just for James

So I haven't posted much about James lately... poor, neglected little boy. So this post is all about Jamesy-boy (as he is affectionately known in our house). James is such a sweet boy--although SO different from William. Here are a few things about James:

He loves playing with William. Whatever William does, James wants to be doing as well.He hates when William pushes his hands or tells him that he is a baby and can't play with his toys.

James loves bath time. If anyone is taking a bath he crawls in the bathroom and tries to climb in the tub. He especially loves to SPLASH. The bathroom is soaked by the time James gets out of the tub.
Clapping is another favorite pastime. I love when kids learn to clap because everything deserves a clap. He also enjoys making motor noises.

Something that I love is that he's learned to put himself down for naps. Too cute...
In the past week he's found a new favorite game. He loves to play ball. It's so exciting to him... and gives he and William something to play together.
In addition, he is wiry and can't hold still for a moment, he has a fantastic laugh, loves to be held, pushes chairs around the kitchen as training to walk, enjoys playing guitar with Dad, kisses his reflection in the mirror, sticks his tongue out, and chases us all around the house. We are so glad that he is part of our family... even if it means some sleepless nights.

traditions

A fiddler on the roof. Sounds crazy, no? But here, in our little village of Anatevka, you might say every one of us is a fiddler on the roof trying to scratch out a pleasant, simple tune without breaking his neck. It isn't easy. You may ask 'Why do we stay up there if it's so dangerous?' Well, we stay because Anatevka is our home. And how do we keep our balance? That I can tell you in one word: TRADITION! Because of our tradition we've kept our balance for many, many years. Traditions, traditions. Without our traditions our lives would be as shaky as, as... a fiddler on the roof.

It seems that around the holidays we have a million more traditions than we do in our normal, day-to-day, week-to-week lives. After reading Katie's post about tradition I started to think of all the Christmas traditions we had growing up (since we don't have many of our own yet). Everything from what we eat to what we do and how we do it. Traditions like having to get up and ready for the day before going to see what Santa had left for us--in line from youngest to oldest, of course. (And along with that, the fact that in a house full of girls my dad was always the last one ready.) Or having homemade cinnamon rolls and eggnog for Christmas breakfast. Or leaving a note and cookies for Santa--and Santa writing a little note back--even when we were in high school! Traditions like Christmas caroling or eating oatmeal carmelitas.

Perhaps my favorite Christmas tradition is how we hand out presents. We all have our little pile of gifts that we have received but part of that pile are the gifts that we are giving. Then we go around (again, youngest to oldest) and pick which present we want to give first. Then when we're done giving we get to start on our own personal pile. It's so much fun to pick up a present and think "I can't wait for so-and-so to open this up," and seeing their reaction. Most of all I love that it reminds us that "...it is more blessed to give than to receive."

My little brother, Jacob, has really caught the vision of the giving part of Christmas. At age seven he can't even come up with a Christmas list because he's too focused on what he will be giving to everyone. I love it!!!

I hope that you all have a very Merry Christmas full of joy and giving... and your own wonderful traditions.

it's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

This Christmas season has been a ton of fun. I still can't believe that it's only a few days away but here is what we've been doing.

We have...

...attempted to make a gingerbread house.

and then we moved our stabilizers and... we've realized our mistakes and next year our house will be much better!

...added to our advent calendar.

William loves adding to his calendar every day. He's so anxious for Christmas to get here though that one day he put all of the pieces up and told me "Look mom, I did it so perfect!"

...played with "the boys" nativity.

Most of the time the pieces end up all laying down like they were casualties in a big battle... I don't know... but at least he can tell me the story and about each piece right?

...made snowflakes.

After each snowflake was completed William would exclaim "Mom, it's beautiful!" It was William's idea to hang them on the door and it actually looks cool with the light shining through.

...read the Christmas Carol and watched It's a Wonderful Life (as well as many, many other books and movies).

looked at Christmas lights...

...gone to North Pole City.

Here we listened to Santa tell the story of the first Christmas, looked at miniature trains and villages, James kissed the reindeer, and saw more Christmas decorations than you can imagine.

All in all we've had a fun time and we can't wait for Christmas!

Merry Christmas!!!

and visions of sugarplums danced in their heads...

Okay, so no sugarplums... but I have been a busy, busy baker. I love to make sweet things at Christmastime. For the past several years I've made goodies for Rich's co-workers and my visiting teaching sisters. Here is a sampling of this years creations:

Pretzels,

and more pretzels, snowdrops,

fudge,

cinnamon strussel bread,

and my all time favorite...

oatmeal carmelitas.

