Try Again

I was going to rant about how my computer and camera hate each other and that is why I haven't been blogging. Although it's true and I have about seven drafts that I wanted to include pictures, I figure I'll save the page and write about something else. At the end I will try to post some pics. If it works, you'll see them. If it doesn't, you'll just read this (if you're even here, which I doubt anyway!)

Everyone's gearing up for the holidays. We had a lovely Thanksgiving week that started off with an early Thanksgiving the weekend before at our house with my parents, brother, and his girlfriend. There was golf, shopping, going out downtown, playing with the kids, and of course, turkey. The best part was probably the crush that J had on M's girlfriend, P. It was pretty hysterical. She would walk into the room and he would go the other way. Or he would smile and stop what he was doing and just get all flustered. I asked him if he thought P was pretty. He said, "Yeah. Duh!"

S is incredibly taken with her grandpa and her "u-mar" (my brother). She loved playing with both of them. She asks about them all the time now that they are gone. I was reading books with her earlier and out of the blue she just started saying their names as if I could produce them for her on the spot. Then she smiles as if she believes that I can. It's really cute. I guess you have to be there.

We had Thanksgiving at K and C's house and had a lovely day. There was good food and drinks, games, kiddos that played incredibly well together, and little ones who cooperated enough for us to stay later than usual. I got to do the worm and play a trombone. How many of you did that on Thanskgiving? I did not do both at the same time, though! The worm came out of planning for Thanksgiving a few weeks prior over a few drinks. Next thing I knew, the list for who was bringing mashed potatoes, etc was made, and I was on the agenda for doing the worm. The trombone was part of a game we played with various instruments and songs. It was basically a name that tune game. I highly recommend it at your next get-together. Any instruments will do!

Now I am starting to get slightly stressed over birthday month and Christmas. There are 7 birthdays in Dec. in our family! There were some good posts today on other blogs about advent calendars and lists of things to do to make the holidays memorable. Loved them all. I have a list myself, but what tops my list more than anything this year is making sure my 4 year old doesn't completely lose it with our trip to TN for Christmas. The natural "how is Santa going to find me?" worry began right after Halloween and is causing a bit of anxiety in this house. And it's starting to get to me because he's asked for a drumset for Christmas. Of all years, why couldn't he have asked for something smaller?

Actually I think I've got this covered. Santa will be bringing the drumset here and will be bringing a drum pad to TN. What's keeping me on my toes is trying to figure out what goes to TN and what stays here. Don't get me wrong; it's going to be so much fun having the three cousins spend Christmas together. There will be much cuteness. I just don't want too much in either place because I don't want Christmas to be an overload. After all, it generally takes us days for J to open up his gifts. We want him to appreciate them and he wants to take the time to use everything, so it takes awhile. If he were a few years older, we could just say that Santa's leaving most of your stuff at home and Christmas is really a time for family anyway. This doesn't work as well when you're four.***

I also have no idea what to give S. She doesn't really need anything. It doesn't matter much because she's only 18 months old and really won't know the difference, but I have to play it up enough so that it passes muster in J's eyes. We don't want him to think Santa forgot his sister or that she was bad or something. Believe me, we've talked about this too. He actually asked, "How will Santa know S is in TN too if she can't tell him like I can?" The kid is getting me at every angle!!

Yesterday we were in the backyard running around. He stopped for a minute to catch his breath, looked at our chimney and said, "Mom, why does Santa go down the chimney? Wouldn't it just be easier to use the front door? Instead of only using the front door when there's a fire in the chimney, he should just use the front door all the time." I'm learning to answer such things with a "What do you think?" I also told J that he could suggest that to Santa when he saw him. BTW, we've already seen Santa twice. The first day we were by ourselves and the extremely nice picture guys allowed us to say hello and have a chat without taking pictures. We went back the next day with S to get the shot with Santa. I was kind of hoping that she would freak like she did with the Easter Bunny because the picture was so funny, but she casually walked up to him, sat on his lap and stayed put. I don't think she would have moved if we didn't tell her we were done!

S has been going through the 18 month stage of being completely OCD. If she sees trash, she picks it up. If she sees something that looks dirty, she tries to wipe it away. If something drops or is broken like an acorn on the ground, she says, "Uh oh!" or "Oh! No!" or "Oh Dude!" Those crack me up. Flipping out when things aren't in the order that an 18 month wants them to be, especially when I have no idea what that order is, is not so much fun.

Well, it's back to my list making. I hope to be back here since I do miss blogging and hearing from people. We'll be realistic and try for once a week. In the meantime, if you see Santa, make sure to tell him that J will be in TN for Christmas. Thanks!

(pic upload worked!)

I took J to see a Pigeon Party downtown. It was a show of Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, Don't Let the Pigeon Stay up Late, and The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog by Mo Willems.

S (sporting her duck hat) playing with some lettuce at an organic farm we visited earlier in the month.

S likes to hold onto the back of the tricycle while J rides it. He then crashes into the garage door and they both laugh. This never gets old. I love this picture.

***Please excuse the lack of paragraphs. Apparently since blogger let me upload pictures, it would not let me make paragraphs here even though I tried 4 times. Don't want you thinking I don't care about my layout!