Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Amazed

That is what I was today when I caught the last 10 minutes of Grant's kindergarten class. Miss Sonja was reviewing shapes with them. She was asking how many sides and corners various shapes had and the children were yelling out the answers. She then drew this shape and asked the children to name it:
Many children yelled out "diamond" but then she asked what mathematicians call this shape. I was stumped. The children weren't. They called out "rhombus." Who knew? I sure didn't.
My amazement didn't end there. She then drew this shape on the board and asked the children to name it:
The children raised their hands this time. She called on Grant. Grant, with all of the confidence in the world, said "trapezoid." I was floored. I had no idea kindergarteners, particularly my kindergartener, knew the name of such a tricky shape. I suppose that's what I get for underestimating my child's smarts.
Cole has been amazing me these past weeks also. A friend stopped me in the hall in church on Sunday to tell me how sweet she thought Cole was and how amazed she was at how polite our little Colar Bear is. She's right though. That boy, through no training on my part, habitually and sincerely says, "Thank you," "You're welcome," and "I love you." Not only do the words alone melt a mother's heart but add to it his adorable little three year old voice and it makes it impossible to ever get angry at the child. Cole just exudes sweetness in all he does and says. I wish I could bottle his innocence and keep him this way forever.
Tyler's sweetness and smiles amaze me everyday. Who wouldn't be forever softened and amazed by this sweet face and his sweet little laugh. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leTck0_Yc_g

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Inspiration

What I took from today was that God works in simple, quiet ways to move and inspire people to serve others. Our Heavenly Father cannot be here to help us personally so he puts us in each others paths to do it for him. The need to offer service to another can be learned from a seemingly inconsequential text conversation, the result of the teasing and chiding from a daughter or a quiet voice in our mind or heart. We just have to be open and receptive to the promptings that often come in unconventional ways. In this Christmas season, I hope that I can be more particularly open and receptive to the needs of others around me.

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Christmas begins

We pulled out the Christmas bins today. I have limited myself to two thus far into our marriage but I would like to expand my collection in the coming years. Grant loves to get out the decorations and get Christmas going. We put out the little Christmas trinkets, hung the stockings and hung the outside lights. We still have a Christmas tree, more lights and more garland to put up to complete our decorations.
Our poor little Cole is still quite sick. He spent much of the day home with me, while Papa, Chad and Grant made a run to Best Buy for new video games. We snuggled on the couch while Tyler napped, watching episodes of Sonic the Hedgehog on Netflix.
This evening Papa and I took the boys to the annual light parade. It has become a tradition to attend this underrated event. It is the least crowded, shortest and best parade Prescott holds each year. It's always cold but it only lasts about an hour. The one thing missing from the parade this year was Bradley. He started this tradition with me but spent his first Thanksgiving with Amanda so we had to go without him. I did video several parts of the parade for his and anyone else's viewing pleasure: http://youtu.be/TGCVbf1dpDI;http://youtu.be/jrVANrDWKW0; http://youtu.be/Ksf5BUF0-FA; Linkhttp://youtu.be/xVw1IIPGgYg; http://youtu.be/lhoYEsXU9GQ
http://youtu.be/QwVm8RNvy_Q; http://youtu.be/Yos26H6EMNI
http://youtu.be/7kVwVhx6iio
I took some pictures of the family waiting for the parade to start. Cole is near impossible to take pictures of because he is either not smiling or won't hold still.
Grant was trying to be a tough guy and not wear his coat in the freezing cold. Part way through the parade he finally got cold enough and put his coat on. He enjoyed relaxing in the stroller during the parade and yelled, "Merry Christmas" to all of the floats as they came by.


Our November in pictures

Our November opened with snow and even a two hour school delay. I had to dig out the snow clothes earlier than anticipated. I learned, like I do every winter, just how much the boys have grown. Cole is now in the first pair of snow boots I bought for Grant. Grant outgrew his snow boots but still shoved into them to go outside. New ones have now been purchased. Their hands have grown too. Cole is wearing Grant's mittens and Grant had to get new mittens. Grant's coat from last year isn't going to make it through this winter if he keeps growing like he has been. Neither is Cole's coat. The boys didn't care though. They were in heaven. Grant still enjoys the cold and snow far more than Cole.

After picking up Grant from school the boys love to sit and watch Netflix for a bit. On this day, they had chosen to watch episodes of the old Super Mario Bros. show that was on a decade or so ago. All of a sudden I realized Grant had disappeared and when he reappeared he was dressed up in full Mario gear. He then just sat on the couch watching the show. It was hilarious.
One night we watched Captain America as a family. The boys interested ebbed and flowed throughout the move. We didn't think they really enjoyed it. However, the next day, Grant again disappeared for awhile and the reappeared dressed as Captain America. That sent Cole to the dress up box for his Spiderman costume so he could play superheros with his big brother. Being the good mom that I try to be I immediately jumped up and cut some shields out of Costco boxes then grabbed some rope to make some handles. Grant colored his but Cole just started playing with (and throwing it - we had to nix that). Grant often disappears from downstairs, only to reappear dressed as something other than himself. Lately, we've been seeing Puss in Boots (those new snowboots are coming in handy even on days without snow), Wolverine, Mario and Captain America. Cole takes inspiration from Grant and asks for Spiderman, Batman (one day he literally wore the costume all day long instead of regular clothes) or Optimus Prime.
I have been making an extra effort to create some sort of social life for Cole, given he isn't in preschool right now but really wants and needs to be. Reece Merrill is his favorite buddy to play with. He calls him Reecey and loves it when they get to play together. On this day we had Reece over for a few hours in the morning. They played upstairs, downstairs and outside periodically resting on the couch with apples or toast. Even now when we make toast for breakfast, Cole asks if he should put in a piece for Reece. Reece loves to play with Cole as much as Cole loves Reece. We went to lunch the other day at Taco Dons to celebrate Janice's (his mom's birthday). I had Cole bring several toys for the boys to play with at the restaurant. When we got there they sat on the same side of the booth and disappeared into their own little world. I have no idea what they were playing or doing but they were completely content and entertained the entire time and both bawled when we had to part ways. I ordered a giant cheese crisp for Cole to eat, thinking he wouldn't hardly touch it. He scarfed down almost the entire thing and the funniest part was that Reece kept sneaking pieces of it and then laughing. Janice and I were just cracking up the entire time while watching them.
Aunt Kitty was in town from Wednesday, November 9 through Sunday, November 13, 2011. I took Grant out of school on Thursday and we headed down to Phoenix for the weekend. Chad had to work Friday, which was Veterans Day so he had to stay behind. While killing time before picking up Grant from school, I took Cole to the mall to play at the play place. He loved standing on top of the giant checkers, having me count, "1-2-3. Jump!!," then jumping. We did it over and over and over. When we got to the valley we met up with Kristen and Shelli at Shelli's house for a bit of time before heading out to Oma's house.
On Friday, we took the boys to a big place full of blow up toys called Bounz House. We stayed for at least two hours and the boys were in tears when it was finally time to leave. Grant was red faced and sweaty. There were giant slides, a batting cage, several bouncy houses, an obstacle course and a big, basketball place.



We were hoping that on this trip we would also be seeing David and Melissa's new baby but all we got was a great view of Melissa's giant belly every day. It wasn't for another week that Andrew was born. Saturday, Papa came up from Tucson and we hung out at Shelli's house for the day. We made cookies and chocolate mousse, ate Carolina's for lunch and just relaxed. I had to make a run to the grocery store to buy a birthday cake and fixings for Chad's birthday dinner the next day.
Chad turned 35 on November 13, 2011. He had to work that day but after work we barbequed some delicious steaks for dinner and had a (not so delicious - in my opinion) birthday cake for him to celebrate. For his birthday, I arranged for a babysitter to come on Tuesday (his day off) so that we could go out to dinner and get pedicures. I also scheduled a 90 minute massage for that Tuesday. The massage didn't work out because the therapist, who works out of her house, forgot Chad was coming. The dinner and pedicures didn't work out for other reasons so everything I got him turned out to be a bust. We did go out to Dry Gulch a couple of weekends later but that was also disappointing. The kitchen was having a very off night so our food took forever and my steak was very underdone. He still gets a massage, I just have to find a good massage therapist.



It took many trips to various food stores to accomplish all of the shopping necessary for Thanksgiving dinner. At Costco, I didn't want to wear Tyler and I knew he wouldn't be very happy in his carseat so I took the Moby wrap and his blanket and propped him up in the cart next to Cole. He loved it. He was so happy and content until the very end when he started getting tired. I loved carts that hold two kids.

November also brought the end of soccer season for Grant. This year we were not as dedicated to the sport as last year. We probably missed about half the games but when he did play he had fun. He didn't love it as much this year as last either, but that could be because he didn't play every week. As with last year, all of the games had good weather except the last game of the season, which was freezing beyond belief. Grant was so excited to get his medal at the end of his last game.
In addition to helping Cole get a social life, I've also been making more of an effort to help him do things like paint, learn letters and other preschool type activities. He is painting a little wood birdhouse I bought for $1 ages ago at Joanne's. When he finished this, which didn't take long, he moved on to stamping with his Cars stamps Aunt Kitty bought them ages ago.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Thanksgiving - the day after

Today was a day of doing nothing for me and the boys. Sadly, Chad had to work so we spent the day at home. Papa is still with us but he spent the morning with Del. We played Sorry, watched Netflix, played Wii and hung around the house all day. I continued to work on scrapbooking. Grant actually napped. Sadly, Cole and Tyler didn't give me that luxury. The boys and I didn't get dressed until it was time for us to leave for the Sundogs hockey game at 6:15 PM. It was a glorious day.
The Sundogs game was a great family outing. The Sundogs won, 6-4, although I missed half of the Sundogs goals being scored due to the food and potty needs of children.
We bought pucks for Chuck-A-Puck and actually won. We won a t-shirt and some Taco Bell coupons. Papa gave me $5 and I had $5 so that I could buy cotton candy and the pucks. After we won but before we saw the prize we were arguing about whose money was used to pay for the prize, and thus whose prize it was. I conceded it was Papa's once we saw it was a t-shirt. Grant wore the t-shirt for the rest of the game and slept in it too.


The boys were hungry at the game so I went out with Cole to get food. He kept saying he wanted chips, which I thought meant a bag of chips. I was wrong. I realized when I got out there he meant he wanted nachos. He ate almost the entire thing of nachos. Grant enjoyed his hot dog and we shared a giant root beer. No sporting event is ever complete without cotton candy so the boys shared a bag of blue.


Tyler was a champ during the game. During the first period he hung out happily in the Bjorn.
During the second period he slept soundly in Chad then my arms, even when the crowds were cheering loudly.
During the third period he watched the game from my lap.
Within minutes of getting into the car Cole passed out and Tyler started crying for food. We managed to make it home and get the kids into bed.

Thanksgiving

Our Thanksgiving celebration started on Tuesday with Grant's kindergarten Thanksgiving celebration. Cole, Tyler and I were able to attend. Cole loves any and every opportunity he has to spend time at Grant's school and in his class. He loves to feel part of the class and Grant's teachers and classmates really make him feel like he belongs. It was a very fun afternoon. The boys made a fun Thanksgiving craft, scratching designs into leaves.
After the craft, the boys went around the classroom looking for the letters in "Thanksgiving." The class listened to a fun Thanksgiving story then we all went outside to plant daffodil bulbs in a dirt plot in the parking lot. We enjoyed delicious pumpkin and apple pie from Costco after our hard gardening work. The best part was last. The class performed the songs they have been learning for the month. One in particular was so beautiful and made me cry. Here is the video: http://youtu.be/1U3Xp5QxcZs (I wasn't able to find my phone as we were heading into the school so I had to get the videos from another mom.)
They also went around the room to read their "thank you" slips from their thanksgiving pouches. Many children were thankful for siblings or parents. Grant is thankful for pie. The pouch is decorated with items from nature he collected from our yard and brought into class. He did the sewing and gluing on the pouch by himself.
http://youtu.be/j8zVSiabkzU

