Jiggly Goodness

ATTENTION ALL YOU JELLO JIGGLER LOVERS . . . Look at what I found at Goodwill!!!!!!!!!! At $1.38, this may be the cheapest entertainment I've had in a long time. It makes footballs and helmuts! My kids are almost as excited as I am. If anyone ever comes across any other jello molds on their excursions, let me know!!! It even came with instructions on what flavors to mix together to get different colors, so I could actually make black and gold ones! So be expecting this tasty addition at some future family gatherings!

Homemade Gifts are the Best!

Will made us some precious Christmas presents at school. My first tip that he was making us something came before Christmas when I was sitting at the table filling in dates on my new 2007 calendar. Will noticed and seemed a little put out. He asked if I still needed one for my fridge, so I caught on and I told him oh yeah, you can never have too many. Sure enough this was our present:

It came wrapped in this:

This was our card:

The outside says, "You are really special to me." and the inside says, "Because you care about me. I love you, From Will"

Will made Sam a present too! It was a book he made about a gingerbread boy. It has flaps to open to find out where the gingerbread boy is hiding. I didn't take a picture of it because Will brown-markered the cover nearly to death. But it's really cute. He insisted on giving us our presents first before he and Sam opened any of their other presents! He really wanted Sam to sit with him and let him read the whole story to him, but Sam didn't appreciate the homemade gift as much as we did, especially when presents were waiting! Here's the card Will made for Sam:

On the outside it says, "You are nice. You are fun. You are a good brother." On the inside it says, "You are the right brother for me. From Will P.S. Please don't kick me or hit me." On the other side: "Merry Christmas!" Isn't that the perfect holiday message?! You know- peace, goodwill toward men and all that jazz?!

Yee-haw!

Sam got the whole cowboy get-up from his aunt Emily. He's got a vest, wrist cuffs - with fringe!, hat, bandana, a map, badge, a working canteen, and the best part are the CHAPS! Since he already had a stick horse, he's set! So now he can be a pirate, or a cowboy!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Hope you all have had a great weekend. We've had two Christmases so far, and a third one on Saturday with Damon's family! On Christmas eve, we celebrated with my side of the family. By far, the hit of the day were the nerf dart shooters that the 4 boy cousins each received from the Berends grandparents. At first we weren't too sure, because those babies shoot out wicked fast! But that's what the protective eye wear and the shield are for, and besides it toughens a guy up! I must have told kids several times, "just shake it off!" when they'd come a whinin'! "Santa" added to the fun by getting each boy a refill pack of darts that come in a mesh bag that you clip to your pants. Imagine 120 plus darts lodged in all the nooks and crannies of your house! It was sweet. The boys had fun shooting and dodging, and later the girls (me, my two sisters and my mom) took over and had own fight. It was great becuase we just sat around the living room shooting each other and some of the boys were content to gather ammo for us and replenish our supplies, so there was no running around involved! You just had to take your shots like a woman! We were undeterred by the red welts and stung lips. No body part was off limits! We were all laughing so hard that several of us had to change our pants, if you know what I mean, and I'm not afraid to admit that I was one of them! In the video, Joe, Emily, Jack and Don are duking it out. Don is using a home-made PVC marshmallow shooter that you blow into! I found out the hard way that this leaves the foam darts a bit moist, when I went to go gather some up! The fun thing about the darts is that they are velcro on the end so they stick to your clothing, and the shield. Don was wearing a fleece pullover that was the perfect dart magnet! Yes, at the end of the video I sustain a hit directly to the forehead! I highly recommend this toy for lots of laughs, stress release, and to solve your issues with your family members! We may be purchasing 2 additional guns for our house in the very near future, so that the 4 of us can have our own good old fashion family fun.

The Krispie Ball Incident

You ask? And I deliver. The long awaited pictures from the Krispie Ball Incident. We were only a few short blocks from home when the unthinkable happened: the dessert had shifted. And along with it, our hopes of ever having enough Krispie Balls to go around. As the powdered sugar settled, and the damage was assessed, Joe took one for the team. He didn't want the tasty dessert to have died in vain. He was not too proud to eat Krispie Balls off of the ground. You are a brave, brave man Joe. I would like to think that I would have done the same if I'd been in your shoes. I, and dessert lovers everywhere, salute you.

