Christmas pics

Christmas morning

Maddie scored several presents this year, including Greenies

Christmas morning memories

Cousins Kate, Sam, Callie and Kori dressed up for Weeks family Christmas

Phil and Molly's annual picture on the loveseat, 2010

Sam doing the happy dance

Kate's new coat and scarf match!

Sam playing Christmas songs with aid of new piano lamp

Papaw's funnys on Molly's Wii Fit Plus box

Plentiful is an excellent word to describe the breadth of Christmas presents received by our family and the numerous family celebrations we attended as well. Rather than give a blow-by-blow, I'm including some of the better pictures to describe.

Christmas Eve

One of our favorite Christmas traditions is one we glommed on to from someone else. Our friends the Whortons and the Wilkersons were getting together after Christmas Eve services for years, and a few years ago, we tagged along and have never let up since. It's one of my favorite times-- a casual Christmas celebration with friends, so enjoyable. We always cram some of our kiddie traditions in that night too.

We hosted this year and had the Whortons and the Lunsfords over after service. The kids opened their Christmas Eve pjs (adopted Wilkerson tradition) and blew out candles on Jesus' birthday cake (we've done this since they were little but the Whorton's use an ice cream cake-- yum!) Then we play games. Now that the kids are older, they were able to join in some and it was a really great time. Nanny was there for a bit, but left before we ate to rest up for her company tomorrow.



Nanny gave the kids new bikes for Christmas




Kids help Nanny open her presents




Serious gaming



Learning a new game with Doug and Luke



Adella reaches for a new piece




Non-game-players



Sweet Sam (I'm sure I have a dozen posts labeled this!)

Last week Sam came home from school excitedly telling me about some snowmen that are in his music teacher's class. I admit, I probably wasn't giving him my full attention, though I get so little info from school you'd think I'd perk up. The conclusion of his verbal dialogue was, "So she still needs two more and I was thinking we could get her one for Christmas!" Now I'm listening.

"Get her what, did you say?" I ask.

Sigh. "Get her one of the snowmen she needs in her room."

I explained that I was going to need a few more details about said snowmen-- what do they look like, how big are they, and more importantly, do you know where she got them? He said he didn't, but he knew Mrs. Barnard (last year's teacher) had given her one and so he'd ask. And by golly, he did.

The next day, he came home with a written piece of paper that said, "Hallmark Snowman Drummer." (I'm positive it wasn't spelled correctly, but I can't remember exactly and didn't want to misquote him.) Of course, this was Thursday, when I was ready to fly out of town for the weekend before Christmas, so I had to put his idea on hold in classic mom fashion: "Okay, Sam, thanks for finding out the details. That's great, but I'll have to see what I can do next week when I get back." He was a little deflated, but satisfied with my response. I even made a note on the noteboard, so he'd know I remembered.

I went yesterday to purchase said drummer, and fortunately for me, the sales clerk knew exactly which snowmen I wanted. Unfortunately, no drummer existed, nor was there ever a drummer. I chose one of the 4 and came home. Sam knew that the one I'd purchased was one she had, plus she'd gotten another just yesterday, so now only one remained. We hurried to the closest Hallmark and purchased the remaining snowman. (The sales clerk there asked who it was for and knew another student had purchased her the same one earlier that night! Ugh!) Sam wrapped it up and took it into school today. He even made a card declaring her the best music teacher ever.

I admit, I was a bit of a Scrooge when it came to this errand. I purchase teacher's gifts throughout the year so I'm ready in December, and admittedly do not include every teacher at school on my list. I was thinking, now are we starting a precedent of gifting to the music teacher? Do we have to gift to PE and art too? Who else? One more thing to get last minute. Ugh!

But really, isn't it sweet that Sam noticed something his teacher liked and wanted to meet her need with a gift? Isn't that the very behavior I should be encouraging in my child? I am really proud of him for thinking of her, and I know she'll appreciate being appreciated too. What a sweet Sam.

