Christmas Countdown

The kids all have been excitedly counting down to Christmas for about a month now, marking the days off the dry erase calendar that hangs in our kitchen and working their way through a wooden Advent calendar over the mantel.  As AJ eyed the calendar today he said "Hey!  Christmas is only four days away!  I think it's time to throw away all of the good food to make room for more junk food--cookies, candies, ice cream, cake!"  Not sure exactly where he got the idea that Christmas is a big junk food fest.  Based on the level of adrenaline running through the house this time of year, I am certain that the last thing my kids need is more sugar!

Lunchtime Conversation

This blog is the place where I am recording some of the little things the kids say that I want to share with them when they are older.  At lunch today, AJ announced to the table that there are only two shopping days left until Christmas.  As I was trying to figure out where he had heard that one (at school?  in an ad before a Youtube clip of Transformers?), AJ leaned over and whispered to me that we still need to get daddy a Christmas gift and he thought daddy would like a Bears hat and a Bears jersey because that is daddy's favorite team.  I whispered back "Good idea!  Let's talk more about that later.  Remember, gifts are a secret!" Not two seconds later, the boy who must drink truth serum with his morning OJ announced loudly "Daddy, I want to get you a Bears hat and a Bears jersey for Christmas because the Bears are your favorite team!  I like the Dallas Cowboys."   David promptly chimed in with "I like Batman!" and Julia, without missing a beat said "I like Elmo!" and grinned as she looked around the table, proud of her contribution to the conversation.  I groaned and said "AJ, remember how you are supposed to keep gifts a secret?!"  It was a step forward for our family, though--rather than parallel talking where one kid blurts out their thoughts and the next blurts out something unrelated, everyone's comments here were at least relatively on point.

We Braved the Mall

Somewhere around the time I had kids, I decided I was done with the mall at the holidays.  Just the parking alone was enough to send me over the edge, and once I wrangled a kid or three through the crowds, it just wasn't fun.  For the last three or four years, I have done nearly 100 percent of my holiday shopping online.  It creates a big stack of boxes to deal with and the returns are a bit of a pain, but other than that, I think it is great.

So when AJ started talking about going to see Santa back at the end of November, I cringed.  A session on Santa's lap is one of the few things I cannot get on Amazon.  The only place I know of where the guy reliably appears this time of year with time to listen to kids' wish lists is at the mall.  I didn't say anything about it again to him, but when we started putting holiday plans on the December calendar on the dry-erase board we keep in our kitchen, AJ kept bringing it up and was so excited about it that I decided I needed to get over myself and brave the mall.  And what better time than mid-afternoon on a Sunday three weeks before Christmas?  It happened to have dropped 30 degrees here this weekend making it a winter hat/coat/gloves required event, which only adds to the hassle.  We made it through all of that to the end of a line that stretched outside the Santaland only to have AJ proclaim he needed to use the bathroom.  I was by myself with the kids so we left our place in line and returned 15 minutes later to find the line longer than it had been before.  But we survived it all and even managed to get this picture to show for it.

AJ and David insisted on submitting a joint request to Santa claiming that they "will share everything!" and asked for a Transformer Bruticus, a cookie ("that we will split in half!") and an ipad that they don't have to share with mommy and daddy.  I keep telling them that Santa only brings toys, not computers, but this doesn't seem to be getting through.  Julia only wanted to ask Santa for one thing--trains!  I love that she has big brothers to inspire her play.

My favorite part of waiting in line (if there is such a thing) was when AJ asked me if Santa was God's other son.  I love how the mind works at this age and how it reminds me that things which appear obvious to us as adults have to be figured out by kids with their quirky and fascinating minds.

The Play-Doh King

A certain someone has been enamored with play doh lately.  I have to admit that I truly don't mind spending an hour doing things like this. 

Blankies

I decided this blog would not be complete without a posting of the kids' beloved blankies.  Five years ago (!) I wrote a post about what I thought might become AJ's lovie at the time, blue dog.  Let's just say I have no idea where blue dog is today, but we absolutely cannot make it through the day unless we know exactly where AJ's beloved polka dot blankie is.  This is one of three swaddling blankets I bought with different prints back when AJ was a baby, and the one with the polka dots and stars had by far the loudest print.  Perhaps that is what caught his eye and made it his favorite.  I was fortunate enough to come across a second one with an identical print somewhere around the time AJ turned two and it became clear this was a favorite, so we have the original polka dot blankie and its stunt double, the backup.