Today is a New Day!

I woke up first this morning and walked past Sam's closed door. I thought he was still asleep but I heard him say to himself, "Today is a new day!" I wish you could have all heard him, it was SO CUTE, the way he said it slowly and with such conviction. I know that this stems from the pep talks we've been having with him at bedtime to stay in his bed until morning time, and not get up in the middle of the night. I tell him if you wake up, just roll over and go back to sleep. Don't get out of bed until it's a new day. But for the life of me it sounded like he was doing his daily affirmations or something! Maybe he just needed a little positive self talk. It was so cute and made my heart melt, I just had to go right in and love on him!

O Christmas Tree

These are some of our favorite ornaments:

This scary one creates an annual debate between Damon and I as to what exactly it is. Damon says it's a Chihauha and makes references to the Taco Bell dog. But I know that it's a reindeer. It was on a present my Quint grandparents gave me one year, so I should know!

The jack-in-the-box was made for Damon when he was a boy by his Grandma Brown out of yarn and plastic canvas. It's kind of scary too, but in a good way!

The santa on the right was always a special one of mine growing up. It brings back childhood memories.

The baby Jesus on the left was made by Will when he was in pre-school, out of a half a paper plate, some straw and some striped fabric for a blanket. Jesus smiling face (and what a smile it is!) is a wooden spoon.

There are no words to describe my sweet little angel boy, Will!! Doesn't this just fit him to a tee?! Pffff!

On the left is a random ornament that Will decided to make out of pipe cleaners, puff balls and feathers. Isn't it funny?!

One of Sam's favorite things:

Lucy. His 2005 ornament made my mom.

Will's 2005 ornament made by my mom. He likes books!

On the right a Paper Prayers' ornament.

On the left: another Paper Prayers' ornament.

Jello Jigglers

They are a thing of beauty. They wiggle. They jiggle. They make you smile. They are not just for kids, as certain members of my family will testify.

This year I continued the tradition of making race car jello jigglers for a family get together. This year I "stepped it up a notch" with a layer of cherry creamy jiggler squares (they have jello and vanilla pudding in them) on the bottom, a layer of orange creamy jello jiggler christmas trees in the middle, and of course the piece de resistance, the lime race cars. Despite the warning printed on the recipe, (seriously) Sam can stick a whole race car in his mouth at once. Don't they look like a parking lot?! I'm just so proud. Yes, this is my life.

Santa Obsession

Sam is OBSESSED with everything about Santa. Out of the blue he'll say, "I love Santa." or "I miss Santa." He's always asking me, "Is it Christmas time yet?" We were a bit surprised that he knows so much about Santa, and is so sure he's right, because we never did the whole Santa thing with Will. (Will is very good about keeping this info to himself. He'll just make cryptic comments like, "I know the true meaning of Christmas.") Everything that Sam's picked up has been from TV and books and such. We went to the mall the other day and Sam waved at the mall Santa and Santa said hi back. As we were walking away I told Sam (and I know some of you out there will think I'm mean and cruel!) "You know, Santa is just pretend. It's fun to pretend." He said, "No he's not, he said hi to me!" and I said, "Yeah, but he's just a man in a costume pretending to be Santa." He didn't buy that either. Other times Sam has said, "I'm sad, Santa not bring me any presents." So I said, "How about if mommy and daddy give you presents instead?" And he said, "No, I want Santa to bring me presents." One night when my mom was watching the boys, he wrapped up his leftover cheese bread in a napkin and told his grandma that he was saving it for Santa. We are all about celebrating Jesus' birthday, and Sam seems to get that too, so I guess for this year we'll let him take the lead on Santa - there doesn't appear to be any convincing him otherwise!

Wee Wonderfuls are . . . well . . . Wonderful!

My sister Laura turned me onto this wesite called wee wonderfuls. This woman uses felted wool and vintage fabrics and creates the most wonderful dolls with them. This boy is one of my favorites. She also creates animals and robots which are way cute. She has a separate site where she posts all of her best thrift store and garage sale finds!! This is my kind of gal. This site really inspired me in my creative endeavors and so I wanted to share it with all of you. On her site you can download the patterns - some for free! Also of special interest to me were free download paper dolls, and the make along story. You read the story and then you can download the patterns for the characters. I love how she poses the dolls in real situations for the pictures! It's also fun to check out all of the different photo galleries, (on the right hand side). Some of them are her's and some are of pics from people who used her patterns and wanted to show her their creations. It's fun to look through her originals as a slide show so you can see all the fun details. Check it out!