What are your favorite Christmas treats?

(p.s. I've added recipes to the comments section)

ice storm 2007

Really it should read "Ice Storm 2007--part 2." See, we already had Ice Storm 2007 at the very beginning of this year. Sunday we continued the saga though. Everything is covered in a nice coat of ice.

When something like this happens in Oklahoma everything comes to a halt. Church was cancelled on Sunday. Schools and businesses are closed. And this morning I was awakened by William's sobs of, "I want to watch Clifford." Nothing is more tragic than the power turning off your show in the morning. We are so lucky to have Rich's family nearby so that we have a warm place to spend our day (and night, if the power is still out).

a visit with Santa

What child doesn't love Santa? The big white beard, the belly that shakes "like a bowl full of jelly," the reindeer, the toys. And he even gives you a candy cane or other such treat just for sitting on his lap and divulging your Christmas wish. Who wouldn't like this guy? Well, apparently William. Earlier this week we were with friends at the mall and stopped by to see the mall Santa. No problem. He got right on up there and told Santa what he wanted.

But last night at the ward Christmas party was a completely different story. No amount of coaxing could get this boy up on Santa's lap! His friends all did it... he didn't succumb to peer pressure. I even told him that Santa wouldn't know what to bring him... he didn't care. He wouldn't get within 5 feet of the jolly old fellow and would just cling onto me for dear life. James, on the other hand, had no problem. In fact, he was fascinated by Santa's beard.

Oh well. There's always next year...

matchy matchy green squared

Have you ever unintentionally had coordinating outfits with someone you're with? One year I did that with my roommates on several occasions. More than once I remember Carrie, Lori, and I all dressed in purple or overalls or whatever. We didn't mind so much.

Rich hates to match. Before we had kids if we happened to coordinate--and I pointed it out--he would go change. So I stopped telling him. Occasionally he would match with William and he hated that too. On the other hand, William loves to match. Everyday when he picks out his clothes he picks out a "matching" shirt for James--even if that means that they both are wearing stripes or both thermals or just the same color. Oftentimes he makes Rich change his clothes so that they can be matching--and Rich is such a good sport that he will change!

I know one day that William will hate matching as well... but for now I love it!

happy happy birthday William dear

William had a fabulous birthday this year. In fact, everything is more fun this year because he understands it a little better. So he is a big THREE years old now. I really can't believe it! Not only that, he seems to have grown up so much in the past month or so. He's just growing up way too fast! Here are some highlights of his birthday:
He loved all his presents...

(It looks more like Christmas! Thank you everyone! And you gotta love that "smile". )

He loved his cake...
He loved to sing Happy Birthday (to himself)...

Happy Birthday William!

And speaking of birthdays... Friday was Oklahoma's 100th birthday! We were able to go to the Redhawks Ballpark and watch the Centennial Celebration. The best part was singing "Oklahoma" (you know the one...) with a stadium full of people.

Happy Birthday Oklahoma!

days of thanksgiving

So as this is the month of Thanksgiving (and often gets overlooked because it falls between two fun sugar-filled holidays) I thought I would give it some attention. Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays--family, friends, great food, yummy pies...

I got to thinking, "What's something fun that I could do with William to teach him about Thanksgiving?" And then this canning jar kept calling to me from my cupboard. So we made this: William tells me what he's thankful for or what makes him happy. I'll write it and then he draws a picture of it and decorates with stickers. Then we put it in the jar. (I haven't quite decided what to do from there.) Here is a sample of his work as of yesterday.(He's really starting to be a careful artist. He tells me what he's drawing--"this is the head" "here's the eyes" etc). It's been a fun project and William likes to add things to the jar.

This past week was also our stake "Days of Thanksgiving." I've heard this also called "fill the temple." But I find "Days of Thanksgiving" so much more appropriate. Showing our gratitude to our Heavenly Father by filling the temple and doing work for those who have gone on before. So for two full days our stake does everything at the temple. It's a neat experience. This year though I wasn't given an assignment. To tell the truth I was a little disappointed. So I decided the next best thing was to babysit the kids of women who did have assignments during the day... especially since we are conveniently located 5 minutes from the temple. Whoa. I don't know what I was thinking. At one point I had 7 kids under the age of 4. It wasn't all that bad--William had a fun time with friends--and I'm thankful that I could help. I'm also so thankful for being extremely close to a temple.

And then one of the ladies in the ward found out that I didn't have an assignment and offered to give me one of her four sessions and she would watch my two boys--in addition to her own eight. I was grateful to her for her generosity and the opportunity to be in the temple during these "days of thanksgiving."
And while I'm thinking of things I'm grateful for...