Whoa. It's been a long time

It's not that we've not been doing interesting things, it's just that I've lacked time to write about them!

Yesterday, both kids were home sick from school. Each with a slightly different manifestation of some sort of stomach virus, both healed now. Having both kids home at the same time was a bit of an adventure, but they did pretty well. I figure they must have really been sick, because they lacked the energy to fight as much as typical. I made separate "sick beds" on each couch, and they watched movies from their respective spots. They did get up to make a little holiday snowman and color a little, but otherwise, it was TV and napping all day. The napping is the real litmus test-- if they are sick, they'll do it without much fuss, and yesterday they did.

We're back to normal today, so off we go. Kate missed her Christmas program last night, so we're making that up with the Tuesday/Thursday kids tonight. Whew.

Oops

This morning I made a pun-ny joke to my son, but I had to explain the phrase "break wind" after I did it. I said it was an expression or figure of speech for "fart." "You know, like "cut the cheese" is another one," I unnecessarily added.

Sam said, "OH! I've heard that before on TV."

So, I did help him understand some sort of Disney-esque humor, but I taught him a phrase I've now heard at least 10 times since then. Moms know everything. Except when to keep their mouths shut!

Halloween aftermath

My fearless, brave daughter has become clinging and fearful following a tour of a neighbor's halloween haunted house (garage). She did pretty well, and the people inside were good about toning it down and even waving to little Kate, but one scene inside depicted a mother with baby doll whose insides were being eaten by zombies-- intestine flying, etc. I know, pretty gross, right? Well, it's really affected Kate. Even though she knows it was make-believe, and that zombies aren't real, she's been talking about it non-stop ever since.

Probably the worst part is that she's been waking frequently at night. Like, at 20-30 minute intervals. It's not been every night, but became more frequent over the last weekend. Now we're working on an incentive chart for sleeping all night and it's improving. She came up last night, but went back to bed when I told her, instead of throwing a 45 minute fit like she did Friday night. Poor thing. So then she's tired, and even more grouchy during the day. What drama!

Kate's even started saying things like, "Halloween is far far away, right mommy?" or "I'm never going in a haunted house again!" Trust me, we'll be skipping the haunted house next year.

Sweet Sam

I know this will shock his Mamaw, but sometimes Sam is not so sweet. He is very sensitive, and mostly sweet, but sometimes he can really let loose. The difference between he and Kate is that he feels horrible after he's been mean, and it doesn't bother her at all.

Tuesday night, Sam and I were reading before bed. First, he read me some non-fiction book from his school library and I said, "Wow, that book is about as old as me!" Sam said, "You're not old mommy! You're just the right age to be a mom." I know he didn't say I was collegiate or anything, but still, that was pretty good.

Then when I tucked him in, he said, "Mommy, I'll always love you and be glad that you're my mommy, even when you're mean and stuff. I mean, even when I grow up, I'll still love you." I took the opportunity to assure him that no matter what choices he makes, I will still love him too. Super sweet Sam.

Birthday Extravaganza

Kate turned 4 last week! She was very excited, but transitioned to telling people she was four and a half approximately 12 hours into her new year. Poor Kate, her birthday always gets crowded by Halloween. She celebrated at Jo's the Tuesday before because of Halloween parties on her birthday. She was supposed to bring birthday treats to preschool on Monday before, but we were still on vacation, so we had to make those up the following week. The day of her birthday was also Sam's big football game at the Chiefs training facility, so we celebrated with our extended family and friends by noshing at Red Robin afterwards. No wonder she thinks her birthday is Halloween!

We invited several of Kate's friends to a party at the Flip Zone, where she takes gymnastics. We lucked into having the owner, Mr. Chad, working the party, so it was well-organized and the kids had a great time. They played games, played on the trampoline and inflatable slide, had cake and opened presents. Kate started a trend of jumping off of some padded stairs, into a triangular pad that was leaned up against the wall, and falling to the floor laughing. I'm not sure what kind of technique is required in this (possibly insanity), but the kids did it one after another for quite a while. Fortunately, all that padding means no one got hurt!