(Can you all tell that I just recently discovered how to do links and I'm a little "link-happy" right now?!)

Merry Christmas!

Check this out!!! Emily first sent me one of her, so of course, I had to try it too!

Special Delivery!!!

Look at what I found on my door step today!!! We're going to bring him inside and feed him and love him and call him our own. We might even get him a real bed - maybe in the shape of a car. We think we're going to name him George.

Dancing With the Stars Club

In order to be a part of the Star Wars Club, you have to actually enjoy Star Wars. So I guess I can't be a part of it. But I'm thinking about starting a Dancing With the Stars Club. No one here in my house wants to join me. Anyone? Anyone?!

The Star Wars Club

Will and some of his school friends are starting The Star Wars Club. It was his friend Quentin's idea. Quentin suggested that since it was his idea, everyone should give him ten bucks! Will wisely suggested that they do some kind of test instead of trivia questions, "since who is going to have ten bucks?!" At bedtime Will asked me if he could bring 50 cents with him tomorrow. When I asked him why, he said he wanted to give each of his two friends a quarter just for being his friend. We agreed that he'd make them something instead, like a picture. I told him that they weren't going to want his money, that they like him because he's such a cool kid. It made me kind of sad, although he wasn't really paying anyone to be his friend, that's what it made me think of!

Throughout the night tonight Will kept whining about wanting to play Lego Star Wars 2, and we kept repeatedly telling him no. To distract him and make him laugh I started "hypnotizing" him. I swung my finger back and forth in front of his eyes and said, "You're getting very sleepy. When I snap my fingers, you'll wake up and you won't remember anything about Lego Star Wars. You won't even know that it ever existed!" Of course he thought this was really funny, and proceeded to "hypnotize" me. Here's what he came up with: "Mom, you're getting very sleepy. When you wake up, you won't remember that Dancing With the Stars ever existed." I about died laughing! He and I both know that I'm about as likely to forget about Dancing with the Stars as he is to forget about Lego Star Wars. This kid is so funny! I love him so much! We went on to "hypnotize" each other about all kinds of silly things.

That's Nutty!!!

On the way to Cedar Rapids today we saw a joke on the Nesper's sign that said, "Why was the squirrel mad at Santa? Because he got 'nuttin' for Christmas." I told the joke to Sam who didn't appear to get it. Later, he fell asleep in the car and when he woke up the first thing he asked Will was this version: "Why was the squirrel mad at Santa? Because he got nuts for Christmas." It's close!!

A Ruined Christmas

Twice yesterday I got accused of "ruining Christmas." The first time was when I turned off the TV while Sam was watching a Disney cartoon Christmas movie. It was time to go to "Pirate School." He was mad at me for turning it off and said, "Mom! You wuined Chwistmas!" I didn't quite know what to say to that. The second time was when we were at Wal-Mart and Sam kept dropping a roll of wrapping paper out of the cart onto the floor. After the umpteenth time, I scolded him for a few seconds, and I was once again accused of "wuining Chwistmas." I suspect it's something that he heard on TV.

Arrgh!

Sam came home today from his last "pirate school" with some "gleamin' booty!" He got jewelry, coins, and tattoos. So he and Will had fun pretending to be pirates tonight. They really hit the "jackpot." I have no idea what Sam is saying through most of this video.

Video Malfunctions

I just realized that I had set the video settings for the last 2 videos for private, so I don't think anyone was able to view them. So if any of you were wondering why you couldn't view them, that's why. It should be fixed now!

A Special Show

So I was treated to a show tonight! Sam performed his rendition of the Veggie Tales theme song. His introduction goes something like this: (for those of you who can't understand what he's saying,) "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, introducing....me!"

