More Dear Santa

Sam would love a T-ball set. We can play on the school field. He loves baseballs and would probably love a mitt too. Guess it's time to teach the boy to toss a ball around. There's also a really cool turtle that projects the night sky onto the ceiling that we've seen in some magazines that would be very cool.

Eric and I would also like tennis rackets. Really cheap ones would be fine, as neither of us really know how to play; I played with some friends in high school and very early college, and I'm pretty sure it's been even longer for Eric, but there's a court at the school and it would be fun exercise to chase a ball around. Ooh, for something really expensive, how about a telescope? We have a fantastic night sky for stargazing - no streetlights or cities anywhere on the skyline.

Awyn is very much into putting things together and pulling them apart. She's taken over Sam's wooden puzzles. 

Dear Santa

Awyn and Sam really like play-doh. I have ransacked my kitchen for utensils that are safe for them to use, and that can't be ruined by association with playdoh. Sam and Awyn would like play-doh type toys. 

Changes

It looks like Blogger might be forcing me to switch over to their new system soon. I'm not entirely sure how things will change, or if I'll get to keep my blog web address, and once I figure it out, I'll let you know, because it might just impact your ability to find this website. Feel free to e-mail me, and I can create an e-mail with a new web address for everyone. I don't want to leave you all behind!

Sam is nearing his potty-training end - he's taking himself to the bathroom, pulling down his own pants, and doing his business. He's getting better about not waiting for a nighttime pull-up to poop. Of course, that meant he ran out to the front porch to pee this evening, (daddy taught him that one) and did a little more than he'd planned, so that was a bit more of a potty training adventure than either of us were expecting.

Christmas season is about to arrive - and that means the kids (and parents) are trying to come up with wish lists:
Sam:
Clothes 4T to5T
a nice new baseball cap, preferrably with an S on it, child sized.
"Cars" paraphanalia - he's got the DVD, he loves it like he used to love Incredibles.
T-Rex or other dinosaur toys
and Thomas stuff. He's getting Thomas stuff from Eric and I, and could always use more to go with the set. I'll try to take a picture of what we already have so anyone interested can get him tracks that fit the set. I blame my brother David for the Thomas obsession. Last Christmas Dave and Steph sent Sam his first Thomas movie. This has created a HUGE obsession for my son. Sam knows the name of every single engine, car, bus, or figure mentioned in the two videos we own, and a few I've never heard of! Sam also knows the difference between a diesel and a steam engine.

Awyn:
2T (she currently fits 12-18 months, she's tall and slender)
girly pj's (she's wearing Sam and Collin cast-offs) and she might just like a nightgown, as she loves dresses and skirts.
hats - this is a hat obsessed girl, and anything can be a hat.
She's tough to figure, and other than always getting Sam's leftovers, she has a lot of stuff!

Eric and Liz:
plastic food containers (we need to replace ours)
Little Mermaid DVD (ok, that's me, not Eric, he's offended by Prince Eric's black hair)
Cribbage board (me again, but it's time he learned the family game!)
Turkey roaster (I'd love a pan that wasn't thin tin-foil)
Stock Pot/steamer set (think cooking down a turkey carcass, and also steaming tamales)
Bissell's Little Green Machine (I want a steam cleaner, so handy with kids, carseats, furniture, carpets, pets...)
Gee, guess who wrote this list? Eric hasn't given me much to post, so that's what I want, and keeping me happy helps to keep him happy.

If you've read this far, then you are a real trooper! You can skip ahead to all the pictures I just posted, or read about my less-than-thrilling Turkey Day.

Awyn is sick with diarhea and a high fever, Sam fell asleep at 5:30 and wouldn't wake up, so both kids are in bed. Eric worked all day, and then he went down to the Orphan dinner at Claudia's house for some turkey and fixings. I sent along a pumpkin pie and two kinds of cranberry relish and a big tub of fat-free cool whip. I kept the sweet potato pie. If he comes home early enough for me to go down there, I will. I'm debating on taking down the remains of the sweet potato pie. I'm vain enough to want recognition for a superior pie, but greedy enough to want to eat it all because it really is fantastic. I think I'll keep that recipe!

