O' Christmas tree

Our Christmas tree finally got decorated yesterday. The boys enjoyed it. And we rearranged just a little bit so the top would have ornaments too :)

love you barnhouse! Mason would walk up to the tree, stick out his arm, and then drop the ornament on the floor. It didn't seem to bother him, he just turned around and got another one.

Only one ornament broke. Not bad!

Yesterday

Yesterday was a good day. We were busy but I got a lot accomplished. Owen had school. Mason and I did the grocery shopping. He has won the heart of our cashier (because he reminds her of her son (he is 20 now) and b/c he is always smiling. It is good when others allow me to appreciate things I take for granted. Mason and I also went to playgroup. We have joined a new playgroup with several friends from church and Sarah M. (be jealous Becca and Michelle!) Now I get to see her and Mallory and Carter almost weekly. Mason had a blast and I am getting to spend time with some ladies that I don't know real well.
I spent nap time in overdrive getting the remains of our weekend tornado picked. The downstairs at least looks good (for now).
The highlight of my day was sitting on the couch with Owen and Mason and watching "Very First Noel." Thanks Aunt Lissa and Uncle Alex, it was great! Its an animated movie of the arrival of Christ. The animation was great and the music was awesome. The narrator is Andy Griffith, so you can't help but relax and enjoy. Plus, Mason sat on my lap for 30 minutes and watched. Not that I should encourage him to watch t.v. but I never get to hold him that long. He loved all the animals and watched the whole thing. It was a great ending to our afternoon.

Where did the weekend go?

It can not possibly be Sunday night. I need at least one more day before the week starts. We have had a very busy weekend! On Saturday morning I attended a Christmas brunch for my Wellspring women's bible study. My sister Lissa came to the brunch and then we ran an errand together. It was nice spending time with her. While I was gone, EJ took the boys to our local Christmas parade. Despite the chilly temperatures they had a great time.
Then we enjoyed dinner at a friends house. Owen has been friends with Anna since she was born 11 days after him. We don't see each other as much as we used to, so I found myself reminiscing throughout the evening. The dinner table is so different now. Both kids are so independent and talked the entire time. I really enjoyed watching them interact. We put all four kids to bed so we could stay and have some adult conversation time. Well, at least Ashley and I talked. EJ and James were busy rocking out to the video game "Rock Band." Ashley and I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Now I know where Owen gets it!
Today we finally got our Christmas tree. The lights are up and we will hopefully decorate the tree tomorrow. We had a fun dinner with 5 other families that are involved in our weekly bible study. Owen had 7 little girls to play with (he did notice he was the only big boy and handled it beautifully) and the three smallest boys wandered around doing their own thing.

Looking for our tree.
The nursery where we bought the tree has a beatiful indoor display of christmas trees and ornaments. Owen made friends with this bear.

Swimming in the Fall

One of the best and worst features of our neighborhood is it's trees. Beautiful, huge and old trees. We have a gigantic oak in our yard among several smaller oaks, maples, a dogwood, Crape Myrtle and camellia. While these are wonderful in the spring and summer they are the thorn in our sides during the fall. In an effort to save EJ some of his precious weekend time, I was out raking and blowing the leaves. We put all the leaves along the curb and then pay the county $30 to vacuum them up. It's really a great deal and we don't have the extra hassle of bagging them.
The boys took full advantage of the piles. And yes, they are technically playing in the street, but I was careful to watch for cars.

Mason is literally diving in. His feet came up and everything.

So... what's a mom to do when her son looses one shoe of his only pair of shoes in about a 20 foot area of 3 foot deep leaves? Keep in mind I have been raking for close to an hour and I am not sure at what point the shoe came off.

1. think to myself- this isn't really happening


2. totally panic


3. get angry with both boys because surely one of them is to blame


4. frantically kick through the piles


5. when all else fails, call my mom-because she as all the answers, right?


6. drag out the stroller and strap Mason down because he is constantly running into the street (I did after all let him play in the street) and its growing darker by the minute


7. un-rake all my hard work until the shoe is found
   
8. shout, "I found it" and raise it above my head - just in case my neighbors are watching and think I've gone totally bonkers
   

Needless, to say EJ did notice my efforts and was pleasantly surprised! The not so white sock is soaking in some bleach.

Christmas T's

Shopping for boys clothing is NOT my favorite. I usually walk away disgruntled and annoyed that the mom's with little girls have SO many more choices. EJ has a totally different perspective, he sees the money we are saving :) Anyway, holiday clothing is even worse. I find myself getting so frustrated b/c each year is basically the same thing only a slightly different pattern. Poor Mason will have to wear everything twice b/c they usually match. My mom had a great idea to get them Christmas PJs for Christmas morning and then if they wore them for several months no one else would know. It seems that 4 year old boys don't like dorky Christmas PJ's and they especially don't like matching with their 1 year old brothers. So, instead we opted for T-shirts that they will quickly change into on Christmas morning. (This is such a woman's brain, why do we do this to ourselves?)
Owen loves his, and Mason doesn't have a clue. But, here they are with their matching shirts that many of you will see over and over again. Thanks mom for sharing in my stressful quest and for buying their shirts!

Mason would not sit still so this is the best I could do.

They got so involved in their book I couldn't get them to look at me.