Haircuts & Christmas Lights

The kids both got haircuts yesterday.  Nolan’s was long overdue.  I think his last one was mid-October, right before my mom has shoulder surgery.  I took the scissors into my own hands and snipped Lincoln’s hair in about 4 places before calling it good.  Nolan’s took a bit longer because it is so thick and curly, but he sat so well for me.  My past attempts at cutting his hair have not gone well.  Maybe the practice he’s had sitting still for my mom has rubbed off.

Tonight, as an incentive to finish dinner, I told the boys we’d drive around and look at Christmas lights.  Their eyes lit up and they gobbled up the food on their plates.  I loaded them into the suburban and off we went.  Every year, there is one house that is the fan favorite by a landslide.  We even have to drive by it during the day because Nolan and Lincoln both like looking at the display.  Lights on or off, it’s apparently exciting either way.

OTW – food (cake) frenzy

At lunch on Friday I was getting something from the kitchen, turned my attention from the table where the boys were dining for a split second and saw this when I directed my attention back at them:

IMG_5185b IMG_5188

Nice huh?

Saturday we had hosted a birthday party at our house.  Our friend, Deacon Joseph, came over for dinner and knew WE were celebrating with him, but had no idea about 20 other people were going to show up to surprise him too.  Nolan had so much fun getting the birthday decorations out for the party.  By far the best decoration in his mind was the Mylar balloon which we accidentally forgot to send home with our friend.  Whoops!  I guess we can re-use it for Jesus’ birthday in 11 days.  🙂

IMG_5194b

Sunday we had a visit from my mom and a friend of hers who was visiting from SD.  She saw our house shortly after we bought it 6 1/2 years ago, so a lot has changed since then.  It was fun giving her the tour – she remembered so much about the way the house used to be.  I’m so glad we no longer have straw on the ceiling in the basement or black & neon fish wallpaper in the mudroom.  Seriously…you should see the pictures.

We’re still eating leftover cake from Saturday’s party.  We even sent cupcakes and cake home with other people.  I don’t think the problem was that we made too much, it’s that people didn’t eat enough!  Now I’m stuck with yummy frosted desserts staring me in the face when I walk into the kitchen.  My willpower just isn’t strong enough to withstand the temptation.  We had cupcakes for dessert tonight and Lincoln had a great time with his.  At one point he was using a portion of it like it was some sort of animal.  He hopped it along the tray of his highchair and made animal noises.  I know I should have probably kept him in line, but it was too funny.  I missed getting a picture of that specific scene, but do have a few of him making quite a mess.

IMG_5200 IMG_5201 IMG_5203 IMG_5206

Nolan didn’t take a nap today.  The result was one tired boy at 7pm.  It was amazing how fast he crashed once we got him ready for bed.  I had told him earlier in the day that he was going to go to bed early tonight, but I didn’t think he’d have a problem making it until 7.  Guess I was wrong.  Lincoln on the other hand, was in good spirits for about an hour longer than his big brother.  That meant he got a little solo time with his mom & dad.  Here he is reading with his Daddy.  I love how much our kids enjoy reading books.  They even enjoy reading to each other – so cute.

IMG_5209

The collector among us

As I was getting lunch ready today, Nolan came into the kitchen to requested that I tie the strings of his apron.  I asked if he was going to help me with lunch – he said no, he was going to work with his tools.  Apron = tool belt today, I guess.  Mini-man #2 then promptly requested an apron of his own.  Since we only have one kid-sized apron, I made due with a dish towel folded in a triangle for Lincoln.  He didn’t seem to mind.  He left the kitchen and returned with two buckets filled with random things from the toy room.  He set them on the kitchen floor and began to show me what was in them.  I’m pretty sure he has entered the “collector” stage.  I guess if things start to go missing, I know who I need to look to first.  🙂

OTW – crafts, cookies & party shirts

Friday afternoon after nap time, I pulled out the “magical box of craft supplies” and let the boys use their imaginations. They each selected a piece of construction paper and loaded it with stickers & popsicle sticks and then punched out stars. We also pulled out the glitter and made a few ornaments for the tree. I love that part of my job as a mom means I get to play with fun craft stuff alongside my kids.

