Goodbye Astro!

Astro the Elf left on Christmas Eve night. The boys were a little sad to see him go. It was so much fun to wake up every morning and see where and what he was up to. Part of the magic is the kids can't touch the Elf or he can't fly back the North Pole to give Santa his report. Well... on Christmas Eve the boy were able to hug and kiss him goodbye. It was ok that he lost all his magic because he would ride back the N.Pole with Santa in his sleigh when he came to drop off the presents. Astro sat and waited for Santa next to his milk and cookies.

In the morning Astro was indeed gone but there were beautiful snowflakes hanging from the ceiling he left to say goodbye and keep the boys thinking of him. This tradition was alot of fun. I am looking forward to doing it next year and wish we had started it last year!

Christmas!

Christmas was a busy day as usual. Luckily Dave and I were able to get up and ready before the boys were awake. We actually had to wake them up just before 9am. You would think the excitement would keep them up but that really isn't the case around here. They both were fighting a cold so they needed the sleep anyway.

The boys woke up to a tree full of gifts and a path of snowflakes leading the way that Astro (our elf) made for them as a goodbye gift. The boys loved it and they were so excited to get started opening gifts. Jaxson started first and found that Santa brought him exactly what he asked for, a new wrestling ring. Asher found a guitar in his box from Santa. He immediately wanted it ON! I made a Mommy fail though. Once we were getting down to the last of the gifts I noticed Jax hadnt opened a couple that I knew I had bought. Then I realized that there was a whole bag of gifts downstairs for Jaxson I had completely forgot to wrap. I ran down, threw them in boxes, and brought them up. Jax was just as excited, he could care less that they weren't wrapped at all. Oops.... One of my favorite parts was to watch Jaxson be just as interested in Asher, Dave, and I opening gifts as he was about opening his own. And I am pretty impressed with the gifts I got for Asher, they must be pretty good. Everytime Asher opened a gift Jaxson wanted to make sure that he "had to share right!?!?!"

Asher is opening the gift Jaxson wrapped for him! 

Then on to my side of the family. We ate breakfast, visited with family, and let the kids tear into gifts before we got started on White Elephant game. Jaxson and Asher left with all kinds of stuff, including finger paint ( to encourage them to paint each other.. not that they need encouraging) spiderman stuff, trains, and even a keyboard for Jax. I ended up with a stealing frenzy to get lottery tickets and Dave ended with a groupon giftcard.

At Elaine's we ate and ate then the kids opened more gifts. They were happy campers by the end of the day. The adults did a gift exchange and drew names. Then we played some board games with everyone and finally headed home... a full stomach, a very full car, and very tired...

Until next year.....

WAIT!

When Dave was leaving for work the other morning Jaxson had just tumbled out of bed as he was putting his coat on. He went right to the bathroom but frantically yelled to me to "make daddy wait, make daddy wait!" I told Jax that he needed to go to work but would be home soon since it was a holiday and he didn't have much to do. But then he said...

"Just make him wait because I just want to give him a hug and kiss before he leaves!!!" 

I love him so much. He isn't the cuddly little baby he used to be so when he is so sweet like this I kind of melt. And no longer take it for granted because it will soon be so "uncool" to hug and kiss your mom and dad.

Snow Day x2

 We went to bed last Wednesday night with the forecasters warning of the big blizzard heading our way. Every other time they talked about a big storm it was only about half of what they said. Dave is always disappointed. He likes it when history is made and he was able to "be a part of it." Don't worry,  I am not sure either... ;)

When I woke up on Thursday I was freezing. This isn't really unusual since I am pretty much always cold but I was like, really, cold. I kicked Dave and told him to turn up the heater or check it or do something, but he just said, "I think we lost power." Worst news ever. I don't like to be cold but the thought of not being able to warm up in the immediate future wasn't appealing. It was 58 degrees and only getting colder with our old, drafty windows. We got up and checked if schools were closed although we were pretty sure they would be. Our assumption was right. Dave got started on the driveway and I bundled the kids up for breakfast and called a friend just a few blocks away. I assumed she would also be without power but has a lumberjack husband who has a backyard full of firewood and a roaring fireplace that keeps them warm. It was our best option. To my surprise she had a roaring fire, a football/teacher husband who was home, and power.

Once we were able to get our cars unburied I left very carefully only to get stuck 5 feet in front of her driveway (on a culdasac). I just left it and got the kids inside. Her husband and her brother in law, who were both having a ball with all the snow and manly stuff to be done, got my car unburied and successfully in the driveway. Dave went to work for a bit to make sure nothing important needed to be done for any tenants.

