Saturday, December 29, 2012

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow....

 Well, you guessed it....it's still snowing.


 A lot.




 And it's beautiful. And I didn't have to drive in it today, which makes it even more beautiful.
 And my trusty Ryan helped shovel the driveway and walk with a dustpan....






And Dylan even had a chance to find out what "real" snow is like...
He kept saying "Oh NO!" and signing "all done." Then he started to cry.  Guess he feels the way I normally do about snow....

Friday, December 28, 2012

Shoveling the Driveway

 We *finally* got our first real snow!  Someone was VERY excited about that...
 Mommy was less excited.  A LOT less.  Mommy needed to shovel the driveway and walkway.
 But this exuberant youth decided to help.
 And a big help he was!
 Thanks buddy!

On The Eve of Christmas Eve


On the eve of Christmas Eve, we went to Overly's Farm to enjoy some Christmas lights and Christmas fun.  I thought it was a pretty good deal.  For $12.00 a car,  we could enjoy both the lights and the Christmas village complete with Bon Fire, sleigh rides and Christmas music. 


Since it was quite a drive for us,  we took the kids for a special treat dinner at Wendy's, which they ate in the car. And miraculously, no drinks were spilled.  

We arrived about five minutes after opening and the line was already very long.  But it was worth it! The lights were beautiful! And we were snug and warm in the car while enjoying them....




After we finished the light tour, we parked and went into the Christmas Village. 

We let Ryan ride the train for $2.00 
And we decided to take a carriage ride as well!

They had a lot of fun lights inside the village as well, including a train set and a Nativity. 


This was such a fun experience!  I hope we can make a tradition out of it! I would definitely love to do this again next year!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

A trip to the Zoo in Pictures















December



It has been an unseasonably warm December, which is FINE by me! This has meant a few extra days spent outside in the backyard and at the park on the weekends.


Dylan is now 18 months old.  He's cute as a button.  And rotten as all get-out.  So, it's a good thing he's so cute.
 He is extremely active and busy.  He loves all the dangerous things that keep a mama on her toes.  He is constantly checking the electric outlets.  The plug protectors do no good because he has the fine motor ability to pull them out.   His daycare has confirmed his outlet de-plugging abilities.  On the positive side, if I ask him to plug in our Christmas tree, he can and will (supervised naturally).   He has broken the baby-latch on the cabinet under the sink (I have no idea how).  He constantly pulls out trash bags and runs around shaking them.  I clean up about 10 trash bags from around the house each evening.  It makes for a fun game of "chase the baby" when I hear the shaking.
He likes to empty my kitchen utensil drawer.  He seems to frequently find the meat-mallet entertaining.  He likes to run around smashing toys and laughing.  So far, nothing has been broken.  We are extremely lucky.
He can take off his pants and diaper.  He is proudest of all of this accomplishment.  We recently woke up to find a naked baby in a messy crib.  I'm trying out a new tip--put the diaper on backwards.  Results are pending.  He is a problem solver.  If there's something he wants up high, he pushes boxes, crates, chairs around and climbs up to reach what he wants.  We put all our breakable ornaments near the top of our tree and all the cloth and handmade ornaments on the bottom.  I think he just laughed at us before climbing on top of the rocking chair and throwing the breakable glass bulbs like grenades.
Dylan's language is starting to take off.  Instead of just signing "help" he can tell me.   He also says: Open, more, eat, ribbit, quack-quack, pig, neigh-neigh, moo cow, rawr (for lion, tiger, anything that roars), e-bent (elephant), foot, eye, nose, ear, mouth (for some reason he also tries to bite me if I say, "where's your mouth?), Mommy, Daddy, Ryan, Elliott, E-ban (Esteban), Oh no!, drop, off, up.

Ryan:
Ryan is now 3 and 3/4.   He is very sweet natured.  He is quick to apologize when given correction.  He loves picnics and giving flowers to girls.  He uses very creative grammar.  He has a lisp.   He loves the family iPad.  He's learning his letters in preschool.  He will tell us which letters climbed the coconut tree that day.  Yesterday I caught him playing preschool with himself, pretending he was the teacher.  It went something like this: "Anthony, what month is it? Saturday? That's correct!"  He is a very protective and good big brother to Dylan.  When he sees Dylan doing something dangerous I can count on him to let me know or try to intervene, steering Dylan away, "No no Dylan, that's not a good idea."  He ask's for "snuggle-bug" time before bed (storytime).  No one can irritate him like his father.    I could not have asked for a sweeter boy.




First Dentist Appointment


Ryan and I took a special Mommy-son trip to the dentist this month.  It was his first time and he was very, very nervous.  I offered to go first, but the hygenist thought that would not be helpful.    She was GREAT with him.

He was hesitant to even get into the chair.  She spoke to him so gently and sweetly and calmly, he did climb into the chair by himself.    She let him feel all the instruments on his hand, touch them and examine them before she tried to do anything in his mouth.   In the end, Ryan got a special prize---a new Star Wars toothbrush and toothpaste, AND something out of the treasure chest.

I am always touched by his giving nature.  Instead of picking out something for himself, he picked out a bracelet for ME.  I've been wearing it since the appointment--and also because when he notices me NOT wearing it, he chastizes me.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

My Latest Project Part 2: The Ornaments

What is a Jesse Tree without the symbols?  Today I devoted the afternoon to making the ornaments for my advent calendar.    I had researched a lot of different options; I had seen them made out of felt, clay, paper, wood and knitted out of yarn. I did experiment with salt-dough a few weeks ago as an option, but it turned out badly. Besides, I really wanted mine to be wooden too, since that's what I had growing up.  

So, with my husband eagle eyes to help, we finally found wooden circles slightly less than 3" at Michaels for 28 cents each.  I also found several special cut outs that worked well for some variety; a whale for example was perfect for the symbol for Jonah.   I also found an apple shape, crown and "house/barn" already cut out.   For the symbols I googled Jesse Tree symbols and printed  them out  from Jesse Tree Treasures to look at as a guide.   I used tempera paint and painted the symbols myself.  It was really very fun and relaxing.

Here is how they all turned out in the end.....I was pleased with the result, although I'm not completely done yet.  I still plan to add some glitter to the crown, baby Jesus's stable and the star and perhaps a few others if the creative whim takes me there.  I am also planning to print out the verse and short paraphrase of the story and attach it to  the back.  I also still need to thread the holes with some string.


Above: The symbol Earth for when God created the Heavens and the Earth and the Apple and the Snake

 Above: Baby Moses in his basket boat and the Horn of Gabriel
 Above: The temple and the scroll
 Above: The crown for story of Saul, the Lion for Daniel in the Lions Den and the Whale for Jonah swallowed by the big fish.
 Above: The Little town of Bethlehem and the Hammer and nail is a symbol for Joseph.


 Above: The baby Jesus in the manger

Next I still have to figure out what I want to do for the numbers on the pockets and then sew the pockets on.  Getting closer!