IMG_5134 IMG_5135 IMG_5136 IMG_5137 IMG_5140

We were invited to a Christmas party on Saturday afternoon. Nolan and Lincoln helped me bake cookies to bring along. We made my Grandma Fran’s Gumdrop Cookies. (They’re my dad’s favorite, so I made sure we had extras to send my parents’ way.) I loaded the cookie sheets with dough balls and let the boys add the gumdrops. It was the perfect activity for them – just about as much fun as eating the final product.

IMG_5153 IMG_5154

Today as the kids were getting ready for the day, Nolan told me he wanted to wear his party shirt to school. I figured it would be good practice for the birthday celebration we’re having for a friends of ours on Saturday. Once Nolan had his shirt on, Lincoln made it very apparent that he, too, wanted to wear his party shirt. Here are the partiers playing in their hut after dinner.

IMG_5159b IMG_5165b

Sleep deprived

I have failed miserably at getting to bed at a decent hour for the last week. Tonight is more of the same. I had intended on going to sleep shortly after returning home from meeting with my women’s group, but instead got sucked in to HD TLC while multitasking and on my laptop – catching up on email, price shopping for Christmas gifts, and looking at flight options for a vacation we’ll be taking at some point. I need to work on getting a little more sleep. I walked around in a fog most of the day today, even parking in a spot at our church that I shouldn’t have. Whoops! No wonder the people in the car next to me looked at me so funny.

On a kid note, Shecklet #2 was doing kiddie push-ups tonight. I had put him in the pack & play for a time out because he chose to stand up in his highchair for the umpteenth time today. Apparently he got bored and started doing what looked like a combination of yoga and push-ups. Add in running around in circles and giggles and you’ve got quite a dinnertime show!

Best job ever

Tonight as we were watching the boys play in the fort that is currently taking up half of the living room, Jake gave me a zerbert. The boys found this extremely humorous and quickly tackled me so they, too, could zerbert me. (Lincoln attempted his with his bink still in his mouth :)) Only a mom could be blessed to receive “I love you’s” in the form of something that sounds like a fart. I can honestly say I have the best job ever. I love my house of boys!

Dance, dance, dance

Today I pulled out the carousel that my Grandpa Cal (Pops) set our way last winter.  It is a source of much ooh-ing, aaah-ing, laughing & dancing.  The boys love that they can turn the thing on and off.  That’s the part I don’t love quite as much.  Turning it off means when they turn it back on, the song set starts from the beginning.  By the end of the Advent & Christmas seasons, I have a feeling I’m not going to want to hear Jingle Bells for another 12 months.

We had a visitor for a couple of hours this morning.  Little J came over to play with the boys.  She joined was just as enthralled with the carousel as the boys were.  I captured still shots of them checking out the little horses as they went up & down and around & around, but the video is way more entertaining!

Advent countdown

We made an Advent chain with the boys tonight.  I cut strips of purple and pink construction paper and had the kids help staple the ends together to create a chain.  Then they decorated the paper rings with stickers.  I don’t know if they totally understand the concept of counting down to Christmas, but I know they enjoyed creating the chain itself.  They also really had fun running back and forth under the rings after Jake hung the chain from the ceiling in the porch.

5 days of fun

Wednesday night we had to scrounge up some pj’s for Nolan.  I was a tad behind on laundry, so his “normal” pajamas were still in the dirty laundry pile.  We made due with sport pants and a Twins shirt.  Not to be left out, Lincoln “requested” a t-shirt of his own.  Actually, he requested one of Nolan’s and we put it over his sleeper.  He was SO proud of the fact that he was wearing the Corn Dog shirt.  It’s a Sheck boy favorite.

IMG_4973b IMG_4972b IMG_4965b

Thursday was Thanksgiving Day.  Nolan and I worked on a special project Wednesday afternoon & Thursday morning.  We made turkeys using an outline of his hand and finger paint prints of his fingers.  He had a lot of fun gluing on the beaks, “gobblers,” googly-eyes, and feathers.  After the glue dried, I had him decorate the place settings at the table.  He was pretty proud!

IMG_4987 IMG_4995 IMG_4991

We hosted my family and our friends Teri & Nate for Thanksgiving dinner.  My parents brought the main course (turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing & gravy,) I put together a couple of side dishes (the token green bean casserole and squash & apple dish I made a couple of weeks ago,) Tony brought fruit salad, and Teri made two delicious desserts.  We dined with a couple of pilgrims who gobbled up the food on their plates like old Turkey Day pros.  It was really nice to spend the day with family.