We had our family birthday party at the house afterwards, which was low-key and manageable with only 4 kids at the house instead of the typical 10-15. It was nice to be able to celebrate on the 30th, instead of combining with Halloween, though that did give us something to do during the party!

Kate asked for Barbies, and got several, all of which remain unopened. Her favorite gifts were a white board and play computer for her "office", a letter tracing Leap Pad toy, and clothes. One friend gave her bath tub toys, which I thought was clever, and she got a huge art kit that she's dying to break into. She really isn't a toy kid, which makes her really hard to buy for. I hate to think Christmas is right around the corner!

Happy birthday to my big girl, Kate!

Parent/Teacher Conferences

As has been my experience with first grade so far, kindergarten holds nothing on first grade. First grade conferences were a little (A LOT) more detailed, and in fact, 20 minutes wasn't enough time to review his grades and progress AND ask questions I had of the teacher. And you know I always have questions! Whew, it went fast.

Naturally, Sam is a brilliant and talented student. His reading is "above average" and his math skills are terrific. I did find one 1 on the report card (grades now come in 1-3, with 1 being the lowest)-- organizational skills. Can this be my child? So I asked. Messy desk. Apparently my genius son is too busy to keep his desk neat, so there are often papers spilling out on the floor or left on top of the desk. I think I remember that kid from grade school. As long as he doesn't eat glue too, I think he'll be okay. When I asked him about it, he slowly smiled and admitted that it was not his priority. Well, of all of the things I can think of to put in the "some work needed" category, I guess I'd choose organizational skills above sharing or attention deficit or illiteracy.

I am so proud of my smart boy!

San Diego Pictures

The Lego pirate greets us at Legoland. Arrgh!



Sam battles Darth Vader made of legos




Kate happy about being eaten




Kate and Sam wait for the dolphin show at SeaWorld. It's finally sunny!




It's Willy! (and a friend) at the Shamu show




Shamu! Shamu!




Sam trying out the pilot's seat on a plane on the USS Midway




Kate's at the helm! (Don't worry, it's docked!)



Selena Gomez and Captain Cody do Brick or Treat

The family at Brick or Treat



My kids choose the apples in their bags over candy. Such a proud mom!



Sam's pumpkin for the pumpkin-building contest (no prizes given, so I'm not sure contest is accurate)



Sam and Kate on the way into the San Diego Zoo. Aren't they cute?!!



Sam and Kate at the polar bear exhibit



See the orangutan combing his hair for the picture?!



California Dreamin'

Actually, the whole time I was in California, that song was in my head, but it didn’t quite apply. I sang it for the “all the leaves are brown and the sky is grey,” but it WAS California, so I guess I was dreamin’ of someplace else. The whole time we were San Diego it was grey, overcast and cool.


We spent 4 full days in San Diego, discounting travel time, which was somewhat significant. We saw Legoland, SeaWorld, SeaLife, the U.S.S. Midway, and the San Diego Zoo. We dined at the Corvette Diner and the kids tried seafood (calamari, swordfish and clam chowder) at a local restaurant. The kids swam outside in a heated pool, but the air was only about 61 at best (CRAZY). We Brick or Treat-ed at Legoland, to which Sam responded that he thinks we ought to do that every year.

A couple of fun things:

- Sam and Kate got along great most of the time. They held hands on the way into several places, and in the airport I overheard Sam say, “I’ll take care of you Kate. Just stay with me.” It was really special to be able to take them to new places and have them enjoy together.

- Kate walked the whole time—no stroller for us. That meant that each night, despite the fact that we were usually done by 5 or so, she was TIRED. Of the 4 nights there, she fell asleep before we got her into bed 3 times. The funniest was when she fell asleep on my lap at a Mexican restaurant and she was so asleep that she didn’t wake at all, even when we tried to put her in her booster seat in the car and she fell to the floorboard. Oops. Oh, Dad says that wasn’t funny, but it kind of was.

