Christmas 2012

Hoping your Christmas was as happy and magical as ours!

Merry and Bright

May all your days be MERRY and BRIGHT!

Merry Christmas!

Love, Brad, Erika, Jack, and Hannah

Silent Sunday

{my beautiful girl...}

{and...}

{...my beautiful family.}

{It was so special to see everyone and spend "Christmas" with Great Grandma Stella.  Thank you!}

Too Smart for Oliver?

I think Jack might be onto me about Oliver, our Elf on the Shelf.

To be honest, I'd never heard of The Elf on the Shelf until I was introduced to Pinterest last year, but the Elf is all over Pinterest, and it piqued my curiosity.

I decided that it might help with some behavior issues leading up to Christmas, and I thought it would be fun to set up our elf each night for the children to find the next morning.

On November 26th, we introduced Jack to our Elf on the Shelf, and Oliver came to be part of our household.  Jack loves to find out where he'll be each morning.  Hannah isn't really too aware of his existence.

A few things I've noticed thus far:

• it's tricky to find a month full of places to creatively hide an elf in which little ones can't reach, and therefore won't be tempted to touch, said Elf
• it's tricky to remember to move said Elf each night before I fall asleep out of sheer exhaustion
• it's tricky to ensure that a bright little boy believes his Elf is real

The other night, we tucked Jack into bed, and then before I got ready for bed, I decided to move Oliver so that I wouldn't forget.  

Because once I've literally had to race downstairs ahead of Jack, toss Oliver across the room, and hope he landed some place great.  It worked!  

Another time, we had to tell Jack that Oliver must have fallen asleep because he's so tired from making so many toys and that was why he remained in the same spot for two days.  Being an Elf is hard work.

Alright - so back to the other night.  I wanted Oliver to have some fun with Jack's toy cars, and I was beginning to set Oliver up on the banister with the cars when Jack came out of his bedroom announcing he had to go potty.  In my hands were toy cars, and Oliver was sitting happily on the banister with Lightning McQueen.  So what else could I do?

I said, "Oh my goodness, that silly Oliver is making a mess with all of these cars.  What is he doing?"  And I set everything down and helped get Jack back to bed.  I thought I'd wait awhile before moving Oliver again.  Clearly, he could not stay on the banister with the cars.

About half an hour later, I took Oliver downstairs with me and decided he could color.  As I made my way to the kitchen, I heard Jack moving around upstairs again.  He called down, "Mommy, Oliver's not there anymore!  Where did he go?"

"Hmm...I don't know.  He must have gone to the North Pole.  We'll have to look for him in the morning."

Obviously, Jack was continually getting out of bed to check on Oliver's status.  This was my first clue that he might not be buying the Elf story.

The next morning, Jack found Oliver happily coloring a picture of an elf, not necessarily to Jack's liking.  He didn't love Oliver's color choices, but he seemed pleased with Oliver using his crayons and coloring books.  

But...

when we sat down to dinner later that night, I noticed that the feather in the elf's hat was colored red.  And I knew that I hadn't colored the feather.  (Go ahead - go back and check the picture again.)  I decided not to say anything.

We started to eat, and that, my friends...

...is when Jack said, "Oh my goodness, Mommy!  Look at that feather - Oliver must have just colored that feather because it wasn't like that this afternoon.  He's doing such a good job coloring!"

And what could I say?

"Wow!  That silly Oliver.  He really is doing such a nice job!"

*****

I told Brad this story later that night, and we just about died laughing.  He's playing my own game, and I'm pretty sure he's winning.  Oh, how I love that smart, little man of ours!

Unimaginable

Parenting is a hard job.  It's exhausting and self-sacrificing and often thankless.

While I consider myself to be a patient person, I often find myself frustrated by the things my children do.

It drives me crazy that Jack changes his mind about what he wants to wear approximately 3.2 seconds before leaving the house in the morning...

When I ask Hannah to come over to get her diaper changed, and she runs the other way, I want to pull my hair out...

It makes me insane when, as soon as I sit down on the couch, Jack asks me for more orange juice...

And when I'm trying to make dinner, and Hannah is pulling on my clothes and crying, just because, my patience is tested...

But they came home from school on Friday.

Once again, I am reminded that these little, daily frustrations mean absolutely nothing.  That these are not things to get upset about...that compared to what other people are facing, the problems I face are not  even a blip on the map.    Not even close.

I know that I have held my children closer.  I got down on the floor today while cooking dinner just to tickle my little girl.  I helped Jack sort through all of his pajamas to find the very specific one he was looking for the very minute we walked in the door from school.  I made him a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when he decided he didn't like the dinner I had made.

My sweet babies...I just can't imagine...


And neither could have all of those parents and family members.  My heart aches for them...

Wordless Wednesday

{so this is how that went...}

My Little Man

A couple of weeks ago, my sister came over and we made spaghetti for dinner.  I usually put Hannah in one of Jack's old Spider-man t-shirts on spaghetti night because it's already red and keeps her from ruining her non-red clothes.  She happened to be barefoot and wearing her adorable skinny jeans that night, and I don't know what it was...but watching her walk around in her big brother's t-shirt with those skinny jeans - I just fell even more in love with her.  I really just could've eaten her up.

But as I was doting on her and trying to capture some photos, Jack announced, "I think it's more adorable with me in it."

Maybe he's a little jealous.  Sometimes.  Maybe.

*****

When he was done eating his spaghetti dinner (one meal he actually eats quickly and well), he set down his fork and said, "BAM."  Without missing a beat, he explained, "My dad taught me that."

I thought it sounded a little familiar:)

*****

One night, while we were snuggling before bed, I told Jack, "You're my baby," after kissing his adorable belly.  Do you know what that sweet boy said to me?