IMG_5006 IMG_5007

Can you tell they’re brothers?  Lincoln has started smiling the way his big brother does.  Both of them really know how to ham it up for the camera.

After Thanksgiving dinner I made the mistake of drinking two cups of coffee (with lots of flavored creamer.)  The kids went to bed at 7 & 9.  Jake did the same around midnight or so and I was up until 3AM!  When I laid my head down at 3, I laid awake for another hour.  It was ridiculous.  I don’t know what I was thinking putting that much caffeine into my body so late in the day.  Lesson learned…the hard way.

Friday we spent some time at Larissa’s apartment.  She had a group of us over to swim in her pool.  It was a tad on the chilly side, so we didn’t stay in the water long.  We gave the boys a warm bath to raise their body temps and then had pizza for lunch followed by ice cream sundaes.  Yum!  Jake then took the kids home for a nap while I went in to the office for a few hours.  When I got home, we put the kids to bed and went out in the porch for a while.  Not much was on TV on Friday night; somehow we ended up on QVC.  I ended up making my first purchase thanks to the TV pitchpeople.  (I didn’t call in though – I made the purchase online.)  I’ve been looking for sleeping bags for the boys’ Santa presents and found the perfect ones on QVC.  Who would have thought?  And not only are they sleeping bags, but they’re sleeping bags with cots!  So as the boys get bigger and we’re able to bring the cots with when we travel, the kids won’t have to make camp on the hard (and nasty) hotel floor.  Thanks QVC!

On Saturday we made the annual trip to Menards to pick up our Christmas tree.  We thought about going to a tree farm to cut one down this year, but I think we’ll wait a bit longer before we go on that adventure.  At this point, the kids are more excited about just getting the tree inside the house and decorating it.  Down the road when they’re able to enjoy seeking out the “perfect” tree, we’ll head to the tree farm.  Until then, Menards will bring the tree selection to us.  We convinced the kids to take a nap after we got the tree home, telling them we’d decorate it if they napped.  It worked perfectly.  We all got some much needed sleep and then later in the evening, enjoyed hanging lights and decorations.  We put the tree in the porch so little fingers can’t get to it unless they’re monitored.  Thanks to the former owners of our house, some of the outlets in the porch are on a switch that is in the toy room.  So even though they can’t get up close to the tree without mom or dad, the boys can turn the lights on and off by themselves – it’s perfect.

IMG_5043b IMG_5054b

Having two little boys in the house means we build a lot of forts.  Sunday afternoon was no different.  The card table we used on Thursday was still in the living room, so we covered it with a sheet and then placed the kids’ hut next to it to extend the width of the fort.  Jake crawled in to see if he would fit.  😉 His feet stuck out one end and his head peered out the other.  Being the helpful toddler, Lincoln checked on his daddy and then proceeded to try to rescue him by pulling on Jake’s head.

IMG_5058b IMG_5060b

Birthday part 3

Nolan had his first preschool conference this morning.  From the sounds of it, he’s doing pretty well 🙂  I’m glad he is enjoying it as much as he is.  I catch him singing things he learns in class from time to time.  Those moments really make me smile.

After conferences, I took the boys to MG to swim.  We picked up Nana and headed for the pool.  Both boys had a blast going down the kid slide and playing in the zero depth area.  I wish I had brought my camera to capture the excitement on their faces when the fountains and waterfalls came on.

Tonight we celebrated my birthday for the 3rd time.  How’s that for a three day party?  My parents and brother came over for cake (Angel Food this time) and ice cream.  Afterward, we hung out in the porch with a nice warm fire and Nana read to the boys.  I love that my kids have opportunities to spend time with their grandparents, aunts & uncles.  They are loved by so many people.  What a gift that is to me as their mom.

Today’s randoms from Nolan:

For some reason he wanted to attach balloons to his pockets.  I don’t ask why anymore, I just roll with it.  (See the last picture above)

While in the porch this evening, he told Nana & Papa the “mometer” (thermometer) on the wall “measures the number of colds outside.”  Papa then asked if it measures the “number of hots” outside in the summer.  Good question, Dad 🙂