Her Most Prized Possession

My mom has a lavish Snow Village that literally encompasses their entire dining room. It takes her and my dad two full days to set everything up - it has dozens of homes, businesses, lights, a train that goes through a mountain, roads, trees, snow, automobiles, people, an ice rink with skaters, sledders, a singing choir, and a lurking Santa that she hides each year for us to find. It has taken her years to acquire all these pieces and it brings her great joy to have it on display each year.


BUT....


That is not her most prized possession that is on display at Christmas.


This is:





Oh yes, this nativity scene has two contributors: my brother Aaron and myself. We both had the same 3rd grade teacher and this was the Christmas art project. My mom combined our two scenes to make one and has been setting this up every Christmas for the past 20 + years.


Well, as you can see from the evidence above, neither of us are artistic - AT ALL. I used to cry when we had art time in class because I was a perfectionist, but not artistically gifted, so it was torture for me. Aaron, as an adult, doesn't even want to play Pictionary and tries to wad up his drawings so we won't laugh at him.


So let's get to the analysis of who did what:

Hint: to enlarge, click on pic (please, you gotta get a close up of ole greenie there on the right)



This would be Aaron's depiction of Mary & Joseph...a little something we like to call "Have Yourself a Chernobyl Christmas." He actually poked a pencil in their faces to make the eyes which gives them that scary, hollowed out look. I will give him props though on the snazzy pin-stripe look. And since his Mary and Joseph were...let's just say rather ambiguous, my mom reclassified them as the shepherds.




And here are my versions of Mary and Joseph, albeit non-shalacked and rather like dough people. I just noticed that my Joseph looks like a creepy flasher guy due to the way I "designed" his cloak. And Mary...what can I say? Her face is a mess. Can you imagine how much pressure I was under? I mean, we didn't even have small, fine bristled paint brushes to work on the facial features. One wrong swoop with the one size fits all paintbrush and the face is ruined - why didn't I think of using a pencil?

Now I will have to give credit to Aaron for the baby Jesus. You can't tell much from the picture but he did a nice job. There is an obvious face on a head and the appearance of a swaddling going on while lying in a manger. Since for some reason the shalacking part was non-existent the year I made my scene, my baby Jesus was nothing more than a rolled up ball of dough. And then I went and painted it bright yellow...and my family called it Big Bird's Egg. No face, no distinguishing characteristics, just the classic: take the playdough and roll it back and forth on the table until it forms a ball. And then I mashed it out some to make it more oval like - OK, fine - more egg like. I took great offense to the mocking of my baby Jesus hence the reason Aaron's is the one on display.

I remember when we were younger that we would beg my mother not to display our Nativity Scene. And each year, she would tell us: "But I love it because you made it." And after stashing Wy's "art projects" from the past year, I totally get that. I must have 14 versions of some kind of project involving his hand print. And I can't bear to part with any of them. So thanks Mom for not listening to our whining and complaining over the years and for displaying our unique, one of a kind Nativity Scene.

P.S. The sheep and the cow were compliments of our crib mobile that we had when we were babies.

P.S.S. Not sure why Matt doesn't have one of these - he was probably smart enough not to bring it home in the first place.

Thank Goodness it is Photo Friday...

'cause you know I got some photos!!!

We had a WONDERFUL Christmas this year. We focused more on family and less on gifts although you can't tell it from the toys stacked up around here. We spent Christmas Eve with my side of the family - the wild side with 16 of us present this year. Then we had Christmas morning together as a family. Thankfully I was able to get Wyatt down for a good nap that afternoon before going to the IL's that evening. J deep fried a turkey for the first time and it was delicious! And, no offense to my dad or MIL, but I had the BEST sweet potato casserole ever that J's Aunt Jane made. We are a truly blessed family and I am looking forward to all that 2009 brings us! Now to the pics...

Before Church on Sunday:


Sunday lunch with 5 of his cousins:


Christmas Eve:


With my brothers and sisters-in-law


Christmas Day:

"You Be Marewee"

A couple of months ago I started reading Wyatt a children's version of the Christmas Story - it wasn't too complicated but it told the true story of the night Jesus was born - plus there were cute barn animals. In fact, for awhile, he was much more concerned about why the cow wasn't on page 10 than about the actual story. We certainly didn't read it every night but it usually made it into his pile of books a couple of times a week at least.

So last night Wyatt handed me his favorite "blue blank" and said "Here, you be Marewee." He handed J a pillow and said "You be Jofuf" (not sure how a pillow makes him Joseph - he may have him confused with the man in the red suit?) and he held up his favorite teddy bear and said "this is baby Jesus".