A Funny Story

Helo im Will im going to tel you a funny part of this movie I saw. It is called Cars. In the movie there is a car called Mater and there is another car called Lightening McQueen. Lightening McQueen was trying to find his driver that was a semi truck and he thought he was going on the interstate but he was going on a road to a town. I'm going to skip a few parts. In the town a policeman got him into this little garage thingy and it was night. And Lightening McQueen was sleeping and when he woke up he met Mater and Mater said, "Hello, I'm Mater like tuh-mater with out the tuh. What's your name?" and Lightening McQueen said, "You don't know my name?!" and then Mater said, "Nah, I know your name. Is your name Mater too?" and that was what I was talking about. Good bye.

(So this has nothing to do with the video, but I guess that's what Will wanted to share with you all! I thought he was going to tell you all about his lego creation, but I guess not. You can totally tell where I took over in the "dictation." But this is him talking word for word! I think the funny part lost something in the translation!)

Holly Jolly, by Golly!!!

Tonight we got out the ornaments and the Christmas decorations and finished decorating the house. The boys were so excited!! They were being their usual goofy selves. Trying on all of the stockings seems to be Will's yearly tradition. The only difference is that this year he is concerned that his underwear not show for the picture, so he's holding his shirt down! But I figure that if you're going to run around the house like this, you're asking for your picture to be taken!! We had fun remembering all of the ornaments and where they came from and who made them. We also had our usual "battle" over the placement of the figurines in the manger scene. Will arranged them one way, and then as soon as he left the room I put them how I wanted them. Then he came back, noticed, and put them back his way, and so on and so on!!

Jesus is Awive!!

Now that I've figured out this You Tube thing, I'm going crazy with it! Here's what Sam had to say about Jesus today. Sometimes he just says this stuff to me out of the blue, like he just wants to confirm, and check base with me about what he knows. It's always a good thing!

Pirate School

Sam attends a class at the Coralville Rec Center called "Treasure Hunt" in which they dress up like pirates, read stories, sing songs, do a craft, and have a treasure hunt. He calls it "Pirate School." It's a lot of fun. They dress up in raggedy clothes but the best part is the "earring" that they loop over their ears with a piece of yarn. On the first day Sam insisted on having one for each ear - which only makes sense! After looking at the video that I took of him, he was unable to identify himself. For all of you who are unsure, Sam is the one with the scarf on his head! He said about himself, "I was going everywhere and everywhere!"

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a great weekend! My sister Emily came home for the first time since she moved to Austin, Texas. She has really missed being around her nephews and niece! In the few short months that she has been gone, the kids have grown alot. She actually looked like she had "grown" too! She's all tan, and sporting a bit of a different hair style. While she was here, we ate alot, talked alot, played games, acted silly, and of course took alot of pictures. It was good to see her, and kinda wierd saying goodbye. Before you know it, she'll be back for Christmas!

Brotherly Love

Will and Sam were fighting over the remote today, and I think that there was some biting going on. They came to me and Will said, "Sometimes I wish that Sam wasn't my brother." I said, "Don't say that!" Sam heard us talking and said, "Don't give up Will, just keep going!" Somehow I don't think that he realized that he had just been insulted! They have such a love/hate relationship right now. The moment I separated them, Sam was sad and said "Will went away from me!" He wanted me to "find his friend." Everytime I'd walk past him he'd say, "Did you find my friend?" Finally I told him where Will was - it was no big secret. He was sitting right there on the couch. It's like they can't live with each other, but they can't live without each other either.

Time Flies!

Damon just brightened my day, and made me a little misty-eyed. He was cleaning up his computer at work and came across these two pictures, so he e-mailed them to me. Man how time flies! Sam looks like a little red tomato and Will looks like a baby too!! He is the proud brother - he even has his "big brother" t-shirt on. Sam is three days old in these pictures!! I can't even hardly remember him being this little, which makes me sad. I showed Sam the pictures, but he didn't recognize either boy. When I told him who they were he said, "I'm a big boy. See?"

My Cousins?

I was just scrolling through older blog entries with Sam because he wanted to look at the pictures and we came across the picture of the "scary santa" and he said, "Hey wait, stop!" (He's a little obsessed with Santa, Christmas, and nutcrackers - of course - right now as you may have already guessed. And we don't even do Santa in our house!) Which reminds me, Goodwill is a dangerous place to be right now. There are nutcrackers EVERYWHERE!! (But who am I kidding - loud debate about "peanuts" vs. "penises" in the middle of a public place is not enough to keep me away from my most beloved shopping establishment!!) (See earlier post.)
So where was I? (geesh!), Oh yeah. He looked at the picture of Santa for awhile and said "I never seen that one before. What is that santa doing?" I said " I don't know." and he said "Maybe that's my cousins." Not sure if he thinks it's Jack and Noah, or Jared and Dillon, or some other long lost relatives! Just wanted to share that bit of cuteness with you. And ok, I'm getting obsessed with this blog thing.