The polka dot blankie has been through a lot with AJ.  The original looks like it went through a shredder.  At one point, Joe even told AJ he had sent the blanket to the cleaners in Chicago.  It stayed in the backseat of Joe's car for several weeks while AJ had to make do with the backup-but-far-less-superior polka dot blankie.    Joe hoped AJ would forget about the original.  I can't remember how how or why it made a re-appearance, but when it did AJ must have forgotten how ragged it really was, because he immediately exclaimed "well the cleaners really tore up my blankie and ripped it all to shreds!"  But it was welcomed home nonetheless.

David and Julia have also become attached to blankets.  After seeing AJ's affection for his blanket, we bought three blankets each for David and Julia, and they rotate their love between any of the three but always ask for one when they are upset, riding in the car or ready for bed.  It is a common refrain around here to hear "my blankie! my blankie!"  It is sometimes said lovingly, sometimes with a wail but always with a deep love and desire to be comforted.  I am curious to figure out when AJ no longer needs or seeks out his polka dot blankie and think I will be a little bit sad when that day comes.

Wish List

Tonight Davey asked for paper and markers, and it quickly became apparent that he had seen someone, probably one of his teachers, working on a wish list for the holidays. He said "It has been a long year and I have been waiting so patiently and I would really like (taps pen to his lips)...ice cream!"  He repeated his same schtick over with each new item, and so far the list for Santa also includes a cookie, cake, jelly beans, and a tree.  And then came the biggie...an iPad.  I told him Santa only gives little boys toys, not $700 computers.  Hey, a kid can wish I guess.  Here are some shots of his list:

Ice cream

Cookie

Tree

iPad

Leader of the Pack

David's preschool director called me the day after the Halloween parade to tell me that he took to the spotlight during the costume parade.  Apparently all of the other preschool kids got a little shy when it came time to sing the Halloween songs in front of the big kids from the elementary school, but not David.  He was enthusiastically belting out the tunes and calling out other titles to sing.  He has always been a little ham.

My favorite part of seeing David dress up at school was his infatuation with one of his classmates, Miss N.  When we were walking into school, David started asking me "Where is N.?  Where is N.?  Is N. here today?"  I had no idea who he was talking about.  Once in his classroom, David continued to ask for N., until the girl in the long pink wig pictured above entered the room dressed as Strawberry Shortcake, prompting David to call out loudly for all to hear "I love you, N.!"  Not sure whether the flowing pink hair inspired his declaration of love or whether he is this enamored on a daily basis.  He has lately started to refer to her as his best friend.

Big Happy Jack

I wrote about our original Happy Jack carved with Papa back in 2010 here, and we were delighted when Papa and Grandma came for a visit a week ago and imported the biggest carving pumpkin we have ever known from Chicago.  Like a Chicago Superfan from the old Saturday Night Live sketch, this pumpkin was larger than life. This guy gets the title Big Happy Jack.  It is going to be a hard one to top in 2013, Papa.  We had several trick-or-treaters admiring it.

Ladybug

What a difference two years make!  Here is Julia on Halloween three days after she was born and then again two years later.

Little Goblins

Here was the joke that AJ and David told this year during trick-or-treat:

AJ: What comes out at night and goes flap, flap, chomp, ouch!
David: A bat with a cavity!

By about the 15th house, they got their delivery down smoothly.  AJ has a stutter and was tripping over his words out of his excitement and then often cut David off before he could deliver the punch line.  At one of the earlier houses, it went something like this:

AJ: What-what-what-what comes-comes-comes out at-at-at-at night and-and-and-and goes flap-flap-boo!-boo!--ouch?  David will answer, David? (Too excited, doesn't wait for David, just blurts out the answer.) A bat with a cavity!....
(5 seconds pass)
Homeowner looks at David, seems confused and says well, go ahead and take some candy...
David: A bat!
Homeowner: Well, that was quite an effort there.  Nicely done. 

I love how people are so generous and humor the kids around here on Halloween.  I answered the door tonight for several trick-or-treaters, and you really are rooting for the kids to pull off their jokes.  My mom answered the door at our house for us while we took the kids around, and she reported her favorite joke was "Why does the coach go to the bank? Answer: To get his quarter back."  Get it?  Quarter back...quarterback?  Ba-doom-doom-chick.

