Naughty Jingle

As you may recall, after Thanksgiving, Doodle, our Elf on the Shelf arrived. Around that same time, Jingle, the Elf arrived in Josh's class and Emma's class had Nicky. Jingle was certainly a silly elf and the last day he was there, he was extra busy at naptime. While all the kids were sleeping, he went around with a red marker (washable of course) and gave them all Rudolph noses. It was easy to pick out Josh's classmates when we arrived that afternoon. As it turns out, Jingle gave Josh a red nose the same day we went to visit Santa so the memory will live on!

Mascots

A couple of weeks ago when Brad was out of town, the kids and I met Libby, her Mom and sister at Chick-Fil-A for dinner and some play time. This particular evening, they had some kind of event going on that required the presence of the Chick-Fil-A cow mascot. The first order of business for Emma was a photo op and then she needed to take Libby's photo as well.

Emma and Libby could not get enough of the cow and thought it was hilarious to ask "What's your name Cow?" He would then shrug his cow hooves as if to say "I don't know and they would start laughing hysterically. Josh and Anna, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with the cow and Josh would not let me put him down in fear that the cow would get him. After we ate and the kids played for a while, Anna found her bravery and gave the cow a hug. Josh got a little braver and finally gave him five but that was as far as he would go. Meanwhile, the big girls harrassed him every chance they got and he was probably happy to see them go.

Wordless Wednesday - Future Diva

Go Time!

We sort of introduced the idea many, many moons ago and Josh has been good about using his potty before baths. However, over the last couple of weeks, he has definitely expressed more of an interest in using the potty. While he isn't too the point where he tells us he needs to go, he wants to use the potty much more often and has been doing the same at school so the time has come to really give this thing a go. Josh thinks he is so big with his pull-ups on. I'm not sure how long this road will be but I am very excited about the possibility of a diaper-free future. I'm also hoping that once he really decides it is time, he'll pretty much train himself like Emma did. Seriously I think the only thing we did for her is to read her her potty book every time she wanted to sit on the potty; the rest she did herself. Anyhow, good luck to Josh and may you decide soon how much you hate wearing diapers!

Cole Camp Part II

On Sunday morning, we headed off to church to test out Josh's New Year's resolution to whisper and be more quiet. Let's just say that his resolution hasn't gone so well. Of course, I guess it was more my resolution for him. We had an offer to take Josh out to Brad's friend Diane's house in the afternoon so he could see and ride on a tractor. Unfortunately, his nap didn't start on the schedule I hoped so we weren't able to get out there before they had to leave. While Josh was napping, Brad and Papa took Emma down to the playground at the Lutheran school where she had a blast. I was told she is even getting the hang of pumping her legs to power herself on the swing. I am going to have to see this soon. After Josh woke up, Uncle Chris's took us over to his parents house to see the miniature horses, miniature donkey, chickens and pigs. Josh was terrified of the horses of course and clung to me for dear life. Once we got into the barn and they were on the other side of the fence, they weren't so scary. Emma sat on one for a short time and Chris was able to put Josh on for about 0.2 seconds. Shortly thereafter, Emma was attacked by a chicken. Bailey started chasing the chickens so one went running by Emma and kind of flew up real close to her flapping it's wings. She immediately jumped into the arms of the nearest adult. We definitely have some city slickers on our hands. They did enjoy seeing the animals though and couldn't wait to get back and tell Brad about how the chicken had attacked Emma.

The next morning, it was time to pack up and head home. Emma and Josh were completely worn out from the long weekend since they both crashed on the way home about an hour after lunch. By the time, they woke up, we were in Conway and they only had to endure ~30 more minutes in the car. We had lots of fun and I know Emma really enjoyed playing with Madison. Before long, Josh and Zach will be doing their thing as well and thankfully, it seems like Zach is going to be into trucks as much as Josh.

