It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We got our Christmas tree out and decorated the house for Christmas this week. I always look forward to when it gets close enough to Christmas that we can do this. We put up our tree on Thursday and decorated on Friday. Chris even got out and put the lights up on the house, which made me so happy because now our house is all Christmas-y from the outside too!

Thanks sweetie!

The boys were really excited this year to help me get out our Christmas decorations. They watched with anticipation as I opened each Christmas box and pulled out different things that have been packed away for almost a year now. I showed them some of the Christmas crafts they had made in years past and pictures of them at their first Christmas. Then we got to the ornament box and they were really good helpers with putting the ornaments on the tree. They did good at spacing them out and not just clumping them all in one place.

We buy a new ornament for each boy every year - something that represents what they liked or what they were into that year. The boys have fun looking back at their ornaments from past years and remembering when they liked those things. Because of that, our tree isn't totally decked out in all these beautiful, Christmas-themed ornaments. We have some Sesame Street, dinosaurs, trucks, cars, etc. But I think that gives our tree some character and it tells our family story in a different, neat way!!

"Ta-Da"

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm thankful for.....

• Jesus, who loves me no matter what I do.
• Chris, my best friend and the person I most love to spend time with.
• Brayden, Logan and Preston, who make me smile. I love watching them grow.
• Our house, it is the perfect size for our family.
• The fact that we have both sides of our family close by so the boys can grow up and know their grandparents really well.
• Free babysitting because of #5.
• Our church and the ministry opportunities available to us.
• The jobs I have that allow me to stay home and work around the boys' schedules.
• The fact that I get to be a stay-at-home mom.
• My sisters, I love our monthly get-togethers.

Bye, bye naps

So what's the best way to get your kid to take a nap, you ask? Tell them they are big now and they don't have to take naps anymore! At least that's what happened for us.

For a few weeks now, every time we would put Logan in his bed for a nap, he would just play and not even rest. Eventually I would just give up and let him come downstairs with Brayden and they would watch a movie or play. And on the days he did end up falling asleep, he would be so rested he wouldn't go to bed at night very easily and was up way past when we put him to bed. So this weekend, Chris and I decided to just give up the nap for Logan. I have to say, I think it was a lot easier this time since Brayden is already not napping and I already don't have that break in the middle of the day anymore. Yesterday, after lunch I was up in the kitchen and I came down to find this:

I guess just not having the pressure of being forced to take a nap was all it took. Chris was watching the Broncos game and Logan asked if he could cuddle with him. Five minutes later, he was out and slept for a good hour and a half probably. Hmmmm, we might be onto something with this, I wonder what else we can us this strategy with?!?

Writer's block

I have wanted to post something for a few days now, but I can't think of anything interesting or fun to write about. I don't want to lose my loyal readers, all 1-2 of them!!

This has been a long week for our family. Chris had late basketball practice all week, which meant he wasn't home till after the boys were in bed. That meant long days for both of us, me because I was with the boys all day without a break and him, because he had school and then a long practice without eating anything since lunch and being tired.

I feel like I didn't really do anything fun with the boys, it was just a boring week at home doing normal things. We did go swimming on Monday, which was fun, and the library on Tuesday, but then the rest of the week, we just spent at home. And even the things we did get out and do were not as much fun as they could've been because the boys weren't behaving or I was upset about something and we had a lot of "talks" about good behavior and didn't get to just enjoy it. I think we were suffering from a little cabin fever and getting on each other's nerves. I am glad next week is Thanksgiving. Mainly because Chris and Brayden have 3 days off and we will have a little time as a family, but also because it will force me to take a day and reflect on all the things I have to be thankful for!

Like this man and these boys, just to name a few......

The faith of a child

This morning at breakfast, Brayden asked me "so how did everything get created if Jesus wasn't alive yet?". I explained to him that Jesus was God before he was born as a baby, so he created everything. Then he asked "but who created Jesus if there was no one there before him?" WOW!! How do I explain eternity and a God who has no beginning and no end to a 5-year-old? I said a quick prayer for wisdom and clarity and then told Brayden that Jesus and God are the same person and that they have been around forever, no one created them, they were just there. Fortunately that seemed to pacify his curiosity for now. I am very glad, however, that Brayden has a desire to learn more about God and asks these tough questions. It is so neat to see him have so much faith in something that he doesn't know that much about, but believes with all his heart.

Am I all done growing up?

This is a question I hear every few days at least. For some reason, Logan seems worried that he won't get bigger or won't grow up, or else he's just really anxious to be big! Last night, this was our conversation:

Logan: "I've been Logan for a long time now, I think it's time I had a turn being Brayden."
Me: "Your name is Logan, you will always be Logan."
Logan: "But if I'm always Logan, I will never be bigger."
Brayden: "You will always be Logan, but you can pretend to be Brayden if you want."

Maybe it has something to do with being the middle child and not ever getting to be the oldest or do things before anyone else. I wouldn't really know about that or understand being that I'm the oldest too, but I think I need to be more sensitive to that and try and make him feel special at the age he is at now.

