The Modern Day Manger Scene

At school Campbell has been busy learning all about Jesus birth and Mary and Joseph.  They have made several manger scenes and she rearranges ours several times a week according to what they have talked about that day. 
She decided to draw a manger scene for me the other day. This is her picture.

Mary is the purple one.  Notice her red high heels?  They are the big bubbles around her feet.  See the heels?  They match her red dress because she is color coordinated.  Jesus is wrapped in the red blanket.  She coordinates her baby to her outfit too.  Mary is giving him a bottle.  I am not sure what the long ties are.  The other two pink bottles are Mary's plastic reusable water bottles (she is green).  The thing on her head is her bow.  The red underneath them is a brick wall to keep them safe.  The flowers are outside the brick wall because Jesus likes flowers.  They are growing in the brown sand. 

I asked her where Joseph was and she looked at me with her Campbell look and said "Mom, he is at work"., with her dropped r and all.  She said it in her super exasperated voice like it was the silliest question in the world and I should know exactly where Joseph was.

I don't know if I should be upset about her interpretation or impressed by how much she learned.  I think she may have missed a few points, but she seems to have gotten the overall pictures.  Perhaps we can focus on the details as Christmas gets closer.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

We have our tree up and decorated and for the most part it is staying decorated.  Blake likes to ring all the bells and he has pulled a few balls off the throw, but nothing has broken.  I put all the breakable and super sentimental ornaments on the top half of the tree to keep them safe.  The biggest challenge right now is that he has discovered where the plug is and he unplugs the light whenever he decides it is time.
The stocking are up and we have some other non breakable decorations out, but lots of things had to stay in boxes this year and probably for the next couple, as Blake is just to into everything for me to worry about keeping him out of all the decor.
I am staying with the family tree.  I have friends who do two trees, one formal and themed tree and one "kids" tree.  I put everything on one tree.  It has all the ornaments that my grandmothers gave me over the years, ornaments they made, the ornaments I let the kids pick out every year, all the ornaments they make a school, anything goes.  I love watching them unpack their ornaments from prior years and find the perfect place on the tree for them.  They are so excited to show them to their friends when they come over.  I have wedding ornaments from friends and family and Campbell has to hear about everyone of them several times.  I also try to buy ornaments wherever we go on vacation.  It's a crazy, beautiful tree and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Elfie is also back. Elfie is our Elf on the Shelf. He comes to live with us every year before Christmas and he hides throughout the house. During the day he watches the kids and at night he flies back to the North Pole and tells Santa if they were naughty or nice that day. The next morning he hides in a new place and you have to look for him. He doesn't talk and you can't touch him or he looses his magic. On Christmas Eve he will go back to the North Pole and live with Santa and the other elves until next year.

 

This is Elfie

Blake did not get to hang his ornament

Thanksgiving

Boy am I behind!  I keep thinking that I will catch up on my blogging, but it is one more thing that never seems to happen.  We survived Halloween and made it to Thanksgiving.  The kids and I spent the entire week in College Station and we had a blast.  We shopped, painted Christmas ornaments, cooked and baked and spent lots of time with family.  Thanksgiving really is my favorite holiday!
It has become a Thanksgiving tradition for the kids to bake a pie. They both love to help in the kitchen and this year Rachel decided she would make the pie with them.  This year I finally felt ready to get out Nanna's recipes and look through them.  It was tough at first, but then fun to see her notes to herself and all of the  things that she had saved.  Did she really make all of those?  Who was eating the salad made with canned salmon?!?  Rachel and the kids decided on her chocolate pie, which has meringue.  I have never even made meringue so I knew this would be fun to watch.  Rachel did not read the recipe before starting and since I did, we had some pretty good laughs at her expense.  Everyone in our family has a kitchen story they take some grief over.  Mine is the cookies Catie and I made years ago and added milk to.  They turned out sort of like cornbread and even the dog wouldn't eat them.  This one will be Rachel's, but despite everything, the pie turned out great.  It tasted just like Nanna and was all gone by Friday night.
I found her stuffing recipe hidden in the dessert section and modified my recipe to match hers.  I am not sure I ever got the center cooked all the way through, but it turned out really well and finally tasted the way I wanted it too.  Next time I know what to change to make it perfect.  I also used her lemon pie recipe to make lemon meringue pie.  It took forever to bake and she didn't say how long I should bake it, but it turned out pretty well for my first try.  Will ate it anyway. 
We had about 35 people throughout the day and most of the pictures are from Catie's husband Steve.  He is such an amazing photographer. 
We ate, watched the Aggies win and then Rebecca and I braved Toys R Us at 10:00 pm.  It was freezing and the line was wrapped around the building.  We braved it for about 20 minutes and gave up after they told us it would be 45 more minutes just to get inside.  We went to Walmart and shopped instead.  I don't know what was more fun, shopping or watching the people fight over the sales.  Interesting people shop at Walmart at midnight before Black Friday!  I am not sure we will do that again next year!

