Happy New Year!

We had our annual pajama party at our house for New Year's Eve. It's so nice to hang out at home in comfy clothes and not have to worry about being on the road. Man, I've gotten old!
Benny & Luke partying it up!
The big boys had a really good time.
You can see my fabulous decorations in the background. We really do it up big!

Even Molly had fun playing Guitar Hero. Can you guess who put this on her?

Merry Christmas!

Again, I couldn't move these pictures, so they're out of order. Luke got a Fizzy Foamy Science kit and loved doing some of the experiments. My mom obviously enjoyed them, too.
Santa put this microphone in Noah's stocking, and it was a hit!

Our favorite thing by far was Mario Kart. We're all addicted.

These are a few of Noah's favorite things . . . an ATV, an umbrella, and a cup of cereal.

Christmas Eve

Here are a few pictures from Christmas Eve. For some reason I wasn't able to move them, so they're out of order. Luke leaving food for the reindeer.
The boys in their new Christmas PJ's

My mom & me before leaving for church

All my boys & me

How funny is this picture?

Well, here we are

That's right, we're officially in the terrible twos, although I think Noah actually got a head start on this stage in his life. His birthday was lots of fun. He enjoyed opening presents this year and has had fun playing with his new toys (so has Luke). We had some friends over for cake & ice cream Thursday night; it was wild but fun. He had his two-year check-up on Friday: he weighed 26.6 pounds which is the 34%. That's a big jump from the 15% at his 18-month check-up! He's 35 inches tall (57%).

As far as the whole terrible twos thing goes, here's a snippet from our life this morning. Noah was supposed to be eating a waffle, but he was just eating syrup. I asked him to eat his waffle, and he looked at me and said, "No." I said, "Excuse me, what did you say?" To which he repeated, as clear as day, "No." Hmm . . . so that's the direction we're taking. Nice.

Here are a few pictures from his big day.

He hasn't quite mastered holding up just two fingers.

Happy birthday, Noah!

My favorite things

In honor of my friend Ellen who came up with the idea for this blog, I present some of my favorite things.This ornament has been on our Christmas tree for as long as I can remember. I don't know where it came from, but it's one of my favorites, and I'm so glad I inherited it. I always put it on the front of the tree so when I'm looking at the ornaments I can find it and think about my mom and Nana and the wonderful Christmases we had when I was young.
Another little gem I inherited. We also have Woodstock, Linus, Charlie Brown, & Schroeder. Again, I don't know where these came from, but they've been a part of Christmas since I was little.

I love my stocking because my Nana made it when I was little, and I use it every year. I also love Santa's pink mittens.

Boys, boys, boys

This has become one of my boys' favorite things to do. Luke gets a pillow for Noah to lie on, and then he covers him with a blanket. Noah will stay like this for quite a while. It's the only time during the day that he's actually still.

Welcome to Chumley's Dueling Pianos Bar!

I found Noah like this during his nap last week.

I took the blankie off his head, and he immediately went to the classic booty-in-the-air position

Elfred

Here are a few of Elfred's recent hangouts:On the light above our kitchen tableLuke took this picture
This is by far my favorite, and I have to give credit to Gary because he's the one who put him there.

One day this week I put the elf in Luke's room. Luke told me he was a little afraid when he woke up and saw the elf looking at him, but he apparently got over it. He loves to tell his friends next door where the elf is every morning, and anyone who comes over is immediately ushered to Elfred's current spot. About a week ago, Luke decided he wanted a Rubik's cube, and he walked right over to Elfred and told him. I think Elfred got the word to Santa because Luke is indeed getting a Rubik's cube for Christmas.

I was telling my sister last week about our elf, and she told me about some people at her church who also have an elf, but their elf is bad. He "tells" the parents to do destructive things like dismantle their Christmas tree, and the parents do it. When the children wake up each morning, they see whatever bad thing the elf has done overnight. This is very weird. To me the whole point of the elf is to get your kids to behave better, not become more destructive. I'm not sure what kind of crazy parents would take down their Christmas tree, but rest assured, if Elfred ever does something like that, he'll be out on his tiny, squishy behind before you can say, "Bad elf".

Starfish Christmas party

Yesterday was the Christmas "party" for Noah's Mother's Day Out class. There wasn't much to it. They had cookies, and we were supposed to sing Jingle Bells, but none of them were much interested in singing. As soon as I got there, Noah wanted to go, so I spent 20 minutes standing around holding him. Oh well . . . I expected as much!It cracks me up when they're all sitting at this table.
This is Noah's girlfriend, Charlotte. Almost every day at lunch, he holds her sippy cup for her so she can drink it. He used to do the same thing in the infant nursery when he was about a year old. He would ignore all the other babies, but he would take snacks to her and try to give her his cup to drink. They are in l-o-v-e.

Crazy weather

Here is a summary of our weather for the past 24 hours:

-yesterday's high - 74
-severe thunderstorms last night--including the tornado siren going off at 11:15
-today's high - 65 . . . the high was at about 9:00 this morning
-temperature at 5:00 p.m. - 37
-sleet at 7:00

Scary ol' St. Nicholas

The boys went to see Santa on Saturday, and this is pretty much what I expected.

The Elf on the Shelf

We started a new Christmas tradition this year. Saturday night Luke & I read a book called The Elf on the Shelf. The book tells about an elf who shows up and watches the children. He then reports back to Santa all that he saw, both good and bad. He comes back every day, and then when Santa comes Christmas Eve, he goes back to live with him until the next year. There are rules to follow if an elf comes to visit: the first time you find him you have to name him; you can't touch him or else his magic might go away; you can talk to him and tell him what you want for Christmas, but he can't talk back.