We got our power back on awhile later and we didn't go home until I knew it would be nice and toasty inside again. Jaxson's first snow day from school wasn't the winter wonderland of sledding and baking but I guess it was eventful none the less. He didn't have school the next day either, extending his winter break by an extra two days. He got to spend his second snow day with Grandma who came back from Nevada just in time for the biggest storm we will have all winter probably.

 Here is Jaxson sporting his winter gear for breakfast. Two pairs of sweatpants, a few sweatshirts, and a winter cap is totally normal breakfast attire, right??

And we also forgot to take off our umbrella on our table. I guess we will be in the market for a new one this spring. Oops..... 

 Once we got our power back and had a way to warm up, all this boy wanted to do was put his new snow boots on and use his new kid shovel daddy got him. He loved every minute of it. He was ecstatic when he dug enough that he found grass.

Shyness

Jaxson is shy. No other way of explaining it. It is something we are trying to work on but really you can't force him to talk just like you can't force a kid to eat. He has gained alot of confidence when he is at home. It doesn't take long for him to open up and talk away with people here, new people or regulars.

But when out and about, at school, or any other place, he is painfully shy. I hate to see him miss out on opportunities or having fun with the other kids because he is holding back. We have made some progress lately that made me so proud! First, when we went to dinner with Aunt Carol the waiter came to the table and asked if he could clear any plates. All the sudden I hear Jaxson pipe up next to me and say that he is finished and he could take his plate. I was literally shocked. He has never willingly talked to a stranger before. Especially without them trying to get him to talk through some technique. Tickling works best. I was so proud of him. All of us were and we told him how excited we were and how awesome he did. He was pretty excited and proud himself. I could tell.

Then on Friday we went to pizza. The boys were pretty excited and we had a Groupon thanks to Grandpa Larry (who loves to buy Groupons... no matter what they are. Really, he does.) Jaxson told me he would like more lemonade. I told him he needed to ask the waitress just like he talked to the waiter the other night. He surprisingly said ok. When she came over he quietly but without hesitation asked, "can I have more lemonade please." I was so happy. And a "please" without prompting. Wow!

This is such a small thing for most kids who are outgoing and talkative to everyone and anyone. But this is a big deal for Jaxson. And I see him gaining confidence. Slowly but I will take it. This is going to be important at school because lately Jaxson told me the girls he plays with sometimes put him in time-out. I know that it is impossible for the teacher to be in every situation on the playground so it is up to Jaxson to stick up for himself. To voice his opinions, and to say no if he doesn't want to do something. He won't do this yet and has lately told me he doesn't want to go to school because the girls are mean to him. They aren't really mean, but they boss him around. But he listens to them even though he doesn't want to. I talked to the teacher and she said she will watch for it. I told her though, rather than telling the girls that they can't do that, to encourage Jaxson to speak up for himself. Because really, they aren't doing anything "wrong." In their opinion they are just playing house. If Jaxson doesn't want to play that game, or play that way, he needs to say so or play with someone else. And if he learns now that the teacher will just rescue him he isn't learning anything at all.

All Came Tumbling Down

About a week ago or so ago both the boys were tucked into bed and I was sitting on the couch Xmas shopping online. It was an easy night. Then it all came tumbling down. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something move and as I looked over I saw the whole tree just land right in the middle of the living room. Of course I screamed. (It was scary!) With that Dave came rushing from downstairs and thought I saw another mouse. (We had our first ever mouse in the house this fall until Dave set only a mere 30 or traps in the basement. Needless to say, we were mouse free soon after. I almost got caught in a trap there were so many!) He realized what had happened and quickly unplugged it and we lifted it up to start sopping up the soaked carpet. Of course we had just filled the water tank. Ugh....  Thank goodness for shopvacs. :)

But we didn't get it upright before Jaxson rushed out of his room and had a slight meltdown. In his 4 year old world he just saw "Christmas" in it's entirety fall down and get broken. If the tree is broken then Santa won't come, and cookies won't be made, presents won't be opened. Christmas was over. He exclaimed in such a hilarious tone, "OH MY GOD!" with his eyes so wide I thought they were possibly going to pop out of his head and his little hands on his cheeks. He was sooo worried. He ended up staying up an extra two hours because he would not go to bed until he felt secure that the tree was going to be put back together to his liking.

After a trip to both Menards and Home Depot to find a worthy tree stand I came home with what is called "The Original" and it is steel and I couldn't even knock it over empty. I felt good about my choice and carrying it to the register reinforced my decision since it was crazy heavy. Oh.... And my FAVORITE part of putting up the tree, the part that Dave gets super frustrated at me for not getting the tree straight and trying over and over and over again but you can't really tell if it is straight since you are practically inside the tree holding it so you just are yelling at each other to "make it straight" and "I can't tell, I'm in the tree." We got to do that all over again. Yay!

