Library luncheon, Christmas Parade and Ward Christmas Party

Last Friday was the annual Christmas luncheon for all the library volunteers. I missed it last year, but in past years I have gone with James. I took both boys with me this time and I was impressed by how well they did! The food and entertainment didn't even start until 30 minutes after we got there, but they just played and walked around the room saying hi to everyone. I had a talk with James before we got there about how he wouldn't be able to run around the room while we were there. I told him that if he needed to run around, he should tell me that he needed a break and that we would go outside so that he could run around. After about 15 minutes, he turned to me and said, "Mommy, I need to go outside now". We went right outside and after some running back and forth he was ready to back inside to eat. The entertainment was this fun volunteer singing group that raises money for the local hospital. They sang a bunch of oldies and danced along with silly props and costumes. James loved it!

I tried to get Rett to make it all the way through their performance, but after an hour and 15 minutes they were still going! It was way past Rett's nap time, so we tiptoed out a few songs before they were done. I went prepared to leave almost immediately depending on how the boys were, so I was so happy that I was able to stay for almost 2 hours!

The next day was our town's Christmas parade. Last year I discovered how much candy is involved with going to a parade, so I mentally prepared myself for James on sugar overload. I wasn't sure how patient Rett was going to be either. He can't stand sitting still for very long now that he can walk around. He wants to do what the big kids are doing! Luckily, they both did really well. James really wanted to be in the stroller, so I moved Rett to James' chair. They both looked so cute sitting there.

I've never noticed so many cars with reindeer antlers and Rudolph noses until this year. James points them out all the time and he was really excited to see a police car with one!

The marching bands were so fun to watch. James loved the drums and the trumpets.

A man from one of the floats walked up to James and gave him this dartboard toy. I told him to hold it up for me, but all he would do was put it behind his back :)

Later that night was our ward's Christmas party. To be honest, I was not looking forward to it that much. Ward parties have gotten soooo difficult with our kids! They both won't eat, so while we are trying to eat, they are running around, getting into trouble or crying and whining. I tried to come prepared with a game plan to see if things could be a little more enjoyable. I fed the boys before we came, so we didn't worry about getting them any food. Which was a good thing, because James decided his plate and utensils were a drum set! His friend, Kaemon, from nursery wanted to copy everything he did, so we had our own set of drummer boys.

Rett joined in too!

After we ate, Anthony and I had a small part in the entertainment. We dressed up as Mary and Joseph while someone sang "Silent Night". I planned on bringing a doll to be baby Jesus, but I totally forgot, so we used Rett. At 21 pounds, he was the chunkiest baby Jesus ever!

After a few songs from the choir, Santa made his grand entrance. James got a little impatient waiting his turn and had to go to time out for a little bit. While he was gone with Anthony, I sat with Rett on Santa's lap. He still didn't enjoy it.

 James made it back from time out in time to get his turn on Santa's lap. Each time he has visited Santa this year, he has kind of clammed up and only managed one word answers to Santa's questions. So unlike him! Usually we can't get him to stop talking! He still said that he wanted an airplane for Christmas. I asked him later that night what kind of airplane he wanted. He said he wants a big one that we can all sit in, that magically gets smaller so that it can go out our front door and then gets bigger so that we can fly away in it...Uhhhh...hmmm. I told him that kids can't fly airplanes, that only grown ups can and that you need a license. He said he would just use my license.

Then he started talking about his airplane while rubbing Santa's belly. I guess he liked the softness of his coat, but it was pretty funny!

We tried for a picture with just the boys. This is the best we could get.

Right after this, a huge snowball fight started between everyone with soft fabric snowballs. The bishopric, the older women in our ward, the kids, everyone was throwing them back and forth. It was so funny! James liked it, but he was a little overwhelmed and just wanted to watch.

While everyone was throwing snowballs, Anthony and one of his fishing buddies from church decided to sit on Santa's lap and ask for a new boat for Christmas. I'm not sure Anthony has been good enough for Santa to grant that wish ;)

Early December Fun

On the 1st of December we had our very first visit from the Elf on the Shelf! I bought one on clearance after Christmas a couple of years ago and this year I thought James would actually understand and enjoy it. We had been talking for awhile about an elf coming to visit us that would be our very own elf, so it wasn't a total surprise when he arrived. We spent the night before he came decorating the Christmas tree, so the elf's first spot was on the curtain rod near the tree.

