FAH-EVAH

Forever - quite the word around here.
"J-why did you do this...go to your room."
"Fah-evah?"

"B pick up your toys please...."
"It is going to take forever"

"J-finish cleaning up your room"
"This is taking fah-evah"

"Mom, I want to go home, this is taking Fah-evah"

"B we are not watching any more movies"
"Forever?"

Another thing I am finding myself saying a lot lately is "you know what, life is not fair, so just get use to it"

J has a new game now when he eats. We have a table that my grandparents use to have. It has small 'leaves' on each of the four sides that can drop down. Now, anytime J has food that can be smushed, what does he do? He drops down his leaf, puts the food in there and then closes it back up. I have found pretzels, raisins and many unidentifiable things in the crack of that table. It always seems to happen when my back is turned!

Two days now...two days that the Candy Canes have been on the Christmas tree and I don't think one of them have been open. I have told the boys that if they unwrap anything that is under the tree it is going back to the store. I sure hope none of it becomes an issue with little hands. I think the thing they love the most is taking the ornaments off and playing with them.

Our calendar is clear tomorrow, so hoping to start lots of baking and enjoy being outdoors when the high will be in the teens.

Christmas tree hunt

We headed out today for the annual 'go cut down the Christmas tree'. For $5 you get a permit from forest service and can pick out any tree you want! I have yet to find the really 'full' trees like I grew up with, but it sure is fun! There was more snow on the ground this time around but fortunately it was not too cold. Both of the boys did really well - JB fell asleep on the drive, so he stayed in the car. It is always a good trip when I find a tree I like within 30 minutes. It makes for a not very happy JR when I hike up to 25 different trees and don't like any of them. Every summer I tell myself I am gonna look for trees when we hike and map them on the GPS so it will be really easy come Christmas. That has yet to happen!



We pulled out all the Christmas decorations on Friday and have enjoyed listening to the Christmas music and working my Christmas puzzles. I have indulged a little too much this year in Christmas movies, but sure am looking forward to the upcoming evenings when I can get on the couch and watch them, beside the glow of the Christmas lights.
We had a very quiet Thanksgiving. Went to some friends house for the afternoon and of course watched football.
J is officially finished with speech therapy! Yeah J. Hopefully he will continue to move forward - I certainly don't expect anything less!
JB is trying so hard to roll over. It is hard these days to get him to lay still on his back - he is always kicking and grunting and trying to either sit up or roll.
I enjoyed going into B's classroom last week. So many of those kids are starved for attention! I am trying to work it out with the teacher to go for at least an hour and a half every other week. She could really use an extra set of hands and J loved hanging out with older brother. Of course B loved showing J everything.
This past weekend we had a friend playing in a hockey tournament. I took the boys out, they had never been to a hockey game. B was hilarious. He was screaming for Nokes at the top of his lungs...."Come on Noakes, you can get the ball, you can do it." Everyone around got a great laugh. They are interested now in ice skating so maybe we can make that happen sometime soon!

