It was Christmastime!

We'll see how far I can get into the past week or so of activities. It has flown by! Currently I'm trying to dig myself out of all the new toys and clothes that everyone got.

Christmas Eve was "started" with church at 3 o'clock. Bubba and Brian were able to come out and sit with us. And we got a homily primarily composed of Christmas jokes (What is the difference between a Christmas alphabet and a regular alphabet? The Christmas alphabet has no-L.) Gwen really got into the shaking of the bells. Trevor was as interested as ever in the nativity scene and had to go and see it when the service was over.

After church we headed up to visit with Grandpa and Grandma and family for a nice dinner and opening presents. Trevor was a bit confused as to how we would open presents if Santa hadn't come yet. I'm pretty sure he thinks that all presents at Christmas come from Santa even though I tried to convince him that people other than Santa can give you gifts. So I think he might have gotten it. Just before opening presents, Trevor and dad put on a performance of Twas the Night Before Christmas followed by How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Trevor read/recited the stories while dad acted them out. They both did an excellent job ;-)

Christmas morning was very nice. Trevor was only up 15 minutes earlier than Gwen. I had him come into our bed and lay down with us while he was waiting. It was pretty cute to see him know at the exact moment Gwen made a sound that we could go downstairs. The words he uttered after looking under the tree: "Mommy! I was a good boy! Santa CAME!!!" Oops...maybe I shouldn't have made him feel that guilty about not being a perfect kid.

Then Christmas afternoon/evening was spent at Bubba and Papa's house. I'm still not sure why, but Trevor didn't want my birthday to be that day. He said it would be fine if it was the next day, but not that one. I wonder if it was because he has been talking about getting older and dying and didn't want me to get a year older....or if he just wanted it on a different day...that part I'm not sure about. But he did like the frosting and ice cream after dinner.

Soooo....as I'm trying to organize all the toys and wash clothes and such, it is interesting to see how and what things are getting played with. Trevor enjoyed opening presents just like he did a few years ago. But unlike recently, he wanted things out of the box so he could play with them right away instead of opening the next gift. This year we had to convince him that not all the wrapped gifts were his. We did let him help open Gwen's things, and he has since been having a good time playing with those toys as well. She got an Elmo driving toy that Trevor loves to run around with. She got a Little People carnival playset that has turned into a ramp for his cars. She has been playing with her purses and putting things in and taking them out of the purses. Trevor got an electric Nascar track set, although before we left in the afternoon he was pushing the cars around the track instead of using the "guns". He has loved the diecast ships that were in his stocking and the x-wing fighter with the little figures.

It is easy to see that dad got a favorite gift as well....he got his G1 phone that he had asked for and has been playing on it plenty. I got motherhood rings, stackable rings for each baby with their birthstones on them. Best gift EVER! (Well minus the first Nintendo game console I got when I was like 11). So now we just have a few things that we can get with our gift cards, then there is the continual clean-up until everything is back in its boxes and put away...then bring on Disney!

Thank you to everyone for their great gifts for our family and the kids. We love the time we spend with all of you.

Dear Hasbro

I would like to inform you that you need to make the requirement of your EZ Bake Oven needing a 100 watt light bulb AT LEAST as big as half of your package. I know you are wondering where you are going to put something of that nature, and I have a suggestion for you: Please remove the frilly looking girl and replace with the required but not included warning of the light bulb. My son, upon opening, thought it was a girl gift because of the picture. After discovering what it was, he was excited enough to want to start playing with the oven this morning! So we opened the box, looked at the instructions and discovered that we needed a 100 watt light bulb and NO OTHER. No high efficiency, fluorescent, or lower wattage bulb would work. After searching through our stock of light bulbs and running through our house thinking we must have some old bulb that hadn't been switched over to fluorescent yet, we were almost ready to check a nearby gas station or ask a family member if they might have one.

Thankfully, I remembered that our overhead garage bulb had just burned out this week, which I knew was not fluorescent, and I also knew we had at least one left that had not burned out. SUCCESS!!! We were finally able to play with the toy and make our first sugar cookie in it. We are very happy that you brought this fun toy back to life! It is a very fun and hunger satisfying thing to do! But really, do you think you could make the "not included" warning a bit bigger? Especially in this day and age.