Dancing with the Stars

Ok, I can't believe that I'm blogging about this, and it has nothing to do with the kids, but it was one of the highlights of my day! Emmit Smith won! If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you've been living under a rock. Can I just say how hard it was to choose my favorite star from the final two?! I was really rooting for them both. I must admit that I was slightly disappointed that Mario Lopez didn't win, but not surprised. Mario was definitely the better dancer physically, but Emmit had the personality and the popularity on his side. For some odd reason, whenever Emmit was out there dancing he'd get these looks on his face that totally reminded me of my dad. It was this goofy kind of smile where you could just tell that he was just enjoying himself and cracking himself up and letting it all hang out there! I guess he reminded me of a big old teddy bear, who you wouldn't expect to have any grace or skill, and then he surprised you. My dad was a big old teddy bear too. Other people thought he looked intimidating until you got to know him!

So who were you all rooting for, and don't pretend you didn't watch!

Checklist

Today is a conference day so there is no school. Will is very excited about this so he made a list of everything he wants to do today - complete with boxes to check when the item has been completed. (I'm afraid he's going to take after his father on the list making. Although Damon has yet to make the boxes, after he sees this, he may be tempted to!) Here's what the list says, for all of you who don't read "first-grade-ese:"

-Have breakfast with Dad
-Play with Sam (which he crossed out, because he thought Sam didn't want to play with him, then realized that he did, and then checked the box off.)
-Play outside
-Read a book with Sam
-Play checkers
-Have lunch
-Watch some TV
-Do two puzzles
-Have dinner
-Play Lego Star Wars 2 with Dad (of course)

When I asked Will to feed the dog, he consulted his list and informed me that sorry, that was not on his list of things to do. So I guess I've got a busy day ahead of me, with lots of things on the agenda!

DarthYo

As I was writing my last post, Will came downstairs and asked me to put on my website that he created a new character in his Lego Star Wars 2 video game. The character's name is "DarthYo" - which is spelled "Drsyo" with Will's spelling. It is a combination of Darth Vader and Yoda. It has Darth Vader's head, but some of Yoda's body, and some of Darth Vader's body. Evidently this is very funny and worthy of public knowledge! Evidently Damon created "Darth Damon." I am not going to comment any further on the fact that his character is wearing Princess Leia's bikini top.

Artistic Talent

I wanted to share some of Will's artwork with you. The first is a self-portrait from last year. Isn't it great?! He obviously sees himself as one cool dude! Which of course, he is! I love that you can see where he drew his nose bigger, then erased it and made it smaller! I also love the lips, the glasses, and the hair. I just love the whole thing. This is my all time favorite piece of artwork. The second picture is Will's "Science Book." The details that he puts into things is amazing to me. They put together these books to record some of the things they learned about plants and trees. He made this very elaborate tree as the cover of his book. You probably can't tell, but Will says that each bird has a nest. The bird with a number 1 on it's chest belongs to the nest with one egg ( which is cracked.) The #2 bird has two eggs, etc, etc. In the lower left hand corner there is an ant carrying an apple slice on it's back. The ant is riding on top of a caterpillar. I'm not sure where he gets his artistic talent from!

