Etched in Thread

I recently added the link "Etched in Thread" to my blog, as you can see on the right-hand side. My friend Kathy who lives in Colorado started her own business last year, Etched in Thread. She sells monogrammed and personalized items ranging from bibs, burp cloths, and pocketbooks to children's foot stools. I have ordered many items from her as gifts, and everyone who has gotten one has loved it. Her business is doing really well, but I thought I could drum up a little more for her by adding the link. If you have a few extra minutes, check it out.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas morning started a little earlier than usual this year. Luke woke up at 6:30, and when I finally dragged myself out of bed at 7:00 to go get him, the first thing he said was, "Santa is here?" He was so excited to get up, which surprised me, because I wasn't sure how much he understood the whole Santa thing. Apparently he was crystal clear about Santa. We walked out into the living room, and he was pretty pleased to see all the presents, especially his train set. He also wanted to know if Santa had eaten all his cookies, which, of course, he had. It took us about two hours to open all our presents, and Luke had a fabulous time. He loves playing with his train set and all his other new toys, especially his Bob the Builder stuff, his "My First Craftsmen tools", and his new play-tent that our neighbors gave him. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas, too. We're already looking forward to next year! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

I love Christmas Eve - running last minute errands, getting ready for church, singing "Silent Night" with everyone holding a candle - the whole day is special. This year was fun because Luke was so excited about Santa. After church we had a nice dinner with our neighbors, and then we came home and Luke opened a present - Christmas PJ's (Gary got some, too, this year, and they both looked pretty cute in them!) After Luke's bath we read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and the Christmas story from the Bible, then we put out cookies and milk for Santa. Luke wanted to leave him some water and orange juice, too, just in case he was extra thirsty. I had been looking forward to putting out all the presents and setting up the train - I think Gary and I were as excited about that train as we knew Luke would be when he saw it! I've always loved this time of year, but it has even more meaning when you have a child to share it with.

Traveler

Daddies think of the most fun things to do!!!

Farmer Luke, part 2

I have some family scattered throughout what's known as the metroplex here in Northern Texas. My Nana's nieces and nephew and their children (which makes them cousins of some sort to me) all live within about an hour of us. We went down to Waxahachie today to see my Nana's niece Claudia. Her husband's family owns about 120 acres. They raise longhorns and horses and farm the land. We spent about an hour on the farm today petting the horses, feeding the longhorns, riding the "mule" (that's a little vehicle that looks like a golf cart that they use to take hay around to the longhorns, not an actual mule - since I'm more of a city girl, when Claudia asked if we rode on the mule, I said no since I hadn't mounted an actual animal at the farm, but after everyone had a good laugh they explained that I had indeed ridden the "mule".) The most exciting part for Luke was riding on a real tractor. He even got to plow a little bit. He got a huge smile on his face when John, Claudia's husband, cranked it up. He loves animals and wasn't ever scared. He wanted to pet them all, and I think if we had let him, he would have ridden Star, the horse he's hugging. I've never really cared all that much for farms, but it's amazing how excited I was to go today because I knew Luke would love it. Motherhood sure changes you!

Luke-isms

Here are a few of Luke's favorite things to say:
-In response to a question that needs a "yes" answer, he loves to say, "Yes, I do!" (or I am, or I was, or whatever the correct response is.) It is SO funny!
-Everything, and I do mean everything, - animals, people, bugs, his blanket - has, according to Luke, "mommy, daddy, sisters, brothers, babies."
-Question: "Luke, do you have any brothers or sisters?" Answer: "No." Question: "Luke, do you want a brother or sister?" Answer: "NO."
-"I yuv you, Mommy."
There are so many more, but these are some of my favorites.

Birthday party for Jesus

Yesterday was Luke's school Christmas party - a birthday party for Jesus. Both 2's classes sang a few songs for the parents. The children looked so sweet - they wore garland halos and shook bells as they walked into the room. I don't think Luke has the gift of performance; after each song, he looked at me and said, "We done singing, Mommy?" At least he stayed at the front of the room and didn't want to sit with me. After they sang, we went back to their room for the party. They ate pizza, made a Christmas tree ornament, ate cookies, and had a book exchange. I think they all had a good time, and I enjoyed being able to be there. My Nana is in town for Christmas, and she was able to go, too. I'm so glad she got to be there for the party.

Le chapeau

The other day Luke told me his ears were cold, and I said, "Well, I've got just the hat for you!" As soon as he saw it, he wanted to put it on, and he never really wanted to take it off. So, of course, I had to take a picture, and here it is.

