Christmas Day

 Everybody in new Christmas pajamas, you can't see but Sprout's says Ho Ho Ho.  :)

 Christmas brings out the best....they've been best buds the last little while.

 Here's the Ho Ho Ho!

 Christmas Eve sewing.  The green and yellow are pillow cases.  The striped one on top was a pillow case for a little friend.  Train bag on the left and a cloud blanket on the right.

 Christmas wealth!!

 Santa had been here!!  Have to tell you, the little Thomas trains down in front would have cost $120 from the store.  Bought then new off E-bay for $20...not bad!  Santa's a savvy shopper!

 Not sure why...but the camera went blurry for a few pictures, including all the guitar ones.  Another Santa Savvy purchase, Big E loves his guitar and has already been tuning it and trying out notes.

 "There's more presents over there!"

 A firetruck, JUST LIKE GRANDMA'S!

 We all love it!

 Then Sprout opened his!  (He slept through Little E and Munchkin's opening of gifts.)

 Christmas Carnage...

 Ok, I had to say this...that lovely fabric book with the goose on the back.  There's a little poem next to the goose that details the reason for Christmas.  But the first two lines say this, "My name is Gertrude and I am the gander."  Huh?  Aren't ganders boys??  And isn't Gertrude a GIRL's name??

Stocking carnage.
Here is a short video of the boys coming down in the morning...sorry for the grainy quality...we didn't have much in the way of lighting.

We had a lovely Christmas, and hope guys did too.  Merry Christmas!!

Christmas Concert

 They filed in so nicely....Little Dude was nervous with so many parents there.  He had his hands in his pockets quite a bit.

 The little girl right behind Little Dude with her hands in the air is his special friend E...they like to play together lots....and she isn't nervous AT ALL!

And now....the performance!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBgF2le6vE8

Zombie Baby!

Here is how the boys play Zombie Baby with Sprout.

Too funny eh?  :)

We have had some snow, but not too much and the weather has been pretty mild.  Just a couple of days ago it was +9!  Today was +3 and tonight's low is -1.  Not bad for the end of December!

1 yr check up

Sprout had his 1 year check up and he is just shy of 19 lbs and in the 50th percentile.  Length wise he is in the 30th percentile so it looks like he's of the long and thin variety!

Stresssssss

So life is stressful, that's nothing new.  Today I realized that I have been internalizing too much stress.  I have been late for work once and I was late again yesterday.  I phoned ahead and started only 6 minutes late (and then a whole bunch of other things happened that made the presentation an hour longer than it was supposed to be, but they were things all on the teacher's end, not mine) and it pushed me over the edge.  Every time I'm sitting driving and not thinking of anything specific or if I'm laying down to sleep my mind slides right over into stress-ville, my chest tightens and my mind races to find the quickest solutions to the difficulties I'm listing over and over in my mind.  Needless to say, this is unhealthy and not just to me but to everyone around me because who wants to live with a big ball of stress?  We have a plan, and that has lessened the stress a bit.  Big E is trying to find a position that will allow him an actual career and the kind of pay cheque that goes along with that.  I'm going to get myself to bed early (don't laugh...this is a REAL goal!) and make sure my scheduling is clear so that I'm not late ever again.  Might I ask the few who come and read to keep us in your prayers as we work our way through this new plan?....That Big E will get the position he is hoping for....that things will smooth out ASAP.  (Not that I'm impatient or anything...heaven forbid.)  Thank you in advance.  :)

Sprout

Here is a video of us yesterday.  It was too big to put here, so visit this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KathpdrATCk

Christmas Tree!

Let me start back a little, to the end of November when Little Dude had his parent conference night.  His teacher gives each kindergartener a little booklet that they go through and do different things to show their parents what they have accomplished up to this point.   Little Dude did GREAT!  Except he forgot what patterns were.  :)  Here are some pictures of what he did that night.

Showing Dad how he can do his math.

Showing off his printing.  LOVE the Printing Without Tears program.

Showing all the parts of a book.

And his last activity was to read his parents a story.  He chose "The Runaway Rabbit".

And now some Sprout photos....

Sprout in a box.

He LOVES it!

Waiting for someone to give him a push.

Uncle D came to visit.  The last time the boys saw him Munchkin was a baby and Little Dude just a toddler.  They warmed up to him quickly and he entertained them by showing them videos of his little dogs.

We put up the tree on Dec 2nd.  Sprout didn't do any decorating...but he did investigate!

Munchkin was a conscientious decorator.

Placing everything just 'so'.

Little Dude is a little more freestyle decorator.

There were wrestling matches during the break.

All right, an explaination about the next two photos.  Sprout has decided he likes scooching on his back by lifting his bum up and pushing off with his feet.

And while he's doing this he yells, "Ahh!"

Sometimes the wrestling matches involve everyone!  Little Dude and Munchkin are very good at being careful of Sprout.

I think we were watching Sprout and Munchkin wrestling at this point.

Ta Da!  Our completed tree.  Our next door neighbours haven't been in Canada for very long and this was the first year they were having a Christmas Tree.  So, she didn't really have much in the way of ornaments.  As we decorated we set aside some ornaments we weren't emotionally attached to and gave them to her.  Made me realize just how many ornaments I am emotionally attached to!

The tree lit!  Munchkin's favourite part.

November

Sprout is officially walking.  Not far, not yet but walking.  We're up to about 6 steps at a time.  I've tried to catch him on camera but every time I press the button he sits down!

 Little Dude had school pictures, and we think they turned out pretty cute!  He still likes school...kinda.  He told me the other day that he'd changed his mind and he was going to stay home.  But he didn't put up a big fuss when I told him he would have to keep going until June!  He is, however, in complete agreement with homeschooling for grade 1.  :)

 Sprout is growing like a weed...or 'sprouting' if you will!  He's scheduled for his one year check up next week and I'll have actual numbers then.  For now we're satisfied that he's growing and happy.

 Here is Munchkin looking out at their sledding hill.  It's a short walk behind our house and it is fun!  We were on our way to pick up Little Dude from school...notice how low the sun is??

 I needed to do something with my hair and I was trying desperately NOT to cut it.  So, I gave myself bangs.  I'm pretty happy with the result.  OH-and I fit into my snowpants again.  Woohoo!

 Here we are getting ready to go out and pick up Little Dude from school.

 And here we've picked him up!  He likes to push the stroller, though Munchkin would rather he didn't.

 Sprout-when he'd climbed up to the landing on the steps and playing keep away.

 More from our walk to get Little Dude today.

Happy to be outside.  It was sunny and nice today.  Hope that keeps up as long as possible!

 Brothers just in from sledding.  Rosy cheeks and big smiles.  Wish we had lots of land somewhere and they could just go and play to their heart's content!

News Flash

So the night before last I was reading bedtime stories and thought I'd give Little Dude a chance to sound out some letters (I do this on a consistent basis, though not every single night) and so happily he went ahead and not only sounded out the letters but put them together and read the words.  On his own.  Now, they were small words, he wasn't reading words like, 'surprised' but I'm sure that won't be too far off as he figures out his way around literacy.  So, a big, WAY TO GO Little Dude!  Smarty pants.

I love to read!