His Dad is Going to Kill Me for Letting this Happen
Good Thing Uncle Dave Doesn't Read My Blog
That's What Happens When the Cousin Closest to You in Age is a Girly Girl
Purple is His Color
* * * *
Fear not.
Ray Ray immediately started using his magic wand as a sword (or light saber or whatever kind of stick that you hit people with) right after I took these pictures.
I noticed this killer snowman on Danny's shelf on Saturday night. Should I be concerned?
Know what else happened Saturday night?
Cate coughed so hard she puked. Hooray. It was midnight. I went into her room to check on her because she was calling for me. I knelt beside her bed and she told me about the puke. I asked her where it was (since it was dark and I couldn't see and luckily I hadn't knelt in it). She told me it was on the floor.
Instead of just turning on the light, I put my hand on the floor and felt around for the puke. (I feel like a total crazy person just admitting that. It was late and I was tired. That's all I've got for an explanation.) Yay for me, I found it. And then I washed my hand.
Grama Bama and Grandpa flew back to sunny Alabama on Saturday morning. We miss them. Grama Bama forgot to pack her curling iron though so at least we have something to remember her by. She's very thoughtful (even in her forgetfulness).
We made sure to have one last tea party Saturday morning.
In case you're wondering what Grandpa and Dan were talking about during our lovely tea party video, I'll tell you. They were putting the finishing touches on this doozy of a spaceship.
Yes, I know it's not age appropriate. My kid isn't 12. He is, however, a very spoiled grandson. That big honkin' thing kept Grandpa busy every time he was at our house. What on earth would he have done this past week without it? (It kept Dan and Jarrett pretty busy too. That thing's a beast.)
Friday afternoon we went out to eat at a local burger joint. The kids ate shakes for dessert. Somebody ordered a grasshopper. Mint ice cream with chocolate. Kris was very eager to tell Danny it was a grasshopper shake. Like, hey, this is a shake and there's grasshoppers inside. No kidding. He was serious too.
I even heard Kris tell Danny at one point, "If it's a hard bite it's one of the legs."
Before lunch, some of us went to the temple. We took a few pictures outside because it was a lovely day. Most of the time when you tell my parents to smile for the camera, you get this response:
I'm not sure what's so serious and important but that's how they are. And then this happened when Dan tried to kneel down to get a different angle:
They can smile! And even laugh!
I know what you're wondering. Is it Cathy's goal to look ridiculous in every picture? The answer is no. I don't set out trying to but sometimes it just happens so easily. I can't control myself. It's a gift really.
Thursday we enjoyed a lovely turkey dinner hosted by Aunt Kym and Uncle Tim. Cate had a blast playing tea party with Cousin Shaelynn. She's a good sport (Shaelynn, that is. Cate is too sometimes.)
We've got a hot pink glittery star atop our Christmas tree.
HOT PINK!
(that picture doesn't do it justice. in real life it's pink. hot pink.)
Cate picked it out at Target yesterday and I didn't have the heart to tell her no. (We were in need of a new tree topper since I chopped way too much off the top of the tree for my usual angel to stand up straight. It wasn't a frivolous purchase. Sort of.)
Actually I just didn't really care about the hot pink glitter star. I've given up on having control of the Christmas tree. I'm not going to be winning any awards for best matchy cutesy decorated tree.
BUT I have one happy kid (dare I say she's tickled pink?) due to that hot pink glittery star.
And now, because I obviously need a little humbling after all that "hey, i'm a good mom because i sacrificed the perfectly decorated tree in order to have a happy kid. kids matter! trees don't!" stuff...
As I was quickly losing my patience whilst wrapping strands of lights around the bottom branches of our 80's themed Christmas tree (appropriate theme for a hot pink star I think), I asked the kids an important question.
"What's the real meaning of Christmas?" said I. They said um and uh and then nothing so I rephrased the question. You have to do that with these kids, I've found.
What is Christmas really about? Why is it important? Who do we think about at Christmas?
Stuff like that.
The rest of it went something like this:
Santa!
No, silly.
Presents!
Um, nope. Try again.
Christmas trees!
Oh, good grief. No.
* * * * *
And then I hung my head in shame.
So, yeah. I've got some work to do. They're 5 and 3.
If they're still giving those same answers in 10 years I'm going to be super duper worried.
A dog named Olive hears Christmas music playing while she's out and about town. They're singing "...all of the other reindeer..." but she thinks they're singing about her.
Very cute.
She takes a few bus rides to the North Pole to help out Santa on his busy night.
It's a good book. My kids sat and listened to me read it to them twice. Kids like it when you do that. Two in a row is my limit though.
(Best thing about this book: no mention of shut up or candy!)
Here's where our copy of Olive, the Other Reindeer is currently residing.
Wrapped up in a box along with all my other Christmas books I dug out from storage. Why did it take me so many years to clean out the garage? I don't know. It was fun finding all my Christmas children's books though.
This year we'll be partaking in a literary countdown to Christmas. Sure, I've got 4 different copies of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas in there. I'm sure the kids won't mind.
Every day they get to pick a different book to read (hopefully with no fighting). When all the books are opened, it'll be Christmas. I've seen this concept floating around the internet for a few years. I know it's not my original idea but I'm excited to try it.
Cate is too. It was really hard for her to keep her paws off those wrapped books so I could snap a few pictures.
Here's one of my favorites that's also wrapped up in that pile.
Grandma gave it to Danny for his first Christmas. He was 5 weeks old. I still can't read it all the way through without reaching for a tissue. It's a real tearjerker. (No shut ups in this one either! Possible mention of candy. I can't check now because it's already wrapped. Read at your own risk.)
I planned to start the countdown on December 1st. Then I counted the books. Guess what I discovered.
I have enough to start the day after Thanksgiving. Exactly enough.
