Best Christmas EVER!

Tuesday night we went over to the elementary school where Shaun teaches to watch their Christmas program. It was kind of fun- each grade got up and sang a couple of songs and jingled some bells. We had front row seats since Shaun was helping out with some of the stuff up on stage. Ty was absolutely transfixed. He loved the Santa's and the reindeer and the jingle bells. Though when the 4th graders went up and sang "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," he turned to me and said:

"Santa Claus is coming to town? That can't be right Mamma."
"Really? Why not?"
"Because Santa lives at the North Pole!!"

I guess he's right.

Ty has been so much fun this Christmas season- he's starting to grasp somethings and others remain over his head. We tried to explain the real meaning behind Christmas and we pulled out the Nativity and showed him the baby Jesus and the Wisemen... but I think it was kind of lost in translation. We kept saying that Christmas was the day that we celebrated Jesus' birthday... and he just kept arguing with us saying that it was dad's birthday (Shaun turned XX earlier this month and apparently you can only have one birthday per month). Maybe it's just going to have to be a work in progress. That said however, he LOVED decorating the tree. And once it was all finished, we turned off the living room lights and looked at the tree all lit up- he ran and jumped into Shaun's lap and said, "This is going to be the best Christmas EVER!" I have to laugh- don't you have to be claymation to say something like that? It's been fun though and even though Christmas isn't even here yet- I'm already sad that it will be over in a few weeks. There is just something that is so incredible about this time of year. It's about family and about Christ and unfortunately it just isn't a feeling that you can really recreate throughout the rest of the year. Maybe that's why it means so much to me.

What's in a HooHoo? Everything.

Ty has been a blankie kid since he was old enough to be able to hold onto something. But he had to have a blanket with a tag. His most favorite thing to do is put his index finger through the tag and rub it with his thumb- funnily enough- if he couldn't find a "taggie" on his blanket- he would dig around in his shirt or the back of his pants to see if he could find a silky tag there for him to rub. My mom made Ty a couple of blankets for him when he turned 2, and each of them had little tags on the corners and while he drags those just about everywhere with him... his favorite thing in the whole world is his "Baby HooHoo." Just what is a baby hoohoo you ask... A small yellow blanket with a tag. He will not sleep without it. We cannot go on long car rides without it. He cannot watch a movie without it. Sometimes I wonder if this little hoohoo will end up on his mission with him... Maybe he can hide it in his pillowcase.

A few weeks ago we were down at my mom's house and we spent the night. I had no idea where the yellow baby hoohoo had ended up in the mess of activity that day. I knew that it had made it to Grandma's, but I wans't sure where it had landed. My mom had attempted to re-create the baby hoohoo months before, by buying an exact replica of the yellow blanket- except that it was green. Exact same. I must stress this. Anyway- I went to put Ty to bed and because I couldn't find the yellow blanket- I turned out the lights and threw him the green one. I figured this was pure genius since it was dark... he would not be able to tell the difference and we could all go to sleep without tearing the house apart looking for the original.

It lasted ten minutes.

A little voice calls out into the night, "Mamma! You brought me the wrong hoohoo! This is the green one!" Now how in the crap did he know it was green!? It's dark people!!! The closest I can figure is that it smells different somehow. I sheepishly walked into his bedroom and tried to explain to him that I didn't know where the yellow one was and could he please just try and sleep with the green one for the night. He (naturally) shook his head in the negative, but jumped up and walked into the living room where he promptly found the yellow one. He had hidden it behind a chair.

A Thanksgiving

We got to spend Thanksgiving this year up in Declo with Shaun's family. It was so much fun to see everyone. A year ago, Shaun and his two brothers (and their wives) all lived in Boise. Since then, we have moved to our little part of Idaho and Shaun's brother Chase and his wife Dani have moved to Memphis, Tennasee for his job. Hopefully we'll be able to get them closer as he advances up the ladder- but we just don't get to see them very often anymore. So it was so fun to have everyone together. It was so nice to look around the table and see everyone- it really reminded me of how thankful I am for everything that we have. Shaun and I have been so blessed (yes people- it's one of THOSE posts), and it really came full circle this year. I don't know if it's just that time of year or what, but I have been feeling really nostalgic lately and have been looking backwards at everything that we have done or been through. And I have to tell you- I'm impressed. I can't tell you all how proud I am of Shaun and all that he has accomplished through the years. I am proud of myself for finishing school and attempting to be super-mom. And I love where we are now- I love our little town and our little boys. Sometimes it terrifies me because we are so happy. I feel like the Grinch sometimes, at the end of the movie where his heart grows three sizes. I am so thankful and my heart is so full. Thank-you to everyone that has been a part of our history and I lift my figurative glass in a toast to the future.

Cute picture of Ryan

Our evenings are pretty low key around here- I took this the other night when we were just kind of hanging out. Ryan is getting so big that I can't believe it! He turns 5 months in December and for someone that had such a rough start- he sure has turned it around!

Oh Christmas Tree...

There is the slightest chance that I am a Chrsitmas freak. I put up

our tree the weekend before my birthday (which for those of you that don't remember is in the middle of November). We have a fake one that Ty and I drug up the stairs and put up in the living room. Ty was suitably distressed when he learned that we weren't going to decorate it yet, or put presents underneath it. I told him that we could only push dad so far (Dad isn't a huge fan of any holiday- so we have to be a little carefuly of overdoing it most years). Ty was really put out though- and so using the only things that he had available to him- he decorated the bottom half of our tree with Ryan's toys (he wouldn't dream of using his own- if he did that he wouldn't be able to play with them). My favorite was the branch with Ryan's Soothie. Ty was so excited.

Cereal

We introduced Ryan to Rice Cereal this month. I don't think he was overly impressed, but I am. He's a really good eater with a spoon! It took Ty a long time to figure out what to do with a mouthful of food. But our newest little guy (the one with the eight chins) loves it!

Change messes things up.

The other week my mom had Ty for a few days and while he was gone I pulled out the paint cans and the cleaning supplies. I cleaned my house (which it really needed) and taped off and painted some stripes in Ty's room. I am so thankful for the Christmas present we got from Chase and Dani (Shaun's brother and sister in law) last year- a laser level! For those of you who don't have one- I suggest you run right out and buy one. We have used ours for so many things. Anyway- I couldn't have done the stripes without it. It took forever, but I was really pleased with the final product. I have a hard time hanging things on his wall because the reality is that Ty will probably just knock it down with a ball anyway- so this way his room isn't totally boring and he can't hurt it. When Ty got home I asked him what he thought. He slowly turned around and looked at the stripes. Then he turned to me and said, "I don't like it."

"WHAT?! Why don't you like it?"

"You changed my room."

"Well, yeah... what's wrong with change sometimes?"

"Change just messes things up Mama. Can you cover it up?"

Well- I did NOT cover it up. I told him that sometimes things change and you just have to roll with it. I don't think I have him convinced- though yesterday he told me that maybe the red stripe could stay- since it was for the "Utes." I did think that it was interesting how he chose to tell me why he didn't like the stripes though. Change does mess things up. And I'm impressed that my three year old had the wherewithall to distinguish just what it was about change that bugged him.