He is really looking forward to ages 4 and 5 right now. When he is 4 he gets to go golfing with Brayden and Chris, something they did this summer that Logan wasn't old enough for yet. When he is 5, we get to go to the family reunion again and he gets to start kindergarten, something he has been looking forward to since this summer. Maybe I need to be better about creating memories for him now while he's 3 instead of making him wait till he's older to do the things he really wants? Either way, he is such a sweet boy who is really growing up too fast for my liking! I can't believe he is already 3-1/2!

Finally!

Today we got our first snow of the season. It seems really late to me, but better late than never, I guess. I was starting to wonder if we'd just go from fall to spring around here! It has been in the 50's and 60's most days with no hint of precipitation for weeks. It isn't that I really just love snow, I just like the changing of the seasons and summer/fall was getting a little long. The boys were super excited to see it snowing this morning. They wanted to get right out and make snowballs, but I told them they'd have to wait for it to accumulate a little bit. It snowed lightly for about 3-4 hours this morning, but really only dusted the grass. After we got home from picking up Brayden from kindergarten, I let the boys go out and run around in what little snow was left. It was already warm enough that they didn't need to wear coats or anything. They had fun, but I think they were disappointed that it was already mostly gone. I am sure after a few snowstorms I'll be ready for spring and warmer temperatures again, but for now, bring on the snow!!

Pinewood Derby

This year, the AWANA group at our church did a Pinewood Derby. Brayden wanted to make a car that looked like Lightning McQueen. Chris came up with the design and Brayden helped Chris saw, sand and paint his car. This is the final result:So Saturday morning, we all went to the church for a breakfast and to watch all the cars race. Logan didn't get to make a car as it was only for the kids who are in kindergarten or older, but he was really supportive of Brayden and sat and watched all morning without complaining
I think it is ironic how both the boys wore their Lightning sweatshirts, kind of like they were on Team Lightning. Maybe they thought about that when they got dressed, I didn't even notice till I looked at the pictures.

It was a double elimination type of bracket and Brayden won his first set of races, but then lost the next two. He was such a good sport though. He had fun just being there and watching all the kids race. That's right, he won 1st place in design (they spelled his name wrong, oh well)! All the winners got a gift card to McDonalds, so of course, we took the boys there that night to celebrate. Brayden has already been asking when the next race will be -- it is hard to explain how long a year is to him, but he does get that it will not be for awhile!

7 on the 7th

I found this online and thought it was cute. Here's a little about me you may or may not know. Happy Friday!

7 Things I Did Before
Worked for the government
Cuddled with our cats
Slept in
Drove an Impala
Dreamed of being a mom
Cleaned whole house once a week
Lived in an apartment

7 Things I Do Now
Stay at home
Read lots of books with the boys
Work as a medical transcriptionist and church bookkeeper
Rub the boys' tummies and sing to them before bed
Drive a minivan
Babysit my niece
Director for Cubbies at our church's AWANA

7 Things I Want To Do
Go on a second honeymoon
Lose 10-15 pounds
Catch up on sleep
Get my Christmas shopping done early
Get a piano
Make more time to just play with the boys
Redo our kitchen (not going to happen anytime soon, but I can dream, right?)

7 Favorite Foods
Chocolate
Spaghetti
Fondue
Cheesy bread
Tacos
Turkey sandwiches
Ice cream

7 Things I Say Most Often
Lord, give me patience!
Put your shoes on
Are you hungry?
Choo-choo (Preston is really into trains right now)
You can ask for that for Christmas
Don't hit (tease, chase, push, etc) your brother
I love you!

Lightning did the trick

Logan has been potty trained for about 7 months now, but he still wore a pull-up at night. Most of the time he would keep it dry, but there were always one or two nights a week where it would be wet when he woke up. I kind of thought that it was just because he was being lazy about it and not really that he couldn't have made it to the bathroom. Plus, those pull-ups aren't cheap and I was sick of buying them! So.....we bought him a new Lightning McQueen car (one with cactus on it) but left it in the package and hung it up on a cabinet in the kitchen. We made him keep his pull-up dry for seven days in a row before he could have it. He did it without any problems at all, confirming that he really was ready, just needed some motivation! So, on Sunday he got his Lightning car, which he was thrilled about. We told him if he didn't keep staying dry at night though, we were going to take it away, but so far so good!

PRAY!!!

'Cuz silence never speaks, so God gave you a voice
(Jonah 33, "Silence Never Speaks")

The most important thing you can do today is pray, for our country, for our leaders and for God's will to be done in this election. And if you haven't already, get out and vote -- God works through His people to bring about His will.

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 (King James Version)

Boys and dirt

There are a few things about little boys I just don't understand....the desire to play in the dirt and to get all dirty is one of them. We have a huge sandbox in our backyard, but Brayden just had to play in the dirt by the tree instead. I asked him why he didn't want to play in the sandbox instead of the dirt and he said, "mom, big machines don't dig in sand, they dig in dirt and get really dirty!". Silly me!

Funny faces

The funny thing is, they were really trying to smile normal for a posed picture! These are a lot more cute, I think!