Ho! Ho! Ho!

Jesus is the most important part of Christmas, but it's still fun to go see Santa...especially when you only have to wait in line for two minutes, you get to see him at Pizza Patio instead of going to the mall, nobody cries when they see Santa and pictures are FREE!!!  Thank you "Santa Lou" - we had a great time.

December Denial

I do not want to accept December.  Really, is it already here?  Didn't I just take down last year's Christmas tree?  I swear last week when I was dusting I found a few pine needles sitting on the ground - those couldn't possibly be from last year...could they?  I'm almost positive it's still August around here, last week it was 70 degrees and sunny.  Wasn't Halloween yesterday?  Is my little boy really a year old already?  Was Thanksgiving really almost a full week ago?  I'm in denial.  If I leave November up on my calendars do I really have to embrace December?

Don't get me wrong.  I love Christmas.  I love Jesus.  I love the story of baby Jesus at Christmas.  But I dread Christmas decorating, Christmas schedules, arranging Christmas family get togethers.  Don't be confused...I love the decorations, I love the parties and I even love seeing family (mostly), but it is all SO much work and it completely overwhelms me.  I love the smell of peppermint coming from my candy cane candles, I love the smell of a real (no fake crap at our house) Christmas tree, I love teaching my children that Jesus really is more important than Santa, I love seeing people that we only see once, or twice a  year, I love drinking wine with my family, I love eggnog, I love Toys for Tots parties where we practice giving rather than receiving, I love preparing the Sunday School kids for the Christmas Program and I even love Christmas shopping.  I love SO much about December, but I am still in denial because if I actually do tear November off my desk calendar then I have to accept that its time to start scheduling babysitters for parties, time to finish shopping (I actually started in late October) time to pull the decorations out of the attic, time to find time to get a real tree, time to make sure the Sunday School kids are ready to perform, time to go see Santa (preferably where we don't have to wait in line for an hour only to take home a picture with two out of three kids crying while sitting on Santa's lap), time to ask where we are eating Christmas dinner.  TODAY it is time.  December is here, I'm accepting it.  After all November isn't coming back...at least not for another eleven months.

Imagination

Prepare to use your imagination because you are about to see a picture of "the whole world" through the eyes of a four year old.

"The Whole World"

A Description of the Picture

TJ also drew these spaceships.  He drew a picture of himself inside the green one and a picture of an alien inside the pink one.  Quite an imagination he is developing.

Superstickies Tuesday

Today is the day - nuff said.  Just do it!  And visit Supah...it makes her smile....I think!!!

Get your post-it notes here.

Happy Turkey Day Everyone!!!!

Handy Tony

Two weeks ago when we were leaving to go out to dinner we tried to close our garage door and it closed...oh...about half way and stopped.  We could still hear the motor running but the door wasn't moving at all.  We left the door half closed and went to dinner.

When we got home from dinner Tony tried to figure out what was wrong with the garage door opener. He found the problem, a sprocket with all of its teeth missing.  Tony tried to order the part online, but it wasn't available so we decided we'd get a completely new garage door opener.  We'd wanted a new one since we moved in because ours wasn's child safe.  It was time for a safer garage door opener.

Tony looked around for a good deal and picked what we "needed".  He even decided he would install it himself.  This was our first home improvement project that Tony did on his own.  "Yes", we have remodeled our kitchen since we've been here, but Bob did all the work for us and "yes" we have remodeled our upstairs bathroom since we have been here, but Bob did that too.  This was Tony's first project on his own. 

Last Saturday Tony's friend Steve came over and they began taking the old opener down and installing the track for the new one.  They got a big portion of the installation finished, but they didn't have time to run the wires for the safety sensors.  Since the door won't work without the sensors we still didn't really have a working garage door opener.  UNTIL YESTERDAY.  Tony was able to get the sensors installed and wired properly and now our garage door opens with the push of a button.  The wall button also has a display that tells us exactly how cold it is in our garage, the motor part has a light with a sensor that comes on when it sees motion in the garage and there is even a wireless part that we can put inside our house and plug a lamp into and then when we come home we can turn on a light inside the house by pushing a button on the garage door remote (kinda hard to explain, but basically we can turn on a light inside by pushing a button on our garage door remote).  I think we have the world's most high tech garage door opener.  And not only does it work, but Tony installed it for FREE and it has lots of cool gadgets that go with it...and best of all it's really, really QUIET.

