entering into the season

Bug and I set up  the tree last night.  Bug decided he was in charge of 'fluffing' the tree branches.  

Mr. Silly has come to our house.  Bug is sort of OK with our elf on the shelf, but I am over the moon with Mr. Silly.  Bug's behavior has been very good since the elf arrived.  I think I might have to keep him around after Christmas.  It is hard finding spots for him to hide in each day, but now that the tree is up and lights are on the tree, Mr. Silly might have to hide on the tree tomorrow.

And to end the day, we had snow.  Again, this is not good.  The weatherman said last night, that we are expecting a wetter than average winter in store for us.  Translated, this means more snow, as he said.  Not good, not good.

Tonight, Bug mailed his letter to Santa.  He was so excited to head to the red mail box, put it in, and watch it slip into the mail box.

And then, he got to ride the train. Contrary to the pictures, he was very happy.

love and hugs,
Deb

The rest of the holiday weekend

Thursday was Thanksgiving.  Auntie Lulu managed to rock Bug to sleep right before dinner.  He was upset that I told her to throw away a pencil he was eating.  He has never tried to eat a pencil before, the pencil had some sort of foil like stuff on it.  Since it was a cheap pencil that he got in a gift bag at school, I was worried about the lead content of the foil.  So to get rid of the temptation, into the trash it went.  These cheap pencils are a bane for me- we have far too many of them in this house- Bug sharpens them down to nothing in less than 10 minutes trying to get a sharp point  on the pencil.

Eating a turkey leg at dinner.  I need to find the picture of me eating turkey legs one year when I was close to the same age.  We are two peas in a pod in some respects.

Tonight we started the indoor decorating for Christmas.  But was in charge of putting up the window stickers on the patio door.  These were stickers that belonged to Mam when Auntie Lulu and I were younger.  Lulu has had them while her kids grew up and now they are with us.  We will hold on to them until Uncle Dave has kids and then they will be passed on thru the family.   A nice tradition.

I managed to put up Bug's tree.  I had a splitting migraine all day.  I ended up resting on the couch for 3 hours, then I had no energy to put up the big tree, so this is as far as I could get today.  I will set up the large tree during my lunch tomorrow and Bug and I will start decorating it this week.

Bug did get some new ornaments on his tree- another firetruck, a batmobile, lego Darth vader, and a guitar.  I think he is happy at this point.

We start back to work and school in the morning, Bug is not too excited.  He has gotten used to sleeping until 8:30 each morning as have I.  Getting up at 6:30 is going to be rough for the next few days.

Love and hugs,
Deb

Starting the holiday season- Wednesday night and Thursday morning

Tuesday night, I had parent teacher conference with Bug's teacher, on the wall is the reading turkey.  For each book or chapter the kids read, they get to put a feather on the turkey.  Bug has contributed quite a few feathers.  We read 4-6 books a night.

Wednesday was not a good day at the beginning.  I had car trouble on Tuesday night and we spent 3.5 hours at the service department.  I was certain I was going to have buy a new car.  But it turns out our car needed a new battery and a new starter.  it was still expensive but not as expensive as a new car.

In the afternoon, we went to the zoo to see the animals and to stay for the Festival of lights. 

We got to see the seals or sea lions.

The wolves sleeping in the sun on their den

Turtle boy came to play.

Happy boy

he found the mail box to send letters to Santa.

Our family having fun riding the animals.  We crossed a milestone this trip to the zoo, for the first time in 4.5 years, Bug did not have a stroller.  Bug walked 4 hours, up and down the zoo 3 times.  It was so nice to not have to push the stroller everywhere.

Momma and Bug

Howling at the moon.  As we rode the train before we left, we saw the wolves howling!!

Flying high on the eagle

Gingerbread man- yum, yum, yum.

This is Bug when we got home- all worn out from walking around the zoo and seeing the animals.

This morning, Bug and I made pumpkin pies.

And Bug played like a baby on the floor.

Cinnamon rolls and chocolate milk for breakfast while we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving parade.

Now the turkey is in the oven and we are resting and enjoying time together as a family.

Love and hugs,
Deb

Trains and lights

I found more pictures of the boys from Saturday. N sleeping before his mom picked him up.

Bug crashed out too.  They were both up until 9:30 and then crashed as soon as I turned off the lights.

Sunday, after church, we headed out to see the local train display.  I think I finally have it, the weekend before Thanksgiving is the Balloon glow and the train show.  It is on the schedule for next year already. 

Let's do a comparison.  This is Bug from 2 years ago.  Barely able to see over the train table.

No problem seeing over the train table now!!!  He is just a growing machine

See- he is huge.

The "I really want a train look"

Silly look- actually it is the "I am not happy" look.  Bug picked up one of the cars on the display and the train owner was not happy.  He sternly told Bug to put it down and then I told Bug the same thing.  That pretty much did Bug in.

Behind Bug you can barely see the other room.  There were guys set up there doing wood carving.  Bug was completely enthralled with their work.  He ignored the trains for a long time while he watched them carve various things.  One of the guys, Tom, told me to start Bug on wood carving by giving him a bar of Ivory soap and a plastic spoon.  I could trace a heart on the soap and then let Bug carve it while we were outside.  This might be something to do one warm winter day, while we sit on the porch swing.

After we came home, Bug and I worked on putting up the Christmas lights.  It was lightly raining while we did it, and as we got closer to finishing the rain started coming down heavier.  We finished up just before the rains really started a downpour.

here is a look from tonight- we have colored icicle lights across the gutters and then snowflake lights over the steps.  You can barely see the candy cane lights around the garden.  And of course, there is Bug at the door.  We will be putting up the Christmas tree this Friday. 

Love and hugs,
Deb

Balloon glow 2011

A fun filled day- Bug and I took our friend N to see the balloons.  The boys were excited to play football before the balloons.  They actually lost interest in the balloons by the time the balloon glow started, but they had fun playing dragons during the glow.

I bought the boys the "angry birds" card game.  We played 2 games and Bug won both

But they went back to playing football.  They were quite mad when I told them they had to stop because there were too many people around.  I think that it point where they lost interest in the balloon glow.

tackling each other was fun

Having some pretzels

Meeting the Owl.  N was not too happy be anywhere near the owl.

Trying desperately to touch the water.  They were so determined to find a way to get wet.

There cute little chairs

N hiding under the blanket because new things were walking around.

The World Choir games mascots- Twirl and

Whirl

Bug and me goofing off

The 3 of us.

Finally the balloons- it was very windy and I think the balloon operators were discussing whether they were going to inflate the balloons.

Because it was so windy, the reflections were not a good this year as they were 2 years ago. I really loved the balloons.

Having pizza at home after the balloon glow.

 It was a good day.

Love and hugs,
Deb