Thank you!

**And for those of you that are wondering, no I'm not going to send this letter...just a little vent by me. It is a very cool gift. Thank you Santa! Plenty of more updates and fun things to come...

Time is flying!

And yet some times seem to crawl by....oh well. The kids both have a cold, and hopefully it will be done with quickly. Couple updates for what has been going on with us.....

Thursday night I had the annual mom's swap of cookies and subsequent gathering. We always say we wish we had more of an excuse to get together more often than once a year, but still....I'll take the fun whenever I can get it. I remember last year I had to leave pretty early because I had to come back and help put the kids to bed. But this year I was able to hold out until the end. 10:30 baby!!!! I even partook of the White Elephant game. Because of it I got a fun blue scarf for Gwen to play dress-up with. And she loves it....it is so soft and fluffy!

Then on Friday, Russ and I were out for his company's Christmas party. Again childless, I felt like I didn't know what to do with myself! Granted by this time I was exhausted because both kids had been up due to their colds. It was nice to see some of the family again without kids. Even if we go somewhere with the kids to visit, I can't stop myself from wondering, if it happens to be too quiet where or what the kids are getting into.

The food was great, the company was better and a fun thing to do once a year.

Saturday was low key....hopefully the kids were able to rest up and we stayed inside all day because it was very cold. Sunday, we ran some errands, and got ready for dinner. It was a dinner celebration for "Grandma" at Benihanas. We haven't been there since last year and this time we went to the new one open in Maple Grove. I am very thankful for the distraction of both the scenery and the many people that were in attendance. Both kids enjoy the attention, but right away Trevor was asking about the chef and when he was going to come out. (If you aren't familiar with Benihana's - they are a Japanese teppanyaki restaurant that also serves sushi.)

So we ordered our drinks, got our soup, followed by the salads before the chef came out. He started to do his thing, and Gwen looked a little frightened. But as soon as people started laughing and clapping she settled down. Trevor was really excited. It was interesting trying to watch Trevor who was very hungry, you could tell. And he REALLY wanted to use the chopsticks. So he asked for them to put a rubber band on the end so he could use them that way. He ate some vegetables and then the shrimp he was given. Now, he has always liked fish, occasionally liked crab meat, but I've never gotten him to try shrimp. I'm guessing it had something to do with the way the chef prepared it in front of him. But he ate all of it and asked for more. Thankfully everyone was offering him their appetizer shrimp to him and I had ordered shrimp for him as part of his dinner. The other interesting tidbit...he was determined to eat "octopus" for dinner. Derek ordered it and said he could have some if he wanted...so he tried it and of course had a few more pieces. I think everyone thought that it was going to be more squid shaped, but it came out in square patties. So I guess we have a few options for future foods.

So not only did Trevor have a good time, but he played "Benihana" for a good portion of the morning today. That kid is so funny. And we begin our Christmas celebration in two days. Merry Christmas all!

Making cookies

Yeah, you would think that would be simple. I can follow a recipe. Thank goodness for the allrecipies.com site where if I have an idea I can look up what I need. I even tested out a trial batch with the family a week or so ago.

I am baking cookies for the 3rd Annual Swappalooza put on with a group of mom friends. Granted I waited until the last minute for this. Someday I'll remember that it is BAD to procrastinate.

I am making a to-do list a lot. It updates, changes, things get crossed off, things get added, I just don't want to forget or get too far behind on things. And for the party (which is in two more days) I need to bake cookies, make a appetizer, and get a white elephant gift. At least one has been taken care of. But I thought tonight I could take care of the baking cookies part. I had went to the grocery store once already this week but with Trevor's preschool program, I didn't get a good shopping session in because I had to hurry back for his program. I also probably should have taken a good inventory of things I might need before I went back a second time to the grocery store.

