Merry Christmas!

Can you believe it? We're all looking at the camera! Actually there were multiple pictures where all of us were looking and I had to select this one based on facial expressions. 

We had a wonderful Christmas. We spent a few days in Iowa over the weekend and enjoyed time with Grandpa Don and Grandma Sue and our Iowa cousins, aunts and uncles and great-grandparents. With the new snow Iowa got last week, we were able to get in some pretty good sledding and had a great time. Sam preferred to slide down the hill on his tummy, head-first, and did not try a sled. Matthew got all dressed up, then played in the snow for a few minutes before going inside. Abby, of course, stayed inside as she refuses to wear a hat without extreme fussing. But Jason and I had a great time and with cousin Blakely, we were the last ones outside sledding. Matthew and Sam have both asked at least five times when we are going back to Iowa again. 

Our Christmas festivities then continued yesterday with Christmas Eve at Grammy and Papa's church (Abby didn't cry all through Silent Night this year...Jason had already taken her out!) and some yummy goodies at Grammy and Papa's with Uncle Brian and Aunt Stephanie and our cousins. Christmas morning brought stockings full of socks, toothbrushes, toothpaste, stickers and some candy, more gifts, cinnamon rolls and lots of playing. After Abby's nap, we went back to Grammy and Papa's to open more gifts and enjoy a spaghetti Christmas meal. The kids got lots of great gifts and they bounce from one toy to another and none seem to have arisen as a particular favorite, although some toys get taken to bed. 

We are exceedingly blessed to have such wonderful family and that we get to spend so much time with them, especially around the holiday. We have been given so much, here on earth and eternally, more than we ever deserve. Merry Christmas!

Matthew 1:21And she will bear a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.

Havin' fun

This is what the kids do for fun in Iowa when confined to the indoors. 

Sick

Well, I had meant to write something about all the snow we got last week, but never got around to it, so now we're on to the next topic. Stomach flu. Yuck. Jason got it on Saturday. Abby got it on Sunday. Sam got it tonight. We'll see Matthew ends up. I got a stomach bug a few weeks ago so I hope I already got it and am immune, although I'm still washing my hands raw and rubbing down door knobs, chairs, faucets, light switch plates, toilets, etc. etc. etc. Poor Abby ended up getting three baths in 24 hours and two change of sheets. Sam ended up getting two sponge baths tonight and one change of sheets (so far). I ended up ...wait...I need to change my last sentence. Sam ended up getting two sponge baths and one regular bath tonight (the regular bath was 10 minutes ago...9:25PM), he's gotten three pillows dirty (they're waiting in line in the laundry room) and two lovies (BaaBaa...he's on his second wash cycle now...and a plush dog).

Sam, while he's extremely pale, is handling his sickness quite well. Not that he's bouncing around, but he's not crying despite his tummy troubles. Abby got pretty scared when her tummy was yucky and cried a lot. She's still quite cuddly and suffering some ill effects, but she's much better than she was yesterday. She doesn't seem to have much of an appetite and only wants to eat cheese and drink water. Cheese? Yes, cheese. Her favorite food.

I don't think we'll be going out much this week. The Y is out until the kids are healthy for at least 24 hours. While I stay home while the kids are really sick, if they're in recovery mode and up for a little outing our usual destination is Har Mar Mall and the pet store.  It's really not very busy (just don't go on the weekend), so the kids aren't going to spread their germs around much and it's something that can cheer up a sick kid. Sam I'm sure will want to watch TV all day tomorrow and I think he sometimes looks forward to being sick for that reason. Matthew will enjoy that for awhile before he gets bored.

Anyway, that's all I have for now. It's that time of year.