- Over the summer, our friend Beth gave the kids the movie Free Willy. So, when we went to SeaWorld, we had two interested whale-lovers. So at the big Shamu extravaganza, when a whale with the same fin as Willy came out to do his tricks, mine were the only kids in the stadium who said “WILLY!!!” We even tried to get up close to watch Willy swim, but he was kind of a solitary guy.

- Brick or Treat was fun, but semi-crazy. Big crowd, all these little kids dressed up for Halloween and a trick-or-treat line a mile long. Maybe not quite a mile, but at least a half a mile. Kate’s favorite part was the “Boogiemonster” party, where they had two young ladies dressed in fancy (friendly) witch costumes who were dancing with these preschoolers. Music, lights, fog machine, all in effect. Then a little “boogiemonster” singing group (3 women) came out and sang popular songs with Halloween themes. If it sounds cheesy, that’s because it was, but Kate LOVED it. She cried when it was time to go, and she was most proud of her “Boogiemonster” prize ribbon. I hope the video turns out.

Pictures will be posted soon!

Talk Like A Pirate Day 2010

Flag Football

Sam's loving flag football. There are only 6 guys on the team and 5 play at a time, which is great for learning. He plays center most of the time, because he's the tallest on the team and therefore the most likely to successfully get the ball through his legs. This week he nearly ran for a touchdown and made 2 tackles.

Hamster ball at Octoberfest

Little chefs

At the fall Just Between Friends sale, I picked up a Rachael Ray kids cookbook for cheap. Last week the kids and I looked over one of the first (and presumably easiest) recipes and picked one to make for dinner. Last night was our big night. Our menu was referred to as the dipper menu-- all things that you dip. We made chicken toes, veggie salsa dip and veggies, and peanut butter-caramel dip with apples. Yum. Or Yum-o, in Rachael speak.

I was hoping this might help them engage in the kitchen and also encourage them to try some new foods-- thinking if they participated in creation, they'd want to try. Experiment gone wrong when Sam tried a celery stick and it was super-bitter, for celery. Oops.

Sam was commenting about how messy the cooking process was. They were working on the chicken, which required Kate rolling chicken in flour and dipping in egg, then Sam rolling in the breading. Sam said, "If I'd have known how messy this would be, I'd never done it!"

He came back from washing his hands a few minutes later and added, "When I grow up, we are NEVER going to do any more cooking. It's too messy!"

Kate responded, "What are you going to do then, go out for dinner every night?!"

"Well, no. I guess when I get married we'll have to cook some, because it's good for the kids. If I have kids. You know."

So, we may not have succeeded in expanding our gourmet palate, but we definitely made an impression!

The guys

My kids are early risers. That's okay, I am too. This morning I awoke to a frequent scene: each of them were in my bed with two of their guys (stuffed animals), and they were creating this elaborate story about the guys. Kate had Cinderella Kitty and Toodles the dog. Sam had Sharkey (a dolphin from Pizza Street) and Sealy (actually a seal).

Kate: Do you have your guys?
Sam: Yeah. I have Sharkey and Sealy. They live in the same ocean so they need to get to know each other.
Kate: You have two guys and I have two guys! We both have two guys!
Sam: Sharkey and Sealy are hiding in a cave from Godzilla. Your guys can come too.
Kate: Okay! [and she crawls over my trying-to-sleep body]

The guys hide and then off the whole group goes on another quest. Feet running down the stairs, laughing, dog following close behind.

I'm just so thankful for their play together. What a blessing to have two kids that actually like each other, most of the time. Sam is so generous with her, often commenting on her artwork from school or new songs and how great they are. Kate is in a constant quest to be Sam's best sister.

Other than being too early, it's a pretty great way to wake up.

BMB: Attitude adjustment

My sweet sweet boy Sam has started acting not-so-sweet. Particularly when it involves my asking him to do something other than the one thing he wants to do. I can relate to that, but the attitude (often with a tantrum thrown in) is not helping. If we stick to a pretty steady routine (piano right after school, etc), he does better, but you never can tell.