1. I've never loved another boy as much as I love this one. It's true. I'll probably never have another boy to love so it'll stay true forever. He'll never love another mom as much as he loves me. I know it because he tells me almost every other day that he loves me six billion million trillion thousand billion trillion zillion billion thousand...and five. He's good at that. Just telling me out of the blue that he loves me. I love that about him. He can sense when I really need to hear it and he just tells me.
I'm thankful for all the love.
2. I love his eyes. When he was a baby they seemed so big and blue. Those eyelashes. They seemed to just go on and on. I'm sometimes jealous of his eyelashes. And then there's the eyebrows. I remember when they turned dark. He was about 3 months old. I love the way they curve up in the middle. He's a handsome boy. Some lucky lady is going to fall in love with his eyes some day.
I'm thankful he inherited some of his daddy's best features.
3. He likes to help, but it's got to be his idea. Requests to clean up toys are usually met with groans and moans and "I don't want to." We're working on that one. Nobody's perfect. I love that he sometimes comes into the kitchen, grabs a wipe out of the drawer and just starts scrubbing the floor or the wall or the fridge. He just gets the urge to clean I guess. I'm glad I keep the house just a titch on the grungy grimy side so he can have something to do when that urge hits. It's the least I can do.
I love having my very own mini maid.
4. He's funny. He has a sense of humor and he gets my sense of humor. Sometimes I feel like a lot of people don't (ok, a lot of the time I'm just not funny at all so maybe that's the problem). I think being funny is way better than being boring. He's a funny kid. I tease him and he just gets it. He teases me right back. And he's got a great laugh if you can get him to genuinely laugh about something. Like a really good belly laugh. I love it.
I'm thankful for his silly giggles and his lame knock-knock jokes.
5. He made me a mom. For all the years he made me wait for him and all the pain he caused on the way out (holy moly, that hurt like nothing else!), he was worth it. He's the one that helped me feel like I really earned that silly tomato plant they pass out at church on Mother's Day. Really, he saved me from the gloom, despair and agony of that Sunday in May. I find it very fitting that he was born so close to a holiday all about gratitude and counting blessings. We brought him home from the hospital the night before Thanksgiving.
I'm thankful for perfect timing and reminders of what's important.
As I tucked him into bed last night, I reminded him that when he woke up he'd be 5. Then I asked him how he felt about that. He said, "Good! How do you feel about it?" I told him that if he feels good about it then so do I.
And it's true.
I loved Baby Danny. I love that he taught me how important sleep is (and how frustrating it can be to not get enough of it thanks to such a tiny little person).
I loved Toddler Danny. I love that he made me so proud when he took his first steps and learned his abc's (and how fun it was to be the only person who really understood everything he said).
I'm really loving Big Kid Danny too. I love his imagination and his unwavering admiration of all things Star Wars (going on 2 years now and I don't see it fading any time soon).
Happy 5th birthday to my Danny Boy (or as Grandpa says, Danny Doodle).
As we were driving around town, Danny said to me (out of the blue because that's where most of his random comments come from),
"I like lions and rhinoceruses. I like all the animals that eat other animals. The meat eaters."
And I thought to myself,
oh, lovely. my sweet little boy likes animals that eat each other. should i be concerned?
And then after a moment of thought and peering out his window he added,
"And bees. Cuz they're the teeeeeeniest."
IN OTHER NEWS:
Danny actually played house. (Don't tell him I told you because he'd probably be really mad at me.) I saw him pushing around one of Cate's doll strollers. I've never ever seen him do that before. Usually he stays very far away from anything pink or related to dolls or girls or pretend mothering.
I asked him if he was playing with Cate (something that rarely ever happens, unless he's allowing her to play Legos with him). He told me they were playing house. He was the big brother, Ray Ray was the baby brother and Cate was their cousin.
And Cate named her baby Cousin Louie.
What did I ever laugh about before my kids came along?
That's his bow and arrow pose. Seriously. How adorable is he?
IN OTHER NEWS:
Grama Bama and Grandpa arrived in town last night. They drove to the Atlanta airport through hideous rain. A tornado touched down back in Auburn. They missed it. They picked a good day to fly away right? The news is that their house lost power but wasn't damaged.
Take a look at what my lovely mother lugged all the way across the country for me.
Oh, yes. That's a scarf. In the shape of a roll of toilet paper.
I love it! I'm not sure I'd wear it anywhere but Auburn though. I might get some pretty crazy looks if I walked around town with what looked like a strand of toilet paper around my neck.
Now, I'm not at all trying to use and abuse my parents. Let's get that out in the open. BUT this morning I dropped off my kids at Aunt Judy's house with them and then proceeded to come home and get oodles of stuff done in peace and quiet.
It was wonderful. I finished raking the leaves in the front yard. That same blasted pile that I have raked, and then the kids jumped in it and messed it all up, and raked again, and then the kids jumped in it and messed it all up, and then raked again. It's good to see those leaves gone.
As I was raking I had a few thoughts about being a mom of school aged kids. I'm pretty sure I'm not a mom of school aged kids. Preschool doesn't count. I hear moms talk about how sad they are that summer's over and their kids are starting school. Oh, how they miss them when they're away. Boo hoo hoo.
I really don't get it. I could totally get used to this whole getting stuff done in peace and quiet thing. It was lovely. I think I would be a way less grouchy mom if my kids could be off learning and playing for a few hours together every day. Really. It was so nice. Good thing my parents will be here for several more days. I've got lots of stuff to do around here.
I even cleaned half the fridge while the kiddies were at preschool. Free time and I spent it cleaning the fridge. I can hardly believe it. Good thing I only cleaned half though. I'm trying to pace myself.
Last but not least, I showered before noon and didn't have to make dinner.