The pictures below are over about a week's time, possibly longer. The hike we took was out to the red rocks by the Homer Wilson Ranch buildings. We did that on Monday. Sam walked most of the way, but didn't want to follow the trail. He really loved the rocks once we got out there, and tried to climb every rock face he could get close to. He nearly made it up over a cliff that Eric and I couldn't have climbed and had to be snatched off the rock face before he got to where we couldn't follow.

Castolon Store

I thought this was a rather good picture that Eric took, so I'm adding it in too. This is one of the places we stop when we want ice-cream after a hike or drive.

Javelina skull

 

 

 

 

 

Not too sure how Sam sat on this rock wall, but he really is sitting, eating raisins in this pictures. 

 

 

 

 

This is Sam's favorite new trick. We aren't actually encouraging this because, as you can see, it's not particularily safe, and this was the safest spot he's attempted his 'stand on Sam's head'. 

Our other pumpkin

Now we need to get rid of the pacifier... We're working on it, slowly. 

In honor of Thanksgiving, a pumpkin pie

 

Sam's jack o'lantern

Sam took this picture - he wanted to carve the pumpkin when I told him I was going to cut it up to cook it, so we did. Then I made a pie, and he was happy. Actually, we let him admire his jack-o-lantern for a day before I cut it up and cooked it. 

 

Sam had fun pulling the guts out of the pumpkin. 

Meandering post

It's getting late, and I'm tired, but I thought I'd share a video of Awyn playing basketball. If you are paying attention to the clothes the kids are wearing, you'll notice everything from shorts to sweatshirts. Our weather is rather unpredictable at the moment, varying between late fall chill and summer heat. Mostly it's been in the 70's, sometimes colder, sometimes warmer. Not quite ready to break out the winter uniforms, although Eric is wearing the winter uniform for his evening programs. I think he looks rather nice with the tie and felt hat, so I'm not objecting.



We've had a cold running around our house. Eric and the kids have had it for more than a week now. I seem to be coming down with it now, so I am glad I put up so much chicken noodle soup the other day. Poor Sammy has an ear infection. As I didn't discover it until the beginning of the weekend, we've been praying it doesn't get worse, and that it heals up without a need for the doctor. I've been checking his ear with my otoscope each evening, and putting drops of warm olive oil. He's got additional testing at the school tomorrow; hopefully the last for a while and they can finally tell me what they think is going on so we can move forward. At this point, his vocabulary is considered fine, and there is actually a pretty strong chance he won't have therapy; and he won't have to start school early. While I love our school here; it's like a private school and the student to teacher ratio is wonderful, (roughly 5 students/teacher) I just think Sam is a little young for sitting at a desk.

Last night I was reading a parenting magazine and there was an ad for a children's tv show. It wasn't anything I'd ever heard of, and Sam pointed at it, got excited, and exclaimed, "doodlebops!" He also named them all, and talked excitedly about them. I can only assume he watches this at a babysitter's house, as we have held firm to our no-satelite dish policy and limited screen time. Eric looked them up online, and we were both rather horrified to see how artificial they looked. I miss Sesame Street! I'm trying to decide if I'd still be upset if he were pointing out other shows, like Thomas (oh he does, and knows all the engines names) or knew who Bob the Tomato or Larry the Cucumber was. But then I realized we don't own any Veggie tales. I used to watch them when I worked in the church nursery, and I really liked them. I don't think Eric is so enamored with them though. And how much TV does Sam really need? Maybe I'll just add a couple in to our Netflix queu. Just to see what all Sam is watching, we looked up some other shows that we could remember the names for but know he never watches at our house - Dora, Sponge Bob, the Wiggles - yep, he knew them all.

It's a box - it's a spaceship

I ordered diapers online again, and this box is what they all came in. I let Sam and Awyn play in the box and decorate it with crayons. Sam insisted it was his spaceship and even let Awyn in to play once. 

 

Our Lil' Sooner

Awyn really likes the basketball hoop! It gets a little more use since we moved it to this spot. 

 

 

A walk in the Grapevine Hills

We went for a short walk in the Grapevine hills. We didn't have enough time to really get too far, especially at the pace that Sam set. He kept stopping to explore and play. Eric needed to go to work later in the morning, so we only had about 45 minutes. Awyn stayed in the backpack, and was pretty sleepy.