So I asked him "Well, who are you?" And he said "I be the Angel" and held his arms above his head almost like when you do the "A" in YMCA...not that I am doing that much these days. But anyway, here is Marewee, Baby Jesus, and the Angel. Notice the grip the Angel has on baby Jesus.




Here is Wyatt laying in the manger with baby Jesus who is now swaddled in Marewee's head wrap. The Angel knows how to make do with the supplies you have!

A Baby Changes Everything

I do love this time of year. I love the lights, the decorations, the Christmas cards, the need for hot coffee from Starbucks (OK, so that is pretty much year round), the family gatherings, the faces of happy children, and for a couple of weeks, I love to listen to Christmas music. I like the traditional songs the best - such an old soul am I - but this year, I have a new favorite - a song by Faith Hill entitled "A Baby Changes Everything." I get chills every time I listen to it.

I will admit that I never really thought too much before about Mary's perspective on becoming the mother of Jesus. Then I heard this song and it made me stop and really think about how she must have felt. These were the facts that she was going to have to try to convince everyone to believe. She was just a teenager - Check. She wasn't married - Check. She was still a virgin and also carrying the Son of God. Hmm, these days they would have slapped a 5150 hold on her faster than you can say Britney Spears!

Of course she had fears and doubts about the plan that God had chosen for her. After all, she was only human. And my guess would be that she wasn't worried about health insurance, where to buy maternity clothes, and what the nursery theme should be. So this Christmas, while my focus will be on the gift of life through Jesus, I will also be remembering Mary and her faithfulness in serving as the Earthly mother to our Savior and King. Merry Christmas!

Wordless Wednesday...and a Weary Woman

This photo was taken while my naughty little boy was sitting on his Time Out Chair (TOC).

Disclaimer:
The majority of the time, my son is a very sweet, loving, funny, energetic, and obedient little boy. But, that isn't nearly as "entertaining" to write about.

So, without further ado, other "Weary Moments" not captured on film:

A day prior to the above incident, I found Wyatt hiding in the bath tub surrounded by toilet paper. He had taken a roll into the tub and pulled all the sheets off. We were not going to waste perfectly good toilet paper just because it wasn't on the roll. So I gathered it all together and put it in a little basket next to the potty while Wy was on his TOC. That lasted one whole day and then he decided to put all of it in the potty.

Another day I found him on top of the washing machine. He had pushed a laundry basket to the front of it and climbed up to get to the top. I keep the Tide powder on a cart between my washer and dryer. He was sitting on the washer with the Tide lid opened and he had his feet buried in the powder. When I saw what he was doing, I shouted "Wyatt - no!". He quickly pulled his feet out of the powder while he turned around which scattered powder EVERYWHERE. Do you know how hard it is to get up every little pellet of Tide powder? I'd say harder than raw eggs.

This morning he opened up a drawer of a storage container that I keep under my bathroom counter. He pulled out a Batman slipper which I did not know was in there. In fact, I hadn't seen those slippers in several days. So I pulled out the other drawers looking for its match. I asked Wy where he put the other slipper and he said "in the trash can in the kitchen." Well, all the trash in the house went out to the curb on Monday morning so my guess is that the other Batman slipper is now RIP at the county dump.

Had enough? Yeah, me too. Not sure where I went wrong but I can't seem to keep him out of trouble these days. After he did the first toilet paper incident, I was having a pretty stern conversation with him. I asked him "Who do you think is in charge? Mama or Wyatt?"

And you know what he said?


Without hesitation?


"Bee-Bee (Phoebe)."

Party of Five...for the night

Two of Wyatt's cousins spent the night with us on Friday night: Emma, who is 6, and David Aaron (DA), who is 4. This was the first time that Wyatt has had company over to spend the night. He was so excited when they got in the car and he wasn't stuck in the back on his own like usual. For those of you with more than one child, even though I am sure it is tougher in many ways, be thankful that your children have each other. As much as Wyatt loves us, it just isn't the same playing trucks with mom versus getting to play with another child. He was beaming the entire time they were with us.

We took them to Cheeburger, Cheeburger for dinner. I experienced a "potty break" with 2 boys in the ladies room on my own for the first time. Interesting conversation, let's just leave it at that. When I got back to the table with them, Emma had discovered that she liked, no loved, onion rings and she and J had polished off a basket of them.

