Conversations this morning - 3

We are driving to church and we overhear in the backseat:

"Gavin, what color is a stopsign?"
(nothing from Gavin)
"Red or blue?"
(nothing from Gavin)
"Gavin, say red."
(still nothing from Gavin)
"Gavin. Gavin."
(nothing)
"Mommy, Gavin needs to learn his letters!!"

Conversations this morning - 2

Mommy was bad and had Christmas candy for breakfast in front of the boys, and then she made them eat breakfast. Bad Mommy!
Later she is upstairs reading when Seth walks in and asks a question. His mouth is rimmed with chocolate.
"Seth, tell me what chocolate you ate. Tell me the truth."
Seth pauses for a minute and considers his words.
"I had candy." Pointing at the thumb on his left hand.
"A Cookie." Pointing at the pointer finger on his left hand.
Continuing counting on his fingers, "A Santa candy, a circle candy..."
At this point Mommy interupts and sends Seth to his room so she can crack up laughing. He told the truth and it was too funny. (And I really can't blame him as I had candy for breakfast myself, at least he ate his breakfast first!)

Conversations This Morning - 1

"Seth, what is your favorite thing about our house."
"Playing in the backyard."
"Gavin, what is your favorite thing about our house."
"Chicken."
(His record in the last couple weeks is 13 chicken nuggets in one sitting - what this has to do with our house...????)

Presents - Part 3

Tonight we opened gifts from Aunt Missy! She gave the boys playdough and Lighting McQueen skates. Seth was on his own from the beginning and never fell. Gavin needed a lot of help from Daddy, but ended up making it the whole distance of the family room by himself before needing to be caught by Daddy. Seth is excited to take his skates to OH to rollerskate with cousin Leah.

Missy, thanks for the letter stickers - everything is all labeled and organized. There will be no fights over who's things are missing! I foresee lots of fun this winter skating in the family room because it is too cold and windy to play outside. Gavin was begging to play with the playdough but told he had to wait till tomorrow. They are having trouble falling asleep tonight. It is so hard being a kid.

Presents - Part 2

After seeing how much the boys enjoyed their hats we decided to let the boys open one gift each night so they could spend a whole day enjoying it without being overwhelmed by gifts. Last night we let the boys open their big gifts from Pookie and Papa Buzz. Seth has been asking for a race car and he got it. You shake it and it revs its engine and when you put it down it races across the floor. Last night he bounced up and down on the cow chair and took turns racing it across the family room to Mommy or Daddy. Tonight he was jumping:
Gavin got a car transport semi-truck w/ a race car and another race car (w/ litte guys that go in them). He loved it and kept saying, "My truck" over and over again. He didn't let brother even touch it till late today. We were so busy enjoying watching the boys and playing with them that I forgot to take pictures. This morning they couldn't wait to run downstairs and get their toys and play with them.

My little shepherds.

Seth and his class at church got to dress up as shepherds and angels to sing 3 Christmas songs on Sunday morning. Seth freaked out and didn't want to do it, but we got him dressed and gave him some pep talks. When the time came he ran down front and was totally fine. The big surprise was that at the last minute Gavin decided to join (he usually hangs w/ all the bigger boys, but is still in the nursery at church - even though they made him a costume, too, he had insisted he didn't want to do it.) This is a good picture of how things went down. Gavin was in his own little world. Seth was the only one who actually did the motions (and then didn't sing much of the other 2 songs). Roger and Reid fought over the microphone even though they didn't have solos, so they eventually turned it off and took it away. Everyone at church just chuckled the whole time. And I sat in the front row and took pictures of the somewhat managed chaos. It was very fun and I was glad to be there. This weekend I had pain behind my left eye, and then developed vision problems (and I also had sleep problems). I was pretty confident that all this was from being off my depression meds during the week from the flu and then starting it back up again while my body was run down. With the vision problems the nurse told me to go to the ER, so I waited till after church to go. 4 hours and a CT scan on my eyes later the dr. told me that he didn't see anything significant, and he also thought it was just a reaction to the Wellbutrin. Monday morning I finally got ahold of my dr.'s office and the nurse got me an appointment for Tuesday a.m. and told me to quit taking the Wellbutrin. (I did, have continued to have a little bit of problem w/ the headaches behind my left eye, etc. and had a crash today because evidentally you aren't supposed to quit Wellbutrin cold turkey.) I will be meeting w/ my Dr. on 12 January to figure out what to do next, and also starting counseling w/ a Christian counselor that was recommended to me by a friend that day. I am so thankful that Andrew will be around all but one day till then to help me with the boys because some days I am so overwhelmed that it is a struggle to fill up their Cheerio bowl and I lack the patience with them that I need. Please pray that the crash from the medicine will subside and the headaches and vision problems that go with that disappear. Thanks!