I'm grateful for healthy boys. Especially James. Sometimes, when watching him crawl all over the place or wrestling with William, I forget that James had such a rough start.

It's pretty amazing.

I'm grateful for a wonderful husband. A husband who loves and takes care of me, who is a wonderful dad, who works hard at everything he does, who honors his priesthood and who still dates me.

I'm grateful for family. I'm grateful for phones that allow me to call my family far away. I'm grateful for cars that allow me to visit Rich's family who are a little closer.

I'm grateful for wonderful parents who taught me the gospel and a million other things...

I'm grateful for friends... friends from growing up... friends from college... friends from more recently... even friends through the great blogosphere. And I'm grateful for the internet that connects us all even though we are scattered across this huge country.

Speaking of this country. I'm grateful for the USA and the men who founded it on righteous principles.

And lastly (at least for now) I'm so very grateful for a knowledge of the gospel and all that it entails.

I hope that you all have a fantastic Thanksgiving and don't forget to be grateful during this season!

boyhood rite of passage

So Wednesday afternoon was nothing out of the ordinary. The boys and Mom were hanging out. Mom was talking on the phone. William started to get a little crazy--running around and such. And then all of a sudden... THUD. William begins to cry. Mom just thinks, "Oh he's fine." That is, until Mom looks at his face. Blood running everywhere. Heads tend to bleed a LOT. So to spare you the gory details I will just say that we have had our fair share of bumps, bruises, skinned knees, bloody lips, and black eyes...

...but this is the first time we've encountered an gaping head wound. William was a brave little patient-- just lying there, holding ice to his throbbing forehead, doing everything Mom said to do. He got a little worried when he saw me cleaning off his hand and realized there was blood covering it. And after the initial sobs of pain he didn't cry until he talked on the phone to Dad. Mom got a little worried when she realized that William had locked the bathroom where the first aid kit was. Eventually we got in and, thanks to Mom's awesome skills we didn't need stitches... hopefully the butterfly bandage will keep the hole together.

a new past time

James has now achieved pulling himself to a standing position. He falls quite often because he's always letting go... but he always gets right back up. And, per Rachelle's request, we have a video to prove it. Enjoy!

spooky Halloween night

Mister Jack O' Lantern is very round and fat.

He has a yellow candle, lit right beneath his hat.

It makes his face look happy and very, very bright

When he winks and smiles at me on spooky Halloween night.

One of our favorite Halloween traditions is carving our pumpkin. William had a great time supervising--because he didn't want to touch the "guts".

As for other Halloween fun... Last week we went to a trunk-or-treat for our ward and for my brother-in-law's ward. William had a blast at both! By the end of the second one he could barely carry his pumpkin for all the candy he had!
Last weekend for our "date night" we took the boys to the bookstore to read Halloween books.

And then yesterday we went trick-or-treating at Rich's work,

ate pumpkin pizza, carved a pumpkin, trick-or-treated to the neighbors, (James seemed to think it was pretty crazy that William had something on his head.)

and then after the boys were in bed we concluded with our favorite Halloween tradition wherein Rich and I ate our roasted pumpkin seeds and watched a "scary" movie.

heroes

William loves super heroes. Superman, Wolverine, Batman, Luke Skywalker, Spiderman... he really likes Spiderman. Some days he'll bring me a towel, a blanket, or even a rug to make into a cape. He loves to play super hero video games. He won't leave the house without his Spiderman shoes. I mean, who wouldn't want to be a hero. They can do all sorts of super cool things. But William has a real hero too.

My daddy is my fav'rite pal,
And I help him ev'ry day.
It's plain to see I want to be
Like him in ev'ry way.
He teaches me that honesty
Is best in all I do.
I'm very glad that he's my dad,
And I know he loves me too.

This primary song rings so true! William adores his dad. On Sundays while he is getting his suit on he asks, "Dad will look at me--so handsome?" He knows that when he gets all dressed up Rich will tell him how handsome he looks. Every day William talks to Rich on the phone while he is driving home for lunch and dinner. The first thing he asks is "Dad, you get some clothes?" He knows that when Rich changes out of his suit then it's time for fun. On Saturdays when Rich goes for a run William always wants to join him. A few weeks ago the two of them went to a Hornets game together... William had the time of his life! Recently William has started imitating everything that Rich does... it's pretty funny to watch. He loves to help with the yard work, fix things, play guitar, play ball, read, color, etc. It doesn't really matter what they do together--William has a blast with his dad.

William loves his hero... and I do too!