So this evening started as I was going to the grocery store to get a few more things I needed for the party. Then I started to make the cookies. I had to double the recipe and put it into a larger bowl than I usually did. And MAN did I make a mess! Cocoa and flour on the floor, eggs, butter, and sugar on the counter, a random assortment of cookie batter on my shirt and pants....and it was HARD to stir the batter at the end. I should have built up my muscles or something.

I took a break to put the kids up to bed. Came back down to actually bake the cookies. Actually I'm in the middle of it right now. I almost ran out of white sugar (one of the things I didn't get onto my list) and am about to run out of Pam cooking spray. I know there are other ways to grease cookie sheets, but my goodness. Bad planning by me.

Then I needed to make some room for the cookies to cool and be taken off of the cookie sheets. So I put away all the ingredients. Including the extra brown sugar and flour I bought but didn't end up needing. Good job again Krissy. And as I was putting all the stuff up on the shelf and smooshing it rather than nicely organizing it, stuff began to fall off of the shelves. Ooo look....plastic bottle of sesame oil. No problem. Back on the shelf. Balsamic vinegar...glass bottle...ok. No problem. Didn't break....back on the shelf. SHOVE....Oops. There they go again....this time the top broke off of the balsamic vinegar and dripped onto the counter, onto the floor and somehow onto the back part of my jeans at the knee. SWEET.

So now, not only am I crossing off the "getting the cookies done" but I'm adding, "clean the kitchen, soak clothes, buy replacement vinegar, cooking spray, and sugar". The party is going to be just what I need......*SIGH*

Preschool performance time

Well, yesterday was Trevor's preschool Christmas program. We have been doing a lot lately, and he has been keeping busy. But with it comes the fact that he gets tired. It is obvious he still needs an afternoon nap, or at least some downtime in the afternoon. You would think that he could "catch up" during his overnight sleeping but I think he is so trained to use the afternoon as his naptime that when he doesn't get a chance, he just goes about in his usual sleep pattern. He was up on Monday at his usual 7am, but he had a rough morning of listening as it usual if he is tired or sick. Thankfully, so far he has not shown any signs of being sick.

So when we were at his performance, it was a great show, but he was not in his usual form. He basically mouthed the words, and did the motions, but not with his usual excitement. Even after we were at home, he continued his listening issues from the morning. Funny thing though, as soon as he was done with his hour plus nap, he came down with a different attitude. Man I wish I could get a good nap like that to improve my attitude!

I'm slowly but surely getting through my giant to-do list for this time of year. This week is the worst to come, but I also have to figure out what to do for the kids on Monday and Tuesday. There was a rumor that one of Trevor's friends wanted to have a playdate on one of the days, but not sure if that will happen or not. And BRRRR this weather isn't helping any. Fine...get cold enough to snow, but negative numbers in December??? We haven't even hit the technical start of winter yet! So that's what's going on with us!

Talk about surprising me!

So I knew Trevor was reading a little bit. And I know that the kid has a wonderful memory. But I also know that he loves the time when we read to him. There have been plenty of times where I stop mid-sentence and ask him to finish the line. Most of the time he doesn't even want to do that.

But tonight, he gave me a treat. He said he wanted to show me how he knew how to read. He had picked the story, "The Night Before Christmas". I was expecting that he would get to the more boring parts and either get stuck or get bored and hand the book off to me. But he got through it. He even tried to get me to finish some lines....especially naming a few of the reindeer. "Good job mom!" There were a few times he lost his spot, and then had to really read the words to get back to where he was. So while I know a lot of the story is pure memorization, there were a lot of elements of reading there.

After finishing the story, I really couldn't hide my surprise. I told him that he did a really good job, but he wasn't hearing it. He wanted to get to the next story, which was "Stories of Santa Claus" Actually, it was the words of Up on the Housetop and Jolly Old St. Nicholas put to illustrations. However, every time I read the stories he makes me sing the songs because he has seen that the first pages have the music for the song. So I requested the same thing from him. It is a much easier book in terms of number of words and ease of remembering them. But he still had a good time while I danced along to his singing.

