Christmas Decorating

Henry and I decorated the Christmas tree this week. While I was busily making sure that the ornaments were evenly dispersed throughout the tree, Henry was busily hanging as many ornaments as possible on a single branch. Here for your viewing pleasure is an example of his best branch (11 ornaments on one tiny little branch! Impressive, huh?),


and an example of the area just to the right of where Henry was decorating. I suggested putting some ornaments over on this side, but Henry said, "No, mama. I still need to put more here!"

Oh Henry, of course you do!

PS: I did redecorate the tree after he went to bed. I'm not a perfectionist by nature, but I really couldn't handle it! And of course the first thing he noticed when he got up was, "Heeeeyyyyy! You moved all the ornaments!"

Eating Troubles

Jonah has always been our child who would eat anything. There are a few things he doesn't like, but for the most part he can pack in anything. From the time he first started on "solid food," he didn't want baby food. He wanted table food, and lots of it. Also the bigger, the better. He preferred things not broken up into small pieces for him (can you say "choke hazzard?") Basically if you put it in front of Jonah, it would be eaten.

So recently, when Jonah started shaking his head at the dinner table, I thought he was just playing around. He was just sitting there, not exactly eating, so I suggested he take a bite of his dinner. My idea was met with violent head shaking, followed by a shouted, "NOOOOOOOO!!!" The struggle intensified and ended with Jonah being sent to his room. Sam and I actually thought it was pretty funny. He went from this sweet little joyful angel to a rebel in the course of a few minutes. We thought he must be tired. (That's always it, right?)

The problem was not limited to just the one meal, however. Now EVERY meal we go through this same routine. I have tried serving his absolute favorite foods (macaroni and cheese, cheerios, yogurt,) with no luck. I've tried bribing him (you can have this cookie if you eat your dinner!), only to have him throw a bigger fit when I don't give in and just give him the cookie! I'm not sure the kid has eaten a meal in a week!

I think we may have hit the terrible twos. Wait a minute! He's not even two yet! IT'S TOO SOON!!!!! I WANT MY AGREEABLE CHILD BACK!!!!! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I have been going through withdrawal--no internet access for the last few days! We were switching over to a new company, but that company didn't realize that they don't actually offer their services in our neighborhood. So we had disconnected with our original company and then had to wait another three days for them to come back out and re-connect us!

I thought that Thanksgiving might be a nice day to share some of Henry's recent craft projects. There are a few more than are shown in this picture. He also made two more turkeys and a thankfulness chain. But he was really done having his picture taken at this point! :)

We have so very much to be thankful for. I hope all of you had a blessed day and enjoyed Thanksgiving!

What a deal!

I am always very excited to find a good deal. My favorite shopping days are when I can find something that I just have to have for 90% off. I am actually pretty good at hunting down a bargain or a sale. However, I think that my wonderful husband has trumped me in finding the best bargain of the year.

Sam has been looking for a "beater" car to drive back and forth to work (to save wear and tear on his nice truck, and also save money on gas). Last week he called me to tell me he found one and would be bringing it home that day. I happened to be outside as he pulled into our driveway in this cute little Nissan Sentra.......that he paid $100 for!

It's old, it has a lot of miles on it, it has a few dents in doors, but it RUNS! Way to go, Sam! I'm impressed, as usual! :)

New Boots

There is nothing so exciting for my boys as getting new boots. Last week we noticed that Jonah was outgrowing his bright red rubber boots quickly, and Henry's bright yellow rubber boots had more than a few holes worn into them. Sam told them we could go and buy new boots! Hurray!

Off we went to the ranch supply store that we were SURE had rubber boots. No luck. They had plain black ones, but somehow that just didn't inspire joy for my boys! So they were very disappointed. I spent the next day on the phone trying to find a place to buy some fun rubber boots. A helpful lady finally said to me, "Well, I just can't think of any place closer than Target that has those. I'm sorry that I can't help you." Hadn't thought of Target yet!

Off we went. We came home with a pair of bright green "frog" boots and a pair of bright red "ladybug" boots. Henry was a little disappointed that Jonah didn't want matching ones, but Jonah really HAD to have the ladybugs!

So for those who asked, here is a picture of the boots, and by the way--I did not ask my boys to pose for this picture! :)

Stickers

My mom sent the boys some stickers this week. They enjoyed them so much that I thought it might be worthy of a picture!

Some kids wear stickers on their shirts. Henry used to do that, and it makes quite a mess if they go through the washing machine! Some kids put stickers on favorite objects, or windows, or other 'troublesome' areas.

I count myself blessed that my kids just load up their arms! No mess, no scraping to get them off, and they're not all over the house!

They may not last long, but stickers sure are fun!