Happy Halloween from our Little Goblins to yours! 

Miss Two

Well, Little Miss Two made her first appearance today, and she was excited that it was her birthday.  "It's MY birthday!" she said several times and started singing "happy birthday to Julia!" We had a nice, low-key day with a breakfast out with Grandma Julie followed by an outing to the zoo and ending with dinner at a local Mexican restaurant with Pops and Susan followed by cake.  One of the sweetest moments of the day was when we called Grandma Francie and Papa on Skype after Davey fell asleep and had Julia open her birthday present, a baby doll, while they watched.  She was very excited about the doll and said some sweet "tank you"s and "I love you, Papa! I love you, Grandma!" Skype can sometimes be chaotic when we try to get three kids to talk at once while crowded into the same chair around the computer, so I liked the moment with just her in the chair.  It was actually possible to hear the conversation on both ends and there was much less interrupting.

Julia at two is so much fun. She is very sweet and loving but also quite fiesty with her brothers and can certainly hold her own.  In the past three months or so the independence of the twos has been creeping up as she starts to assert her own opinion and often says "I do it myself!" Sometimes when someone suggests doing something ("Let's play dolls" or "Let's get out the play-dough"), she responds by saying "no, no, no" very dismissively while shaking her head and then says loudly "I don't WANT to do play-dough."  It's like she's thinking she can't believe someone would suggest something so ridiculous.  In addition to wants, she has also started to assert needs, like tonight when she said "I want the dolly..." followed by "I NEED the dolly" when it didn't come out of its package fast enough.

Julia is also a bit of a tomboy.  She loves to play with all of her brothers toys, especially Thomas trains and legos, and her current three favorite books are the Trucks, Trains and Boats books from the Barton series.   However, she has some girlie girl in her, because her favorite colors are pink and purple and she seeks out the pink plate, pink bowl and pink cup at every mealtime.

The photos below are of Julia while we sang Happy Birthday to her.  She started off liking the signing and then toward the end decided not so much.

And They're Off!

A little late in posting, but the boys officially started preschool in September.  They go in the afternoons following a morning at daycare.  And those shoes just won't stay tied.

Dave + Kim

Flower girl

Davey's dance moves (note Julia's skepticism)

One of the few times AJ smiled while wearing a tie

Donuts!

Dave + Kim

 

Relieved that their official wedding duties are complete

Dave + Kim got married!  9.16.2012.  It was lovely with brunch, champagne and a beautiful outdoor courtyard, not to mention a gorgeous, happy couple. 

We had the pleasure of seeing Dave and Kim evolve from a college couple to professionals graduating from medical school during our time in Chicago and were so fortunate to have them around when our kids were tiny.  They were at the hospital visiting back when AJ was born and have fielded many medical questions ever since (usually over family dinners no less!) about rashes, ear infections and tummy aches.  I especially love that they are foodies and live vicariously through their reports of new restaurant openings.  Kim brings the best homemade mini cheesecakes to family celebrations and Dave is one of those awesome dinner guests who doesn't sit down until the dishes are all done.

Congrats and welcome to the family, Aunt Kim!

Apple Watching

We did our sort-of-annual apple picking expedition this year and the kids loved it even though there were no apples to pick due to a spring frost that hit Iowa, Illinois and Michigan.  It was more of an apple watching trip. The yield was 20% of the normal crop, so the orchards have all decided to have their workers pick the apples to make sure they get everything they can rather than letting people wander through to pick their own. The orchard owner where we went did let us walk out into the orchard with the kids so that we could show them the trees, and they managed to find a few rotten ones that had dropped to the ground that they insisted on taking home with us in the minivan.  It smelled like fermenting apples the next morning when I cleaned it out.

Fortunately for us, it was one of those apple orchards that has also added the kid magnet activities like a giant apple slingshot, water pump duck races, mini pedal tractors, a petting zoo and (perhaps the favorite) a giant sandbox filled with corn.  It was 90+ degrees the day we went and the cornbox was inside a shed with a roof to keep the sun off, so we spent a good chunk of time in there as the kids used buckets and shovels to dig themselves silly.  The smell of the corn reminded me of being on the farm where I grew up, as did the root/storm cellar with the walnut tree on top of it that was exactly like the one we had.  The only thing missing (besides the apples, of course) were apple cider donuts.  I am still on a fall quest to find one of those...

