Christmas!

Who doesn't love this time of year?! Its the best. :)

I've decorated the house early before but never put the tree up early, this year I let the kids talk me into [wasn't hard] into it, we set it up the Monday before Thanksgiving. I wish Christmas lasted longer! But honestly, I like doing it on the Friday morning after Thanksgiving better. We'll try to stick to that from now on.

The house looks so pretty and smells so good! Its our first Christmas owning the house and with our pretty floors. [Wish my kitchen was finished too!] so it feels a little different this year. Wish the weather matched though, 80s gross.

Our tree is full of mine and Steven's old ornaments, ones we've bought for the kids every year, and now homemade ones. Its covered in love. :) I borrowed one from my Mom, its the same size as ours but a little fuller. And it has acorns attatched! We wrap in with burlap again [probably be awhile til I find something I like better!] and added red berries, pretty. I bought a bunch of pretty jingle bells and we always add candy canes! It has a rustic/country feel to it- perfect since thats what I aim for in my house decorating.

I love our tree!

We started/are starting new traditions this year, I'm ALL about traditions! Creating them with my little family is so fun. A few we already have are: listening to The Chipmunks Christmas while we decorate, lots of Christmas pjs and pictures in front of the tree in pjs. We also take a family picture with Santa every year.

One new tradition is our bedtime stories every night are Christmas books. And we brought home a new friend, our Elf on the Shelf, Jacob! He's not that great of a help yet though. When the kids are older, I'm sure he will be. Its fun setting him out every night and the kids reactions in the morning:

 

 

This year we'll also be buying gifts for kids from the angel tree. I wrote last year about how important it is to us that the kids know how blessed they are. We don't go nuts buying Christmas presents, they get a few small things and something special from Santa. Getting presents isn't what this time of year is about! I know they'll always look forward to the gifts [what kid doesn't?] but I want them to understand that its WAY more than about that, starting at a young age is the best way.

 

Also, on Christmas Eve we'll be baking cookies for Santa. We set them out with milk every year [and a carrots for the reindeer] but I want them to be homemade, something they look forward to every year. The past years they weren't able to help and I didn't want to be doing it alone so this year, we start!

 

Aiden's already asked me to make him a "Christmas lunch" uh oh, I raised the bar too high! Now they expect fun lunches. I'll have to look some stuff up. I got two Christmas cards in the mail yesterday and realized I hadn't even ordered ours yet- oopsie! Got on that and that's checked off of my list.

 

Christmas coming means Rian's about to be three. Waaaah. So not ready. :(

 

 



Halloween. And life.

Halloween was a fun, busy day! We met some friends downtown during the day and did trick-or-treating at some local shops down there. I love it downtown, its so pretty. My dad stopped by to drop of fun flashlights for the kids, we ate a quick dinner then we stopped by my Mom's work so she could see them. Then we came home and picked up Steven and went to his parents' neighborhood to trick-or-treat.

My gnome and flower pot. :)

Their costumes were a HUGE hit, especially Rian's! She got millions of compliements and lots of people wanted to take her picture. Best costumes of the day/night! If I do say so myself. :) We came home and watched "The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" then we were off to bed for Aiden's first day of preschool!

He loved his first day! He didn't want to leave when I went to pick him up. :) Definitely makes me happy [and it easier] that he loves it so much. He woke up Monday with signs of a cold and yesterday he woke up with a bad cough so he had his first sick day- already. He, in his words, was "not so happy." He wanted to be at school oh so badly. He couldn't wait to get there today!

I'm still a little "eh" about the whole thing. Mondays I know all the schools in the district have early out. On Friday, I waited a minute to see if they'd say anything. Of course not. So I had to ask them about it. Turns out, on Mondays he goes in at a complete different time! I would've liked to have gotten some sort of "Welcome" paper or something. Also, Friday he tells me he ate a "bean taco" and Monday he said he had pizza. So I called Tuesday morning and it turns out, they provide lunch for them! Would've been nice to know so I wasn't already feeding him here. Whatever.

Saturday I decided to take the kids downtown to the Festival of Arts. I'd never been but I want to try to start taking them to do more things around town. I wasn't sure what to expect, I invited Steven's mom to come with us.

