had a difficult time falling back asleep, so when 7am finally rolled around, I felt pretty crummy.  My shower helped a little, but not enough - I'm sick.

 

Even though I felt rotten all day long, little things happened here and there throughout the day to help me feel better and not throw a "woe is me" party, probably making it all worse (mind over matter, right?).  First, was Finn telling me, of his own accord, "I love you, Mommy" as I carried him down the stairs this morning.  Sweet boy.

 

Since I wasn't feeling well I decided it would be best for me to stay home this morning instead of going to PWOC (Bible study).  So I called my friend Cindy and asked if she would stop by on her way over and pick up the video and things as I wouldn't be there myself.  Not only did she pick the stuff up, but she dropped off some super delicious chicken and rice soup! (Seriously, Cindy, I want that recipe.)

 

Finn and I spent a really nice morning at home, just the 2 of us.  We ate yogurt, did a whole mess of puzzles, played with my phone, went and got Deacon from school (which is probably a post for another day), came home and had some lunch, then the boys went down for naps while I ate my soup and watched some TV.  After the program I dvr'd was over, I took a wee nap myself and felt a bit better after it.

 

Then it was time to get Zeke from the bus.  When I went downstairs to put my shoes on I saw that some packages had been dropped off.  When Zeke and I got back from the bus I opened them.  One was Josh's birthday present (better late than never) and the other was a box from Linda.  Inside the box from Linda was a big, warm, BEAUTIFUL shawl that she'd been working on for me for the past 4 or so years.  OH, it is so wonderful.  Thank you again Lin!

 

 

After opening my shawl it was business as usual.  Help the boys with their homework, make dinner, wrap Josh's presents, feed everyone dinner, bathe and shower the boys, have Josh open his presents, etc.  I was starting to feel run down again by this point, so it was really nice that Finn let me hold him while he watched Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  In fact, thanks to my new shawl, he sat there and snuggled with me for a solid 40 minutes before deciding he'd had enough.  It was great.

 

Then it was time for bed for the boys.  Zeke chose me to pray with him, so the 2 of us wrapped ourselves up in the shawl and had a sweet prayer time.  After the boys were in bed I went downstairs and made myself some of the hot chocolate my "Secret Santa Sister" got me (we're doing a Secret Santa/Sister thing at PWOC and even though I didn't get to go today my neighbor brought my gift to me after study was over, and what a sweet gift it was - hot chocolate, a new mug, candy canes, and purple gloves).

 

So, now that I've recapped my day of little blessings, I'm going to go and wrap myself up in my shawl, finish my hot chocolate, and watch my husband shoot up aliens (his birthday gift was HALO 4).

And the Snow Came Down

Well, it snowed today, all day long.  The picture on the left is what it looked like at 8:20 in the morning.  Finn was beside himself with joy, not only at all the snow falling, but at the fact that he got to PLAY IN THE SNOW while we waited for the bus and for a few mintues after.  I was beside myself that I only had to ask him 3 times to put gloves on before he let me put them on him. I was expecting a WAY bigger fight.

 

Then it snowed and snowed and snowed some more.  I think it finally stopped snowing around 4:30 this afternoon.  There wasn't too much accumulation, maybe 2-3 inches, but it was enough to make some of the streets pretty sketchy.  But it was a good day for catching up on TV, doing some laundry, and cooking a big dinner.  Which is why I don't have much else to say, not much else happened.  (And I'm a little distracted by the episode of Parks and Recreation we have on at the moment.)

I Said "Build Me a Church"

And he did!

Josh has been going crazy bananas with the LEGOs lately, making up his own creations. I meant to take pictures of everything and write a post about it all, but today got away from me. So, you'll just have to settle for this one shot of the cathedral he built last night and tonight, while you wait for the rest of it.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I Just *Had* To Use All Three

Looking back for today's "Flashback Sunday" entry, I found these sweet pictures of Josh and the 2 older boys. Josh looks so young! That's probably because this was taken before his hair started really turning grey. Love you, Babe!