Presents!

A friend brought our MN family's gifts down to us on his way to visit his son in KS, and is taking our gifts up to MN. We brought them in, put them under the tree, and were busy playing in the family room (except Daddy who was out in the driveway trying to break up the solid ice that is our driveway at the moment). Gavin and Emily are playing potato head, I am playing guitar, and suddenly I notice Seth isn't in the room anymore. Oh! "Seth!" He comes running in with an ecstatic look on his face - "A Vikings Hat!!!!" I roared at him for getting into the presents and sent to his room. Then I went out to the garage and laughed with Andrew. We didn't tell him not to get into the gifts and he just couldn't resist. I made him call Nana and thank her for the presents. Later that night we talked Daddy into letting them open one gift so Seth could enjoy wearing his hat (it has been on his head almost constantly since then.) I tried to get some pictures, but he was constantly in motion. Here is my best effort: Gavin took off his hat and tried putting it back on himself:

This is how you see when you are almost 2 and wearing your hat trucker style:

Then he puts it on normal Gavin style - backwards:

My handsome man enjoying watching his boys go crazy over their new hats:

Finally...SNOW!!!!

I think it takes about a half hour to get 2 little boys dressed to play in the cold weather and snow.
They had fun, we had Emily over in the afternoon and did it again. We had a layer of snow, a layer of ice, and then another layer of snow. Mostly good for stomping around the yard in and crunching it. We are still waiting on snowman kind of snow! Afterwards we had hot cocoa (with a marshmallow) and cookies and hot Tang for Gavin. Yum!

Smoosh it flat, with your hat!

For fun I spiked the boys' hair. Gavin didn't mind, but Seth was very concerned about it sticking up. We were about to go play in the snow, so it didn't really matter anyway. My current favorite photo of Seth.

My angel baby.

Some of you may remember some pictures I took of Seth as a chubby little 5 month old wearing a halo. He still likes to wear it, and I caught Seth and Gavin having fun. I guess Gavin is my little snowflake - he seems to prefer wearing that one. I tried getting a good shot of just Gavin and he decided it was a game to run away from Mommy with her chasing behind with the camera - to the fridge in the kitchen, to the bookshelf, to behind the tree. He started laughing and I got some cute shots off.

Here is my blue eyed boy. You can decide for yourself if you think he is an angel!

Even Moo got in on the action.

No fun.

Yup. The flu struck again, this time it was my turn. Bummer. Andrew was our hero and stayed home from work to take care of all of us. Thank you, love!

Today we are doing better and I am praying that no one else gets it. Can you believe that Christmas is in one week? Yay!!!!

Haircut - Again.

Last time I went to get my hair cut the girl just did not listen to me about what I wanted - to really trim up the back so that I could grow it out into a bob. Instead she cut the front shorter and left the back pretty long and shaggy - I hated it, and as i grew out a little more I hated it more (and to top it off she charged me $5 more than she did the time before!) I couldn't stand my hair and was constantly wearing a hat. We had the Christmas party to go to, and I couldn't bring myself to give her another shot or try someone new, so... Yup, cut it myself with a lot of help from Andrew holding the mirror and cutting where I couldn't get the right angle with the scissors. At the very least I didn't pay for a bad haircut, and have no one to blame but myself it I don't like it. :o)! I think Andrew was VERY nervous about this. Hee hee. Not my worst work, if I do say so myself. (I hope no one remembers my bangs that looked like my neice Leah's do right now after her sister cut them w/ safety scissors, from when I was in jr. high the first time I attempted cutting my own hair!)

Bad Mommy.

I gave Gavin a mint m&m. Yup. He puked afterwards. MILK CHOCOLATE!!!! I felt bad because it was my fault and I forgot to think about his food. Sometimes I get so tired of trying to hold it all together. Been very tired and sad inside lately - mostly because I am starting to feel and think about everything over the last 2 years that I didn't have time to think about or feel because I had to keep going. I guess that is good, but hard. I don't think I will forget and give Gavin any more milk chocolate any time soon. Live and learn.

Crazy Weather!

Yesterday - sunny and almost 60.
Today - snow flurries, 3, and way below zero with the wild 20 mph winds. I only saw one bird out early this morning and decided I better put more seed in the feeder. Saw one squirrel hurrying back to it's nest. They must all be hiding out.