Traditions

A tradition at bedtime is for me to tell B a story about a boy named Jack. (Jack gets bored and goes to dig in his sandbox. Everytime he digs, it always takes him on a wonderful journey to far away places where cheetahs eat cheetos, pirates roam, swimming with whales, etc). I was tired one morning and laying in bed. B came in and I encouraged him to get in bed with me. He did and asked if I could tell him a story about Jack. I told him to tell me a story about Jack (trying to get his creative juices going). He said no mom, why don't you tell me a story about Jack and you can just listen too.
For the most part, the Christmas stuff is all up and the tree is decorated! Now I can get back to focusing on my Christmas puzzles (a 500 piece puzzle done and glued, a 750 piece in process and another 500 and 750 piece puzzle waiting). Not sure if they will all be finished but will sure have fun trying. Christmas movies and music also await. I love it that it gets dark so early so that we can turn off all the room lights and turn on the Christmas lights.
Every year I think about new traditions for Christmas. We seem to cut down our tree weekend after Thanksgiving and make popcorn as we decorate. One tradition my mom started is to send each of the boys a small frame ornament that has the current year on it and she has put in a recent picture. She also sends a family picture ornament. (Sure is fun looking at them as we put up the tree). Every year the boys each get to pick out an ornament (this way when they are all grown up, they will have almost 40 ornaments for their own tree). We also do an advent calendar. Hopefully we will get around to making cookies or treats and delivering them to friends. Each boy has their own nativity set that they play with throughout the season. A new tradition that I am starting this year (I read it on another blog) is to start buying Christmas books. I am buying 3, one for each boy, and wrapping them. As it gets closer to Christmas we will read a different book each night. Then the next year, they all get wrapped again in the same paper and the new book for that year will be in different paper. Every night someone will unwrap a book and we will read it. The new book will be the last book read on Christmas Eve night. I picked up The Christmas Cookie and The Legend of the Candy Cane. I know there is lots to choose from but if anyone has a suggestion on a third book this year, let me know.
Off to finish up some stuff and hopefully get to my puzzle!

Thankful

There are not enough hours in the day to list it all, but here's a short list....
Thankful for the 4 seasons we experience up in the north
Thankful for Neosporin and Bandaids
Thankful for the bus that JR rides so he doesn't have to drive the icy canyon roads
Thankful for the incredible health all 5 of us have had
Thankful for that awesome smell after a good rain
Thankful for chocolate
Thankful that my kids have all four grandparents who can still enjoy their lives
Thankful for Legos and the hours of entertainment they provide
Thankful that we live where we can go cut down our own Christmas tree
Thankful for playing cards
Thankful for airplanes that fly the many miles between us and our families
Thankful for laughter
Thankful for all of God's provisions this past year when work was very lean
Thankful for fleece blankets
Thankful for hot baths
Thankful that I can openly worship my God
Thankful that I am able to stay home with my kids
Thankful for our two vehicles that run great
Thankful for my church family
Thankful for locks, that keep things out of reach
Thankful for our babysitters, so we can get out every once in a while
Thankful for pillow fights
Thankful for AWANA
Thankful for the deer that is in our freezer
Thankful for God's word
Thankful for Skype and that my kids can stay in touch with grandparents.
Thankful for that 'baby' smell
Thankful for the upcoming season, for without Christ's birth, where would we be
Thankful for snow shovels
Thankful for my incredible kids and my husband that keep loving and forgiving me
I am sure there are many more things I will think of throughout the day, big and small. What about you?

Winter

By all accounts looks like winter is here to stay. We have had snow on the ground since early November, which will make for a very long winter.

JR is rearranging the garage today and building shelves, with some 'help' from J. Every time I walk into the garage, J say "Mom, we are working a lot." B is watching a movie. Pretty clear who is the outdoor one and who is the indoor one. Today B went with his AWANA group to deliver Thanksgiving baskets. Trying to instill in them the importance of volunteering. I am hoping we (B, J and I) can go help out with the community Thanksgiving Dinner on Thursday. I am also in the process of trying to find a senior in our community that we can visit. I have called two facilities and have not had favorable responses. Guess I will check at the Senior Center. Without family, particularly the older generation, close by, I want to encourage them to reach out across generational lines.

JB is over 3 months. He has found his laugh (hoping to catch it on video), can somewhat hold his bottle, loves his nap time and loves being naked on the floor so he can kick. When he is in his carseat he tries to pull himself up into a full sitting position. I am not sure but will probably wait until he is closer to 6 months before introducing most foods. With the two older boys having dairy and wheat allergies, think I will stick mainly with fruits and vegetables until 7 or 8 months.

Here is recent picture of the little guy. His hair, in the light, looks red but the verdict is still out.

Everytime I see this picture, I just laugh. It truly is worth a thousand words!


A happier picture....his hair is getting so long it is starting to hang down in his eyes, but how do you cut the curls!