I didn't redecorate it until two days later and somehow we lost a whole strand of lights somehow. It doesn't look quite as full and jolly as before, but it is upright so I am happy. And Jaxson has decided that Christmas is indeed back on.....

Guilty

In the last few days it is hard to watch TV hearing all the terrible things that happened. Hearing the stories. Seeing the pictures. It hits home when you find out about these kind of things while one of the loves of your life is sitting in a school classroom. And sometimes I feel guilty being able to turn off the t.v. and get away from it all since so many parents can't escape it for the rest of their lives. You wish you could do something but if that happened to me I know nothing anyone could say or do would take it away. It is such a scary thing being a parent. You try to protect them from everything, prepare them for anything, and when you have to learn news like this you realize that in some instances you are helpless to protect them. The feeling of being helpless to protect your child is my worst nightmare. It breaks my heart that these parents have to try to recover from this. If that is ever really possible.

My loves...

Skate

Jaxson's school sponsored a night to the skating rink last week. I had kind of forgotten about it but as we sat down for dinner Dave mentioned we should still go since it was a warm evening. It was a spontaneous decision but it warm (for December) at 45 degrees or so at 7pm. We got the boys all bundled up and off we went. I figured just one of us would go out with him, probably Dave, while I stayed back with Asher. As soon as we walked in the guy told me "if he can walk, he can ice skate" in reference to Asher. He told me he would let him do it for free (which really only saved us $2) but it convinced me to give it a shot. I laced him up and helped him to the ice. He had trouble but did walk on his own with the skates on. We both carefully stepped on the ice and went about 3 feet before realizing it was never going to work. He just kept trying to sit down and it took concentration for me to stay upright let alone pretty much carry a 30lb toddler. We quickly turned around and got shoes on Asher's feet. I kept my skates on and Dave and I tooked turns skating around with Jaxson.

Jaxson was cautious and liked to stay right by the railing but got more confident the more times we went around. He started to give it a try hands free towards the end. We skated for about an hour and then headed home. Jaxson really enjoyed it and said he would like to go back again!

Fancy for Dinner

 Carol has been out and about on different trips recently so when she was in town we made sure to get together for dinner and a movie at her house. The boys have some nice outfits that they don't get to wear very often so we figured this would be a perfect time to use them. Asher was being a ham all evening. He even began to be wave his little hands and bat his eyelashes at the next table who quickly fell head over heels for my little man. He is going to be a heartbreaker I am afraid..

We rented Spiderman to watch since Jaxson has been a fan lately. He was a little less interested since it was real people but enjoyed when he was flying through the city as Spiderman. But the boys had plenty of fun chasing each other around and around while the three of us were into the movie. :)

History Repeating

About four years ago when Jaxson first went to daycare he ended up with three great friends. Adam, Reece, and Ryder. They are all within a few months of each other and have loved playing with each other for years every week. Now that they are starting school they see each other few and far between. It is going to be even more important next year to make sure keep these friendships with playdates and other outings. I know some of Dave's best friends are ones he met when he was this age so I know that if they stay in touch it can be a friendship for many years to come.

Asher doesn't get to go to Mel's as often as Jaxson did when he was this age but once again there are four little boys, all within a few months of each other that just play, play, play. (One, Nash, isn't pictured here because three one year olds in a bounce house was plenty.. haha) One of Asher's friends is Ryder's little brother. Apparently their mother and I have the same idea on timing when it comes to having children. :)  Driving what many consider a crazy far distance to send the boys to daycare is worth it for them both to have met some friends that they will hopefully have for many more years to come.

All Wrapped Up

 Jaxson have been a wrapping crazed kid lately. Since finding out that he has some talented scissor skills he loves wrapping presents and making "cards" which is cut up paper, alot of them and some very small. Jaxson heard Uncle Dan was coming for dinner so wrapped up his toolbox for him and made him several cards and two entire rolls of tape. My favorite part is how he insisted Uncle Dan take home the toolbox. When we were over at there house(ish) Jaxson saw his toolbox full of Uncle Dan's real tools. He was pretty excited and didn't ask to bring it home with him.

This beauty is one of Asher's gifts for Christmas. Jaxson was wrapping in the bedroom for at least over an hour. He went through I am not sure how much tape but I know it was alot. And clearly had a heyday with the scissors. It might be my favorite gift under the tree. :)