work Christmas party

Last night was Ty's law firm Christmas party. Once again, Thatcher is the one who made the entire experience so fun. He was very willing to grab a microphone and join in singing while the older boys were playing Rock Band, he pulled up a stool so he could help another group of kids play fooseball, he was riveted by intense games of air hockey, he impressed everyone with his rib-eating skills, he was so great at following directions as we built a 'house for Santa', and he was super excited to go on his first horse ride (which was actually a carriage ride, but still pretty cool). The party itself was a little strange but Thatcher had a blast and I had a blast watching him have a blast.

a great day for Thatcher, a not so great day for James

Yesterday was the long awaited day for Thatcher's party. He has been so excited for weeks and he had a blast. He was so excited to have his friends over! We played "pin the star on the tree", "Santa says", we decorated gingerbread men and other cookies, and we made snowmen out of marshmallows. Thatcher's party ended with him giving each of his friends a treat bag with jingle bells and a funny toy that shoots discs (among other things). The kids had fun playing with their toys and dancing to Christmas music. I was nervous to see how 2-year-olds would participate, but they did great and everyone had a fun time.









James also had fun eating (and then spitting out) gingerbread cookies, and playing with the ball popper with Aaron.



...until after almost everyone had left when James pulled a stocking and stocking holder on his face. Those things are heavy! I ran over to him as I was watching it happen and just felt sick as I picked him up. He was crying so hard and soon I saw blood in his tears. I went into panic mode and quickly got everyone in the car. I was taking my friend and her little boy from the party home so we did that detour first, then headed toward the hospital as I was calling everyone I knew who could tell me what to do. I called the pediatrician's office and after explaining everything to them the nurse said we could come in and see the doctor right away instead of going to the ER. I picked up Ty and then we headed to the doctor's. The doctor said that there was just a cut on the skin on the outside of the eye and that James would probably have a little scar there as a result. She also said that the whit part of his eye was scratched a little, but it was nothing to cause too much concern. She gave James a prescription for eye drops and that was it. James was such a sweetheart through the whole thing, but it was so hard for me to see something like that happen to my baby and then to have all the "what ifs" enter into my head. I am so glad he is ok. These pictures don't quite show just how bad it really looks, but they are the best I could do.

My Christmas house and latest crafts

Here is our Christmas-y house and the crafts that have occupied my already very limited time the last few weeks:





My advent calendar has been a waste of time and a failure from the get go, but I didn't give up...and here it is.

Some other things I have made...
snowlfake pillows

snowflake table runner

redid Christmas countdown

another Christmas countdown

My silhouette has provided some fun opportunities to etch every piece of glass in my house, make cute place cards for Thanksgiving, make fun invites for multiple parties, and other fun things. Here are some pics (and thanks mom for the coolest Christmas gift ever)!







And here is the craft I came up with for craft club that started this whole crazy idea of getting a silhouette for myself.

mostly fun

Some things of late that have been not so much fun:

James fell out of his high chair and landed on the tile on his head. I think I cried harder than James...almost. I hate thinking of my baby boy in pain, and it was a scary fall too.

Thatcher wet his pants at Lizz's house, then went into Lizz's bathroom with Claire, took off his pants and underwear (while Claire took all her clothes off) and made a mess with water and toilet paper. I was mortified.

James has a new fascination with the toilet and loves to play in the water. I have made a concerted effort to keep the lid down (which is a challenge because with potty training Thatcher we are using it a lot more), but Thatcher helps James out by putting the lid up if I am not close by. I have found both boys laughing at each other standing over the toilet and splashing away.

Feeling like we are officially one week into potty training and not knowing exactly when things are going to get better. Thatcher is great if we are home. He will pee and poop on his own and carry the bowl to dump whatever in the toilet and flush it down without me saying a word...but once we leave the house it isn't so easy. We left the house Saturday, Sunday, and Tuesday and had accidents each time. We have made progress, but we aren't there yet.

Things of late that make everything worth it:

The other day I was explaining to Thatcher that mommy used to be a little girl just like Thatcher and that some day Thatcher will be big just like Dad. He went straight over to the bar stool, got on top of it and said "Big like dad". Then today I gave him some of my smoothie which gave him a green moustache and he said, "Green moustache just like dad."

"Merry Christmas baby James", "Happy Thanksgiving baby James", "sit down baby James" (when James is standing up in his high chair), or "no baby" (when James is playing with a toy Thatcher wants or when James starts messing with the Christmas tree)

Last night Thatcher came downstairs at 9:30 (two hours after his bed time) with his backpack on. Who knows how long it took him to put it on because he has never managed to do that before...but he succeeded and he was super excited about it. He wore it for most of today and told me a number of times that "Aunt Kay has a Buzz backpack, Thatcher has a shark backpack."

Seeing Thatcher play with his cute friend Simon when we went to the Pickups house for dinner on Sunday. They are two peas in a pod and are hilarious together.

Watching James play on the fire engine. He loves to sit on it, ride it around, stand by it and push it. I feel like he just got huge overnight. He is playing with things they way they are meant to be played. He puts the wise men and Mary in the stable, he drives cars around, he sings into the microphone, he laughs at all the righ times, he is just the greatest.

