Our own kind of entertainment

Life has found it's January rhythm.  It trudges on as usual without holidays or much fan fare.  It's been an up & down month but there are a few highlights.  Tonight Lucas has his very first band concert and I can't wait.  He's actually pretty good for only playing 3 months, but I am anticipating a Music Man band experience.  And my parents are coming this weekend. Yea!  So that should be fun.  Until then I'll tell you how we've been entertaining ourselves around here.

Lucas wanted to play Wii last Saturday before reading.  I'm pretty flexible as long as it all gets done but in order to play he had to let me do one thing.  Connect all his freckles.  It's been a long standing joke between us. I always want to connect his freckles.  I know.  I can be weird sometimes. 
I guess Wii was worth it this time.

And then there's Jonah.  He's entertaining just being his crazy self.  I have a feeling he'll be just like Lucas and live in a costume from age 3- age 7.

Have a great January day!

Final transformation complete

Well, it's official.  I have made the complete transition to the dark side.  I've been slowly becoming the stereotypical Suburban Soccer Mom for years now.  Each new season bringing me closer to inevitable.   It started with weekly playgroups, story time at the library and stroller walks around Greenlake, progressed to volunteering on the PTA, making freezer jam and dehydrating fruit my own fruit leather, and then escalating to keeping a "mommy blog," carpooling to and from soccer/basketball/tai kwon do and going to the store directly from the gym thinking throwing a hat and fleece will dress up my workout clothes enough to be acceptable.

This week we added the final touch to complete my total transformation.   The Mini Van. 

I held out as long as could, vowing never to own one.  Ever.  But as I accepted all these others things in my life, I realized I could never resist forever.  My loathing for such a vehicle has developed into a love of space, storage and more space.  And I reluctantly admit, I l.o.v.e. it.  I love it's plethora of cup holders and power doors that close by themselves. I love the seats that stow away so easily, I LOVE the tushy warmers (that really sealed the deal for me) and I love I upped my seat ante for carpools and youth activities.

I guess I have embodied everything that makes me a suburban soccer mom.  And I guess I love it.

Kosher?

Okay, I'm not sure just how appropriate it is to 1st: video tape a prayer and 2nd: to put it online.  My mother always said "if you ever have to question it, it's probably better not do it."  But here I go, ignoring my mother's sound advice.  It's just so cute.  JB has been talking more and more these days, but he would never repeat a prayer. We've casually tried a dozen times but he just ignored any attempt at saying the prayer. That is up until last week. He actually repeated it after Lucas asked him to. And now he only will do it for Lucas. What can I say? That kid loves his brother. Last night was the second time he repeated a prayer.

Afterward you can hear the patented, "Hi Daddy!" that we hear all day and night.   Any time he sees us after being in another room or just when he wants to acknowlege us, he oh-so-brightly and happily says, "Hi Mommy!  Hi Daddy!"    A sound I will never tire of hearing.  It just makes me smile every time.

Birthday of a 2nd child just days after Christmas

It's begun, poor kid.   I was warned it was typical with a second child and gets worse with each subsequent sibling.  Yet I didn't think it would happen my child.   In many families the birthday celebration of each child gets significantly smaller with each child that is added.  And now I found myself doing that exact thing.

JB's birthday was the 30th but on the 1st we were going to friends to bring in the new year so I thought I'd bring a cupcake, throw a candle in it and we'd at least have pictures to say we sang and celebrated in some way.   I have to admit I was just feeling lazy after the craziness of the holidays. 

Then I got to thinking how I used to love to make a fun cake for Lucas' birthday. Back then I had a good friend who was a cake decorator, so yes, they usually turned out pretty awesome if I do say so myself. Everything from dinosaurs to pirate ships.  Then my cake decorator moved away and I was on my own.  Still I persevered.  My creations were much sadder but Lucas was always so nice and supportive of my efforts.  I made the "Pirate-Chef Cake" one year, which was supposed to be a pirate but really did turn out to look like a contestant for Hell's Kitchen. Do not ask me how.  And my mom and I made a fantastical castle one year.  Crazy looking but loved.  And my first-foray-into-fondant Lego cake from last year was quite sad looking but 10 year old boys DO NOT care. It was sort of a Lego and that was all that mattered.

So at the last minute I decided to take on one of Jonah's favorite things... a fire engine.  Why not?!  It something I enjoyed and it would be a new challenge.  Bring it on.

And it was coming along great until I took a break to check out our new working shower in our renovated master bathroom.  I had closed the kitchen door but...

It's hard to tell in the pictures but there a finger prints every where, wheels taken off and put back on, ladders broken ... and yes, that's a kitchen knife sticking out the back.   I didn't even get to finish it.  Jonah thought it was divine.  

 We decided to take it to the party as is, knife and all.  But the destruction didn't end there.  Apparently sitting on a warm shelf for 2 hours wasn't conducive to the construction of the fire engine's cab which subsequently made a dramatic exit all over the kitchen floor. 

This is what we sang to him with....

Knife still sticking out the back...

And he loved every minute of it.  I realized the back-to-basic attitude wasn't just out of laziness, but the wisdom of knowing what it takes to make your child feel special and loved, right?!  ;) Most of the time it doesn't require much.  Cupcake, ruined fire engine, whatever. And in my infinite wisdom I know that the pictures and story of it all would be more than memorable and even better than if everything had turned out perfectly. ;) At least that's what I keep telling myself.

And the riding Thomas the Tank Engine didn't hurt the day either.

White Christmas

We ran off to Utah for Chirstmas this year to visit with Aaron's parents.  Aah, relaxing was the theme of the week.   It was so relaxing hanging out, just enjoying the season holed up as a family.  It had been too long since we'd been to Utah, so it was nice to catch up.  Lucas and Jonah had a great time playing with Grandma, running around crazy, watching Grandpa set up his new fish tank, and playing with all the old toys that we had as kids.  And with a 4-2 adult to kid ratio, our zone defense worked well enough to get some good R&R in for everyone.

We drove down to Payson and Salem Pond to see lights, which was fun.  Apparently not ecxiting enough for Lucas since he decided to provoke his mother into a snowball fight.  And his mother is always up for a challenge.  We might have differing views on who won.

Jonah loved the snow as well, just until his hands got cold and wet and then he was done.

We had a wonderful lunch with Aunt Marlene on Christmas Eve.  She is such a dear, sweet woman and I loved having time to visit with her.  We didn't see much other family but Christmas is a busy time for most people so hopefully we'll see everyone come summer when we hope to come out again.  Fingers crossed.

Christmas morning was calm and lovely though Lucas was adamant about our wake up time, the minutes we had to dress and brush our teeth and when we were expected to be sitting upstairs ready to open presents. It took Jonah only moments before he got the hang of Christmas morning.

Grandma had fun setting up her new Kindle.

Grandpa with Jonah, who hates wearing clothers once he wakes up.

We had a great visit with Grandma J, my 95 year old grandmother who is as sharp and capable as she has always been.

Jonah warmed up to her quickly especially as she showed him her "magic chair" which reclined back and and raised it's footing with a touch of a button.  He even gave her kisses as we left. 

We traveled up to Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square.  It was a beautiful sight and an ispiring family time.

The kids had so much fun with their grandparents and loved hanging out, playing with Grandpa's orange bucket, checking out his new aquarium and pulling out everything from the pantry.  Okay, that was Jonah.   But Lucas loved hanging out, watching movies, going birding with Dad and Grandpa, and building new legos.

Those boys LOVE their grandparents!