Fairy of Christmas Cheer

When I was growing up, our family would go "fairy" other families.  Many do it: basically leave a treat or gift on someone's doorstep, ring the bell, and high-tail it outta there before they see you.

We got fairy-ed tonight.  Boys were in bed, Nathan was playing on the Wii, and I was in the kitchen babying a second batch of lemon cheese through the thickening process.  Nathan came in and said, "Someone wearing a Santa hat is doing something on our porch, and they're using a lot of tape.  I can hear it going wren-tschh, wren-tschh."  (yeah, yeah, laugh it up.  Just imagine the sound of scotch tape being pulled and torn over and over)  Then the doorbell rang and he very sweetly offered to stir the lemon cheese so I could go check out our surprise.  I guess I should note that the only outward sign of Christmas on our house is a wreath on our door.  Here's what I found:

Also taped to the door were three packs of Icy Breeze Breath Mints and a note that read:

Merry Christmas!

Yo,

Don't take down this door that's been frosted

'Cause you don't know how much it cost'd

But it's all worth it, if you feel loved

Just consider it a gift from abov'd!

Well my anonymous friend (and yes, your Santa hat maintained your anonymity), it was very worth it.  For reasons I do not know or understand, I was feeling pretty cheerless most of today.  Downright bummed, even.  The song "Where Are You, Christmas?" kept running through my head and felt very applicable.  Your gift totally brought a smile and many appreciative tears to my glum Christmas Eve's eve.  I feel very loved, both by you, whoever you are, and by our Father in Heaven, who notices not only when sparrows fall, but also when one of His daughters has an aching heart.  Thank you so so much for answering an un-uttered prayer!  

Merry Christmas!

Let the Games Begin

The boys were cracking us up last night.  We didn't get any pictures or video, but they sure were funny.  

David and Daniel were racing each other around the house.  David was an absolute machine, running  'round and 'round and 'round.  Daniel would back himself up against the back door and holler at us ("Daaaaa!  Daaaa!  Daaaa!") until he was sure we were watching and we chanted "Go Daniel, go!".  Then he'd take off--literally, running with his arms cocked behind him like wings.  He'd get as far as the next room, then stop, walk backwards to the door, and start over.  

After a bit David sat on the floor to play with something.  Daniel wandered over and started pushing against David with his tummy.  David often does this to Daniel, crowding him into a corner or something, so it was amusing to watch Daniel reciprocate.  Daniel would crowd David for a bit, then David would just lightly bump against Daniel and make him plop on his bum, then Daniel would get back up and crowd David some more, bump/plop, crowd, bump/plop...  it was all we could do not to laugh out loud.

THEN--David handed Daniel a stuffed hippo.  Daniel immediately turned around and started chasing David with it, saying, "Nom Nom Nom!"  David was a good sport and played along, grinning ear to ear while feigning fear of the hippo.

The next 14 years are going to be a lot of fun.  :P

Blah Blah Blah

So I'm feeling major guilt that I haven't posted much news lately, but I draw a total blank when I think about what to post.  We haven't had any major catastrophes, injuries, news, or breakthroughs.  Kinda nice, actually.  We're just doin' our thing, one day at a time.

Daniel has started expanding his vocabulary and says "go" when I announce it's time to go somewhere and "out" when he wants to get out of his highchair.  "Go" is also applicable to shoes and socks, and anything that goes, like toy cars and trains.  He is fascinated with the Christmas tree and loves to pull (nonbreakable) ornaments off the tree and carry them around.  His favorite one is a jingle bell.  Both the boys love that one, so I bought them each a jingle bell necklace.  I have been debating whether to put those in their stockings or just hand them over.

David is all go-go-go.  He loves puzzles and games and is teeming with braininess.  

I'm still digging myself out of my Christmas-gift-crafting chasm and feeling very exhausted, but happy with all that I've accomplished so far.  This week I substituted as Primary Chorister at church.  It was fun to be back in the saddle again, but I'm happy that's not my regular calling at the moment!

I made some Lemon Cheese this week, and derived great satisfaction from it.  For those who don't know, Lemon Cheese (aka Lemon Curd) is a traditional British recipe something like lemon marmalade.  My grandma used to send us some every Christmas, and now I like to make it for my Dad since she passed away.  I even used her double boiler, which was my Great Grandma Hewitt's.  Even though I have my own double boiler, which probably conducts heat more efficiently, it just seems like Grandma's recipe needs to be done in Grandma's pan.

My parents came through town this past weekend on their way to Salt Lake City for Christmas.  We did presents with them and enjoyed a relaxed visit.  They gave Daniel a remote-controlled Thomas the Tank Engine which delights him to no end, and David got some more trains for his existing set.  He played with it all day yesterday after school.  It's rather fun to have some Christmas gifts spread out so they get appreciated more individually.  I can hardly believe Christmas is in a week!

Merry Christmas to all!

Validation

This is an awesome movie. A little long, but worth it!