Celebrating Christmas every day in so many ways (as recorded in an earlier post). It really is special in a different way with my boys around. I don't know what I ever did without them.

too busy

I like being busy. I actually love it. I thrive on it...but I have come to realize that I have my limits. The last month has felt too busy. There have been a ton of fun things that I haven't even recorded. These are what the last two weeks have involved:
- Music Class party...a fun end to a fun couple months of watching Thatcher and James laugh, sing, and learn with other kids.
- Cookie exchange...it was a success. It was fun and I am glad I made it happen. Ty went to work the next day with 11 plates of cookies...enough for every person in his office.
- Coconino County Bar Christmas Party...scallops, shrimp, duck, exotic cheeses. Who cares that the company wasn't that great when the food is?
- Missionaries for Dinner...loved that Thatcher and James were extra unruly. They were laughing, screaming, and cracking each other up the entire visit (making conversation and spiritual-message-sharing quite difficult)
- Super Craft Day...five hours of me cutting vinyl for all my friends while someone is constantly holding James and Thatcher causes mischief with other kids
- Activity Days...a fun Christmas activity that focused on service and making candy Christmas countdown chains for everyone's family.
- Reflections of Christ...a kind of cool photography exhibit focusing on the life of Christ, complete with a bell ringers performance (where James dumped a bottle of water on the gym floor and then played in it)
- French tutoring
- Thatcher's Christmas party (more details and pictures to come on that one)
- Book Club...discussing Hallelujah (a book that kept me up till 2:00am sobbing because it touched/upset me so much)
- Logan visiting for two days...he got accepted to NAU, hooray!
- Baby Shower for Bridget... a lot of work.

On top of those events I have had piano and organ practicing and playing occupying my time as well as making and delivering invites for a number of these events, Christmas shopping, going to the gym, gymnastics, story time, adressing Christmas cards, POTTY TRAINING, cooking, baking, reading up a storm, experimenting with caramels, crafting, Ty studying for the Utah bar, and other normal craziness. I feel beat and I can't wait to go to Salt Lake.

Christmas around here

I never knew Christmas could be this much fun. I have always loved Christmas and loved celebrating, but it is only December 7th and it has already been the best Christmas season of my life thanks to my little Thatcher. Here are some things that have made me laugh in the past few weeks.

Straws showing up in unlikely places...in the hands of shepherds

sticking out of a chair (it is amazing what kids can discover)

Thatcher wanted this wise man to bring something more than just his gift...here he is bringing a cookie.

Thatcher LOVES his santa hat. He wears it all the time...in the bath, in bed, you name it.

Thatcher loves his Christmas stories. The other day before his nap he cried for his baby Jesus books. He is also pretty impressive with the I Spy books and can find so much more than I would ever expect from a two-year-old.

Thatcher's long awaited Christmas party is in a few days. He is so excited. He personally delivered invitations to all his friends and he has helped pick out all the party favors.

We have watched 'A Muppet Christmas Carol,' 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer', 'Frosty the Snowman,' 'The Polar Express' and 'Barney's Christmas' a number of times. If it is Christmas, Thatcher is a fan.

Thatcher sings all the time. His two most favorite songs are 'Jingle Bells' and 'O Christmas Tree' but he also likes to sing 'Santa Clause is Coming to Town', 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer', and 'Frosty'.

I have glued Joseph's and our little snowman's head on a number of times (both have received a lot of love from the Thatch man). Another thing I finally threw away after gluing it one too many times was a candy cane that Thatcher loved. It was a dollar at walmart and is supposed to stick in your yard, but Thatcher wanted it more than anything and carried it around for weeks.

Thatcher loves jingle bells and both he and James will play with them each day and get excited about them.

Thatcher always talks about asking Santa for a 'Buzz movie'

Thatcher likes to find snowmen and Santa Clause and claims a sighting when none is in sight. Today a man let us through the gate at Flag Ranch and had a gray beard and moustache. Thatcher was super excited and when we pulled away said "I saw Santa Clause!"

Thatcher likes to dress up as Rudolph with the nose and horns. The other day Thatcher wrapped himself in a dish towel and told me he was a shepherd. When Thatcher is not dressing up, he is most likely wearing his 'marshmallow shirt' which has a bunch of marshmallows jumping into a mug of hot chocolate. It is his favorite and he is always very proud to wear it.

Even James has shown his excitement by constantly climbing over to the advent calendar and playing with the jars. He is such a cutie.

potty training

While exercising on Monday morning, I decided resolutely that this week was it. I had two weeks with no gym membership and no out-of-the-home commitments before heading to Salt Lake for Christmas so I decided I should just go for it and see how Thatcher did.

Here are the stats for the first two days...
times peed in the potty: 3
times peed on the floor (or on chair): 4
towels used to clean: refer to photo

times pooped in the potty: 1
cars received: 1
stickers received: 16

What I was thinking: this is never going to work, I can't believe we haven't left the house in two days, I can't believe I haven't done anything in two days, how do moms ever do this over and over again with each kid?, Thatcher is the sweetest boy...at least we have that going for us, and other discouraging thoughts.

Stats for day 3...
times peed in the potty: 6
times peed on the floor: 2
times pooped in the potty: 1
cars received: 1
stickers received: losing track

What I was thinking: awesome, but not so sure we are getting anywhere considering how much he has had to drink today and how many times he sat on the potty...it seems more like luck and good timing at this point. Also...I need to read all those potty training books I got from the library, pronto.

Day 4, before his nap...
times peed in the potty: 3
times peed on the floor: 0
times pooped on the potty: 1
cars received: 1
stickers received: completely lost track, but it is still a good incentive

This morning not only did he decide when he wanted to sit on the potty (all 4 times he successfully went) which I think is a very good sign and shows a lot of progress, but he took his little bowl to the bathroom, dumped it in the toilet, and flushed it all on his own. I was in shock (and so relieved that he didn't spill). He has loved doing that the last three days, but today I was either changing James's diaper or distracted in some other way and he just did it himself. I know we have a long ways to go, but today is the first day I feel like we might be getting somewhere. I can't believe my Thatcher is such a big boy.