Daddy's little Man!

Dillan is a man's boy. He wants to be like his Daddy. He loves to play basketball with Daddy. Before bedtime, he will normally ask: "Daddy, is the Jazz playing right now? Can I watch it with you?"

No patience

We're counting down. We're trying so so so super hard to be good.

When Grandma's package came in the mail, we were beyond excited. The kids beat me to the door when it arrived, and when there's a big box sitting on the doorstep, it's hard to set aside and forget about till later.
Dillan has been sick all week and just miserable. So when Daddy was home for awhile, we decided to open Grandma's box, hoping for a lift.

St. George, we have lift off!

Leah had a whole bag full of stuff just for her. Tinkerbell stuff. A doll, a coloring book with crayons, a costume, a wand, a purse! Plus an adorable jumper for church.
She hasn't let go of the doll all day.

She's even been singing:

"Tinkerbell...Tinkerbell...Jingle all the way!"



Dillan started opening things. An I Spy book. Wow! Star Wars guys! Cool! New church clothes with a new tie! Nice.
Then Daddy pulled out his last one. He shot me the look: It's what you think it is. The one present that Dillan has not failed to forget in months. A gun that shoots rockets and sticks to things. He started tearing open the paper, then did something strange. He picked it up and ran out of the room saying "NO WAY!" I guess he wanted to finish opening in private?!? Have his own moment? Who knows? He came back in with pudding thick dimples and a smile like a watermelon slice.
He and Daddy spent the next few hours on target practice, shooting the faces on the Christmas card pictures strung up on the wall. The boy is lovin life!



Yummy peanut brittle and some Christmas decor, finished off the box.

Thank you Grandma and Papa!

I think we've reached a slice a heaven.

New Traditions

Chris has been talking about doing this for awhile. His family painted their own ornaments when he was growing up. So we decided we'd try it this year. Everyone got to choose their own white plaster ornament and we set to work. Dillan was beside himself with excitement. Seriously, Mommy never EVER pulls out paints. He's only ever painted at school. This was rare, indeed. His technique: dip the brush, dab or brush one stroke to his ornament, wash the brush, pick a new color, repeat. His ornament is in the shape of a house. Every window is a different color. It's merry and bright!



Leah was excited as well. She mostly loved dipping her brush in the dirty water and the purple paint. Her ornament is a teddy bear. She diligently painted her bear's face over and over and over again in purple. I resisted the urge to help her. And resisted. And resisted. OK, eventually it got to me, and I tried to help her. She freaked when I tried to help her dip her brush in a different color. She held a death grip on her brush and screamed when I tried to help her paint the body of the teddy bear. I let it be, finally. She would have painted all night, if we'd let her. But I didn't do anything to either of their ornaments except maybe dab at some of the mountains of paint glopped on in certain spots. It was all I could think of to make sure they dried!


Leah holds hers and mine (a penguin).
Dillan holds his and Chris' masterpiece (a kitty in a stocking)

Chris and I eventually set to work on our ornaments. For a guy who claims to have zero artistic talent, his turned out great! Better than mine. He must have the patience. I got too frustrated and impatient to finish. But they're done and adorning our tree in all their glory! (When the kids aren't taking them down and moving them around, anyway).

Jammies on Christmas Eve has been a tradition since before Dillan was born. It's so easy to find snuggly jammies, and usually the kids coordinate a little, but I've been feeling the urge lately to better domesticate myself, so I thought I'd try something new: Sewing.
Thanks to the example and encouragement of a friend, plus the expertise of my wonderful mother, I went to work.
Picking out fabric was tough. The boys in the house are big sleeping heaters at night, so fuzzy cuddly warm stuff was out. Cotton it was.
Mom helped me lay out and cut everything.
The sewing part was simple enough. Of course there's no reason to look too close to see all the imperfections, but that's why they're PJs! Thanks for all your help Mom and thanks Crystal for the inspiration!

Letters to Santa

Dillan was determined to write a letter to Santa. He wanted my help, but really really wanted to put SOMETHING down on paper himself. I should have had him do the entire thing on his own, since he's not so patient with himself and his handwriting skills. Next time.

Everything written down was EXACTLY as he said it and he wanted it that way. No shortcuts here.



I can read it. The part that he wrote says "I like Santa. I love Santa. Love Dillan." Guess he knows what he's doing!

Then he really really wanted Leah to have a letter as well. So we grabbed the Toys R Us magazine and got to work. He asked her what she would like and then we wrote it down (Leah holding the crayon, Mommy guiding her hand.) That's how SHE wanted it!



Tinkerbell. It's all about Tinkerbell. She finds Tink everywhere we go!

He's making a list, and checking it twice...

GO COUGS!!!

We are always there in spirit!

We're ready wearing our Cougar Blue. No red allowed.

We've got the spirit!

a time for thanks

"Mommy, we're Bubble Monsters!"