Bad news - we aren't going to MN. I was worried about traveling alone with the boys with the crazy weather we have going on, and then this morning on the way to church our car quit working properly. All the electronics went out - the dash didn't work, the lights didn't work, the hazzards didn't work, and we were going up the hill at like 2 mph. Just when we had been passed by a bunch of cars and found a place to safely turn the car around everything suddenly kicked on. We have had some skittish electronics before, but never been able to id the problem. Andrew called his folks to tell them we aren't comming, and I know they are probably very disappointed (as we are), but I would rather be safe than sorry and get stranded somewhere this time of year with a broken down car.

Good news - we are starting to make friends at our church - we have had a couple of families come over each week on Sunday night for Advent with us. I have had a couple of ladies from church actually call me. One even asked me to do something with her! I know it is going to take time, but it feels like eventually we will be a part of the fabric of this community and I know our boys will really benefit from that as well as us! We got asked to take part in the Christmas Eve service, and next Sunday the boys are going to be singing 3 songs with the other kids. I guess someone even made both of them costumes! (I had guessed they might be doing something since Seth started doing motions to Away in the Manger, but just found out what tonight.) I am so thankful for a sturdy sound house that protects us from all the cold and wind. Andrew does such a great job providing for our family, and I am so very thankful for him!

Baking Christmas Cookies - Part 2

We made Christmas cookies again on Saturday morning. This time Gavin was up helping (he had a meltdown and chose to go to bed before!) Here is my cute little helper. I usually edit the pictures and only post one if they are similar, but I couldn't decide which one I thought was cuter, so here are both of them:

Does he look a little bit like Dopey in that second one? :o)! We are having fun all baking together - the boys mainly lick things for us and taste test. We are trying non-dairy cookie recipes. If you have any favorites, please send them our way. All of our favorite Christmas recipes had dairy in them. So far we did lemon cookies, chocolate cookies, and chocolate chip.

Hats - Part 3

Guess who got a new hat from Mrs. Amber that has Lightning McQueen on it! My boys sure like accessories right now - Halloween socks, everyones shoes, slippers, hats, necklaces, headbands, Christmas glasses...

Welcome to Our House.

It's starting...

"Mommy, will you buy me a car like Emily and Charity's?"
(The kind that has a motor, and you sit in and drive like a real car.)

Yikes!

One of the things I am finding out about having very short hair is that it is always spectacularly atrocious in the mornings. Here I am with my new glasses that Seth helped me pick out. Andrew's comment: "It is going to take me a while to get used to them." Uh Oh! :o)! Good thing I mostly wear them at nighttime!

Baking Christmas Cookies

Advent

Tonight the boys were skittish during Advent, all over the place. It seemed like we were just trying to get through without one of them catching fire from the candles. The reading tonight was about the brothers that were the 12 tribes of Israel and how God chose the tribe of Judah. Andrew had us repeat the little prayer after him by phrases. Gavin is now sitting behind Seth and playing with the back of his chair. Seth is praying about being patient with brother, and just as he says "help me be kind to my brother" he whips his head back and butts Gavin's hands against the top of the chair. Gavin starts hollering...

Hats - Part 2

My amazing friend Brita made Gavin a hat for his birthday last year, and I asked her to make one for Seth as well. He is thrilled to have a hat like Gavin's!

Hats - Part 1

Seth has taken to wearing Daddy's hat. Gavin decides he wants to wear a hat, so he puts it on backwards. Seth says that isn't how it is done and turns it around. Gavin says, "no!" and turns it back around backwards. Cheese!

Cheese!

Children's Christmas Party Pics

Little boy contentment - lollypops and balloon animals.

My guys!

Santa

Seth telling Santa he wants a race car for Christmas: Posing for a candy cane:

The closest Gavin got to Santa:

Gingerbread House Date with Seth

Seth got to go on a special date with Mommy to make a Gingerbread House. I don't think he even knew what a gingerbread house was, but he was excited. Especially when he saw the icing and all the candy. Here he is at his spot getting ready to start (You will note that this is really a graham cracker/cardboard house):

Here is the finished project (note the little candy gingerbread guy in front of his house):
Here he is having fun climbing on the frog at the nature center where they hosted this fun activity:

Genderanalyzer.

I found this website on a friend's blog page - it is supposed to determine if your blog was written by a man or woman - and was curious, so I typed in my blog page.

"We think http://thewanderinggarden.blogspot.com is written by a woman (75%)."