First stop on the way home was Movie Gallery - I went in alone (loading and unloading 3 kids - not so much) and scored the last "Horton Hears a Who." I called J on his cell to have him ask them if they had seen the movie and I hear him ask: "Hey Emma, have y'all seen 'Horton Hears a Hoot?'" Poor J - did they not have Dr. Suess books at Huntland Elementary?

Stop number 2 was Publix where J ran in to get some ice cream. While he was inside, they all decided they needed to go to the bathroom. With Wyatt, you can't afford to wait too long so I just took them all in with me to the "Family Bathroom." There was just the one potty with no stall so there was alot of "don't look; turn around" type comments.

On the way home (how come you live so far away Mimi?) the conversation turned towards Christmas. We were having the standard "what do you want" conversation when little Emma said the sweetest and the truest thing I have heard out of a 6 year old's mouth. And I made sure to repeat it to myself several times so I could get it right for the blog.

Emma said: Do you know what the 2 best things are that we get for Christmas? God's word and His Love.

Emma has already announced to everyone that she plans to be a missionary and I think she is on the right career path.

The kids camped out on the living room floor but Wyatt got kicked off the island b/c he would NOT settle down. I managed to get a few pics of DA on Saturday morning while they were playing trucks. Emma loves to take "silly pictures" on my computer so I am posting a few of those too. Thanks for spending the night with us DA and Emma Bean - Wyatt had such a great time playing with you.


DA:





Emma:


Emma's silly pics:




DA & Emma:

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

Well, we needed a little extra Christmas cash this year so we've been performing at the local "chitchen bon" (see 'You Know You Live in the Country...' post) to earn some extra dough. Mama needs a new pair of shoes! We are the most popular act as even our canine companion in all her elderly glory can boogie with the best of us. Enjoy!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Hi, My Name is Emily, and I am a Facebook-aholic.

Now everyone say together: Hi, Emily

So I joined Facebook and it is addicting to say the least. And it drives me crazy b/c I know I haven't figured out everything that I can do so I keep playing around on it trying to figure it all out. But. Miss Social that I am (ha), is actually "reconnecting" (told you I drank the Kool Aid - I don't use words like that typically) with so many people that I haven't "talked" to in years - even people I went to elementary school with. So I have been neglecting my blog but hope to carve out some time to work on it soon. Since it is after midnight and my sweet little prince will be up in about 6 - 7 hours, I am choosing sleep at this time. But I promise to post soon. They are supposed to break ground today so I hope to scoot over there and get some pictures. And of course there is the exciting grocery trip and dentist appointment that is also on my to do list for today. And dinner with 2 of my good friends after getting in some Christmas shopping. So today is shaping up to be jam packed already. Will post soon.

Should I drink the Kool Aid?

OK, I need to know. How many of you are on Facebook? I have a friend who keeps telling me I need to "join" or whatever. I think I may be the last person on Earth not to be on it.

If it takes a lot of time to keep updated then I am gonna have to pass. That is why I had to break up with MySpace. So tell me what you think about it if you...Facebook, or if you are a member, or whatever the appropriate lingo is.

Thanksgiving Recap

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving holiday. We celebrated Wednesday night with my big ole family - 17 of us at this point and we will be up to 18 when little Clara arrives. Wyatt has 8 cousins and most of those are under the age of 6 so it is always noisy, chaotic, messy, etc. but there is never a dull moment.

This is Chloe, the baby of the family. She will be 2 on Christmas. She is Matt and Rochelle's youngest child. This little girl LOVES her some sweets. Most Sundays she waddles back and forth between anyone who has a piece of pie, cake, ice cream - whatever the dessert of the day is. This time we had cupcakes and she was in heaven! We had to get some pictures of her and if we got too close, she would put her arm up as if to block us from getting her cupcake. It was very cute.



Jeremy, Wyatt, and I didn't have a traditional Thanksgiving day. We usually do dinner with his parents but they were out of town this year. So Jeremy worked until 3 and then we went to the Huntsville Havoc hockey game that night. It was Wy's first hockey game - he is still a little young to follow the game but there were plenty of distractions...plus he got popcorn.



I promised I would post pictures of our building project so here is a "before" picture. The little white flags are where the driveway will be. We should hear tomorrow when they will start on the foundation.



I will close this post with a big ROLL TIDE!!! I have a happy husband for another week and I just hope his blood pressure doesn't go through the roof during the AL - FL game next week!

You know you live in the country when...

I am planning on doing a Thanksgiving recap but don't have it in me tonight. So I thought I would just share this for now.

