The Geeses are back!

 

 

Our geese came back this morning! The boys were eating breakfast & when I opened the shades behind the table, the lake was covered with geese. Boy, were they excited. Daniel kept yelling, "Look, Mommy. The geeses are back. They're back!" We'll have to take a walk later if it warms up so we can feed them some bread. I think our high today is 35 (it's 27 right now), so it will depend on the wind. Although I think my two little men will brave the weather in order to see the "geeses" up close and personal!

Happy Birthday to me!

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxSo, for those of you who don't know, today is my birthday. My neighbor, Kathi, was sweet enough to come over this morning with cookies & a sweet card. Here is our sweet, happy little Daniel holding up one of the cookies. He INSISTED I take a picture of him & then refused to smile. Typical! He did wish me happy birthday just before he asked where the cake was, though.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMy husband was sweet enough to send me flowers. They're not the typical roses, etc, but a very pretty Christmas centerpiece that looks fabulous on my island in my kitchen. Wasn't that thoughtful???

Birthday Dinner

My friend, Michelle, and her husband, Jason, had us over for dinner last night. Their older son, Stephen, is in William's class at school & their younger son, Peter is about 9 months younger than Daniel. All four boys usually play pretty well together. Michelle baked a cake & the boys were very excited because they got to sing to me, blow out candles, and then eat cake! What a great evening. Here is a pic of Michelle and the boys, too. We got to be friends just after Scott left & they're moving right after he gets back, so Scott will have to get to know them via me. Isn't the military life strange sometimes?

 

 

 

No more midnight wakings!

Okay, at least until this little one gets here. About 6 weeks ago, I forgot to put a diaper on William at bedtime. I was completely reluctant to even attempt to get him out of his nighttime diapers because I knew it would entail night wakings for me in order to take him to the potty & I confess, I was lazy. Anyway, he made it from 7 PM until 6:15 the next morning & he only went enough to wet his underwear & jammies. I didn't even have to change his sheets. After that, he insisted on wearing undies at night. How do I argue with that? So, for the first couple of weeks, I woke him up before I went to sleep and then again between 2 & 4. After a little while, I just started waking him between 2 & 4. Well, long story short, I worked this weekend &, my being my normal lazy self, didn't get up to take him to the potty & HE MADE IT ALL NIGHT LONG!! This morning, he woke me up when he came out of his room at 6:15 or so, went in the potty & then crawled back in his bed for another hour. So, it appears my night wakings are done, at least for a few months. Go William!!

Christmas Spirit

Okay, I confess. I'm attempting to be Scrooge-ish this year. My husband is gone & while I usually love buying a fresh Christmas tree & getting all of my ornaments & decorations out, the thought of doing it this year was just exhausting. Unfortunately for me, my house has been taken over by two pint-size elves who have apparently inherited my love of all things Christmas. I think if I hear "Mommy, Santa is going to leave x, y, z under our Christmas tree this year", or "Mommy, I can't wait until we get to decorate our Christmas tree. When are we gonna do that, Mommy? Huh, Mommy???", I just might string some lights around one of them & call it good.

So, under duress, I dragged all of the stuff up from the basement last night, and this morning, the boys & I put on some of that Christmas music (you know, the stuff I'm starting to dread!) and got to work. Daddy was able to webcam with us the entire time, so he got to see all of the jumping around the dining room in excitement (Daniel), all of the pulling ornaments out of boxes long before Mommy needs them (William), and all of the yelling "Don't TOUCH that until I ask you to!" (Mommy). All in all, it was pretty exciting for the boys as well as pretty uneventful for me, at least once I had the lights up (who remembers those things take so long to get right?). We were all in our Christmas jammies & with Daddy "there", it was a pretty nice tree-trimming event!

From Decorating the Christmas tree

From Decorating the Christmas tree

From Decorating the Christmas tree

AND THE FINISHED PRODUCT!

From Decorating the Christmas tree

From Decorating the Christmas tree

Meet our new friend, Tricks

So, after Thanksgiving, this little guy mysteriously showed up at our house. Okay, it was thanks to Nana & Grandpa Sam, but as far as my kids know, he came straight from The Big Man Himself--that would be Santa if you're confused. He's called The Elf on the Shelf , and he comes with an "instruction manual" telling you all about him & all of the rules if you want to play his game. The kids have to name him, and William has christened ours "Tricks". He sneaks away to the North Pole each night to report to Santa on my kids' behavior & each morning, when they wake up, he's found a new place to sit in our house. It's their new morning game to see who can spot him first. And, at least for the first day, it's worked wonders to keep them in line. We'll see if it keeps up. Go, Tricks!!!!

From Tricks, the Elf on the Shelf

The first snowfall of the winter.......

Can't you just hear me singing? My kids love Christmas music more than I do, so it's been playing non-stop in my van ever since we drove home from Julie & Dan's. I'm starting to think I may not like it so much after this year!!

Anyway, I digress. We had our first snowfall, appropriately on December 1. It didn't last long, but was very pretty while it did. Daniel has been obsessed with our getting snow ever since he decided his new favorite song is Frosty the Snowman. He sings the whole song (yes, he knows the WHOLE thing!!--I promise a video of it later), and then says, "Is it going to snow, Mommy?" When I answer in the affirmative, he then says, "But just a little bit!" Needless to say, both boys were very excited about the snow. William wanted to stay home from school & play in it. Looks like we'll be spending lots of cold, wet time outside this winter. Maybe it'll snow for Aunt Catherine's visit & I can send her out there with them. Tee-hee!!!

From first snowfall

From first snowfall