Don't Leave With Me!

We had a glorious week-long visit from our Colorado cousins, Violet and Zoe, and it was wonderful to have our girl cousins here, plus my sister and her husband Brett.  We did some of the Iowa highlights with a trip to the state fair, some dinners at Grammy Julie's and doughnuts and swimming with Pops and Susan.  I will do several posts with pictures, but we will start with one of my favorite moments, taking the kiddos into the local little lake town where Pops lives to get donuts.  This was Violet's first donut, and Brett told her that it was like eating a cookie for breakfast.  I went to load the my kids in the car and Violet started calling out "don't leave with me!" so flustered/worried that she would be left behind and pretty sure she wanted to try these donut things.

Pops swears by the donuts at the Conoco station that are made fresh daily in the neighboring town of Jefferson.  My sister and I were both a little skeptical about the gas station donuts but decided to trust our localvore guide.  The man who ran the gas station was very friendly with the kids and let them each pick out their own.  We had planned to take them back to eat at Pops' house but didn't make it out the door before Julia had started in devouring hers and so ended up on the bench outside the gas station. Just as the kids started to ask for milk, Pops came out the door with a quart of milk and three cups.

Camp Papa & Grandma

AJ is at a pirate-themed day camp this week in Chicago and is staying with his Papa and Grandma Francie.  When we were talking about his upcoming departure, I asked him if he was excited to go and he whispered "Am I going to be coming back here when camp is done?"  Once we cleared up that this was not a permanent move and of course he was coming home again, he started to get very excited about going and told everyone who would listen about his trip to see Papa and Grandma.  We get nightly reports via Skype, and so far I am pretty sure that boy has had more fun in three days than he typically does in a month at home.  They are sitting all his favorite museums and our old library and pool, as well as trying a magic show, children's theater and the movies.  I have such good memories of my visits with my grandparents when I was little, so I am so happy that he is making his own good memories of these visits.

Need One of These

I need one of these in my kitchen to keep the boys busy while I make dinner.

Miss Mimi

Julia has been going through a personality growth spurt and I want to be sure to catch it here before I forget.  She is unofficially into her terrible twos now.  She says no to everything to express her independence--"No! No shirt!" when she isn't ready to get dressed in the morning and "No! No want!" whenever anyone attemps to put anything resembling a fruit on her tray.  This one will eat lots of green vegetables but does not like fruit.  Sadly, the girl who has loved to sleep and loves her crib has also started to struggle at bedtime wailing "no! no night night! no kib!" (crib). 

She is enthusiastic about the things she wants to do, and perhaps predictably for a third born, she does not want to be left out of anything her older brothers are up to.  When I ask the boys who wants peas for dinner, she rushes to quickly shout "me! me!" while waving two hands in the air as if to say "don't forget me, mom!"  This has lead to the name Miss Mimi for her around our house.  I hope it sticks.

Julia also picks up on a lot, and at times too much, from her brothers. She loves to stand in her chair, looking at us and laughing when she does it, daring someone to get to her before she can scoot back down and laugh. Davey has a habit lately of saying "look at me!" while he shows off his latest frog jumps or spins in a cricle, and Julia has been overheard in the past days saying "lookit me! lookit me!" as she dances around the kitchen.  Today it was "lookit me!" as she jumped in the pool.

Love for Sissy

In one of those 30% of the time moments of Davey showing his sister love and affection, I was able to capture this on film.

We're Goin' to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo...

How about you, you, you?  You can come too, too, too.  We're goin' to the zoo, zoo, zoo.

Joe was in Las Vegas this weekend at his brother's bachelor party and so my mom gamely agreed to help me take the kids bowling, to the zoo and to the pool in a 24 hour period.  The zoo was my favorite of the three.  We heard the monkey chattering away with some crazy hoots and other noises and did a second trip through the parakeet exhibit where they let you feed the birds.  AJ is in that phase where he thinks it is funny to talk about poop, so there was also way too much discussion about different animals' excretions.  When I asked him later that night what his favorite part of the day was, he said "watching the giraffe pee!"  Of course it was.