Christmas musings

This morning as I was finishing my breakfast, Luke was walking around the Christmas tree pointing out all the ornaments he likes (he does this at least once a day.) This morning he was touching a few ornaments, and in the process he touched the garland that's on our tree. He happened to touch a spot where two pieces connect, and they fell off the branch. He looked at me and said, "Mommy, your scarf fell down." Once I looked up and understood what he meant, I said, "You mean the Christmas tree scarf?" So, I guess from now on Christmas tree garland will be called the Christmas tree scarf in the Chumley house!

Advent workshop

Last Saturday we attended our church's advent workshop called Journey to Bethlehem. We had

a pancake breakfast, and then we made several crafts, including two Chrismon ornaments. Chrismons are traditionally white and gold Christmas tree ornaments, and each ornament is a Christian symbol. They're usually made from beads and sequins, but for the workshop the ornaments were cut out of felt and the children decorated them with glitter, sequins, and gold pipe cleaners. Luke made a dove and a 12-pointed star. A couple in our church who had recently had a baby dressed up like Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus and sat for pictures. Luke wasn't scared of Santa, but he obviously wasn't too keen on having his picture taken with Baby Jesus. But he had a great time making the crafts; his favorite one was decorating a cookie with sprinkles and getting to eat it at 10:00 in the morning! We all enjoyed ourselves - there was good food and good fellowhip, a combination that just can't be beaten! It was a great way to spend the morning, and a wonderful way to remember the true meaning of Christmas.

A visit with Santa

Well, he certainly doesn't look thrilled to be sitting with Santa, but at least he isn't screaming. He walked right up and said, "I want another choo-choo train." He told him 2 or 3 times after that, just to be sure Santa got the message. This Santa was at our neighborhood's annual Christmas party; there are horse & carriage rides, Victorian Christmas carrollers, and lots of yummy snacks. On our way back to the car, Luke said, "Where's my new choo-choo train?" I've been telling him that if he asks Santa for a train and he's good, he'll get one. I guess he figured he had done his part by asking and being good, and he thought he'd instantly get a train. I told him Santa had to make it and would bring it when it's finished. It's going to be a long wait for Christmas!

Potty time

Hmmm . . . will it surprise anyone that Gary took this picture? In case you don't recoginze it from the picture, Luke is perusing the ultimate potty companion, Reader's Digest. I've discovered that these are the things that happen while Mommy's at book club.

Won't Luke be thrilled when we pull this picture out when he's 18?

School crafts

For those of you not blessed with the gift of interpretation (OK, I know that gift goes with speaking in tongues, but you'd need some sort of ESP or something to figure this out!), this is a turkey Luke made at school. It's basically a big lump of some sort of dough that they decorated with googly eyes, a pumpkin seed for the nose, and feathers. He, of course, was very proud of it. When we left school the day we brought it home, it was quite windy, and as soon as we stepped outside, feathers blew everywhere. I got most of them back (thank goodness - without the feathers, it was just an oddly-shaped dough ball.) Anyway, the turkey has since been disposed of, but he certainly added enjoyment to our Thanksgiving celebration.

O, Christmas tree, part 2

Here's the finished product! Even Molly got into the holiday spirit (not willingly, of course.) The Santa beside the tree is one of those dancing Santas - what a hoot to watch Luke dance with him! What a fun Christmas we're having! Merry Christmas to everyone!

O, Christmas tree

We decorated for Christmas the weekend after Thanksgiving, and Luke was a big help. As I was getting decorations out of boxes, he would help me carry them around the house. He has a little tree in his room, and he liked putting the decorations on it. He kept saying how big his tree was, and I told him just to wait till we got our real tree. We picked out an 8-foot tree, and Luke marveled at how "really, really, really big" it is. He loved hanging decorations on it, especially when Gary would lift him up so he could reach the branches up high. So far he hasn't taken anything off the tree; he just enjoys searching for his favorite ornaments. I'm so excited about Christmas this year because he really seems to understand what's going on. I can't wait to see his face Christmas morning.

More SC pictures

Just a few more pictures from our trip . . . we also got to see lots of friends, including Luke's buddy London and some of Gary's high school friends at his 34th birthday party and the football games. It was so good to see everyone!

South Carolina visit

On November 11 Luke & I headed back to Columbia for a visit. We borrowed a friend's DVD player for the plane ride, and Luke enjoyed watching movies. I enjoyed it, too; I actually got to read a book on the plane! We stayed with Grandmommy & Granddaddy, and they bought Luke a Thomas train set while we were there. After he got it, that's all he wanted to play with. We got to spend time with lots of family - Aunt Donna & Uncle Greg, Lauren, and Grayson; Aunt Cari & Uncle Cam, Hannah, Ben, and Ethan. I got to see Carolina beat Florida, but Gary and I both had to suffer through that terrible Clemson game. Yuck! Oh well, it was still a great visit. We miss everyone!