 

Dingle Dangle!

We've been having a really nice two days after Thanksgiving, hanging out around the house playing LEGOs and watching football and just relaxing.  So, as I'm in total relax mode, I've decided that in lieu of blogging about anything I'm just going to post this video I saw today because it tickles me.  Enjoy!

 

Every. Single. Night.

Every night when it's time to put the boys in bed, Finn gets it in his head that he does NOT want his blanket in bed with him.  It's as if either he and his blanket got into a fight 3 seconds before bed time and they are SO fighting, or that he's thinking he wants to be a big boy and sleeping with a blanket is such a baby thing to do he wants nothing to do with it.  Either way, every night he freaks out, "NO! NO BLANKET!" So, every night we put his blanket into his wardrobe, so it's out of sight.  He used to put it outside his bedroom door and then close the door but I put an end to that when he'd go to bed without it then cry 10 minutes later because he wanted it back and can't open his bedroom door by himself.  Hence, into the wardrobe with the blanket we go every night. And every night, just as I'm getting ready to close the door, he changes his mind and decides he DOES want his blanket after all.  Not only does he want his blanket, he wants it directly on top of him - not on top of the blanket he already has on top of him, but under that blanket, directly touching him so he can link his little fingers into it and snuggle down for the night.

Gobble Gobble To Ya!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!  We had a lovely day with my father, stepmom and extended family. The picture I'm using is probably my favorite moment of the day (not really, but it was a good laugh).  Shortly after dinner was finished my dad's dog laid down in front of the door and was all, "I'm ready to go whenever you guys are."  It was pretty funny.

 

Anyhoo, we had a good time seeing aunts and uncles and cousins.  We ate a bunch of good food, and the boys had a blast playing and coloring and wrestling with Grandpa Bob.  By the time we got home, we had 3 tuckered out little boys (and 1 tuckered out momma).  So, it was a great day all around. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday as well.

'Twas the Morning Before Thanksgiving

Just like last year, the kindergarteners put on a Thanksgiving "show" for their families.  It was 2 songs, but it was cute.  Following the show was a Thanksgiving "dinner" for the kids and then for their families (the kindergarteners were fed first, then their guests were allowed to go through the buffet line if there were leftovers).  Also like last year, the kids dressed up - half as pilgrims (which is what Zeke was), half as Native Americans:

 

Isn't he the cutest "Native American" ever?!  He is actually a teensy bit Native American, so I guess the costume choice was appropriate.  Maybe?  Either way, it was a fun morning and the kids did a great job singing.  Here's the shorter of the 2 songs for your listening and viewing pleasure:

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Where's the Baby?

I guess it would be more appropriate to say, "Where's the two-year-old boy?"  Most night we tuck Finn in and leave him in his bed with a book or something to occupy him until he falls asleep.  For the past however long though, when we've gone in to check on him hours later before going to bed ourselves we find him either scrunched in a small portion of his bed because the rest of it has been overrun by his toys,  or because the toys have backed him "into a corner":

 

 

 You may have also noticed his penchant for moving his pillow and using it as a sort of blanket.  I have no idea what that's about.  But I may have some idea where Finn got the idea of going to bed with as many toys in his bed as possible from:

 

 

I love that not only does Deacon have stacks of books and a puzzle in there, but he also fell asleep on with a mask that he made at school during his class' Halloween party.  His face and hair were SO sweaty under that thing, it was so gross, but so cute at the same time.  Oh, Sweet Dee Dee and Mr. Finn-tastic.  What would we ever do without you boys?

 

And just in case you're wondering if Zeke has any sleeping quirks, I'll tell you quickly that he really doesn't.  Except for the fact that he's usually smiling in his sleep when we check on him.  Ah, to be so happy all the time.  I love these boys!





