FINALLY!

As of today, all cards and gifts have been shipped out, and only one week late. It's sad when "only being a week late" is doing good but I'll take what I can. :-)

Sad Day

I am back to work today but am failing miserably at getting any work done. It is a bright and beautiful sunny day but the mood here is heavy and dark. We found out that our CEO lost his young son on Christmas Day in a tragic accident. My heart breaks for them all...

:-(

Toot Humor

Liam got a whoopie cushion in his stocking (thanks Kenneth!). It has provided an endless source of comedy for BOTH boys who seem to find the noise not only fascinating, but hysterical. I must admit, it is pretty funny!

"Merry Christmas-tree!!"

This is what Liam says every so often, 'Merry Christmas-tree!" Speaking of, we tore down ye ol' Christmas tree today. I asked Liam this morning if we should take it down and he he said "YEAH!!!!!" and then later he said "I think I'm maybe a little sad that our tree is coming down..." which is kind of how I felt. It was such a pretty little tree (handpicked by Liam). I was getting tired of cleaning up the needles and removing said needles from Sawyer's mits. All in all we had a great day although Mommy & Daddy (& Grandma Karen!) were wiped out by the end of the day. It was probably one of my favorite Christmases. The boys were so captivated by it all and the weather was beautiful (50's and sunny) so I even managed to sneak a run in. Very nice but I am glad to resume some normalcy. Liam was in sensory overload from all of the presents and Beanie just wanted to climb up the boxes. Here are some pics from the past two days.

Liam's New Fascination

Well, it would seem that my 4 year old is morphing into a typical male. Suddenly, and rather unexpectedly, he has become *obsessed* with "boobies." He talks about them all the time now, draws them on his "Mommy" pictures, and even tried to put them on the gingerbread cookies we baked today. He looked at the picture of me dressed up and he said "It's Mommy and boobies!!" When I asked him why all of the sudden he is talking about "boobies," he said "because boobies are FUN!!!" I have caught him trying to grab Emily's chest as well as my own--which I have let him know under no uncertain terms is NOT ok. He let me know that "one day Sammy will have boobies too!!"

Sigh.

I suppose it is that time in a child's development where they become aware of the differences between boys and girls. I was just hoping to be spared it until the children were in their 20's...

Why am I still awake?

It is way past my bedtime but I thought I would pop in quickly just to post something since I haven't been online in a while. Between visitors, the holidays and various illnesses it has been hard to stay up to date. I still have so much to do before Thursday--I guess I will get done what I can done. Tonight was gift wrapping, tomorrow is cookie baking and toy assembly. Better stock up on coffee...

'Tis the Season to be Heavin'

Just when I thought we were out of the woods with the kids catching Ken's awful bug, I got a call at work from Emily saying that Sawyer woke from his nap covered in vomit and very upset (just in time for Grandma Karen's visit today!). She said he refuses to drink anything and his diaper is bone dry. :-( As of presstime he has no fever...keep all fingers crossed that maybe it was just a one-time thing.

(yeah right).

:-(

The Fam

Here is a photo from last saturday--it was our company holiday party so Ken & I got all dressed up for a change. Here is the photo to document that yes,we do actually wear clothes other then running clothes...

Family, Snow and the Flu

This weekend my Mom & sister Lisa flew in to spend some time with us. We were all very excited to have them visit and the boys especially enjoyed having Grandma and "Alisia" (as Liam kept calling her) there to spoil them. We had a very nice visit and I loved having my family here. On Friday we ladies got the boys their Christmas presents, went to lunch and then Ken & I took Mom & Lisa on a nice hike up into the mountains with the pups which they loved. They did a great job on the hike --especially for being flatlanders and my 67 yo Mother was quite pleased that she made it farther then any other family members who had come out to visit ever had. The weather was mild (50's) and as per the norm, sunny. Unfortunately, friday night Ken got extremely ill and spent the rest of the visit miserable and in bed. Today he is feeling a bit more like himself but still not 100%. I am hoping beyond all hope that the boys do not get what he has. Sawyer has refused to nap all day today so I am hoping it is just his teeth that are bothering him and nothing more... Also today the weather took a turn. We now have about 6 inches of snow and the weather is currently negative 4. Mom & Lisa picked a good day to head back east! I am tired and am heading to bed--I've been awake since 4:30am and I can feel it!