Brandt and Gunnar playing iPod games

Campbell and Sadie's favorite toy

Yum-Yum!

Tim and Allie

Sadie and Campbell - Still together

Traditions

Today Brandt's homework was to talk about Thanksgiving traditions. I asked him what he thought our traditions were. He said that we went to Bobby and Rebecca's house. That is true, but I reminded him that we also fry turkeys, Mommy makes the dressing, he and Campbell make a pie, we take family pictures, we watch the Aggies and Cowboys play and have a bonfire at Granny and Bop's. I also pointed out that can we have around 25 people, depending on who comes. We decided these were some pretty good traditions and then Campbell piped up that she knew one more - "the next day we have bacon for breakfast!". And she is right! We always have bacon and breakfast tacos at Beccas house!

Our Pumpkins

The kids made their Halloween pumpkins this week.  We don't carve pumpkins yet because the kids don't like to see the "pumpkin guts".  Here is our alternative.

No, he wouldn't smile.

Happy Halloween!!

Blake at 18 Months

Blake had his 18 month check up last week.  With the exception of his bad sleep habits, he is right on schedule developmentally.  He says all sorts of things and some of them you can actually understand!  He is running everywhere and is climbing on everything.  He has a mouthful of teeth and he will bite you!

He weighs 25 pounds, 11 ounces and is 33 and 1/2 inches tall.  His head is 19 inches.  He is 50% for weight, 80% for height and 65% for head. 

Brandt and Campbell did not have 18 month appointments, but had 15 month.  Blake missed his 15 month and had an 18 month catch up appointment.
Brandt at 15 months:
24 pounds, 13 ounces
32 3/4 inches tall
20 inch head

Campbell at 15 months:
24 pounds, 3 ounces
31 1/4 inches tall
18 3/4 inch head

Some things Blake says:  Mama, Daddy, B, Sissy, Stop It, Juice, Bye Bye, Bites (food), Bath, Car, Mine, More (with a half hearted sign), This, Outside, Night Night (which means - No, I don't want to go), Ball

Brandt's First Report Card

Brandt got his first second grade report card this week.  This is the first year that he gets real grades instead of checks.  I was still expecting the checks, so I was pretty shocked to pull it out and see separate grades for each subject instead of checks for each area and concept that he had mastered.  His grades were:
Language Arts (grammar/composition and spelling): 96
Mathematics: 96
Reading: 99
Science: 98
Social Studies: 96
He received an S in Art and Art Conduct, Music and Music Conduct and PE and PE Conduct.

We are very proud of him.  I had a great parent/teacher conference with his teacher a couple of weeks ago.  She is pleased with his progress and very impressed with his reading skills.  He reads above grade level and loves the "Diary of A Wimpy Kid" books.  We bought the rest of the series at the Book Fair and he has been reading them.  He is excited about the new one coming out soon.

The State Fair

Every year we go to the State Fair.  The kids look forward to the rides and the car show.  Mommy and Daddy look forward to the food and the people watching.  It is always a long day of fun.  This year the weather was perfect and we had a great day!

Brandt and I ride the Texas Star every year

Silly flowers!

Giant Blakey!

Real Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders!

B on the big slide

Blake loved the trains

Watching the divers

Feeding the animals

Cow kids!

Blake and the big train

Daddy and B on the log ride

Campbell on the big slide

. 