This morning as we were taking B to school J said "Momma, the sun is in my eyes, will you turn it off?" Got me to thinking of some of his other funny things recently...
As I was blowing my nose he looked at me and said "Momma, you got a big booga"

After his frustration with B one day, he came to me crying and said "Make B go away"

The boys were cleaning up one day and J hit B with a light saber. After I got J out from under the bed (this is where he likes to hide when he is in trouble) I told him he needed to apologize to B and ask him to forgive him. J went to say he was sorry and give B a hug. B gave him a tight squeeze. J looked at me and said "He squeezed me hard. He a bad boy."

The teacher conference with B's teacher went well last week. She said he is a delight to have in the classroom. I asked her if she thought he was a leader or follower. She did not even hesitate and said "neither". I have thought the same thing. Just a laid back boy that can step up when he needs to or can just go with the flow.

Yesterday JR went out hunting. He left the house when it was 4 degrees outside. That is dedication. He ended up with a small buck. After he hung the animal he cut some of it up and put on the smoker. Nothing like fresh meat!

This past weekend JR and I participated in the Focus on the Family Simulcast "Focus on Parenting". Heard some really good stuff and tools that we can use. Probably the most disturbing is that the statistics these days are that about 60% of the church kids will walk away from their faith once they hit adulthood. That would be 2 out of every 3. Hit home thinking about our 3 boys. They kept talking about how kids' faith can only be as strong as their parents and if they are not seeing their parents living it out, they probably won't live it out. Quite sobering. Yes, this is the most important job I will ever have, yet how often do I treat it as the least. I notice such a difference in my day when I get off the computer and focus on my kids. So, off I am....

6 inches

We woke up to lots of wet, heavy snow this morning. The boys were very excited to get out and shovel. I sure wish they were old enough to be 'productive' with moving snow, but they sure had fun playing in it.

J likes to lock doors and it frustrates me because it is always at inopportune times. Well, he recently locked himself in the bathroom. Of course he could not unlock the door, so I decided to teach him a lesson. I was going to let him sit in there for a while. Well, he obviously got bored (or maybe it was more mad at me). He got quiet and when I checked on him, he was sound asleep.

What you can't see very well in the picture is the baby powder all over the floor and his hair.

Independence

B brought home his 'report' card. He had Satisfactories in Math, Reading, PE, Music and Library. I found it very interesting that they have changed the report cards this year and added other items that are more related to peers. Those are courteous and respectful, solves problems with peers effectively, accepts responsibility, follows school rules, keeps workspace organized, completes assignments on time, shows willingness to try, stays on task, works independently and listens to and follows directions. He got a plus in all those, so he has adapted well to Kindergarten - not that I was surprised - I knew he would do well.
Both of my boys have been showing their independence lately. B would not let me fix his lunch, he wanted to. The other day I was upstairs with JB and J was hungry. I told him to wait. The next thing I knew he had come upstairs with a piece of ham wrapped in a tortilla. Good to know my boys could survive if they had to.
We are currently in the middle of staying 3 nights with our pastor's kids. They are gone for the weekend and the kids are self-sufficient but just not old enough to be by themselves at night. So all three boys and I are staying there. B and J love it because the pastor's two boys are 2nd and 6th grade. Last night they all played Legos and paper airplanes for almost 2 hours. They love to wrestle too. Tonight we are suppose to have a game night.
This morning I was feeding Joseph, just getting cozy with him. I had put the Operation Christmas Child Shoe Boxes on our bed. (B and I packed them the other day while J was sleeping). I noticed one was missing and figured it had fallen off the bed then I realized it was too far from the edge to fall off. Then it hit me...J! I walked into his room and sure enough - he had already opened the toothbrush and toothpaste, had a few pieces of candy and by the looks of it had already eaten about 5 pieces of gum! Oh my little curious George!!!

More conversations with B

I sure am finding myself struggling with teaching some concepts to B.