First "Real" Snow

This morning we woke up to a few inches of snow and chilly temps (20). Two days ago I was out running in shorts and a tank top--today I was bundled up to the max and I was STILL cold. It was too cold for the boys to go out and play and besides, Liam has outgrown his snowsuit and managed to lose BOTH sets of gloves this past week.

Your Daily Liam (note: may upset vegetarians)

Last night Liam and I were eating dinner together while Ken was downstairs working. Lately, Ken has been trying to teach Liam where meat and all food in general comes from. He feels it is important that the children know where food comes from and not take for granted that it just "appears" at the table. So Ken has explained in detail, that in order for it to become "meat" the animal has to be killed first. Surprisingly, it has not fazed Liam--the boy is primarily a carnivore and would eat meat and carbs alone if allowed. He has, however, asked many questions. "Mommy, do we have to kill a cow for milk" "How do they kill the cow?" "Do we have to kill it?" "What other animals do we eat?"

Last night, I was eating a veggie burger when out of the blue Liam asked "So did you die the cow for that hamburger?" Once I figured out he meant "Die" and not "dye" I told him that no, it was a pretend hamburger made out of vegetables. He thought about it a second then asked "But hamburger is made out of cow! How can you have a hamburger if it isn't made of meat?" I tried to explain to him that some people don't like meat so they eat "pretend meat" which seemed to confuse him more. So finally I answered, "Only vegetables had to die for this kind of hamburger." That seemed to satisfy him, for now anyway. Liam is REALLY into semantics and will question you fiercely if it "does not compute". The teen years should be a blast...

Well, it's finally happened

I got home from work today to read the kid's daily Emily report (what they did, what they ate, whether or not they pooped, etc.) Today's report said "Liam had a great day here but had trouble listening at school and got put in the 'uh-oh' chair..." I read it aloud and asked Liam, 'Oh no Liam, what did you do to end up in the Uh-Oh chair???" He looked at me and suddenly his eyes welled up and he burst into breathless tears and sobs and said "I don't want to tell you!!" I kept asking him to please tell me and he said "I'm scared you'll get mad!!!" It took nearly an hour of him crying and throwing mini-tantrums before he was willing to talk about it. Ken told me that apparently in class the teacher was talking and Liam kept chatting. Miss Lori asked him to be quiet and he got frustrated and snapped some frustrated retort back. I can imagine it went something like this:

Miss Lori: "Liam you need to be quiet now while I am talking"
Liam: (keeps chattering--more than likely TO Miss Lori)
Miss Lori: "Liam I asked you to stop talking!"
Liam: "HEY! I am trying to TELL you a QUESTION!!!"

Liam got sent to the dreaded Uh-Oh chair. I have heard him mention with dread the Uh-Oh chair. "It's a red chair with a yellow frowny face on it...". Liam has told me countless times how he NEVER wants to get sent to the Uh-oh chair. Today after I finally got the truth out of him he told me that he didn't mean to yell back at Miss Lori and that he 'just forgot" (which is his new line of defense lately). He then said proudly that he did NOT cry when he got sent to the chair, but I bet dollars to donuts that he wanted to. After his confession he asked me "Are you going to write Santa a letter now?" (Yesterday I threatened to write Ol St. Nick a letter to let him know that he could probably skip our house this year since my boys had been misbehaving...) I told Liam that I would not mail the letter if he could be good. He told me "I think I will be really good from now on." We made a deal that first thing on Wednesday he has to go and apologize to Miss Lori for his behavior. The teachers said that they NEVER have problems with Liam and they were so shocked today because it was so unlike him. As Liam said later "sometimes I just feel like being a little naughty." I guess I have days like that too.