We went out for "peepa" tonight and Wyatt got a whiff of something unpleasant. He stopped eating, breathed in deeply (as though to get a better assessment of what it was), and then declared really loud for everyone to hear "Shooo-weee. I smell chitchen bon (chicken barn) poop!"

Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful...

We have entered the dreaded "it's too cold to play outside" phase. We were braving the 50 degree weather but I draw the line once we get in the 40's and below. As I type this, the temperature outside is a mere 20 degrees!

The other day I had to go outside to find Phoebe who had wandered off. Wy wanted to come with me and I told him "no" because he didn't have a coat on. He actually wasn't even dressed all the way but I just used the short and sweet "no coat, no outside." So out I went and as I was headed back to the house I saw Wyatt playing in the driveway. He had come outside in a t-shirt and his underwear - and he had draped my coat around his shoulders. No shoes, no socks, no PANTS - but he did technically have a coat on. :)

So it is time to be creative and find new and fun activities to keep us entertained inside. Please feel free to give me some suggestions or websites that have good ideas. Here is a short clip of what Wy was doing for entertainment the other night.

Random Update While Quarantined

I have been house bound all this week with the worst cold/flu death illness that I have had in a long time. So needless to say, this week has not been an easy one for anyone in our family. When Mama is down, it kinda throws everything off balance. Wyatt actually had it first this past weekend and just as he was getting better on Monday, I had it by that night. Thankfully, Jeremy has the immune system of a...well I don't know what a good comparison would be (mind you, I am medicated as I type) - let's just say he is a healthy guy and has managed to dodge this awful illness so far.

So I don't have any cute photos or stories - well, I have one I am debating on sharing - so I thought I would just update you all on some other important things going on in our lives.

Remember that thing about us building a house that we have talked about FOREVER? Well, things are finally moving with that project. We signed a contract with our builder, Ray Warner, who is licensed to build in TN. The house has been staked out and work on the foundation should begin next week. Because our property is acreage and not residential, we had to stake out where our driveway will be so that the Lincoln County Fire Department could issue us a 911/permanent address. I am going to start taking pictures of the building process and I will post updates every now and then.

Another blessing for our family is that my brother Aaron and his wife Erica have received their Letter of Acceptance from China for the little girl they are adopting. They will know in another 2 - 4 weeks when they can actually travel to China to adopt her. They will be taking their 2 boys with them and my parents will also go along for this memorable journey. I hope to post a picture of her if that is OK with Erica or you can ask to be added to their blog by sending Erica an email. Just let me know if you want that info. They are going to name her Clara You (pronounced Yo) Mei Hammond. Her Chinese name is Wei You (pronounced Way Yo) which I think is just adorable so they are going to keep part of her Chinese name to go along with her new American name. She is T -Tiny and just precious. So more to come on that in the next couple of months.

OK, so the one little line that I can remember out of this horrid week of the death flu came from who else? The beginning stage of this started out as a really bad head cold which meant the dreaded constant blowing of the nose. So Wyatt is sitting next to me in my bed looking at books. And I had to blow my nose. And not to be too descriptive, but it was a successful venture as far as nose blowing goes. You don't do it for fun, you do it b/c you HAVE to. So I give my nose a good blow and Wyatt looks at me and says: Hey Mama, do you have die-a-wee-a in your nose?
I didn't think it was possible to laugh when you felt as bad as I did but that just cracked me up. Where does he come up with this stuff?

November 4th - not just Election Day.

Tuesday was an important day. In addition to it being Election Day, it was also our 8 year wedding anniversary and picture day at Wyatt's "school." So there were lots of extras to remember that morning - voter registration card, anniversary card, and extra clothes for Wy as he was supposed to go to school dressed for pictures.

I was excited about picture day because they were doing a Christmas theme/background. Since I had to go back "to town" to take Wy's jeans back to The Children's Place (see Perfect Pumpkin Patch Day) I decided to get him a new outfit for the occasion. I think all you moms know the "I hope my child cooperates" feeling that you have on picture days. I mean, I always want him to cooperate, but you know how some days are effortless and some are a battle from the time you hear the first "Maaamaaa." It never fails that on days when there isn't really anything extra important going on, they are a dream. And on days you have more to do than you have time for, yet you still have to make it work, they buck up like no tomorrow. As I type this I already know the answer to why this is - these little ones are so perceptive and intuitive. They pick up on that "vibe" and they react accordingly. Let me add "learn how to conceal the vibe" to the top of my "to do" list.

