Christmas: the short version

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas with loved ones. Here's a couple pics of the boys on Christmas eve and Christmas day.

On Christmas Eve we did crafts, played outside, made Jesus's birthday cake and after church we set some cake out for Santa. The celery and carrots were for the reindeer; I insisted since Andy always chooses chocolate cake with chocolate icing. He knows what Santa likes. *smile*






On Christmas morning Dane went downstairs with Andy and discovered Santa had left lots of toys and he and the reindeer ate their snacks. He woke me up excitedly telling about all the gifts and the cake and the..."Is it time to open gifts mommmy?" I smiled and groggily got up; he immediately tore into a gift just as I was sitting down. I asked Andy if it was his to which he replied, "I don't know." Drake was hungry and not really interested, so we pulled his highchair into the livingroom and he ate while Dane tore into gifts and "helped" Drake open his.




While Andy cut some wood and Drake slept, Dane and I did another craft and played some of his new games. I never heard of Hi-Ho Cherry-O and though I do alot of things with my boys, I must say playing this game 3 times in a row is one of the less-than-exciting high-lights of my afternoon.
Over-all a wonderful day with my family.

Tis the Season

Brrrr, we had a wintery weekend...8 inches total in about 24 hours. It was beautiful. Andy's Christmas party was Friday (at our house) and my company Christmas party was Saturday. It probably wasn't a good idea to drive to mine, but we toughed it out and even though we couldn't get our car up the entrance hill to our subdivision to get home it was a nice way to meet one of our neighbors who gave us a ride home. How about THAT positive spin on things! Yes, I'll be taking them goodies to snack on this weekend.

Dane also Sat on Santa's lap again (3 times so far this year) at the library last week during story time. No more tears for him; he's just set on telling Santa what he wants and tells him several times so he gets it right! Drake quickly opted out of sitting on his lap this time.

Grandpa came over last weekend to visit. After a warm lunch and opening presents I gave Dane and Grandpa some gingerbread men to decorate and eat. Drake didn't know he was missing out on anything until they got ready to eat. Notice they have his attention now! Grandpa bought Drake a wagon so Dane wouldn't have to share the one Grandpa got him. That evening we used the wagon and took the boys to see Zoo Lights at the St. Loius Zoo. It was cold, but as you can see the boys are bundled up and we took a break for some hot chocolate and crafts in the middle of our tour.

In case I don't get to write again before next week, I hope everyone has a great Christmas. Happy Birthday Jesus.

Christmas Elves

Andy went hunting again this weekend and other than catching up on the usual house stuff I had some extra time to fine tune my presentation for the school district I'm giving Wednesday and to do this rediculous and entertaining site I'm about to send you to.

Cut and paste this link for seconds of laughter. By the way, this had been posted without any of the other member's of this household's permission. Better check it out quick before there's a protest. *smirk*

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1266089158

Mom not a maid

Let me explain...I've always said that I make a better mom than a maid and I would start teaching my children at a young age the importance of chores and responsiblity and blah, blah, blah. And to save you any further lecture on my philosophies I'll share with you this video of Drake throwing away his own trash. He also puts his own dirty clothes in his hamper...just like his big brother Dane. Who last year also took on the chores of feeding T-Bone and putting away his dishes after he eats...and they feel so proud of themselves...as am I...*smile*...enjoy.

What happened to November?

Well, obviously all my entries for November were lost! Just kidding...it's been a hectic month and now it's December already. Andy went deer hunting for two weeks in November (we've got 5 deer in our freezer so far). He's leaving for another weekend of hunting this Friday. Dane has started gymnastics on wednesdays. He was a little apprehensive at 1st, but has gotten used to it. Though, he does seem to be the wild child. He does all the activities the instructor has them do but he does little runs around the gym while he waits for his turn again. Hmmm, sounds like his mother, with all that extra energy.

Thanksgiving was nice and relaxing; we decided to stay home since Andy had been gone the previous 2 weekends deer hunting and the boys and I had gone with him the last one. After breakfast and Drake's 1st nap we put up our Christmas decorations and tree...and if Dane could tell you: "We have a train Christmas (Christmas train) around our tree!" We are already on our 2nd set of batteries (6 of them each time!) for the thing. His interest has slowed...a little. The 1st day he wanted to take his nap on the couch so he could sleep with the train and then the next morning he woke up and asked if he could turn it on again. Who knew the thing would be such a hit? I'm buying stock in Duracell.

Drake has not grabbed at an ornament once. Nor has he bothered the train or gifts under the tree. THAT is a complete surprise. He does however like to hold the remote for the "train Christmas" and that causes a huge problem with Dane. Because of course it's "MY" train, NOT Drakie's! And then he grabs it from him, pushes him down and then tells us "it was an accident". Tis the season. *smile*

Last week Dane went to the dentist for the 1st time. We've been singing a Barney brush your teeth song and I've "Tivo'd" the Barney episode where one of the characters is afraid to go to the dentist. In other words I've been prepping him for this 1st visit for atleast a month now...he did awesome and was so proud of himself. Afterwards he got to choose his own toothbrush and toothpaste. It's so funny to hear him explain about them sucking the water out of his mouth. He showed me and he sucked his cheeks in like he was imitating a fish and made a sucking sound. Then he watched me get my check-up and cleaning and held my hand and told me I was doing a "good job" and "it's okay mommy, it's a good doctor". I guess I had it coming, he's been hearing me say that for weeks. And of course I have my proud little 3-year old showing off his smile and goodies from the check-up.

One last thing and then I promise I'm done and you can go get your new prescription glasses....*smirk*

Today we met Andy at the mall during his lunch to get our Santa photo. Dane refused to do it last Friday, so when we were listening to a Christmas cd I bought and he told me he wanted to ask Santa for Jeremy (the helicopter from Thomas the Train...which I can't find ANYWHERE!) I decided to jump on it. I really worked it up and told him he had to show Drake how brave he was and that Santa was a good guy...etc, etc. I figured it would be no problem with Drake since he's my fearless one. Once again, proved wrong: Dane chatted Santa's ear off and Drake screamed. Our Santa photo includes all of us again since we had a screamer and Drake wouldn't go near him unless he was on one of our laps. The lady did a full photo shoot with us to get just the right one where everyone was looking.

So enough said here's some recent pics of "D" boys.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone.