Snowy Glowy and my Elf

Snowy Glowy came back again this year.  The 2nd night he was here, apparently he forgot to fly back to the north pole.......    So I had to set an alarm on my phone to go off every darn night at 11pm to make sure Snowy Glowy was getting his job done.  The first night after "his" fail, he wrote a note to Will to try to smooth things over.  He didn't forget again.  Although we were sad to see Snowy Glowy head back to the north pole again for 11 blessed months, I was quite happy to cancel that alarm on my phone. 

 

And speaking of Elves, I had my own little elf this year.  Will was so helpful decorating the tree!  I let him do the bottom and I did the top.  And I set aside my control freak tendencies and didn't even re-arrange one ornament on the bottom.  He did an awesome job! 

BEVO

When Will was 1 or 2, Allison got him a Bevo for Christmas.  Allison lives in Austin and Bevo is the mascot of the University of Texas.  Bevo has been a staple in Will's stuffed animal collection.  He sleeps on his bed, is often the root or mastermind of pranks ("Bevo did it!"), and is a great double as a pillow when needed.  This year she sent Dane a Bevo.  He is so excited to have a Bevo too.  Thanks Allison!!

A couple of cute things that I wanted to post about.

Will - He is such a big boy and so smart.  One thing he's learning about right now is time frames.  Today he said he wasn't tired and didn't want to take a nap so he went to his room for quiet time.  When I went down to check on him he was fast asleep.  Tonight I asked him if he played for a while or just went straight to sleep.  He said "I just played for one mm...HOUR."  (beginning to say minute, changing his mind)  So funny.  He'll often say things like: "Dane! We haven't played with this toy for 3 YEARS!"  He uses all the time references: minutes, days, weeks, months, years - he's just rarely correct.  It's so cute, and makes things so entertaining.

Dane - He is loving his new hobby of chewing gum.  I remember going through this with Will.  Since they always wanted to try it, we would let every so often, reminding them constantly not to eat it, but to put it in the trash or give it to momma or daddy when they're done.  If they fail, then no gum for a few months.  Then try again.  Dane has passed the test and is now a regular gum chewer, and he's so funny.  He can chew a piece of gum for hours.  Tonight he had a piece.  I offered him a drink.  He was about to take out his gum to have a sip when he looked at me and then backed up and said no.  I said "It's ok, I'll hold your gum for you and then give it back to you after you take your drink." holding my hand out to take his gum from him.  He stepped toward me, slowly removing it from his mouth, never breaking eye contact with me.  He slooooowly began to hand it to me, eyeing me the whole time.  I smiled, assuring him it was ok.  Just as I reached for it and began to take it from him he decided against letting it go and kept a hold of it, so the gum stretched as I tried to take it from his iron grip.  I stopped, assured him again I would give it right back if he would like to have a drink.  Against his better judgment, he let go of it, took the cup and a quick sip all the while staring me down so I didn't try anything sneaky. 

I think we might need to work on some trust building exercises.

Thanksgiving MI Trip 2012

We had a great time up in Michigan this year the week of Thanksgiving and the week after.  I'm SO behind on my posts right now so I'll be brief but wanted to add these pics. 

 

Daddy helped the boys make a fort downstairs on the bunk beds.  It was very cool and great for endless play and dark napping spots :) 

There were at least 7 deer that regularly came for food including 3 babies!  They were so cute with their fluffy fur and short noses. 

 

Caught a nice sunset on a walk one evening. 

We were driving home one afternoon and came across this gorgeous view.  The sun was beaming through the clouds.  It was magnificent!

Someone didn't want to get their picture taken.  I love that little pouty face!!!

When it was time to go we all took part in cleaning.  Will is getting to be so helpful and is more than happy to help me do things around the house.  He was literally running around helping us take things from one place to another, picking up, being an excellent little helper!  Dane was in charge of vacuuming the rug downstairs by the kitty litter.  That child must have vacuumed for 20 or more minutes.  He worked so hard and did a great job! 

Yesterday I was talking something over with Will.  Don't remember what it was, probably behavior related. 
When I was finished I said "Word?"
He smiled at me. 
I said "say: Word!" 
He said "how about I'll say AWK-word!" 

haha!!  I laughed so hard.  He is such a little cutie. 

Thanksgiving 2012

We are in Michigan for Thanksgiving again this year, as has become our tradition.  Luke hasn't taken any vacation this year yet so he took all of next week off, so we are up for about 10 days!   And we are due for some family QT after a long and very busy summer and fall.  With us only seeing each other on weekends it really takes a toll when we're so busy.  We've really been looking forward to this trip up.  We have a lot of plans to relax and do a whole lot of nothing.  This was the first year, ever I think, that I've been in charge of preparing a "Thanksgiving Dinner."  I use quotations because I didn't cook a turkey, but hey - this is what my fam wanted!  (rather, what they would be most likely to eat)  So we had ham, asparagus, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and rolls.  Luke even did the ham - it was delicious! It was a nice little meal and so good to be with my boys.

 

We were just sitting down to enjoy this meal and I put Dane up in his booster seat.  He says, in exasperation, "Where are my pancakes?!?" 

A Lap...Any Lap

This must be a first! Kramer curled up on ....Dane?

 

Who Loves Diego!?

The other day I was getting dinner ready and this was going on.  And on and on.  He must have done this for 5+ minutes.  The most hilarious part is that Will was acting like nothing at all was out of the ordinary.  Please excuse the news blaring in the background but I didn't want to draw any attention by turning it down.

Pre-K Pictures

I always thought it was silly when I heard people coaching their kids on how to smile for their school pictures.....UNTIL NOW!  This is what I have to choose from for Will's Pre-K year. Really?  Photographer Assistant, you couldn't have made a joke or done something silly to help this poor boy? 

Dane ish

The other day Will spent the night with Aunt Terri so Dane and I had some QT together.  I was realizing how quickly he's changing into a little boy.  He says some things that I think are absolutely precious, and I know before long they will stop.  One of them is his "ch" sound, which he emphasizes when he says words that end with ch.  Like he'll say we are going to the "beaCH"  And he was asking for his Cinnamon Toast CrunCH. I prompted him to keep going - to say some of the things that I love so I have them on video.  Like how he calls Will "Bru-er" It is adorable.   I also had him say his "Mu More".  They both do it and they'll say it over and over.  It's so bizarre it's funny.  I have no idea where they picked that one up.  

Again, sorry they aren't rotated correctly. 

 

Dane also is very good at saying his "L" sound.  In fact he was just asking for his LashLight with both L's  emphasized.  And he also often uses P for F.  So he'll say "I'll get it por you" which makes him sound like he has some type of cute little European accent.