So, the morning had gone fairly well until it was time for him to get dressed. My poor child - really, he does have nice clothes but he has a VERY casual wardrobe. I have NEVER put him in anything with smocking or monograms - that is not my style. I like people to be able to tell he is a boy. And even his church clothes are more casual hence the not being familiar with the sweater vest look that I just had to bust out on him that morning. He spotted it coming a mile away. And even though he wasn't sure what it was, he knew he didn't like it.
Wy: Mama, whas that?
Me: school clothes
Wy: Nooo, whas THAT?
Me: It's a vest
Wy: (pitch heading towards the whine) Nooo, I not like vest. (Sliver of possible tantrum starting to rear it's ugly head) I not wear vest to 'cool.
And here we go. That little, tiny, miniscule stubborn streak in me, that is so rarely seen, decided to face off with this child. So I tried to explain that it was picture day at school, blah, blah, blah and it soon turned into him trying to rip the vest off and me pulling it back on him. Hello - total waste of time. You can always make the teacher put it on him. Hindsight is 20/20.

But, in case he didn't cooperate and b/c I like to have pictures for my blog, I had already decided that I was going to take some pictures at home that morning. So, when I was already pushed for time, I took him outside in the wet grass to take pictures. Guess what? He didn't want to have his picture taken. Shocking, I know. And the icing on the cake? He slipped and fell on the porch steps and mud splattered all up the back of his only khaki pants that fit. Genius of me, huh? All I could do was deep breathe knowing that it wouldn't show and proceeded to take a few pictures before calling it quits while I was still somewhat ahead. Then I had to take him back inside the house to clean up his pants and shoes before going through the ritual of leaving for the day again.

But there was victory in the end! I got some cute pictures of him that morning, I continued learning lessons in patience, and he actually participated when it was his turn for school pictures. I saw the proofs today and they turned out great! Here are a few shots from that morning - he is a handsome little guy if I do say so myself.



Standard "I don't want to have my picture taken" expression


Right before the slip and fall


"Sorry about the mud."


"Can I lose the vest now?"


"You're finished? Really? It would be cruel to joke."

Tuck the Wonder Pet

If you have young children in your home, then you have probably seen, or at least heard of, the Wonder Pets. Wyatt LOVES this show. The Wonder Pets are made up of Linny the Guinea Pig, Ming Ming the Duckling, and Tuck the Turtle. They save other animals using TEAMWORK. Any show where the characters don't encourage your child to yell at the TV, like they are really helping, is a plus for me.

So, of course, Wyatt really wanted to be a Wonder Pet for Halloween this year and we were able to find a Tuck the Turtle costume. Halloween was easier this year as we didn't drive all over trying to hit all the family members - that is what pictures are for. We did take Wy by the IL's for pictures before going to a Trunk or Treat at his "school."






Trick or Treat



Wyatt and Mama



On his way to save the day!



Our Family with my IL's sweet dog Charlie

Perfect Pumpkin Patch Day...Eventually

I had been wanting to take Wyatt to a pumpkin patch that we missed out on last year. When you live out as far as we do from "town," you have to make the most of your trips to "town." Since the Pumpkin Patch didn't open until 2, and since "efficient" is my middle name, I added a couple of other errands to our "to do" list.

So we drive the 45 minutes to "town" (I seriously call it that) and our first stop was the mall. Wy needed new jeans and church pants so we went to The Children's Place b/c they have the pants with the adjustable waistband which skinny mini Wy needs. We had a 1:00 appt at the dealership to get my truck's oil changed so we were pressed for time. I hauled Wy off to the dressing room and found the perfect size; then handed Wy off to J for him to put his shoes and socks back on him while I grabbed a variety of styles in jeans and pants (that was my distraction method that also allowed me to grab some shirts to match.)

So, of course, we get in line behind a woman with several children and therefore she has several items to purchase. But wait, there is a disagreement about the price of a shirt that she thought was 7.99 but it rang up for 9.99. Apparently the striped version is more expensive than the solid.

J exhales loudly. Wy darts off to uncharted territory. I begin to dig in my purse for 2 bucks.

Then the lady states she wants the solid one and leaves to go find one. Ugh!

More shifting of his weight from J and me trying to coax Wy out of underneath the clothes rounders.

The lady comes back, disappointed as they didn't have her child's size.

Me: yay, move on.
Cashier: Let me have Linda check the back for you.
Me: Nnnnnooooooo. We have to get to the dealership and then out to the Perfect Pumpkin Patch day before everyone else!
J: mumbles under his breath about how Wy didn't need clothes and that floods were "in" this season.
Lady: picks up on our NOT SO SUBTLE hints and offers to let us go ahead.