Several weeks ago we had some friends from church over for a playdate. Little Lucy asked me if we had a Barney movie. I told her no. End of the story, or so I thought.
Then about 2 weeks later, totally out of the blue B told me, very nicely, that I had lied to Lucy the other day when she was over. I told her we did not have a Barney movie and we did. I told him he was correct, that I did tell her no but that I had forgotten about that one movie we had. He told me it was not nice to lie. I told him I know but that I did not do it intentionally. The more I tried to explain things, the more I realized I was coming across as some lies are okay and some lies are not. I finally decided to leave it as I had lied but did not mean too, as opposed to lying on purpose. It is all about the heart attitude.
The other day B called me into their room and told me J had written on the wall with a pen (not the first time). I have tried to teach him the difference between tattling and telling on someone when they are actually doing something harmful. Drawing on walls or playing with razors are definately worth telling on. As I inspected the drawing further, I knew that J could not have drawn some of the straighter lines or circles. Then the conversation turned from "please let me know when J starts doing things like that" to "why did you draw on the wall". He said he wanted to show him how not to do it. So, then we talked about just because one does it does not mean it is okay for another to do.
Just now J comes crying to me. B walks up matter of factly and says, J pushed me so I pushed him back. Once again, does it make it right.
Oh how many times God has to beat me over the head trying to get a point across to me. How many times does He 'yell', "Don't you get it yet..."

Last night we went to some friends house for dinner. These are casual friends that we had not seen in quite a while and they had never been around our boys. I forwarned Laura ahead of time when she asked about food allergies, etc. I told her not to be insulted if my boys did not eat something...I just never know with them. Just before dinner she comes over quietly to where they are playing and asks if they wanted their vegetables frozen or hot. B very matter of factly said "I don't like vegetables." UUGGHH - need to work on Thank you but no thank you. Then I about died when, after dinner, the boys had excused themselves to play. After a while B walks around the corner and so sweetly says "Miss Laura, don't you think it is about time for dessert!?" I had known going into the evening that we probably would not have dessert because her husband is hypoglycemic. Fortunately they were very gracious. (If you are curious, I did eat my vegetables. Anyone that knows me knows what a feat that is..it was some kind of soup with a white broth and green beans, corn, peas and carrots. I can't say I ate the whole bowl but I did eat. I somehow managed to dodge the lima beans though....)
Something that made me laugh - Recently I made pancakes for the boys. B asked me to cut his up and I did. I happened to cut one piece in a thin, long shape that had a slight curve to it. B picked it up and said "Oh look, the place where all the wild fires have been." (California)
I love my B. Report cards come home tomorrow and teacher conferences next week. Seems a little excessive for Kindergarten but will be interesting to talk with the teacher further.

Halloween

We have had a very quiet weekend. Other than a cough, both older boys seem to be feeling well.
Friday night we went to a Fall Festival at a local church. The boys had a great time and loved wearing their costumes. On the way home JB fell asleep in his carseat with his costume on. I am not sure if it was the cozy costume or that he had a long day, but he fell asleep Friday at 7pm and I finally woke him up at 4:30 am to eat. That is a 9 1/2 hour stretch. Trying the costume theory, he fell asleep on the way home from trick or treating Saturday, once again in his costume. I left him in his car seat and he slept a 6 hour stretch. Then I fed him, took off his costume and the rest of the night I got no more than a 3 hour stretch. Maybe I will have to try the costume thing again.
The boys had fun going out on Halloween night. We went to a subdivision where our church is located and saw tons and tons of kids. We hung out there for an hour (of course B found a 'friend' to run with) and then came back to our neighborhood. The boys wanted to walk around some more. Our neighborhood was so quiet. We were the only ones out. I think the boys were bored and wanted to go home.
Not much planned this week. We are hoping to do our shopping for Operation Christmas Child. This is where you pack a shoe box full of toiletries, toys, candy, etc and it gets shipped to a child in another country. I am trying to start early with the kids about giving to others who are less fortunate. There is a $7 fee for each box to help with shipping and if you pay that money online, you can actually track your box. How fun to know exactly which country ours went to. Here is a website if anyone is interested...http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/.

J was dressed as a Seattle Seahawks player. Never got a real good shot of the two of them.