It was fun! There were a ton of booths set up with a bunch of different crafts. And it was free! The kids loved it, it just stunk because it was sooo dang hot. Its November, the heat needs to go away already! Then we went to lunch and let the kids play for awhile. We had a nice day with Grandma!

We haven't done anything to the house. Nothing. I'm so over living like this. Seriously. I finally told Steven that since he's not doing any of the major stuff, then he better build me my tv stand! I've been wanting a different for soooo long. He started on it on Sunday and Tuesday I painted it and it was in the night.

Honestly, I can't even begin to express how much I love it! It makes our little living room feel so much bigger. I just put one coat of paint on so you can still see all the wood grain and natural wood imperfections, just my style.

Some randomness:

A few weeks ago, I signed Aiden up for a Lowe's Build and Grow craft class. My dad took him. [I love how involved our parents are with the kids, they help us so much and all love being around each other.] Well, while he was waiting for Papa to pick him up, he told me he wanted to spend the night over there. I told him he needed to ask but don't be upset if he can't. He said, "But I already packed my backpack!" I went and looked: jammies and Curious George. :) [He ended up getting what he wanted and they both spent the night.] I signed him up for another one but had to cancel because he has plans. But he's going to the one after that. They gave him a Lowe's apron and everytime he goes to one, he gets a patch to iron on it. Fun!

-He's back to calling me Momma again. So weird. He's been calling me Mommy for about a year!

-Last night at dinner, during his and Rian's little chit chat, he called her Obama. I asked him who that is. He said, "That guy that's on tv with Mitt Romney"- whaaaaat?! Little brains are like sponges!

-He doesn't talk much when I pick him up from school. Gives me the "yes/no" when I ask questions. But for some reason, around dinner time he spills the beans. He tells me alll about what he did. Even days later he'll tell me something random, like they sang a song about a turkey or that the teacher opened a pumpkin so the kids could take the seeds out but he was playing with Play Doh so he didn't get seeds. I wish I could secretly watch him at school, I hope he's a good boy!

-Geoff and Jeanette got him a big fire truck puzzle for his birthday, he did it about four times with Steven and one night he kept bugging Steven to help him. He told him to try it himself, he did it!

 

He does it in record speed now. Its cute watching him, he has a little technique. I think Santa will be bringing him a couple more puzzles!

Happy that Thanksgiving is coming up and we get to see some family! Also, the boys' [Steven's, his Dad's and Aiden's] "Second Annual Guy's Camping Trip" is coming up next weekend. Better find some fun girly stuff to do with my Punky!

Preschool

I'm not sure [but I probably did] if I mentioned back in August, that I registered Aiden for preschool at one of the school districts and he was put on the waiting list. I didn't know how big the waiting list was and the school is free. FREE. I assumed no parent would want to lose their spot, so I had no expectations of him actually getting in.

Well yesterday I got a call, he was next on the list. Omg! They asked if he could start today... okay. I wish I had a few days to prepare myself. Aiden, no preparation needed. But I needed to wrap my mind around it!

I cried twice yesterday but we were so busy I didn't have a whole lot of time to think about it. [Halloween post soon.] This morning we went out to get him a new backpack and he asked every other minute if it was time to go to school. His class is 12:30-3:30. I fought the tears all morning. About twenty minutes before we left, I posted a picture on facebook and it hit me. That's when I really wished Steven was doing this with me. Taking our baby to his first day of school. This is huge!

We got there and I met two of the aids. The teacher wasn't there today. I got to see the classroom, they showed Aiden his cubby, they showed me all of the centers and told me the schedule. But I feel like I have no idea what they really do, ya know? We were just thrown into this thing with a day to prepare. Our friends' son goes to the morning class- they went to open house before school started in August and had a home visit. And time to get used to it! I feel so overwhelmed.

Aiden had no problem with me leaving, none. It almost seemed like he couldn't wait for me to leave!  I had to get out of there before I lost it. I carried Rian to the car and used her hair to hide my ugly cry face.  :(

Oh yeah, we also signed him up for soccer...

He starts in Janary. He's excited. :)

This whole growing up thing is so hard to deal with. As we were driving home from Steven's parents' last night, I thought about how a little over four years we were on that very same street, taking our brand new baby home. How did we get here already?