In the morning James found him and we sat down to read the book that tells you all about him.

When we got to the part where you give him a name, we gave James some suggestions. We told him the names of his cousins' elves and some of the ideas in the book. He insisted, "His name is James!". So we responded, "He is going to be James too?". James came back with, "No! He will be James 3!" He hasn't deviated from that decision since. His name is now "Elfie James 3".

The book explains that you aren't supposed to touch the elf because that will make him lose his magic and he won't be able to fly to the north pole. We talked about that a few times and James understood it. A day or so later we were driving in the car and James asked me, "Mommy, can I shake Santa's hand?". I said, "Of course you can!". He replied, "But, then he will lose his magic!" You can't get anything by this kid! He notices everything and will point out any discrepancies. We already had to explain to him about all of the different Santas being Santa's helpers because he notices all of their differences.

We haven't done anything too creative with our elf. He just basically moves around the house...or sometimes really likes a certain spot so he stays there for two days in a row ;) The second day, he hung around on our ceiling fan:

 The next day he turned some of James' cars and trucks into reindeer. James was actually not very happy about it when he found it. He insisted that I fix all of his cars right away.

One morning he brought James a tiny bag of candy with a note saying that he likes how good James has been. James will ask me all the time what the elf is looking at, or why he picked a certain spot. I think tomorrow he will be bringing the ingredients for making Christmas cookies, so that will be fun!

The city has a little park downtown called Christmas park and every year Santa visits a little house there so kids can come and sit on his lap (for free!). Last Saturday we decided to go to the park and then walk over there. I looooove that there are never any lines to see him. James was pretty much the only kid there, so Santa talked to him for a long time. He asked him a lot of questions, but James could only manage one word answers. He was so distracted by all the lights and decorations in the little house! He did say that he wants a big airplane for Christmas.

 Rett was fine with Santa, as long as he was sitting in the stroller, watching him from a distance.

 As soon as I put him on Santa's lap, it was instant hysterics! My favorite are Santa's eyes. He looks like he wants to escape!

Whenever I ask James what he wants to do today, he almost always yells, "The beach!". I pretty much never want to go because it is so much work! Getting everyone dressed, packing stuff in the bag, carrying everything from the car and then back again when we leave, not to mention cleaning up all the sand. It is exhausting! Finally I gave in and we went one afternoon. It was our first trip since Rett started walking and he had a blast exploring every inch of that beach!

James found a friend as soon as we got there and he played with him the entire time. His parents had built a large sand mountain with a moat, so the boys were running back and forth filling their buckets in the waves and then dumping it in the trench. They didn't even notice that the water always absorbed, they were having too much fun running around!

At one point, Rett climbed into the trench and tried to scale the sand mountain. He has no fear when it comes to climbing on things! I still can't believe it when he climbs to the slide on the park and then goes down it by himself. Isn't he still a tiny baby?? I finally got a video of him doing it the other day. Notice I don't touch him at all.

With both of the boys running and climbing now, life is a lot more exhausting, but still really fun :)

Thanksgiving 2014

We had so much fun during our Thanksgiving holiday this year! I decided to do all the cooking so that I could make a few things ahead and plan everything early. It made the actual day so relaxing! I only had to put together a few dishes, warm everything up, and Anthony cooked the turkey on the rotisserie. Thursday morning after everyone got up and dressed, we decided to postpone cooking for a few hours and go dock fishing instead. It was so beautiful outside, it was worth having our feast a few hours late.

James fished with his toy pole very intensely and seriously while we were there. He would cast it out into the water, wait for a fish to bite his "lure" (the big yellow plastic fish on the end of his line), and then reel it in. He was disappointed every time he didn't catch anything and would say, "Ohh man!!"