After two and a half years of being homeowners Tony has successfully completed his first major home repair.

Thanks Tony!!!

Side Note - Tony wants me to mention that he fixed a brake light on his car this past week and he helped me mop the floor this afternoon. 

J1, J2, J3, J4 and H

The teachers at TJ's school are always telling me he is a natural born leader.  He has always had lots of friends.  When I pick TJ up from school everybody wants to say "good-bye", his teachers told me that when he was out sick everybody was constantly asking about him, one day when I dropped him off late the morning kids were "worried" that he was sick again and wouldn't be at school.  People like TJ, and although he likes everybody, he has always had a few, special friends.  People he feels close with. 

I decided to write a blog about them so that later on I can tell TJ about them.  Some of these friends he still sees regularly, some of them he hasn't seen in months and some he might never see again.  I wish I was a better mom and could do a better job keeping him in contact with his friend, but I just don't seem to be able to do it. 

***Because I don't want to put other children's names on my blog I will simply call the kids by their first initials...and since apparently TJ has lots of best friends who's names start with J, I guess I'll have to number them too.

J1 - TJ's very first best friend.  He went to Mrs. Lynn's house with TJ for 3 years.  They were self proclaimed best friends.  They loved to run around together and they have attended each other's birthday parties for the past 3 years.  J1 and TJ both have curly hair, although J1's is much longer than TJ's.  TJ said his favorite thing about J1 is that "he always plays with me".  Unfortunately TJ doesn't see J1 anymore because this year they both started attending full-time preschool and they don't go to Mrs. Lynn's anymore.

J2 - She is TJ's best friend at church.  They attend Sunday School together and sometimes they sit together in church.  J2 used to go to Mrs. Lynn's house but now she also attends full-time preschool. J2 is an adorable little girl with long, blond hair and a spunky personality.  TJ said his favorite thing about J2 is that she goes to Sunday School "like I do".  TJ doesn't know it, but I'd be so proud if he ended up dating or marrying a woman like J2.  She is a beautiful, sensitive and friendly little girl and she has a great family.

J3 - TJ's best friend at preschool this year.  He is a cute little boy and TJ and he play together on the playground.  J3 is in TJ's class at school and they both also attend the after-school program.  J3 teaches TJ all about cartoons and has sparked his interest in Transformers and Bakugans.  They are a dynamic duo and they love to terrorize their teachers and run around jumping off the playground equipment.

J4 - She is also TJ's best friend at school.  A few weeks ago J4 stopped attending school because she has cancer.  She needs lots of prayers.  TJ has such a gentle heart and he ALWAYS remembers to pray for her.  TJ said his favorite thing about J4 is that they liked to read books together.  We are praying for you!!!

H - TJ's other best friend at school.  Friday was her last day at school because her family is moving to Korea at the beginning of 2010.  An awesome opportunity for them to be closer to their family, but a sad day for TJ.  Actually, he is very excited about H moving - he says, "now we get to send letters to Korea" and "now I have a Korean friend" (like she wasn't Korean before she was moving to Korea :-) )  TJ said he loves that H always played with him at school.

Those are all of TJ's best friends (at least that's what he told me).  Some we still see regularly and some we might never see again...but they will always have an impact on his life.  And now we have a few memories of them written down so he'll be able to read about them when he's older...and by then I'm sure he'll have a lot more "best" friends...I just hope their names don't start with J.

A picture of TJ and J2 at VBS this year. 

** Sorry I don't have more pictures of TJ's friends, but I was able to ask J2's mom for permission to post this picture.

Post It Note Tuesday

Because I can't resist.  I'm deeply in love with Post It Notes!!! 

Why be wordy when you can put it all in a Post-It Note? Try it...you'll like it. And visit Supah to see what everybody else is saying. Get your Post-It Notes here.

I decided (once again) that its time to actually follow the weight watchers plan - you know - because you only have to follow the plan if you actually want to lose weight :-)!

Loni - If I'm sore tomorrow I'm blaming you.  This was your dumb idea...not MINE!

I love Egg Nog ANYTHING!!!!  Especially if it involves alcohol!!!!

Where do they learn this stuff?

It is seriously freezing in the office.  I can't feel my fingers. And...yes, I'm whining about it.  I know this is California and I probably don't know what "real" cold is, but 66 degrees is REAL cold to me!!!

A mom can dream....Right?

Just kiddin'...kinda....not really....not at all!!! I'm BEGGING!!!