4 Miles

This weekend, we are getting into the holiday spirit (by golly, you WILL be spirited! ;-)).

This afternoon Will helped me with the Christmas newsletters.  The paper came with a cute snowman cut out you stick on it with some thick foam tape. (I must admit I got it on clearance–with good cause, who needs ANOTHER step in the process?) Will helped me by sticking the snowman on. About half way through he decided the snowmen were pooping every time he pressed them down. He thought this was so funny! Just thought that was a nice image you'd like to have when you open the letter (I'm assuming those of you reading this are friends/family, so you'll be getting one). I ended up finishing the letters tonight, so once I get stamps they should be going out! I'm proud of myself for getting them done.

This evening we got our tree. Once we got home me made Hot Apple Cider (a Harbin tradition we are continuing). Alex & Will watched James put the tree up. Then Alex went to bed and Will and I read different Christmas stories while James put the lights on the tree. FINALLY (in Will's mind) we were able to put ordainments on (I remembering thinking that took forever when I was a kid as well!). It was so much fun! This is the first time Will has been old enough to help. He was asking questions about the different ordainments ("Where did we get this one?" "What's this?") and did a good job helping hang them. I didn't have many expectations for tonight, I just wanted to get the tree up. It was a joy to see how excited Will got, and THAT has put me in the holiday spirit more then I imagined. 

So two major tasks have been checked off the "To Do List". Now it's time to do a major cleaning in between all the Christmas parties we get to go to this weekend. "It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year"!

Today in the car I heard Will say "YUCK! My thumb is yucky!"

I asked him "Do you still have your mittins on?"

He did. He now knows to take the mittens OFF before you try to suck the thumb. (The other obvious option, of not sucking the thumb, did not seem to be an acceptable option.)

First…Happy Birthday to our newest nephew who was born at 5:24 this morning.  He was a week overdue so we know everyone (especially my SIL) is happy he is here. We now have 2 girls and 5 boys among the cousins…

I have a smattering of things to share…I'm sorry it's so disjointed.

We had an ARCTIC Cold Front (that is how it sounds like everyone has been saying it: "ARCTIC" in bold, all-caps, with icicles hanging off of it) come through last night.  Windchills this morning were -3. We got a dusting of snow. Will was very excited, saying "Look at all that snow Mommy!"  I love how easily he gets excited over things (since I was sad it was only that and not much more)! He enjoyed making foot prints in it while I was getting Alex and I ready to take him to preschool.  

Will has also been learning about the Nativity story this year. Between our telling him about it, learning about it at church and at preschool as well, he is really beginning to show he understands what is going on. And he's stopped calling Mary "Miriam" …I've been trying not to laugh when he does it…it's a logical mistake. He's loved the story of Baby Moses & Miriam–we've been reading it often.  And Miriam and Mary do sound a great deal alike. 

Yesterday, at Bible Study, we had a Christmas Tea. At the end the kids came in dressed up as characters in the nativity and sang songs.  Will was dressed as the Christmas Cow. He walked in wearing a black/white spotted body suit over his clothes. The outfit was too tight and had "Got Milk?" on the front. There was no attmept to have a cow head/hood/ears  I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes.  He moo-ed for Baby Jesus quite nicely. He didn't know all the songs because we had missed the week before. But he could sing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" and enjoyed singing J-E-S-U-S (to the tune of BINGO). When he went down for a nap I heard him singing that one again.

Someone asked us for gift ideas for Alex. I told them he loved to play with balls or cars. Which is true, but mainly because that's about all we have for him to play with. The trains are usually off limits (too many small parts/tracks to take apart and drive his brother crazy). This leaves his brother's cars that he keeps trying to take (they do share and it cracks me up to see this tiny boy stading up next to the couch or the footstool going "Bbbbbpppppssss" to copy the motor sound his brother makes), or to crawl around after balls with his brother. OR…his TRUE Favorite toy:

…the plastic container cabinet!  (Or the TP in the bathroom. Or the fun machines in the TV cabinet he's not allowed to touch. Or the fun machine on Daddy's lap with all the buttons.  You get the idea!)

Edited to Add: I had to add this picture showing him playing with a car.

Some updates on things James or I have talked about before:

• Alex Walking–My changed prediction to "before Thanksgiving" (from before Christmas) was wrong. In my defense, I didn't realize Thanksgiving was only a week a way when I said that. He took 3-4 steps from the couch to the foot stool today. He didn't repeat that succes, but he does enjoy trying.
• Our house–The post of its sale was a bit too soon. Things fell through. Since then, we've had a possible renter that fell through. So those of you who were praying until James posted the possilbe sale? Please go back to praying. We do not want it sitting empty all winter.
• Weight loss program–That 12 week program kind of ended at 10 weeks. But I know I lost 15 pounds and James lost a good deal of weight as well. We're trying to get back into it, but everytime I tell James "Make sure I get up to work out tomorrow" Alex hears me and wakes me up 2-4 times a night/cries for an hour/generally disrupts my sleep. So I have fallen out of the habit of working out and eating healthy.  I'm trying to get back into it this week. James has been doing a better job the last week or two.