9 Years

And one day late.  Yesterday was Will and my ninth anniversary.  I tried to explain anniversary to the kids - It's like a birthday for your wedding.  I don't think they understood it at all.  Campbell was more concerned that we were going to leave her and go somewhere and then wanted to know if there was going to be cake.  No we were not leaving and no there was no cake.  Ironically I think that part of our wedding cake is still in the freezer.  I can't imagine eating it, but it seems like bad luck or something to throw it away.  I guess it will just sit there gathering freezer burn. 

Later in the day I did have to unzip my dress bag for Campbell to inspect my "marry dress" (again) and get down my shoes and let her wear them around for a few minutes.  One day I will probably have to let her put the dress on.  I told her that I was saving it in case she wanted to wear it one day, but she told me she is not getting married because she is going to live with us forever.  I'm going to remind her of that when she is fifteen.

Fall Festival

Campbell's school hosts a fall festival every year.  There are games, bounce houses, a pumpkin patch and lots of fun.  She gets really excited about going.  This year the kids and I went and had a great time.

Blake tries the bounce house

Brandt climbs!

Campbell jumps!

Brandt jumps higher!

Campbell tries to hit the pumpkin's nose

She makes the shot!

Blake does NOT want to play games!

Blake takes the easy way to win the game

Campbell picks a tiny pumpkin

Brandt chooses a huge one!

Today Blake...

Lately my days have been filled with trying to keep Blake out of trouble.  He is so busy and gets into everything!  He finds things that Brandt and Campbell never even imagined existed.  Our bathroom drawers are completely empty because he pulls everything out of them.  The bathroom counter tops are piled high with all of the things that should go in the drawers, but it is all carefully pushed back 12 inches so that he can't reach it.  He grabs the top of the counter and pulls himself straight up and grabs things.  He hangs off the kitchen cabinets like a little monkey, he even pulls out the kitchen drawers to use as a ladder.  I have to use only the back burners to cook because he was stirring chicken with a spatula when he climbed up while I turned my back for a second the other night.  On Tuesday he pushed all the chairs out from under the table and then climbed on one, onto the table and stood on top of the table and screamed because he was excited that he had done it.  I spent all day Wednesday battling to keep him off the table.  This is our bar height breakfast table.  Table he realized we also have a table in the dining room and I found him sitting on it, but the chair had fallen over and he couldn't get down so he was crying.  Most days he really wears me out!  His favorite pastime is pushing the coffee table against the sofa and then jumping from the coffee table to the sofa, where he lands face first, laughing the whole time.  He is fearless.  I can only imagine what he is going to be like when he is a little older!

So What Have We Been Up To?

Where should I start?  I have so many things to catch up on, I'm not even sure where to start.  We have been very busy with school, dance, play dates, the State Fair, tons of other things.  I am trying to catch up on all my posts and I have some really cute pictures to share.  Watch for more soon - the kids are dying to share their Halloween costumes!

Can You Teach Me?

Campbell has learned all of her letters and how to write them.  She loves to draw and write things and is constantly asking me to spell things for her so that she can write something down.  She makes all sorts of lists on post its and carries them around in her purses as her "important papers".  A couple of days ago she asked me if I would teach her to spell.  Of course!  I said, thinking she wanted to learn to read.
Our conversation went like this:
"Campbell do you want to learn to spell so that you can read?"
"No Mommy!  So that I can text!"

Technology wins again.

The Camping Trip

Because of the monsoon conditions outside, today is going to be an inside day.  I don't like inside days.  We need to get out and do something during the day.  The kids get too restless when we are in the house all day.
This morning Campbell went upstairs to play and came down fully decked out in plastic bracelets, necklaces, lip gloss and two purses.  She showed me that purses held all her important stuff- her phone, sunglasses, papers, lip glosses, make up brush, keys - yes she watches everything I do!  Then she went to play in the dining room.  A few minutes later she came back to tell me that she and her boyfriend were going on a camping trip.  What?!  She informed me his name is Sheldon and they would be back in the morning.  I'm not sure what she has been watching, but I'm pretty sure Dora doesn't have a boyfriend! 
I decided to let her go and she got back home safely.  Then she made up a dance while she lip synced to Taylor Swift for me.  I think she knows more of the words than I do!  When did our baby girl get so big?

The Sleeping Princess

Campbell is having some trouble sleeping in her bed right now.  Every night we go through a routine that she is scared, she doesn't want to sleep in bed, she wants to sleep with us, it's too dark, it goes on and on.  Most nights she makes at least one trip downstairs after I put her to bed. 