We continued our celebration on Wednesday. Grant, Cole and I worked hard to get as much food preparation done as possible. We made the rolls, the chocolate pudding pies and the cornbread for our stuffing and started the turkey bringing. Grant hung in with me until the bitter end, continually asking what we could do next. He was particularly excited about brining the turkey and kept asking if it was afternoon yet because I told him we didn't start the brine until after lunch. Cole was a helper too. He would wander in and out of the kitchen, helping when he felt like it and sampling the goods more than anything. He sat at the kitchen table for about 20 minutes licking the roll bowl as clean of dough as he possibly could, while Grant and I worked on the cornbread. The boys loved dropping the graham crackers into the food processor and eating about every other cracker that came out of the package. Grant broke off the pieces of dough for the rolls and rolled them into balls then I dipped them in the butter and put them on the pan. He did a great job at that, working really hard to get the balls the same size. Cole stole a ball of dough here and there and tried to eat them. We worked so quickly and efficiently that we had all of the major work done by 10:30, before Tyler woke up from his morning nap (thank goodness). The rolls and cornbread were cooked, cooled and sampled. The graham cracker crusts were baked. We just had chocolate pudding to cook and a turkey to brine after lunch.
We headed out for a couple of errands when the morning baking was done. One of our errands took us to Walmart for a few last minute food items and the start of a new Thanksgiving tradition. My kids, and Grant in particular, love board games. I decided this year to start a new tradition of buying a new game for Thanksgiving weekend that we can enjoy playing all weekend long. After much discussion, debate and browsing in the game aisle of Walmart (which, by the way, pales in comparison to Targets), we settled on Sorry.
After our errands and lunch, Cole and Tyler laid down for afternoon naps while Grant and I made the pudding and the turkey brine. Grant stirred the pudding and helped squeeze the oranges and lemons into the brine water. During our morning round of baking I had the boys pull the thyme off the stems into a bowl so Grant just had to dump the herbs into the brine. He also helped pour in the salt and sugar and held the bag open for me while I put in the turkey. He told me he remembered from last year that he's not allowed to touch the turkey because of the germs it has.
By the time we finished up those tasks, the little guys woke up and we prepared ourselves for our last adventure of the day. With Papa, who had been out all day, visiting old friends, we headed over to the Anderson's house where they were slaughtering and preparing the 25 turkeys they had been raising for the last couple of months for various friends' Thanksgiving dinners. It was quite an experience. Cole was more interested in the giant swing set and two play houses in the backyard so he didn't pay much attention to the turkeys. Grant, however, went into the pen with Papa and watched Jeff catch, string up and slice the neck of a couple of turkeys. The turkeys then hang there until the blood is drained. When they are drained they are taken to a big drum of boiling water to soften the feathers before being plucked, gutted and boiled again. It was quite a process. It was also fun to see a lot of friends. The Andersons pretty much have a small farm, complete with a steer, multiple horses, countless chickens and two pygmie goats that wander the backyard. The best part is that they live right in town. We were able to collect two dozen eggs that the chickens had lain that day (and take a dozen home with us), pet the goats and feed the steer and horses. The boys were in heaven and after being their over two hours were in heavy tears when told it was time to leave.
Thanksgiving morning started like any morning. Get up, make stuffing and put a turkey in the oven. The bird was in the oven by 8 AM because I did as much prep as possible before going to bed, including cutting the onions and making the sage butter. We relaxed during the morning and ate our Thanksgiving feast about 12:30. It left us the rest of the afternoon and evening for naps, games of Sorry and Uno and other activities. The boys took advantage of my inattention to their activities to build forts on the couch and with the dining room chairs. They also enjoyed stacking up the pillows on the couch then jumping onto them from the couch armrest. Not a safe activity I know but they did have so much fun.

Papa was the photographer most of the day and he took some great ones of the boys. Grant found some silly glasses in a birthday party grab bag he got a few weeks ago. He wore them around pretending to be Harry Potter. Because Grant had glasses, Cole needed glasses so he borrowed a pair of my sunglasses. They wore these glasses off and on all day long.
The boys also had a great time building inventions with Chad's old O-chem set.
Chad spent a couple of hours at Granite Mountain Middle School, playing touch football with other elders throughout the stake. He came home smelling of wet grass and complained of being sore and worn out. I moved between the couch with Tyler and the kitchen working on preparing the meal.
Our poor little Cole spent most of the day sick with a horrid nose and chest cold but he managed to join in the games, just not the food, except when it came to dessert. Cole wasn't interested in the pie, just the whipped cream. It being a holiday I decided to throw all rules out the window and let him enjoy two bowls of fresh whipped cream.
Grant ate just enough turkey dinner and salad to earn him two full pieces of pumpkin pie.
Chad, in true Chad fashion, way overdid the eating part of the holiday, starting with two full plates of food, several pieces of pie and finishing the night with a final plate of turkey and rolls. It's no wonder that after dinner he laid akwardly on the couch complaining of an aching belly and trying to keep the kids from pushing on it while they were climbing all over him.
It was a good day, very low key and quiet. Just what we needed and wanted. It makes me realize how grateful I am for my family. My boys are my pride and joy and my husband is my best friend. I am grateful for the home we have been living in for over two years, for the warmth, comfort and memories it provides. We may be moving to Flagstaff in January and it will be sad to leave a place where so many fun times have been had.