Rett watched boats and ate snacks in the stroller while we fished. At one point I saw some goldfish crackers floating by the fishing poles and realized that Rett must have dumped some into the water. He wanted to participate somehow!

We had a hard time catching anything, even little bait fish. Anthony did end up catching a pig fish and James thought it was so funny how it grunts like a pig!

After we got home from fishing, we got everything cooked and ready for some good eating. I tried dry brining the turkey this year and it was delicious!

The next morning we took advantage of a November special on Kennedy Space Center tickets and drove down for a visit. James is really into space and rockets right now, so we knew he would love it. Getting him dressed and out the door was a challenge though. He didn't want to wear long pants because of the way they touched his legs, but it was cold outside. After going through multiple pairs of pants and many meltdowns, he finally agreed to a pair of thermal rocket ship pajamas. Shoes were just as difficult so there was a lot of sass and attitude once we finally got into the car.

Rett is finally holding his own bottles now and it is soooo nice! It saves us so much time to not have to sit down and try to convince him to drink. Now he can put it down and come back to it whenever he wants.

First we explored the rocket garden that is directly after the entrance. James was cold (of course because he refused to wear real clothes!!) so I gave him my sweater. He looked pretty funny wearing an oversized sweater, pajama bottoms, socks, and crocs.

He loved being able to climb up and sit in the different shuttles around the garden. He said he was "blasting off to the last planet!"

We spent the majority of our time exploring the Atlantis building. There was so much to see and do! James loved that you walk under rocket boosters and the fuel tank to get into the building. 

First you go into a big room where they show you a video of the history of building a reusable space shuttle. Then you move into a room where there are screens all over the ceiling and the walls and you watch videos of launches. Then the wall opens up to the room with the actual space shuttle Atlantis!

James loves the rockets at the end of the shuttle. He gets so excited that the fire comes out of there.

They had a tall clear tunnel that you can crawl through that is suspended on the ceiling. I thought for sure that James would be nervous about it, but I don't think he even noticed that he was so far off the ground.

He only spent a few minutes in the tunnel because all he could see was this cool looking slide across the room! It is supposed to simulate sliding off the shuttle after landing. He went down it multiple times!

Anthony's parents watched the kids while Anthony, Daniel, and I went on the launch simulator. It was fun, but a little bit of a let down because they constantly repeated how dangerous and extreme it is. I was prepared for something really wild, but it was not scary at all. It would have been fine if they hadn't talked it up so much!

Saturday morning Anthony and Daniel went fishing. They didn't have too much luck, but they were able to catch a few keepers.

I stayed home with the boys and tried to keep them entertained after having two days of nonstop fun. Rett got food all over his shirt, so I just took it off and let him go around topless. I love watching his little Buddha belly!

After the boys got back from fishing, Anthony and Rett stayed home while Daniel, James, and I braved the mall. Daniel had some shopping he wanted to do and I had an old train ticket I thought James would like to use. The train operator was on break by the time we finally made it across the mall, but it was a good thing because while we were waiting I noticed James making a funny face...I asked him what he was doing and he said he was pooping! We quickly raced to the bathroom and thankfully made it there in time. It was his first time going #2 in a public restroom, so it was an interesting experience. In the end I was really proud of him for adapting to the situation (like the toilet seats being too big for him) and handling it like a big kid. Of course, Mr. Talks-Non-Stop had a running commentary of questions and observations about the bathroom and the other people in it the entire time we were in there!

Finally we made it back to the train and he got to ride it all by himself for the first time because I was too cheap to buy another ticket when I already had one for him :)

On the way home from the mall, my brother spotted this hummer and started yelling at me to get my camera out. Apparently they stopped for gas and then drove away without taking the pump out of their gas tank. I felt a little bad for laughing hysterically while taking a picture of it as we drove by, but I hope they got a little chuckle out of it too :)

The last day of our relaxing vacation, much to Anthony's excitement, he discovered a baby seahorse in his tank! It is soooo tiny. Just looking in the tank he looks like a little speck floating in the water. Usually they have lots of babies at once, so Anthony is a little baffled by there being just one but it is still exciting. We don't know if he is going to live, but it is fun to check on him every day!