Uninspired

Some days I sit down to write something here and I feel uninspired.  There's nothing I feel like/want to talk about.  Now that the boys are a bit older and every day is pretty much the same here, it gets harder to find things to write about that I think would be interesting for me to write about and for you to read about.  Which I guess is why the blog has been neglected the past few months.  That, and with Josh coming and going so much, I'm either too tired to write because he's gone, or I'm "busy" (actually cooking, cleaning, etc) because he's home (not that I don't do those things when he isn't home, but you know).

 

Today is one of those days.  I did think about doing a week of the things I am thankful for as Thanksgiving is on Thursday, but I then I thought that might be sort of a cop-out.  Oh, I'm thankful for God (day 1), Josh (day 2), Zeke (day 3), Deacon (day 4), Finn (day 5), a post about Thanksgiving (day 6) and a flashback Thanksgiving photo on Sunday (day 7).  Then I thought about picking non-obvious things, like Amazon Prime and it's free 2 day shipping, but that felt sort of...silly.

 

So, now I've sat here for however long, writing this pointless blog entry about pointless blog entries.  Still not entirely inspired for tomorrow (or the rest of the month), but you never know when or where inspiration will hit.  I guess.

Some Sunday Sweetness

 

Mister Finn fast asleep in November 2010.

Shhh...

I'm tired.  We had a big day at my mom's today.  It was a very good day, good seeing extended family again and all that, but we are ALL on the exhausted side:

 

Thus, I leave you with this picture.  It was not taken tonight, it was actually taken earlier in the week during a nap time that he protested taking, stating that he was NOT tired.  Well, I am tired, so I am off to bed now.  Good night y'all.

"Knock On Wood"

I hope I'm not "jinxing" anything by writing about this, but the "battle" between Finn and me over him having to wear a hat this winter was not at all as long lived as I had anticipated.

 

You see, when it started getting cooler, and the bigger boys started wearing hats to school in the morning, I tried to get Finn to wear a hat as well.  I didn't really care whether or not he did as it wasn't that cold yet, but I knew he wasn't going to want to so I figured if I gave him a few weeks of getting used to the idea, he'd be ready to wear one when it was actually cold out.  It got cold enough last week.

 

Sure enough, he fought me on it and cried and tried to take his hat off, but I held my ground, and kept his hat on his head the entire walk to the bus stop and back home.  This meant I had to carry him the entire time, but by the time we made it back home after putting the older boys on the bus, he was happy to be in his hat and hasn't given me a hard time since.  In fact, he's usually quite happy to put on his hat, which is nice, especially since he looks so cute in it:

I'm a Little Out of Control

It's been a longish, busy day and I as I am just getting around to blogging now, I figured I'd just share a quick story from tonight before I go to bed (yes, it's 9:30 and I'm already ready to go to bed).

 

Tonight was the monthly book club meeting at the library.  I went to September's meeting and enjoyed it, last month's was cancelled because of the hurricane, and so tonight was the next one on the schedule. I didn't really enjoy the book but I wanted to hear others' takes on it, and apparently I was the only one who didn't like it.  Go figure.  Not only that, but the one character that I did like, no one else liked.  Anyhoo, that's not why I'm a little out of control. 

 

See, the book club meeting ended a little early, and as we were leaving, we had to walk past another room that had some people in it.  As I walked past I saw that it was a group of ladies who were knitting!  SO excited to find fellow knitters, I poked my head in, got some info (sadly, tonight was their last meeting for the year), gave my name and number, and was then invited to sit and hang out.  So I did.  For almost another hour.

 

What a fun group of ladies!  We chatted and ate cookies and chocolate covered pretzels.  We drank sparkling cider.  I had such a good time I almost can't wait for January to come and the group starts up again.  So basically, instead of spending an hour at the library for book club, I spent almost 2 hours at the library partying with a group of knitters. I'm so happy now Josh made it home a day early from his trip to DC so I could go.