Well, lo and behold, the day after we read the book, we had our very own elf! Luke was SO excited when he found the elf. He decided to name him Elfred, and he looks for him every morning. He had a lot of questions when he first saw the elf and said that he looked hard like a doll. Gary and I explained that he looked that way because he had to sit so still when children were around. Later he told me he thought he saw the elf blink and breathe. He stood in the kitchen out of the elf's line of sight trying to catch him moving. He also noticed this morning that even though he's in a new spot every day he's sitting in the same position. I told him it was because that was the most comfortable way for him to sit.

Sunday afternoon he was outside playing with our neighbors and he said to them, "You won't believe it! We have an elf in our house!" Then he brought them in to show them. Each time they went outside I turned the elf so he was facing a different direction. When they'd come back in they would run to see if he had moved and were thrilled to find that he had.

While I love the idea of the elf, I didn't realize I'd have to spin such a yarn in order to answer all of Luke's questions! He has, however, bought the whole thing, kit and caboodle, but I'm afraid he's going to figure out sooner rather than later that the elf isn't real (ditto for Santa.) So, I'm enjoying this year of complete and utter belief.

Luke's TV debut

Jason Witten, a tight end with the Cowboys, came to Luke's school today. Luke is in the video portion they showed on the news tonight. He's only in it for about 2 seconds, so don't blink or you might miss him!
http://www.nbcdfw.com/sports/football/Dallas-Witten-Heads-to-School.html

One more month

That's right, in one month Noah will turn two. I know this is a common sentiment among parents when they consider how quickly their children are growing, but I just can't believe it. It truly seems impossible that two years ago we were anxiously awaiting his arrival, and now I'm buying presents for his second birthday. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly about this wild child who has turned our lives upside-down but has brought us such joy.

-He hits. A lot. It's not fun. Whenever he's frustrated, his first response is to hit whomever--or whatever--is closest. Usually it's me, but Luke has had his share, too. I think it's a combination of Noah's small vocabulary and the fact that there is someone around who frustrates him quite a bit. Luke avoided this stage mostly because he was the first child I think. I have no real strategy to deal with this behavior other than time-outs. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

-Speaking of his vocabulary, I made the effort to count how many words he has, and it's over 50. I was a little concerned that he didn't have many words, but after making a list, I think he's where he needs to be. He's not really putting words together, but when you have an older brother who's willing to talk on your behalf, why make the effort?

-He's still resisting naps. He was in his crib for two hours today just making noise. He doesn't cry or get upset, he just throws all his toys out of his crib, and recently he's started to take off his socks and pants. Last week he took off his diaper, too. Luckily I discovered his partial nakedness before there was anything to clean up.

-And speaking of taking off his pants, he pulls them down all the time. Any time we see a bathroom, he says, "pee-pee" and tries to pull his pants down. I offer to take him in and let him sit on the potty, but he doesn't want to. I can't quite figure this one out. This afternoon he walked around the house with his pants around his ankles. He's a nut.

The next time there's a Noah update, he'll be two!

Catching up before I get behind again

OK, I know I've been remiss yet again in updating my blog, but I have had quite a full plate the past couple of weeks. Last summer, God placed a large task on my heart, and I decided to step out in faith and do my best to answer his call. The children's ministries at our church is fabulous, but despite a large, mostly well-to-do congregation, we struggle funding our larger programs like VBC. At the end of this summer's Bible camp, the idea of hosting a holiday bazaar as a fundraiser for VBC came to me, and soon after that I started to put the wheels in motion.

Our church in Columbia hosted a similar event every year, so I called a friend who used to chair the bazaar to get ideas from her. She encouraged me to put this event on, and with the help of our children's team at church, the idea of a bazaar became a reality. I know that this was God's idea, and I was merely his hands and feet. I could never have pulled this off on my own!

The bazaar was last Saturday, and it was a huge success. Most of the vendors assumed we had been holding a bazaar for several years because most everything ran so smoothly. We had 55 vendors, and over 250 people came to shop. Each vendor donated an item for our raffle booth, and the ticket sales totaled over $350. We also had a frozen foods booth; church members made meals and froze them, and we sold them. We sold every last item that was donated and earned $750! In total, we made about $6000 for the children's programs at church.

I am so blown away by this whole experience. While I had many people helping me, there were two people in particular who helped make the bazaar such a success, and I couldn't have done it without Amy who was in charge of advertising and Laurie who organized the frozen foods booth. They are awesome and really put their spiritual gifts to work in a big way. I was never really nervous about how it would turn out; I knew it would be a success, but I didn't know it would be this big of a success. I really think that God was glorified through this event, and I know we'll put the money we earned to good use.

Bella Cosa Texas (I bought myself a little treat from her!)

One of our many fabulous jewelry vendors

The Uppercase Living booth

Some of my happy helpers!

Halloween

The boys really had fun trick-or-treating. Noah wasn't too sure about it at first, but he soon got the hang of it. And he actually wore his hat!

Noah would eat a piece of candy for a while, but as soon as he got more, he'd want to throw the one he was eating away and get a new piece.

"Luke, I am your father."

This is one of our neighbors. He cut a hole in a table for his head, and he also cut a hole underneath the pumpkin so he could stick his hand out to give candy to the kids. It was very clever.

Halloween preview

The cutest cowboy ever (sans hat, of course) and Luke Skywalker.