Cole Camp

Emma and Josh were lucky to have three separate Christmas celebrations this year as we ended out 2011 up in Cole Camp with Brad's family. I think the last time that we were all together was for Zach's baptism last April. When we arrived on Friday, Lesa, Chris and the kids were already there. Emma was so excited to see her cousin Madison and Josh loved the fact that the girls would go play together and leave him alone to play with his trucks. They had brought along their little dog Bailey much to the horror of both Emma and Josh. The first time Bailey came running out, they got into my lap before you could count to one. Thankfully they warmed up to Bailey and by Sunday, she could be around them without a leash. By Monday though, poor Bailey had probably had enough of my two since they were now chasing her trying to pet her and then hugging her.

Dale, Michelle and the boys arrived on New Year's Eve with Garret dressed like a giant Elf. The younger kids got such a kick out of his outfit and Josh wanted to call him Doodle. We had a great Christmas/New Year's feast. Again, all the kids exhibited great patience since there were lots of presents under the tree that I know they were dying to open. After a trip to Weaver's with Michelle and Lesa and then a quick bite to eat, it was time to tackle those presents. Emma was super excited and didn't want to wait to see what somebody had before moving on. We got her to calm down a bit and let the adults hand out the presents so then she either helped or watched with anticipation when somebody was opening a gift. Emma and Madison were definitely happy to help and excited to see what everybody had received. Emma got some new Barbies and stylish Barbie car, new puzzles and some new coloring books. You'll be surprised to learn that Josh got some new trucks. Brad is certain that we can now respond to any emergency be it by land, air or water. He also received some Rescue Heroes or big guys as he likes to call them. Once all the gifts were opened, it was time for bed much to the chagrin of Josh and Emma. The adults and Garret spent the rest of the evening sitting around and playing Words with Friends with each other on our respective phones. Do we know how to have fun or what? We did all make it to midnight but then it was lights out on a great Christmas/New Year's Eve!

Christmas Day

Brad and I got an early Christmas gift when both Emma and Josh slept in until shortly after seven. Emma was the first to rise and rather than heading to our room like usual, we heard her running out towards the living room (right past the presents from Santa mind you). Brad and I got up expecting to see her by the fireplace but no Emma. Brad then noticed her over by the Christmas tree. When she saw us, she said "He didn't come. Santa didn't come." Apparently Santa was supposed to leave the presents under the tree so Emma didn't even look anywhere else. When we pointed out the gifts by the fireplace, she was relieved but still a little upset with Santa.

Santa brought Emma some new books and a diaper bag for her babies. About this point, Josh decided to join the party and was excited that Santa had brought him books and more cars. Santa also brought some new train tracks for both kids. Santa did not do so well with the stockings, which contained some silly socks (that Emma usually loves), M&M's and goldfish crackers. These things apparently were not good gifts. Poor Santa may just boycott our house next year. After a good breakfast, we headed off to church. Let me just say that Emma and Josh were so patient on Christmas day since there were still lots of presents calling their name under the tree.

After church, we had a quick lunch before sending Josh off for a nap and Emma off for a rest so still no presents. Finally though, Josh woke from his nap and it was go time. They were so excited about everything but we did manage to slow them down a bit when they would get occupied with something new. Josh got lots of new trucks, some animals and some blocks. We may need to add on to the house in order to have enough storage for Josh's trucks. Emma was in Strawberry Shortcake and Barbie heaven. She also got some new stuff to take care of her babies including a pack-n-play, play mat and bouncy chair and her own electronic game system. Brad and I did pretty well ourselves and it was definitely an Arizona Wildcat Christmas for me; Bear Down!

Christmas Eve

Once again, our church had a Christmas Eve program that the children got to take part in. Unlike last year, where there was clearly some pre-planning and practice beforehand, this year's program was sort of thrown together at the last minute, which was painfully obvious. Right before we left for Arizona, I finally found out what songs Emma would need to know. Thankfully one was "Away in a Manger", which she had been singing at daycare. The other song was called "Jesus, Light of the World" and she needed to know the chorus. Whether she knew the words or not, Emma was just excited to get up in front of a crowd. Let's just say that somebody is not afraid of the spotlight.

By the time we got home from Christmas Eve service, it was about time for bed but first, Emma and Josh got some cookies and milk ready for Santa. They also had to say goodbye to Doodle our Elf who was returning to the North Pole. Emma and Josh blew Doodle kisses and then headed off to bed to sweet dreams of what Christmas Day would bring.