Epic Proportions

Ok, so I admit it. I was in a craft-induced coma. Not too hard to do these days, when I have a show coming up this weekend. I had left Sam tucked in on the couch upstairs with a Mickey Mouse video, snuggled up with a blanket and pillow. I heard a noise while I was at my craft table downstairs and started up the stairs, but was stopped at the laundry room door because water was pouring (not just dripping) from the ceiling. My first thought was that the washing machine had exploded. Then I realized that the water must be coming from upstairs. I ran up and discovered that Sam had flooded the kitchen - and I do mean flooded. He'd pushed a chair over to the sink and had used the sprayer on every available surface. Every cupboard, the tops of the microwave, fridge, stove, the chair cushions, the floor and every piece of paper in the kitchen were soaked. Water reached to both doorways, so the carpet was soaked at both entries. He said later that he wanted to clean the kitchen. Well it was certainly a lot cleaner after we were done with all the clean-up 2 hours later! I called Damon in a panic, and he graciously came home from work early to help me. We got out the shop vac and the carpet cleaner to soak up quite a bit of standing water. Sam must have turned the faucet over to the side, so that the water was pouring out directly onto the counter because I don't see how a sprayer could have produced that much water! Water went behind the stove and fridge, and down underneath the peeling linoleum, and in another place through the air return, and down into the laundry room below (which has a drain.) We have fans going, so hopefully we can get it all dried up. Damon asked me if I took any pictures of the mess for my blog and I admitted that I had wanted to, but I didn't want Sam to think that I thought what he'd done was funny. So you all will have to use your imaginations.

Tonsil Update

Just like my sister Emily, I will take a picture of anything and everything! This picture sums up our awful Saturday morning. Sam woke up throwing up and kept it up for the next 3 hours, every 15-30 minutes. The poor kid didn't have any Tylenol in his system, so it was obvious that it really hurt to throw up. He just held his hands over his ears, and cried and puked, and he was so hot and in so much pain, that I was crying too. It was awful. We called the doctor, and we were almost to the point of bringing him into the ER when he fell asleep. When he woke up an hour and a half later, he was ready to drink and he kept his Tylenol down! He got better throughout the afternoon, even wanting to go outside and play (because the neighbor kid came to the door for Will.) Of course he didn't get to go. He even had alphabet soup for dinner! He kept telling Damon he was missing certain letters because earlier we'd watched a classic Sesame Street skit where Grover is the waiter and a muppet guy goes through the whole alphabet, expecting each letter to be in his soup, and Grover gets more and more frustrated. I realized that everything else we'd been trying to give him was sweet, so I think he appreciated something salty. He even had more soup for a bedtime snack - which he picked over ice cream, pudding, popsicles etc! He wanted soup for breakfast Sunday morning, but I convinced him to have a pancake and banana and save the soup for lunch. So I'll be stocking up on all shapes and forms of noodle soup over the next weeks! He was up several times during the first few nights, and it was a challenge to get him to take his Tylenol, because he decided he was just tired of the whole business. The only thing that really worked was when I used Will to my advantage. I made Will pretend to want to eat Sam's medicine, and then Sam suddenly wanted to take it! Will of course thought this was great fun, and I'm not above using this form of manipulation! So Saturday afternoon and Sunday he hasn't seemed to need any pain medicine, (so we're not even going there) and he's eating and drinking and playing, and resting! Hopefully we'll start having some more restful nights soon.

Tonsils

Sam did great with his surgery today! We were at the hospital at 6 am, for his surgery at 7:45. We had news by 8:15 that he was done and everything had gone well. This picture was taken before hand. He was not looking quite so chipper afterwards. His doctor said that his adenoids were almost completely blocking his nasal passage. His tonsils and ear tubes went well too. He drank his liquids like a champ: ice water, popsicle slushies, jello, apple juice. He even chose more jello, even though he had the options of upgrading to chocolate pudding or chocolate ice cream. You all are asking yourselves, "Are you sure he's your son?" He was intrigued by the nurses and doctors, not scared at all. They just carried him off, and that was that. I thought to myself, "Wait, weren't we supposed to have a poignant good-bye moment?!" Then I quickly came to my senses and realized that their way was much easier and dryer! He didn't get sick afterwards, and was only mildly curious about the IV, but pretty much left it alone. He was more interested in watching TV, playing with the volume on his bed remote, and visiting the play room down the hall from his room on the Peds floor. He kept up well with his drinking at home, and even started bouncing around a bit while he played, but man oh man, as soon as the three hours of Tylenol wore off you could instantly tell - he was in quite a bit of pain. We're supposed to wake him up around the clock to give him Tylenol the first 48 hours, so I'm anticipating some sleepness nights. But then again, we've already become somewhat accustomed to that with his sleeping problems. But it's different when you're baby is hurting. Aunt Laura and cousin Lily brought Sam a big Elmo balloon this afternoon and Aunt Emily sent a book with reusable construction stickers that came in the mail today, so he's feeling pretty special. I think he's enjoyed all the attention. He did not, however, appreciate that we sat and ate pizza in front of him tonight, while all he could have was jello, yogurt, and juice. (No solids today.) I don't anticipate a loss of appetite being a problem for him! Will on the other hand is not so sure about Sam getting presents in the mail, (since that is a HUGE deal) but he's old enough to understand. Will's been quite concerned about his younger brother, and has (so far) been patient and gentle with him. Hope we can all get some rest tonight!