And for the grand finale....he even went and read the entire "How the Grinch Stole Christmas". Now while this book takes me about 15 minutes to read, I thought there was no way he was getting through it. Especially after the other two books. But he did it. The. Entire. Thing. And yes, he loves the book. We read it every night since I took them out at the beginning of the month. And he has seen both the live-action film and the cartoon twice already. But again, that is a LONG book for a kid to memorize and have the patience to read. I think he might have mistaken a handful of words the entire thing. He did lose his place a few times again, but just re-read where he was and went right back to it.

After he was done, I tried my best to make sure he felt as proud of himself as I was for him. Now is it bad of me to not want to try to push him into reading every night? I'm not even close to ready to give up reading to him. So I don't want to give him that idea. I know it won't be any time soon, but I really think I'm not going to try to push it up any more than I have to.

Conversations with the kids

It might not exactly be a conversation when it comes to Gwen, but the other day, I was really excited when I knew what she was talking to me about.

It was a few days ago, I had ordered a stocking for Gwen for Christmas to sort of match the rest of us. We have plush head stockings of Pooh (mine), Tigger (Trevor), and Eeyore (Russ). I looked for Piglet, but I only found one on ebay that was going for a pretty penny and shipping from England. So instead I decided to get one from TRU of Elmo instead. She likes Elmo better anyway.

It came in a package and I put it up after she had taken a nap one day. Trevor had not taken his yet so I was happy to see that he seemed to approve. I'm pretty sure he gets how much she likes elmo. But when she came down from her nap, right away she didn't notice it. I had went to get her a snack before dinner and as she was walking with me she saw it. I heard her say ELMO! Then she said "Blankie Elmo". She has been talking about her blankies that she sleeps with when she wakes up in the morning. One of them is a blanket pal bear that I can see how she would think looks like this stocking Elmo. But without even seeing what she was doing, I knew exactly what she was doing and looking at. I took it off of the stocking holder and she cuddled with it for a while. It was pretty cute.

Then yesterday with Trevor: We had been to swimming lessons and then went to the nearby McD's for lunch. It is the one in Edina that has the "world's only pneumatic drive-thru". Simply put it has a station removed from the restaurant where they have to - like a bank teller - send your order of food through a pneumatic tube. They have people manning the station, to fill drinks and take money. Anyway, I had been talking to him about it and how it works because one time when we were there, I think the tube wasn't working because they had people pull up to the front of the restaurant and a worker would come out and give you your food.

So he was doing his questions about the time we were there and it wasn't working. And I was explaining it to him again. Then he asked me, "Mom, how old do I have to be before I can work at McDonald's?" Remembering back to when a few friends were working there, I told him he had to at least be 14. But that most people don't start working until they are 16 because that is hold old you have to be before you can drive. And when you want to work somewhere it is probably a good idea to be able to drive yourself to work. Trevor then stated to me, "Mom, I don't want to learn how to drive, I want you to drive me when I'm 16 because you are an EXCELLENT driver." I tried to explain to him that probably by the time he was 16 he would change his mind, but he quickly said that when he has tried to drive (in the driveway with the car off) he just "doesn't know how to do it, I keep turning the wheel back and forth and back and forth."

Between working at McD's and learning how to drive, it will be interesting to see how things change. I am really surprised that he isn't already interested in driving based on his love of Nascar and Cars. But oh well. I'll keep him innocent as long as I can.

One other fun thing

Here is the picture with santa for this year. Gwen was just crying to get off of Santa, but really she wasn't that upset. I wouldn't be surprised if we go for 3 years in a row next year, but you never know.

Annual Elf Yourself!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Please excuse the mess

I'm trying to figure out how to clean up the blog and having no experience with it, it is going slow. So please bear with me. Thanks!

So far, so tall

Trevor went for his 5 year check-up yesterday. It went very well. I prepared Trevor as much as I could without making it a big deal to have his shots. They were out of one, so we have one left to get before Kindergarten. They said they would put him on a waiting list and call when one became available. However, he cannot have another shot for at least 4 weeks so that is nice.