We have had a house full of stinky farting boys lately (seriously - Seth farted so bad tonight that I had to leave the room!) Man - I am needing something feminine going on around here! Anyone up for a shopping trip?

Christmas Tree.

Gavin.

Another Gavin moment:
"I sit! I sit! I sit!" (said with pacifier in mouth.)

Gavin is my little love - he climbs into my lap to be held. He is touchy feely and makes this great smack sound when he gives you a kiss (if it isn't the open mouthed slobbery kind.) He engages with everything around him. Opening and shutting doors. Turning pages of books (we have never had to keep the big kid books away from him.) He is stubborn - it takes Andrew and I, both, to keep him in check and we are both stubborn people (ask our folks!) He loves to get his hair cut and do big boy things, but sometimes he just wants to be my baby still. Today he amazed me. When our dishwasher broke down and started pouring water out the bottom mid-cycle I headed for a big beach towel to sop it up. I came back to find Gavin had gotten the kitchen towel and was already cleaning up the floor for me. He loves to sweep, throw things away, help out with anything and everything. His intensity is relational. He is funny. He tries to kiss you or make you laugh when he is in trouble and distract you from the issue at hand. I love him so very much!

This is Gavin's recent face. This is how it goes:

"Want blankie (or whatever the thing of the moment is)."

me - ok, go get it. it is upstairs in your room.

"No, YOU go get it."

me - no Gavin, if you want it - you need to go get it."

"No, YOU. YOU get it. YOU get it." said with stormy eyes and his lips out in this pouty little face (only a little more pouty and stormy usually - the camera around softened the look a little):

Seth

This is my boy. He is getting big. Challenging authority and figuring out boundaries. Helping brother all the time (with things Gavin isn't big enough to do yet - like get a drink of water from the fridge) with such a great attitude. He is learning about being thoughtful and the importance of obedience. He loves music. Some of my favorite times have been lately in the evening after Advent when I keep playing my guitar and he brings instrument after instrument up to play with me. "Mommy, play 'I've been workin' on the railroad!'" He has a heart to please. He loves being silly. He loves jumping - still. He is always getting into things and climbing on everything. Still cautious. Sometimes hesitant and then regretful. Strong. I love my little man! "Mommy, take a picture of me being crazy!"

So Happy Together!

Two boys. Both healthy again. Swinging together.

Entranced.

My nieces first look at a Christmas tree up close:

Don't read this if you get offended by gross stuff.

(This will say a lot about the kind of week it has been around here!)

Seth had to go potty after bedtime tonight.
Andrew goes to check on him.
Seth: Daddy, I threw up in the toilet.
Daddy (very curious): Really?
Seth: Yup, out of my bottom.

One little pill.

Yesterday I had my dr. appointment about my depression. It has gotten so bad that it has been very debilitating and I need help. I haven't been on meds for about 5 years and was nervous about the side effects. Took my first pill this morning and by naptime I could already tell a huge difference. My mind was calm and clear - no longer in survival mode. I could even finish dialing the phone and listen to Seth at the same time (something I have been incapable of lately.) I am so thankful to have good medical care to help me when I need it. I am praying for no side effects this time. Thank you to those who have been praying for me about this. I already feel like less of a failure as a mother because I am taking care of myself. We had beautiful weather today, and I had a great adventure just being outside with the boys and walking to the park and playing in the spring and climbing on rocks and trees - and it wasn't an overwhelming effort to make myself do it! Such a joy to not be so overwhelmed about very basic things in my life. The extra energy should wear off in about two weeks, and then we will see where we are at with the depression and start adjusting my meds to what I need. I am hoping that if I do have lots of extra energy I get my house super clean! :o)!

Inappropriate.

Last night Gavin was laying on the bottom step in the basement and Andrew was playing with him. All of the sudden...
"I suck! I suck! I suck!.... (you get the picture)"
I finally ask A. if he knows what he is saying. He doesn't know either and we are both trying to contain 0urselves. Finally I figure out that he is saying, "I'm stuck" because he wants Daddy to get him. Oh my was it hard to not laugh out loud till we FINALLY figure it out!

Sick. Sick. Sick.

Haven't heard from me much lately because we had Gavin sick on Thanksgiving night. Seth sick on Monday morning. Andrew sick tonight (at least he hasn't vomitted and is big enough to clean up after himself if he does.) I don't think anyone wants pictures to go with this post.

Thanksgiving Meal

Here is our feast (minus 3 people): Family and Air Force family.