Sam's acting debut

So here's the backstory. Jason has to give a presentation on "hyperbolic discounting" which has something to do with delayed gratification in the economic sense. So he thought it would be fun to have a video clip at the beginning of his presentation in which Sam is the main actor. He thought it would be fun to play off the famous psychological marshmallow experiment of the 60s (I believe it was the 60s) where kids are given one marshmallow and told that if they wait a few minutes without eating the marshmallow, they will be given another one. There's a video of the experiment on YouTube which is very cute. Apparently, the study was longitudinal and so the kids who had the ability to wait (delaying gratification for greater reward) turned out to be more successful down the road. 

Anyway, the plan was that Jason was going to present Sam with the scenario of one marshmallow, and told that he could earn another one if he waited a few minutes and Sam is supposed to say, instead of playing into the experiment, "Dad, is this about hyperbolic discounting, again?" Sam was coached and coached and coached and practiced practiced practiced his line. And this is the result. 

Cold days

What do we do these days? Well, the boys tend to find all sorts of things to climb on and jump off. Including Matthew's chest of drawers. Did I already write about that? They can be pretty naughty sometimes, although they haven't yet figured out yet (at least Matthew hasn't) that unless you want to get caught, you need to be quiet. So, the seriously loud thuds coming from Matthew's room was a clear indicator of illegal activities. That jumping has ended, but they've found other things to jump off. And then they run around in circles. Sometimes they hold onto a scarf or a measuring tape and run around after each other and sometimes they just run around. And around and around. I'm pretty sure I wrote about this last winter and now here it is almost winter and we are at it again.

We also do a lot more crafts, puzzles and painting/coloring. Almost every day Sam wants to do a craft and I usually only have one per week. Now we're not talking elaborate craft stuff, this week I bought a Christmas necklace kit from the fabric store's $1 section and that was it. Sam loved it, Matthew started his necklace then took it apart and Sam finished his too. And he's been wearing it around including to the Y this morning where he proudly showed it off. What a cute little guy. So here's the puzzle making activities. Sam is getting pretty good at putting together 75-100 piece puzzles although he usually needs a little help getting started. Matthew's mastered 12 piece puzzles and is working toward 24 piece right now. They often sit right next to each other and put together their separate puzzles and Sam often lends a helping hand to Matthew which Matthew really appreciates and I do too.

What does Abby do these days? She busies herself saying lots of new words (lately she's added "cheese", "dessert" and "no" to her repertoire), following the boys around and grabbing their toys and hurrying away in that cute little toddler pre-running state. She makes the most of opportunities when I'm on the floor as she loves to sit with me when the option presents itself and she also likes to horseplay if I'm lying down and she will come and belly flop on me. We all generally have a good time together despite our extended time indoors. Of course, the kids fight some and I get a little crazy too every once in awhile, but we're making it. We'll see how it's going in February, but the cold season is off to a positive (and late, thankfully) start. Now, I know this picture doesn't have anything to do with this post, but it's post-worthy, so here is Abby, post-nap.

Scary caterpillar

Yesterday the kids and Grandma Sue and I went to the Java Train Cafe, a coffee shop/cafe with a small caboose inside of it. The caboose has two levels and some toys inside, so the cafe is a fun place to go since the adults enjoy food and beverages and the kids can play. Anyway, the kids were playing a bit in the caboose when Matthew came over to our table, shaken and shaking. He started talking about being very scared or seeing something scary in the caboose. I had no idea what he was talking about. Then he started saying he saw a caterpillar in the caboose that was trying to lick him. I'm not kidding. I couldn't come up with this on my own. Poor Matthew, the little guy was terrified of a supposed human eating caterpillar. I told him that caterpillars don't eat people, they eat leaves, but that didn't calm his fears and he refused to go back into the caboose.

For the rest of the day, Matthew periodically mentioned the scary caterpillar and asked if it was still there or if it would be there when we went back to the caboose. I told him that I would be sure to check out the caboose when we come again to see if the caterpillar was gone or still there. So I will. The kid really has an active imagination these days and I haven't a clue as to what he really saw, but we clearly know what he thought he saw: a man-eating caterpillar. Scary stuff for a two-year old.