Yay again - so we check out and we beep on the way out...ugh - but then again, I beeped on the way in and J said it had something to do with cell phones. So out we go: 1 thing off the list, 2 to go.

So we pull up at the dealership for our 1:00 oil change. I explain to Wy that my truck had to go the "doc" to get checked out and then we would leave. So I am thinking we should be on our way in 30 minutes which will have us to the Perfect Pumpkin Patch day right at the 2:00 opening. We do the standard sitting in the lobby chairs and I look for something that will keep Wy's attention. They had a children's Bible story book - perfect. Well it really only covered Genesis with the old school pictures of the unclothed Adam and Eve strategically placed behind trees and animals. So we flipped through that section and got to the graphic depiction of Abraham almost sacrificing his son Isaac - knife drawn and all. So much for the child friendly depictions - we look at a boating magazine instead.

Then the ultra friendly sales guy comes over with a HUGE helium filled silver balloon. Great - something for me to keep up with. And my appreciative child looks at him and says "I want a wed one." So the ultra friendly sales guy says he will see if he can find one - and I give him the "really, we aren't here to buy a new car so you don't have to waste your time sucking up to us" look and say "The silver balloon is great. Thanks."

After about 20 minutes of Wy seat hopping and whopping me in the face with his balloon, I foolishly start looking out the window for my truck. Then I see him - the ultra friendly sales guy heading our way with 2 HUGE balloons. He then hands them to Wy and explained they didn't have a red balloon but he hoped he would like the orange and black Halloween balloons. Almost apologetically like he owed my son a red balloon. Hello - I try to teach him every day that he is not entitled to everything. So now we are the annoying family in the waiting room who are bothering the extremely important people who have extremely important lives and your child and his balloons are interfering with my extremely important cell phone calls.

So outside we go with 3 HUGE helium balloons. Before we get too far, the black one pops and I feel the need to pick up the shredded pieces b/c my mom has given me a complex about litter. J decides to tie the other 2 to Wy's back belt loop. Too cute actually and effective in keeping up with him as we now walk the parking lot. I imagine the ultra friendly sales guy letting all the sales hounds know to stay away from the balloon family - he has dibs.

I know this is long but imagine how it felt to be there! There is NOTHING interesting about walking around a car lot especially with a 2 year old, balloons, and no intention of buying one. In the midst of us swapping out balloons, we lose the silver one. Seeing Wy was on the verge of a crying fit, mostly due to pure boredom, and not wanting the ultra friendly sales guy to think we needed a replacement, J told Wy an elaborate tale of the balloon going up and getting in an air plane that was up there. And the plane would drop off the balloon at our new home (Wy calls our current house "the new home" even though we have been there for 6 months). That explanation seemed to satisfy Wy and deter him from any crying. So FINALLY, after an hour and a half, we get our truck. Yay! Number 2 off the list - off to the Pumpkin Patch!

We did get there later than I had wanted to but since it was a week day, it really wasn't all that crowded. I will let the pictures speak for themselves but stay with me - I have a conclusion after the pictures.


Pictures:




Furry Friends



Corn Cob Ride





Corn Bin



Corn Maze



Cotton Bounce



Antique Fire Truck

We stayed at the Pumpkin Patch for over 2 hours before heading home. As we pulled into our driveway, a little voice piped up from the back seat and asked "where the air pwane put my hot air bawoon?" Memory like an elephant I tell ya. AND - the sales lady left one of those darn anti theft things stapled to one pair of jeans so now I get to go back to "town" just to get her to remove it!!! So much for the cell phone theory. But you know what? It was a GREAT day b/c I got to spend it with my 2 favorite guys and that in itself is more than I could ever ask for.

No Smoking Please

As most of you know, we are non-smokers. We don't have anyone in our families that smoke except for J's dad (Wy's Poppy) who does like to smoke the occasional cigar. He does not smoke in their house - only outdoors. I never really even thought to address what smoking was with Wy because HE IS ONLY 2...but apparently my perceptive little guy picked up on it.

The other day Wy had his straw from his juice box in his mouth. Every so often he would take it out and blow air.

Me: Wy, what are you doing?

Wy: 'Moking my gigar.

Excuse me? What did he just say? Let me make sure I heard him right...

Me: What did you say?

Wy: Louder and looking at me like I am the village idiot " 'MOKING MY GIGAR."