This Kid Is a Mess

When I picked up Deacon from school on Monday he spent the entire car ride telling me about his morning. He was pretty happy and bubbly until he came to the part of his morning where he went to the book fair.

You see, the book fair is at their school this week and each class gets a time slot to go down, check things out, and if the kids have money, buy something. So Deacon's class went Monday and when he got to that part of his day he said, in a pathetically sad voice, "Then my class went to the book fair, but I could not buy anyfing because I had no money for buying books." He followed that up with a big sigh.

Knowing his class was going back to the book fair today, I gave Deacon $10 to buy a book. Twice before, twice after, and once more when I put the money in his pocket I told him he had $10 in his pocket so he could buy 1 book at the book fair. That's 5 times y'all, 5 times I told him he has money, how much money he has and how many books he could get.

Therefore, you can probably imagine my surprise when, around 11:00 I got a call from the school. The ad min said Deacon's class went to the book fair and Deacon was crying because he had no money to buy a book with. What?! I told the ad min he had $10 in his pocket and she had my permission to retrieve it herself from his pocket so he could buy himself a book. Apparently there were more tears when he realized he had enough money for only 1 book, and then further disappointment when the book he wanted most sold out between his being there the first time today and his being there the second time after his money was found.

Of course, I blame myself as I did think to myself as I packed his lunch this morning, "Maybe I should write a note to his teacher and put it in his folder saying that he has $10 in his front right pocket to buy 1 book at the book fair with." But I then thought, "Surely he's excited enough by this that he'll remember." Sigh.

There is a happy ending to this tale of woe though. By the time I picked Deacon up, his money had been found, he picked out his second favorite book there and was quite the happy boy.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Best Story Time Yet

Every Tuesday morning Finn and I go to the local library for "Tales and Tunes for Tots" - it's a 45 minute long story time with songs mixed in and a craft at the end.  The group we're in is made up of 2-3 year olds.  Most mornings I leave there wondering why I keep bringing him back, and wondering at the seemingly infinite level of patience the librarian who does the story time has.

 

See, there are these 2 boys in the group who do. not. sit down at. all.  They spend almost the entire 45 minutes running around, standing right in front of the book, running some more, leaving the room, etc, etc.  The one is there with his grandmother and for her part, she tries.  She brings things to try and get him to sit still but the other boy is with his mother who does very little to try and keep him in line.  Last week they were so out of control that at one point they literally ran right into each other.  Today however, today they weren't well behaved, but they were SO much better.  That or I've gotten good at ignoring them.

 

So the boys were good.  There were also fewer kids there today, so that probably helped a bit too.  But I think the best part was seeing Finn actually go up and sit by the librarian so he could see the book better.  Every other week he sits with me in the semi-circle the parents make around the room, and just listens.  Or sometimes he climbs on me like I'm a jungle gym, but at least he's quiet and not bothering anyone else. But today he went and sat with the girls (they're really the only ones who sit nicely up there). He's in the yellow shirt:

 

 

Also adding to the fun today was that the craft we did was really cute.  Usually it's a color, cut and glue sort of thing that almost immediately winds up in the trash when we get home, but today we made these cute apple turkeys:

 

 

As you can see, Finn was pretty excited by it too.  Actually, I think he was more excited about the candy he got to eat while I made the "feathers", but he actually sat at the table the entire time instead of bailing halfway through, leaving me to finish it quickly (not sure why I bother when I know where it's going to end up), gather our stuff, help him stamp his hand (he LOVES that part), and get out before he's gone without me.

 

But speaking of his craft and where it ends up, the very first day we went, just as I finished glueing his craft together, he took it from me and put it right into the garbage.  I fished it out and said, "That's probably where it's going to wind up, but let's wait until we get home before we do that."  The only father in the group overheard and started cracking up.  And now my stories are done and so I'm going to pull a Deacon and without any sort of "formal" wrap-up I'm just going to say, "The End."