Thanksgiving in Connecticut

Daniel, the little rascal, keeps getting into the cat food!

For Thanksgiving this year we went up to my brother Sean's house in Connecticut.  I thought it was very fitting to celebrate Thanksgiving in New England, in the heart of the area where the colonists experienced harsh winters and abundant blessings.

Nathan had the entire week off, so we decided to head up on Tuesday.  My parents drove up from South Carolina Monday afternoon and we caravanned up together.  Aside from needing to make a gazillion pit stops for David in the first three hours, the trip went pretty smoothly...until we got to New York City.  We hit it at 4 pm, took the upper level of the George Washington bridge which has all the commercial traffic (read: lots of big trucks), and got lost in Harlem of all places, during rush hour.  By the time we got straightened out, we'd missed our exit for the parkway to take us to Connecticut, so we ended up staying on I-95 for a long time.  Meanwhile, my parents got off on the right exit, but got on the next parkway going the wrong way, so we were both lost in different places.  Somehow we still managed to pull up in front of Sean's at the same time they did, albeit about and hour and a half later than we'd planned.

The next morning we took the kids to Stepping Stones Children's Museum.  They had a blast, especially with the water room.  That afternoon Sean and Nathan made the pumpkin pie.  Mmm.  Well done, boys!

David getting outfitted with a water apron

David and Anne Elyse

Clockwise: Daniel, Anne Elyse, random girl, David

Daniel in his water apron

Daniel and Anne Elyse

Thanksgiving itself was wonderful, of course.  Kudos to Jenny for planning and executing a beautiful spread.  Daniel and Anne Elyse napped during dinner, so we had a relatively calm meal.  That night we sat around the piano and sang songs with the kids.  David, our "sing 10 songs with me" kid, was beside himself with glee.

David and Annie hanging out on the couch...

Mom and Dad left early Friday morning to be back in SC in time for some meetings Saturday evening.  Nathan and Sean braved the Black Friday mobs so Nathan could get a Wii.  Around lunch time we went Duckpin Bowling.

I've never Duckpin bowled before.  Duckpin balls are just a little bit bigger than a grapefruit, and the pins are squattier.  It was really fun, and I must say, preferable to 10-pin bowling, a sport which Sean teases that the ball bowls me, not the other way around.  *sigh*  He's quite right, unfortunately.  lol.  

Sean and Nathan bowling

Jenny, Sean, and Nathan

Even David could manage these balls!

After one game the little kids were quite ready for lunch and naps, so we swung by Star Pizza in Hamden and got some very, very tasty pizza for lunch.  It's a good thing Star Pizza is NOT within a 15 mile radius of us, because we would patronize it far too frequently!   That evening Sean and Jenny battled Nathan on the Wii.  It was very amusing to watch petite Jenny take on Nathan in a virtual boxing match.  

We left early Saturday morning and had a very smooth and fast trip home.  I noticed on the way that Daniel's right ear was draining goop again (second infection this month. good grief!), and we all had bad colds so we decided to spare our ward and stayed home from church Sunday.  It was very nice to just hang out and recover from our long travels, as well.  

Thanks for having us, Sean and Jenny!  It was a real slice.

High Time!

I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hope I don't jinx my luck by announcing that David is finally potty trained!  Wahoo!  He's been staying dry for almost a year now, but for a very long time I couldn't convince him to even sit down for #2.  When we did get him to sit, he wouldn't stay long enough for anything to happen.

About four weeks ago I was having a frustrating morning and told him he had to sit there until something came out.  I brought in a TV table and his laptop and he played computer games while he waited.  He'd call out to me and said he'd gone poo-poo, I'd come check and say "Not yet, keep trying!"  We repeated that about 5 times, and then voila!  Success.  I was very delighted, and had him call Nathan at work to announce the big news.  Then I gave him the oft-promised whole bar of Hershey chocolate, and took him to Target to pick out a special toy for going poo-poo in the toilet.  There was no way I was going to let this get overlooked.  I wanted him to know it was a big deal, and a very good thing to keep doing!!

A couple days later, a special toilet seat that I had ordered arrived and I made a big fuss about his special seat and installed it in his bathroom that night.  (The seat is called The Family Seat and has a built in child ring and adult ring so you don't have a clunky potty chair or insertable ring kicking around the bathroom.  Read more about it on my Rants and Raves Blog).  The next morning, at 5:45, David called out to me from his new throne that he'd just gone poo-poo in the toilet.  We gave him very bleary-eyed praise, amazed that a kid would wake up so early to do business.  I guess he likes his seat.  :)

We decided he was going consistently enough to be ready for big boy underpants, and told him when his pack of pull-ups was all gone, it was time to start wearing underwear.  We held our breath sending him to school in undies, and the real test was driving for 10 hours to my brother's house in Connecticut for Thanksgiving and spending a week out of David's normal routine.  He passed with flying colors, and we're super delighted!!