OK, so I immediately start thinking of the different ways I could respond. Do I lecture him about the dangers of smoking or just let it pass and hope he moves on to the next fad? I went with the latter and made a mental note to discuss this new found interest with the IL's i.e. thanks so much for teaching my son how to smoke.

This brings us to Tuesday. We were heading to Mother's Morning Out and I noticed Wy had his juice box straw in his mouth. We arrive and as I was putting on his socks and shoes (b/c I don't even bother putting them on before we leave b/c I got tired of doing the task twice) I ask him for the straw.

Wy hesitates and asks: Can I 'moke my gigar in the pway womb?

Me: Still working on the shoes, responds with "Do any of the other children smoke cigars in the playroom?"

Wy: No

Me: "That is because it is against the rules to smoke at school." Again, trying to keep it simple.

So Wy thinks about this for a minute and then asks "Can I 'moke my gigar outside? On the pway gwound?"

Wow - OK, this kid has an answer for everything. I am DONE discussing "moking gigars" with my 2 year old at this point and attempt to rationalize (I know, waste of time) with him by explaining to him that HE IS 2 YEARS OLD and you have to be "as old as a Poppy" to smoke. Ha - brilliant.

I silently prayed on our way in that 1) we wouldn't see someone "younger than a Poppy" smoking b/c then he would find me out and 2) that he doesn't bring up "mokin gigars" with Ms. Amy his teacher. I can just see his "Daily Report" comment: "Wyatt showed all the children in the class how to smoke cigars with the crayons. Please don't bring him back - ever."

You know, I just wasn't prepared to have this discussion yet - I had the whole smoking topic tucked away in the "uncomfortable teen conversation" category. That is the beauty of parenthood - just when you think you have it figured out, they throw you a curve ball...or a gigar.

Wednesdays with Wyatt

Jeremy, Wyatt, and I were in the car heading home after spending some time with his cousins. He played hard and did not take a nap so he was not in a very pleasant mood. Those car rides always seem to last forever. Needless to say, Jeremy had to get on to Wyatt about several things which in turn made him cry. Again...LONG DRIVE HOME.

So we get home and I carry Wyatt in to his room to try to calm him down.

Me: Various soothing phrases and rocking him in the glider.

Wy: crying

Me: thinking something else must be wrong, I ask "Wy, do you feel OK?"

Wy: NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Me: Does something hurt? (recently he has been saying his tummy hurts)

Wy: Uh huh (which means yes)

Me: What hurts?

Wy: Myyyy fee...lings...

Me: heart melts and asks "Your feelings are hurt?"

Wy: Uh huh - Dada hurt...in the car

Of course he felt better in a few minutes after we gave him some love and explained why he got into trouble...and it was a good reminder as to why he still needs to take a nap!

Better Than a Back Drop

A couple of months ago, I took Wyatt to have his picture taken at Portrait Innovations. They have a variety of backdrops and props that you can use in your pictures and you get them in about 30 minutes - nothing fancy but the pictures turned out super cute and they aren't expensive. One of the backgrounds they used was a beach scene complete with the ocean and sand. With this age, it takes lots of encouragement during the photo session and we made a big deal about him getting his picture taken at the beach. Well, bless his little heart, Wyatt thought he had been to the actual beach. He told my MIL: "I go to the beach!" and told her about how he played at the beach with the beach ball.

I decided that it was time for our first family vacation to the REAL beach and made plans for us to stay at Seaside. We had a great trip with all the usual ups and downs of traveling with a 2 1/2 year old. I think restraining them in a car seat for 7 hours is a mild form of torture even though I know it is necessary. We wouldn't have made it without the DVD player even though we were going crazy listening to the Wonder Pets save the day...over and over and over again.

Wyatt loved the ocean and the beach which I suspected he would. He definitely had more fun at the real beach and I managed to get some pictures of our fun times - enjoy!

Um... We Are Now an "Egg Free" Family

Jeremy opens our store on Saturday mornings so it is just me and Wyatt at home. This Saturday started out as usual when I heard Wyatt open his door at about 6:30. I closed my eyes knowing he would be in to get me up any second. When Wyatt did wake me up, I noticed that about 20 minutes had passed.

Me to myself: Rock on - I got an extra 20 minutes of sleep. Wy is so good about entertaining himself. Wonder what he has been doing?

Then I noticed that his little hands were ice cold.

Me: Wyatt! Your hands are ice cold! What have you been doing?

Wy: Um...I crack, crack, crack.

Me: You crack, crack, crack? What do you mean you crack, crack, crack?