Happy Halloween!

What a fun Halloween we had this year! Luke's favorite stuffed animal is his monkey, Cheeky Charlie. As soon as I saw this costume, I knew that's what I wanted him to dress up as for Halloween. Besides, I figured this is the last year I'll be able to pick his costume for him. Next year I'm sure he'll want to go as something much more boyish . . . Darth Vadar, a ninja, or something else that carries a weapon. The only weapon he toted this year was a stuffed banana.

I talked to him about trick-or-treating for several days before Halloween so he'd know what to expect. We practiced saying "trick-or-treat", and he was pretty excited at the prospect of getting a lot of free candy. He still didn't quite get the concept, though. At the first house, he wanted to go inside. After all, that's what you usually do when someone answers the door! He picked up on what the night is all about pretty quickly, and by the end of the evening, he was saying "trick-or-treat" with gusto. We were out for over an hour and were all pooped by the time we got back home. Until Monday, Luke had only had a few types of candy; trick-or-treating has opened up a whole new world to him. Since I passed my sweet tooth on to him, I'm sure he'll be anxiously awaiting Halloween for years to come.

Pumpkin carving

Luke has always had a thing about having his hands dirty; whenever he gets anything on his hands, he immediately wants to wipe them off. Needless to say, I was shocked when he stuck his hand into the pumpkin and pulled out a handful of pumpkin goop! His class carved a pumpkin at school last week, so I guess that was his dry-run. His teacher told me he really enjoyed sticking his hand into the pumpkin, but I had to see it to believe it. We decided to carve a Dora the Explorer pumpkin because along with trucks and tractors, Luke LOVES Dora. It's a little hard to see Dora's face on the pumpkin, but it's her. I'm pretty sure we were the only house on the block (or in the neighborhood, for that matter) with a Dora pumpkin.

Go Gamecocks!

We recently rediscovered this hat that G-Mommy and G-Daddy gave Luke last year. This is pretty much his uniform on game days, but last week he added the hat to give him a little more "street cred". He loves Carolina! (Sorry, Daddy!) Whenever he sees any football players on TV, he yells, "Go Gamecocks players!" I taught him to pump his fist and say, "USC!", and he pretty much does it on command or any time he sees the letter "u". Gary's hoping with all this indoctrination that in 16 years we'll watch him run out of the tunnel to "2001".

The future entomologist

When my Daddy, an insect aficionado, saw this picture, his response was, "Hurrah! A boy after my own heart!" We found this tomato hornworm when we dug up our tomato plants. When Luke saw it, he was fascinated and wanted to get a shovel to scoop it up. He called it the "hungry caterpillar" (from the book The Very Hungry Caterpillar) and wanted to walk down the street to show our neighbors. Usually Luke is not a big fan of bugs, and when flies get in the house, he is very anxious for Mommy to get them. So when he wanted to pick up this big ol' bug and actually touched it, I was quite surprised. I don't think he realized it was a bug. When we finally had to go inside for a bath, we released the hornworm back into the wild. Luke asked about if for several days afterward, and every now and again he'll mention his very own hungry caterpillar who has now, according to him, gone home to live with his mommy, daddy, brothers, and sisters.

Farmer Luke

Recently Luke & I went to Owens Spring Creek Farm down in Richardson. We fed lots of animals, including sheep, goats, and a big ol' longhorn. Luke was not at all afraid of the animals and walked right up to the fences to feed them. The highlight of the trip was a hayride. We sat in a trailer and were pulled by a big, green tractor. What a thrill for Luke! After the hayride we walked around to see the other animals in the barn. Then we got to pick out a pumpkin. It seemed like Luke picked up about 25 pumpkins before he decided on just the right one. It was a great outing for us!

Biker dude

We recently got a bike trailer and have enjoyed taking family bike rides in the evening and on the weekends. Luke loves to hang out in the bike trailer and often brings along one of his "friends" (a stuffed animal). We've gotten a little more adventurous lately. Gary and Luke rode to a local restaurant one evening for dinner when I was out of town, and last weekend we all rode to the grocery store to get something for dinner. I even picked Luke up from school yesterday on the bike. I'm thankful that Texas is a flat state - pulling an extra 40 or so pounds is tough for me!