Nolan came home from preschool today with a pasta necklace. He pulled it out of his school bag and wore it proudly at the table while I made lunch. Lincoln immediately expressed his desire to have a necklace of his own. So down to the basement we went to find some yarn. I found a needle with a large enough eye to thread the yarn through and strung on a few pieces of ziti. Talk about a quick fix for the jealousy that was hovering in the room.
Friday morning we ventured out into the below zero wind chill to spend a few hours at my friend Brooke’s house. The four of our kiddos had fun playing with little people and cars, munching on Chex Mix, and eating sticky buns. Good times! I love it when we have a chance to hang out with friends. It’s great for the kids to play with other kids and I welcome the conversation with another mom. I came home refreshed. Thanks, Brooke!
Jake and the boys hung out on Saturday while I played in a day-long volleyball tournament. This particular tourney has become an annual event for me. It’s my one non-stop (almost) day of being on the court and is a fantastic workout. The only downside are the aftereffects. My muscles scream at me for a couple of days, but eventually I recover 🙂 Good news is, we took second! Not bad for a team that hasn’t played together as a group of 6 before Saturday morning. During my absence, the boys apparently had fun using the containers on wheels from the toy room to store “stuff” and themselves.
After a full day on Saturday, Sunday was much more low-key. After we returned home from mass, we had an early lunch, and Lincoln and I crashed. Nolan and Jake ran a few errands and returned home with a new bird feeder. Nolan was SO excited to show it to us from the living room window. Jake hung it in one of the Linden trees out front. It’s bright red, so you can’t miss it. Now we just need bird visitors. N & L decided they would “pick up” the toy room later in the day. Lately this entails moving everything that was previously organized on one side of the room to the other. Sunday’s migration of toys ended with everything being placed in front of the doors to the porch. I walked into the toy room to check on my little helpers and found them sitting in chairs overlooking their accomplishment. Too funny!
Jake called this afternoon and asked to talk to the boys. Nolan talked for a while and then handed the phone to Lincoln. I took a few pictures so Jake could see Lincoln in action. It was pretty cute seeing him jabber to his daddy – it was like he was having a regular conversation.
And on a completely unrelated note, my kids enjoyed wearing football helmets today. Who knew an empty popcorn tin could be so fun?
Last year I made the mistake of pointing out to Nolan that the garbage man was taking our Christmas tree away (as the man was tossing the tree into the back of the truck.) Apparently this was the wrong thing to do; clearly a rookie mistake. I felt horrible! He was incredibly saddened by the event and talked about it for months. I’m not exaggerating. It was summer and the little guy was still talking about how the garbage man took the tree but we’d get a new one next Christmas.
This year, we’re trying something different. We started talking about taking the tree down several days before we actually did. We also had the boys “help” us take the ornaments and lights off. Now the tree is sitting out front in the snow waiting for the garbage truck to arrive in the morning. I think I may strategically plan a visit to the gym that coincides with the tree pick-up. Once he realizes it’s gone when we return home, I’m hoping his reaction is that he continues to tell us that the garbage man will be taking the tree away to give it to other people who need a tree. After all, that’s what we’ve told him happens when we donate items from the house that we no longer need. Why wouldn’t the tree go to someone else too?
On a completely unrelated note, this is what happens when you forget to put away the paper towel roll that you were using to pad ornaments as you packed them away. Lesson learned.
The boys generally have oatmeal with raisins for breakfast. It’s easy to make (I’ve perfected the timing on our microwave.) And it’s good for them. It’s also easy for Lincoln to eat because it stays on a spoon better than cold cereal does. I don’t know which of them started it, but adding dry Kix cereal has become part of this breakfast tradition.
Nolan went back to preschool today and Lincoln & I went to the gym for the first time this month. I’m glad I haven’t been out of my exercise routine for TOO long. I hope it doesn’t take much time to drop the few holiday bad habits I picked up during the last few weeks.
Since it is a new year, I figured it was finally time to say goodbye to the pumpkin that Nolan painted in preschool back in October. I noticed it was becoming a little soft, so better to move it out of the house than find it in a less desirable state later, right?
My mom celebrated the first family birthday of the new year. Several years ago, my dad started a birthday dinner tradition to commemorate her special day. He prepares his now famous, Beef Wellington, every January 3rd. This year we had twice baked potatoes (made by Tony), julienne carrots, asparagus and chocolate vinegar cake for dessert. I think everyone looks forward to this meal each year. The boys were more interested in the veggies and cake, but I’m guessing if they’re anything like their dad and uncle, it won’t be long until they go back for 2nds from the main course.
It wouldn’t be a birthday without opening gifts. The kids helped Nana find her presents inside the birthday bag. I think they pulled everything out in less that 20 seconds. 🙂 My mom hardly had time to see what they pulled out before they grabbed something else. After opening gifts, I tried to take a picture with Nana and all of the boys, but Nolan decided to pout. (That’s him behind the railing in the green sweatshirt.) To round out our visit to Nana & Papa’s the boys had to visit Taz & Gwen (Uncle Tony’s bearded dragon & gecko.) They love going upstairs to say “hi” and feed the lizards. It was an extra special treat to have Uncle Tony with them for tonight’s visit.
We piled into my parents’ “giant marshmallow” as Nolan has started calling it (thanks, in part, to my mom :)) and pointed north to the Iron Range. Our “normal” family gathering was pushed a week later due to the Christmas snowstorm. It actually worked great for us, since we usually can only make my dad’s family’s celebration every other year. Once again, my Aunt Ann, Uncle Gene & cousin Amy were exceptional hosts. They always have an amazing spread!
My cousin Cory and his wife Renee brought their 3 kiddos from ND so Nolan and Lincoln had a few playmates. I think the kids had a good time with one another. We should try to get them together more often!
Jake loves being a dad. Things like this make me smile – he really loves his kids.
Just in case you were wondering, there are about 70 balloons there – all inflated by my husband. And no, he didn’t feel light-headed after blowing them all up. Thankfully, we have an air compressor that did the job. We rung in the New Year with a few friends, 3 kiddos, a warm fire in the porch, and a few tasty treats. The kids lasted until about 10:30, so the party ended a bit before the official start of the new decade, but that was ok. Our family had to get some sleep so we could get up and make the trip up north to the Iron Range to visit my dad’s side of the family.
Lincoln has started putting 3 words together to express what he wants. Our fine-tuned parental ears have been able to make out the following desires (or demands :))
“I wan cu!” (I want cup) and “I wan ba.” (I want ball) are two phrases we hear throughout the day. He will add in a “peez” (please) complete with sign language if we ask him, “What do you say?” It’s pretty cute.
Today’s phrase while driving in the suburban was, “I wan Jee jee!” Which when played through the Lincoln translator, means, “I want Jesus.” Further translation is required to know what the hidden meaning actually is. We have a CD of kids’ praise music in the truck and when Nolan wants to listen to it, he asks for “Jesus music.” Today, I guess it was Lincoln’s turn to ask DJ mom to select CD 4 from the set.