Down the hall we went and this is what I found:



Now by the time I got my camera out to video this, I had already done the whole "OH NO YOU DIDN"T" speech. Seriously, I was so shocked that I actually entertained the idea that someone had broken into my house and trashed the refrigerator. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Oh Wyatt! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! What have you done?!?!?

Wy: Um...cracked the eggs.

Me: Why did you do that?

Wy: Um...they're rellow (yellow)?

I now know that 2 year olds can't answer "why" questions. You can tell in the video that he is trying his hardest to come up with an answer that matches my question.

I quickly put our geriatric dog Phoebe in our room after I noticed her lapping up the raw egg. Jeremy was quick to point out later that you can give raw egg to a dog b/c it is good for their coat. I did notice she had an unusually good hair day today.

Anyways, raw egg (especially a dozen raw eggs) is nearly impossible to get up with paper towels or a wet cloth. It is so NOT absorbent. It just kind of slides back and forth. And it stinks.

I really did make Wyatt help me clean it up. Yes, it would have been easier and faster for me to just do it myself but I was trying to teach a "life lesson". He picked up the egg shells and the shredded container (what is up with that?) and put them in the garbage bag. Then, after I mopped the floor, I let him take a wet rag and do a final wash. He ended up soaked but he was getting a bath anyways. Here are a couple of pics from that morning.


"Look what Phoebe did, Mama."


Post Clean Up

Overall, I think I handled it pretty well. Life lesson learned, no tears were shed, and it gave me an excuse to drink before noon. (I'm kidding Mom and Dad.)

Happy Days, House Closings, and Hair Cuts - Oh My!

Wow - I can't believe September is already here! August was a busy month for us: Wy started his new Mother's Morning Out program and we sold our house in New Market (yay!). We officially closed on our house last Wednesday. Roxanne Cooke with Re-Max was our agent and it only took her 3 months to get us a buyer which I thought was great! We have been busy getting bids on our new house plans. We hope to start building in the next couple of months. We are so blessed to be able to live in a home that my FIL owns so we don't have to rush the building process - even though it is in Egypt.

1st Day of "School":

Wy is going to a Mother's Morning Out program in Fayetteville two days a week. The first day he took one look at the kids in the classroom and turned around and ran down the hall. Great start, huh? Once I pried him off my neck, I left feeling awful and guilty - the typical mom things. The teacher called me later that morning though to tell me he had been playing non-stop all morning and was having a great day. By the second week, he was confidently walking back to his classroom on his own while carrying his little bag. That little mental image warms my heart every time I think about it. So of course I had to take pictures of him before we went that first day.



For some reason, he was clasping his little hands in front of him like he was praying. Probably praying that he didn't have to go. So I said "Wy, put your hands behind your back."

And this is what he did:



Have I mentioned how much this child makes me laugh? So then I told him to put his hands in his pockets since he wasn't quite grasping how I wanted his hands behind his back.


"Just gotta lift my shirt up here so I can find my pocket"


Success!

Of course J snarled up at the outfit I had chosen to put him in. He said "he looks like he is wearing something from the Baby Gap." Like that is some kind of cardinal sin or something.

So moving on....

Wy was in desperate need of a hair cut which we had been putting off as that is another activity he doesn't always want to participate in. He has this annoying habit of stating his opinions on every possible activity and most of the time, he is telling me what he is not going to do - like he has a choice or something. "No Mama, I not get my hair cut." "No Mama, I not go to Wal Mot." to which I reply, "I don't want to go to Wal Mot either but it is the ONLY place within a 30 mile radius that sells groceries so we have to." But I digress - back to the needed hair cut.

Here is a pic when the bangs were getting down in his face:



It got to where I was pinning his bangs back with a bobby pin while he ate so he didn't get food in it. Even at this age, he some how knows that he shouldn't be wearing pins in his hair but I managed to get a pic while he was chowing down on some peepa (pizza).



So J took him to get his hair cut as he somehow listens better to Dada than Mama. The pics below show the hair cut and also his ability to get into "trouble" faster than Britney Spears!

On this day, I was in the process of getting him dressed. The PJs were off and I walked to his room to get a shirt and pair of shorts. In the time it took me to do that, he crawled up on the kitchen counter, rifled through the cabinets for random items, and proceeded to shove them all in the microwave and shut it before I got back in the kitchen. The only reason I even looked in the microwave is because I noticed the bread was missing - and because he had a devilish grin on his face.






He is a little pack rat just like his Didi!

Well that is all for now. Have a great month and I hope to post another update soon!