"I Have a Leaf Eye!!"

Every fall, the boys look forward to playing in the big piles of leaves that accumulate behind our house. All the neighborhood kids turn out and have a blast! The piles will actually get bigger than this. The kids love to run and jump in, shouting, "cannonball!!" They also make a leaf "house," and clear out leaf "rooms." They have leaf fights, and bury themselves. Sam almost lost his shoe in the pile. Will kept taking a leaf and putting it in between his eye and his glasses and saying, "Look, I have a leaf eye!" and everyone thought it was really funny. That's my son, he's a regular comedian.

Scary Santa!

Sam says he had a dream last night that a "scary Santa was sitting on my car. And I not want to look up." Then he said "That Santa not bring any toys to my house!" (with a mean look on his face.) Then he said "Jesus was on the light and he take my bad dream away." I can testify first hand that something had scared him, because I was up and down with him for two hours between 3 am and 5 am! I'm afraid that trip to the Hobby Lobby Christmas section has had lasting effects.

Sweetness!

Just wanted to share the sweetness.

Warning: Not For the Faint of Heart!

Today Sam and I went to Hobby Lobby. We were looking through the Christmas decorations and he is intrigued with the nutcrackers. So he says (VERY LOUDLY and REPEATEDLY), "Mom, you put a penis in there and it crunches it up!" So I kept saying, "You mean a nut - you put a peanut in there, right?" and he kept saying "Yeah! You put a penis in there and it crunches it up!" So I ended up just having to distract him, and hope nobody was listening to us!

Happy Birthday, Will!

Today our first born is 7 years old! It's hard to believe! He's way excited! We are leaving after school for an art show in Ankeny and are spending the night in a hotel, with a pool, and Will gets to open one present there, then we'll have a family party when we get back on Sunday. He got to pick what kind of happy birthday song he wanted his music teacher to sing to him, and he picked the "rock n'roll" version. She sang to him with her guitar. His classmate, who had a birthday the day before picked "country" so he sang me a very twangy version of the song, because he thought it was so funny. He was too embarrassed to sing me the rock n' roll version! His class made an "I can ..." reader, the other day. It said things like, "I can jump. I can run. I can climb." At the end was a blank page for the kids to right their own "I can" statement. He chose "I can blow." (!!!!) Notice there are very specifically 7 candles on his cake?! He's been ready and waiting for this day, since he had to go through the torture of watching his brother have his birthday 2 weeks ago! Love ya, Will!

Halloween Fun!

Here are some pictures of the boys on Halloween. Neither one could see very well with their masks on, and kept running into things and falling down. But we made it through trick-or-treating, with no major injuries!

The Dark Side of Three

So my normally sweet, good natured, happy-go-lucky three year old has traveled over to the dark side of three! It all has to do with LACK OF SLEEP! For months now it's like we're living with a newborn, and not the kind of newborn that Sam actually was (sleeping through the night at 6 weeks old), but the kind of newborn that's up and crying for mamma every 2-3 hours! So Sam is having his tonsils, adenoids, and tubes put in his ears on November 10th. He's always been a snorer and now is waking himself up because his tonsils are blocking his airway, causing him to have sleep apnea. He's also always been a mouth breather, and is now experiencing constant congestion, which is why the adenoids are coming out. He's getting tubes as well because he's got some temporary hearing loss due to all the fluid just sitting there. So between all these symptoms and not ever getting into deep sleep, he's one mean crankmeister. And guess who else isn't getting much sleep?! If mamma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy! Even though we're a bit scared about sending our baby into surgery, we're trusting God with the life of our child. God has put peace in us that this is the right decision for Sam's well-being. I tried to take a picture of Sam's tonsils, so you all could see how big they really are, but once I'd get in that close, his breath would fog up the lens, and the flash was up to high to light up his mouth, so it just didn't work out! So you'll have to settle for a silly one instead!