Last night I put Brandt and Campbell to bed and went back downstairs to get Blake to sleep.  A couple of minutes later, I heard footsteps and thought I was about to see Campbell's little face peek around the edge of the stairs.  I didn't and assumed that the footsteps had actually been the upstairs air conditioner turning on.  Blake went to sleep and a few minutes later I took him upstairs and this is what I found on the stairs...

Campbell's First Homework

Campbell was very excited to have her very own homework to work on after school on Tuesday.  We decided to wait until Wednesday to complete it so that she and Mommy could have time to work on it while Brandt was at school.  She had to think of a word that started with A, write the word and draw or cut out a picture of it.  All I did was tell her the letters that were in the word she chose - everything else was all her.

The Yellow Bin

Yesterday started out a little rough for Brandt.  Mommy was preoccupied with Campbell's first day of school.  I was worried about walking to school and back home and still having enough time to get her and Blake dressed, fed and ready to leave in time.  Blake decided 6:10 was a great time to wake up and I wasn't quite ready to wake up yet.  The kids had been up later than they should have been Monday night and Brandt wasn't really ready to get up at 7:00.   
First he told me he wasn't feeling well and couldn't go to school and for a minute I thought maybe he was really sick.  Will and I had both been sick over the past couple of days, but he couldn't really pinpoint what was wrong, so I realized he was faking.  Then he started to complain about his stomach, so I gave him some Sprite and breakfast and went to get dressed.  He ate, got dressed, brushed his hair and teeth and then threw a fit because I wouldn't let him take Sprite to school in his water bottle.  He used the excuse that Courtney does it.  I reminded him that Courtney has a very active imagination and we don't believe everything she tells us, but he was not any happier.  We finally got out the door five minutes later than we should have, which made Mommy grumpier than she should have been.  Five minutes into our walk he was still arguing about the Sprite and I finally used "I am the Mom and I make the rules and you won't always like them, but as long as you live with Daddy and I, you have to follow them", which only made him angrier at me.  He was a little calmer by the time we got to school and I gave him a hug and sent him inside.  The nurse didn't call all day, so I knew he wasn't really sick.
When I went to pick him up, we were walking down the sidewalk and after about 30 seconds he said "Mommy I have to tell you something that happened at school today, but will you not get mad?"   After I agreed, he told me that his planner got put in the yellow bin and explained that meant that he got a warning because he was talking too much in class to Kinley.  I asked and Kinley is a girl :) 
Now about the getting mad part.  Brandt has never, ever since he started going to preschool at two, gotten a warning, been on yellow, gotten a sad face, or whatever they use.  He always gets a green light, star, sticker, smiley face, whatever.  He follows rules like nobody's business.  I know this probably ruined his whole day and he punished himself more than I ever could have.  We wouldn't punish him for one warning anyway.  We did talk about the importance of paying attention in class and being respectful to Mrs. Liesveld.  I don't think that he will ever get another warning.  Our sweet little boy who wears his heart on his sleeve.

Campbell Goes Back to School

Today was Campbell's first day of PreK.  She has been so excited to start school and has been asking every day since Brandt started "How many more days?"  Last week I went to meet her teacher and find out who was going to be in her class.  There are two boys from her three year old class and a girl from her dance class.  I knew that she was going to be so excited.  Saturday she told me that she did not want to go to school and I started to dread today.  We got up, got Brandt off to school and went back home to get ready.  She was excited to get dressed and ready and even asked me to paint her toes for her red sandals.  She packed her bunny into her sparkly backpack and double checked what I had packed into her lunchbox.  She posed for pictures and bounced out the door and into the car and I thought we were going to be fine. 
Then we got to school.  She wouldn't unbuckle her car seat, she wouldn't get out of the car.  We got inside and she sat down on the gym floor and started to cry which quickly turned into screaming.  She had friends and teachers coming to talk to her and she would not budge.  Blake was happily running all over the gym.  I finally took her lunch into the classroom, carried her in and left her.  Patty (the director) never called me during the day, so I new she was fine.
When I went to pick her up she was smiling and laughing.  Ms. Erin said she was fine two minutes after I left (I knew she would be).  She will tell you she had a great day.  She even has homework that she is super excited to do tomorrow and take back on Thursday.