This year, as a 1st grader, Sam has the ability to purchase "Extras" from the cafeteria. Extras, as far as I can tell, are the junk that the school feels bad for including in lunch and therefore asks you to be the heavy and decide whether or not  your kid can buy them. We chose "purchase with cash from home", so that he wouldn't live on cheetos all year. I've been using the Extras as incentive, and this week I decided that I'd wait until he had a good day practicing piano to give him the money for an Extra at lunch.

Yesterday he almost did it. He went right downstairs and started practicing. Yea! I walked down to put something away and he starts bawling. I'm thinking, "What happened???!!!" I asked what was wrong and he was crying because his "favorite show" (not) came on TV at that time and he would  never be able to watch again. Good grief. So I told him about my plan for the Extra money if he could practice peacefully. Bad choice, then he was crying about that too and how EVERYONE at school got extras ALL THE TIME except him.

Oh my. I'd also been planning to let him ask a friend to spend the night, but since he spent the 30 minutes I was home before a meeting crying and carrying on, I figured it wasn't a great time to reward him with that either.

See, I WANT to be the nice mommy and give him fun treats. Instead, I have to be a stick-to-my-guns mommy and withhold the goodies until he behaves better. Frankly, that sucks.

Vanna White, the teacher

It's been a while since I've posted anything about Kate, so let me include this tidbit from Jo:

"Kate has been a hoot…she is the “teacher” to Lia and Alex. I got activities for “Shape Day”…while we were all in the kitchen, she had L/A find different shapes (decorations, cabinets, light switch covers, bowls, plates, etc.) The funniest thing was when she was going to different areas to point out shapes for the children…the “Vanna White” pose…including a little hip movement”!! Her shape activity included a Tangram Puzzle (different shapes that she could make pictures with). She is now looking at an Oriental Trading magazine while I check e-mails and she just said, “I am going to pick out things for me to get at Christmas.” (Sorry!!)"

Kate definitely knows how to use those hips!

Maranatha Pictures. Finally

New camera. Pictures. Blah blah blah.

We had a great time, as usual. Actually, this was the first year for Stuart and me where we wished we were staying a little longer. Well, we always wish that, but this year we could have used a couple more days of relaxation! Here are a few pictures of our week:

The kids couldn't wait to get out to the beach that first night! (or any other time)

Ah, sunset.

Kate's Granddad was a great sand castle companion!

Boys being boys!

Boys on the beach

Our not-so-great family pic

Tired girl

Sam and Doug enjoying their morning coffee

Lindsay's biggest fan

Kate loved the Petting Zoo this year!

Handsome

"Oh mom, do we HAVE to?"

Little Miss Sassy

First Day of School

Kate's first day of preschool was a while ago, and I'm posting this in retrospect. We dropped Sam and went on our traditional trip to LaMar's. No matter when we leave, we always seem to have about a half hour before we need to be at school, but she absolutely insisted that we go straight there. I took a longer route than usual, and she kept saying, "You're going the wrong way!"

When we got there (now 20 minutes early), I warned her that we'd need to stay in the car a bit. A few first-timers were getting out to take pictures everywhere-- on the stepping stones, in front of the sign, by the tree, etc. We always take a picture in front of the sign and by the mural inside too, so we're not immune to the need to record history. Kate wanted to "do" the stepping stones, but they were too busy with picture takers.

T-10 minutes, they unlock the front doors to the preschool so we can go in. After a quick  picture and greeting with the director we now have only 8 minutes until school time. Kate could hardly wait.

The time for class finally comes. Other kids were crying and not wanting to leave their moms, not Kate. She went directly to her new class, said a quick goodbye to me (at least I wasn't ignored completely) and started to play at the sensory table. She definitely loves school!

Pictures to come! I guess they are still on the camera!

I should mention too that some of the "first-timers" turned out to be 3-4 year olds in Kate's class. She's a good head taller than many of her classmates!