He came to the appointment complaining of an upset stomach. He had a good breakfast of eggo waffles, and he actually was happy to say he had this upset stomach because he thought the doctors and nurses could help him. I knew the stomach ache was nervousness due to the upcoming shots. But he obviously couldn't put that all together yet. He just knew his stomach hurt. So he told his nurse, then told the doctor right away. Both of them also knew that it was probably nerves after they heard he had a good breakfast.

So he was weighed and measured first. 45.5" and 48lbs. They took his blood pressure, and then waited for the doctor. We found out he is in the 90% for both height and weight. So unless we have some fast acting growth stunting genes in our family, I'm guessing we have a tall boy on our hands.

We found out the doctor has two kids that are going to be going to the same elementary school Trevor will be going to next year. And because it is such a small school, they might run into each other. He said they have reading programs between the upper grades and the K classes.

I had forgotten that Trevor hadn't been to the doctor since back in March due to his bad ear infection. So really, this past year, he has been very healthy. He has been able to get through a few colds and sick incidents without needing to go to the doctor. It REALLY helps now that he can tell us what is wrong.

After the conversation with the doctor, we went to have his vision and hearing screening. He passed very easily. But after that was the shots. Even with the conversations before hand I knew I couldn't convince him that he could remain calm during them. So we had to hold him down. But after all of it, he recovered quick. I think the build up of it all was worse that the actual event for him. Which makes me wonder if I should just spring it on him rather than talk about it. But remembering back to my experiences, I can't do it. I'd much rather know it was coming than not be prepared for it.

Since the shots, his legs have been sore. He got some special treatment at preschool today because the teachers understand it is hard to sit with "pretzel legs" if you have just gotten shots. He still has his band aids on, but we'll have to take them off for swimming tomorrow. Or maybe not. I guess we'll see tomorrow.

On to more Christmas preparation.....

Final decorations are up!

Friday night, we all went to the tree lot to pick out our Christmas tree. Turns out Trevor knew right away. It was reasonably in the front, as you walked in. I was hoping for something slightly taller, but when I looked around, I didn't see anything better. It is a very round tree. I like those the best. It fills up the corner nicely.

Of course when we brought it home, Trevor thought we should decorate it right away. We had to let it open up and drink some water, I tell him. We didn't even get home until close to bedtime anyway. And when we got up on Saturday morning, he knew that was the day the decorations would go up. I again forget to inform him of one other thing we needed to do in order to be able to put the decorations on. We need the angel and lights on. FINALLY we are able to be ready enough to put the decorations out.

So I'm ready for the fun to begin with the kids. I know Gwen has no idea....and I know Trevor gets it a little bit more. So Trevor begins to find the ornaments. He had already found a package of ships from Star Wars that were ornaments. He took out the X-wing and has been playing around with it. So he found the Luke, got out the Darth Vader that is supposed to "talk" but doesn't now due to us getting LED lights for the tree, and began dueling on the couch. Every few minutes I'd remind him about more ornaments, and he took them and added them to the collection. Yoda, even the rest of the ships, Lightning McQueen, Mater, Thomas, and Percy are all in this reenactment on the couch while we finish decorating the tree. For some reason, he didn't even want me to put the Mickey Mouse ears that we had been getting from the advent calendar that are supposed to be hung on the tree every day.

So I have this video of Gwen talking to the tree, looking at the lights, taking down any low-hanging ornaments to play with, and Trevor - on the couch - playing with the ornaments. *Sigh* Maybe next year. And I guess I shouldn't complain. He is very excited about getting out these ornaments....he just wants to play with them again. Not put them on the tree.

And a funny side note....I always replace the ornaments that Gwen takes off of the lower branches so she can go through and take them off again. Well, Trevor saw her take one off, and while I told him that it was ok, she just wanted to play with them, he said, "No Gwen, the tree ornaments are NOT for playing with."

I gently said to Trevor, "What do you mean they aren't for playing with? You have almost an entire table full of ornaments that you are playing with."

The look of realization that came over his face was priceless. He didn't really say anything, but he gave the ornament back to Gwen to have her fun with. Merry Christmas Trevor!