"That makes my heart happy."

Ditto, Little Man.  Ditto.

*****

While spending time collecting sticks with Great-Uncle Danny over Thanksgiving, Jack said, "I don't mean to upset you, Uncle Danny, but you just interrupted me."

Uncle Danny, caught a little off-guard, apologized to Jack and explained that he hadn't meant to interrupt, to which Jack replied, "It's okay.  I do it all the time."

*****

While climbing out of the car the other day, I noticed that Jack referred to himself in the third-person, but not just as Jack.  He referred to himself as Jack-a-Bear.  I had to think about it for a second, but then I asked, "You mean, like Hannah Bear?  So you're Jack-a-Bear?"

"Exactly," he told me.  "You're right, Mama!"

So creative, and so on-point.  I was very impressed, even though it does make me chuckle a bit:)

*****

As tiring as he can be...as talkative, as energetic, as particular, as sensitive, as stubborn as he can be...I couldn't possibly love this four and a half year old boy any more.  He has made my life better just by being in it, and I'm so lucky that I get to be his mommy.

Dinner Dance

What can I say?

I may or may not have taught Hannah how to do a little dance when she's happy.

Like when she gets to have rice for dinner.

You're welcome.

Jack-a-Bear

Tonight as we got out of the car, Jack referred to himself as Jack-a-Bear.

And I knew just what he meant:)

"You mean like Hannah Bear, only Jack-a-Bear?"

"That's right, Mama!"

"You are so stinkin' cute, my little man.  I love you."

Couldn't Make It Up If I Tried

I've been missing a lot lately, and I'm sorry.  Believe it or not, the week before and the week of Thanksgiving were pretty crazy around here.  Things are just starting to get back to some sense of normalcy...and even that's a bit of a stretch.

{Hannah, not sleeping in our hotel room}

To be honest, Brad and I have become addicted to Breaking Bad, a show that's been around for awhile, but is brand new to us.  So that's part of it - we've been downloading episodes and watching them at night like they are going out of style.  A need to get caught up with the rest of the world maybe...I don't know.  But seriously?  It's sucked us in - we both wanted to watch it before Dexter on Sunday, but we felt so disloyal, we just couldn't bring ourselves to do it.  It's kept us away from Homeland for two weeks straight.  What is wrong with us?!

{At this point, she'd already shed her striped tights and her brown boots}

In addition to our new TV addiction, I came down with strep the night we'd taken my dad out for his birthday dinner.  It came on fast and furious, and I missed two days of work.  I missed appointments with teachers and had to reschedule coaching visits - never a fun task.  I started to feel better by Friday, but just in time to get really, really sick on Sunday night.

{Reading in the hotel room - Jack was so excited to go to a hotel!}

Maybe it was food poisoning.  Maybe it was a stomach bug.  Who knows?  All I know is that it was horrible, and whatever it was, it nearly killed me.  I went six hours, and then I couldn't take it anymore. Brad drove me to the hospital while my dad came over and spent the night on our couch while the babies slept upstairs.  We were at the hospital until four in the morning, and even though they gave me fluids, anti-nausea medication, and painkillers, I was still a mess when we got home.  And so, so sick.  I missed two more days of work.  More appointments with teachers were canceled.

{Down home cookin' at Cracker Barrel}

Tuesday night I felt well enough to begin to pack us up for our trip to North Carolina.  As I was packing and cleaning and getting organized, the littles went around and meticulously reversed all of my hard work:)  Somedays, it seems like that's what they do best.

{Sleepy and warm.}

We left on Wednesday around noon.  Very bad idea.  A trip that should have taken us six hours took nine and a half instead.  On back, country roads.  With two children under five.  I have to say, I was impressed with their car-trip behavior.  They really were troopers that day.  They went four and a half hours without stopping, and then we got out, went potty, played tag as the sun set, had a little snack, and got back in the car.  We stopped a couple of hours later for dinner, and Jack and Hannah chased each other around Subway, laughing and chatting away.  We usually don't let them run amok in restaurants, but they needed some play time, so we just watched.

{Jack and Great-Uncle Danny, playing in a tree that Daddy used to climb.}

We went straight to our hotel upon our arrival in North Carolina because it was too late to visit with family.  We unpacked and attempted to get everyone to bed.  I could tell Brad wasn't sleeping well - he was tossing and turning, and then at four in the morning, I heard him get up, and I could tell he was very sick.

{Aunt Jess, Jack, and Great-Uncle Danny}

He didn't leave our hotel on Thanksgiving Day - he spent the day in bed, mostly by himself as the kids and I spent time with his family.  I went back and forth, bringing medicine and Gatorade.  Poor thing - I felt so bad.

{Reading with Hannah Bear}

Lucky for us, he was well enough to do the Black Friday shopping he loves so much, and we were all able to spend time with family on Friday evening.

{Sleeping on Great-Uncle Danny}

On Saturday, my birthday, we made the car trip back home.  The ride wasn't too bad and only took us the six hours it should have.  But when we got home, we quickly learned that our fridge broke during our absence.  We came home to a fridge-full of warm, spoiled food.  By the time we unloaded the car and emptied the fridge, our clean home looked like a bomb had gone off.  Happy Birthday to me!

{Not even close to all of the stuff we unpacked from the car}

{Fridge disaster...}

We dropped everything.  We left the mess and headed to dinner, just the four of us, for a little birthday celebration.  The food was yummy, but Hannah was fussy.  She'd had enough:(

Thanksgiving certainly did not go as planned, but it's definitely one that won't be forgotten.  We got to spend time with family.  While we might not have been feeling 100%, we are still healthy.  We have everything we need.  And that's what matters.

Now - bring on the normalcy:)  Pretty please.