Always a new Christmas Spirit

Obviously with each passing year, the kids pick up on different things about our Christmas traditions. I bring up a big pile of movies, CDs, and books related to snow and Christmas. And now when it gets brought upstairs, I get to watch Trevor's mind remember about what they are all about. I also can start to see where I need to fill in the gaps when he can't piece together things about Santa or a story he thinks he remembers from last year.

Funny thing is, he still remembers when two years ago, we showed him the cartoon version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" and at the very beginning, there is a Cat in the Hat that raises and lowers his eyebrows. Two years ago, he was afraid of it, for whatever reason. He would hide behind the couch until it was done. Last year, he was proudly telling everyone he was not afraid of it anymore. And again this year, we just watched it tonight and he is still proud of that fact. But we won't mention that there is a scene in the live action version of The Grinch that he is afraid of. And even hiding behind the couch if need be.

I get the added benefit of using Santa in my bargaining tactics for the next few weeks. However, I think I mistakenly told him about the thought that Santa can decide you were not nice this year and put a lump of coal in your stocking. Now when he gets mad at his parents, daddy gets a lump of coal and I've already gotten a whole bag full of coal. THANKS Trevor.

Another new thing, now that Trevor is really on the verge of reading, he follows along with the story, and asks a lot of questions about words that he and I read. Tonight we were reading the Grinch and he asked me about the phrase, "He liked least of all." He asked me to explain how you could like something but get the impression that he didn't like it. He didn't agree that the word "like" should be anywhere in that sentence. So I had to explain the definition of least. Then I think he got it. The other word was chimbly. He told me the word was chimney - until I pointed it out, and said that the author was trying to be funny because it was a rhyming book and he had to rhyme with "nimbly".

Through watching him this year, I think I've decided that this year might end up being the best Christmas for him. He has yet to really get into the commercial side of wanting gifts. I think he senses that he is supposed to want something, but really doesn't care about anything enough to want it. He is much more interested in the spirit as well as celebrating the birth of Jesus. He gets a lot of time to talk about that as well through preschool. I am guessing this is going to change when he gets to Kindergarten next year. He might see things other kids have that he wants, or be more influenced by the older siblings of his friends that want things. And I'm guessing it also will cause Gwen to grow up faster while watching her brother want and ask for things.

So anyway, I'm trying to not put so much pressure on getting him things I think he might like and just trying to make sure he enjoys the season. It is over pretty quick, so I think my time would best be spent enjoying it as much as possible. Merry Christmas everyone!

A difference between boys and girls?

I have heard that there are quite a few differences between girl and boy babies (besides the obvious genetic and physical differences.) Although I know that there is no for sure in those either. Mostly just personality or possibly how your parents treat the difference between a boy and a girl. And in our case, I also wonder if it is partially due to the first vs. second child thing.

I had thought that Gwen was going to take longer than Trevor did to learn to walk...but nope. She was walking a few weeks earlier than he did. However, I think it has taken her longer to learn to climb and now finally descend stairs. I had thought with Trevor, he was quick to want to climb on everything. But only just recently has she started climbing on things. We finally brought up the Christmas decorations which are stored in big plastic totes. She has loved climbing on those.

What seems to be different with her is her small motor skills. She is very independent feeding herself. And part of it is normal development. She now wants to have a spoon to feed herself with anything like cereal or yogurt, or will play with silverwear after eating, pretending like she knows just what she is doing.

What surprised me most recently was that Russ tried to get Trevor to play his new Connect Four game, which he didn't want to do, but Gwen was interested in it. It only took her a few tries to figure out how to put the checkers into the game. So it's now her game to play...hee hee.

Then there are her words. Trevor's big word used to be "ON" for when he saw lights that were on. Gwen's similar phrase and word is "Dark" for when the lights are off. And actually if we are outside in the sunlight she likes to say "Bright!" But I can't get her to understand that lights inside can be bright too. She's been picking up a lot of words and I do remember Trevor doing something that she has been doing lately. If you ask Gwen a question like if she wants water, she usually answers: "No" when she really means yes. Most of the answers she gives are no, regardless of the question and how she feels about it.

I'll be back shortly with our coming Christmas....