ice ice, maybe.

We tend to exaggerate the weather here in Northern Virginia. We can't drive in it, we raid the grocery stores like there is a coming apocalypse, and we cancel school at the prospect of a single snowflake. There is some beauty in being able to have everyone at home (even though I don't get snow days because I work from home). Our snow/ice storm was supposed to result in three to six inches of snow. We got two, maybe.

We only got one 'real' snow earlier this year (and that melted away by the afternoon). Last year Nate wanted nothing to do with all of the layers needed to go outside and not freeze. He did much better this year, with the exception that he still hates wearing mittens. He still plays with icicles though...

We did manage to stay outside longer than it took to get dressed, which is a success in my book! I attribute that to Nate being able to play with some kids in our neighborhood and getting to use one of their sleds.

Of course, instead of using the pretty-awesome-for-sledding-and-not-for-mowing-grass hill in our front yard, Nate wanted for us to pull him. I love the sounds of his little giggles and (happy) shrieks.

Maybe we'll actually get a decent amount of snow this winter. After all, it's only December! Here's one more of this little cute guy!

nathan-isms, vol. 3.

Some gems from this week...

-1-

 When waking up this morning...

[sits up, looks, around]

Nathan: What happened to me?!

-2-

An apology gone wrong...

Nathan: Mommy, I'm sorry. 

Me: [scanning the room nervously] What are you sorry for? 

Nathan: [with the most serious face] You. 

(I'm still not sure what this apology was supposed to be for)

-3-

Watching a commercial on Disney Jr. -- kids on a green screen and his favorite characters, making it look like they were interacting with each other...

Nathan: Jake is TRUE?!?! 

fifty dollars.

Toddlers like repetition. Is Nate still a toddler? I don't know what the dividing line is, age wise, but he's three so I'm going to claim toddlerhood as long as possible. In any case, during tonight's bath he kept acting out the same "scene" over and over again. I have no idea what this is from:

From what I can decipher:
[big gulp of water, hits a "button", look of disbelief, spews water]
"Fifty dollars?! Joe, Joe, you don't believe this! .... Hey, let's do it again!"
[repeat]

Like I said, I have no idea where he got this from but he seems to have the theatrics down pat.

He's now moved on to singing 'ring around the rosy' and doing his own mash-up with a song from 'Jake and the Never Land Pirates'. Never a dull moment!

santa.

Last year when our neighbor told us about a local place that has an excellent Santa photo set-up, we were beyond thrilled. Malls around here have either a horrible Santa OR you wait in line for hours.

2010 - Nathan's First Christmas: We went to Fair Oaks mall, spent about 2 hours in line (maybe more?), and we got his first shot with Santa. Great Santa, but holy moly what a long wait!

2011 - Nathan's Second Christmas: We thought that instead of driving to Fair Oaks Mall, fighting for a parking spot, and then spending hours in line, we would try our local mall. It was horrible! Nathan was terrified and the Santa was beyond questionable. While it made for a hilarious picture, we vowed to find something different moving forward.

2012 - Nathan's Third Christmas: Somehow this didn't make it to last year's blog (weird, right?), but we went to Merrifield Garden Center, where they had an amazing Santa who spent time to make Nathan comfortable, involved the whole family, and there was hardly a wait!

2013 - Nathan's Fourth Christmas: We headed back to the garden center again this evening and had another great experience. Unlike last year, where we had to be in the picture with Nathan in order for a picture to be possible, Nate jumped right up with Santa. They had a funny little talk that centered more around how Santa made everything v. what Nathan wants for Christmas, made funny faces together, and had some cute little moments.

We also paid to get a family photo done. The price really can't be beat - $5 for  six digital images that they emailed directly to me! I also was able to take a bunch of pictures with my own camera :)

Once we said our goodbyes to Santa, Chris and I took turns taking pictures with Nate in Santa's sleigh. I love the decorations in this place! So cute!

thirty days of thanks challenge.

The thirty days of thanks challenge is popular this month, but the challenge can actually be done in any month and ideally, year round. I chose to do this challenge through my blog rather than Facebook so that I can have all of my thoughts in one place. This has been such a great exercise! It's reminded me the larger influences in my life, as well as to pause to appreciate the seemingly smaller, fleeting moments.

I'm not sure how most people approach these challenges, but these people and things are by no means presented in any order of importance. As the month went by, I found inspiration in aspects of my daily life that made me feel grateful and blessed.

• Day 1: I am thankful for my family: for my little family of three and for my extended family of whom I've lost count. At the end of the day, these are "my people" and I couldn't be more blessed. This is a photo from Christmas 2012 of my little family, my parents, and siblings.
  
  
• Day 2: I am thankful for all things caffeinated, especially my Starbucks. With the amount of sleep that I run on sometimes, my coffee is what helps keep me going and a functional person :)
  
• Day 3: I am thankful for my camera. It's certainly not professional grade, but it helps me to churn out some high quality images to capture our memories. I look through my photos and go down a trip on memory lane.
  
• Day 4: I am thankful for my different circles of friends. It's funny how being an adult sometimes breaks down your friendships into various cohorts: college, work, mothers, neighbors, school. These folks help to lend both a sympathetic ear and some great advice, as well as offer up lots of fun.
• Day 5: I am thankful for our right and responsibility to provide our opinions on how this country should be run through the voting process. It's something that is taken for granted all too often and I need to remind myself of that.
  
• Day 6: I am thankful for my Nana who, on this day, celebrated her first anniversary in heaven. It's hard to think that it's been a year since we lost her...it still feels like just yesterday.
  
• Day 7: I'm thankful for our home. Being a homeowner is an enormous sense of pride and responsibility. It's hard to think that we've been in this house for about three and a half years already!
• Day 8: I am thankful that I have channeled my inner thrifter. Chris and I work hard for our money, so I try to make every dollar count. From coupons, to deals, to online yardsales, to consignment, to free kids clinics at the home improvement stores, I try to balance practicality with some fun. All of these toys were made for FREE at Build & Grow Clinics at Lowe's and Kids' Workshops at Home Depot:          
  
• Day 9: I am thankful for a son who, while energetic and stubborn, can be sweet and wants to make us proud of him. Just tonight he asked if he could read to me at bedtime.
  
  
• Day 10: I am thankful for my husband who works tirelessly during the week to get in extra hours to support our family. He's a keeper! 
  
• Day 11: I am thankful for our nation's veteran's who have and continue to serve our country. I am especially thankful for both of my grandfathers who took care of our country and our family.
• Day 12: I am thankful for the past five years (and counting) at a job that I love, which nurtures my professional goals, challenges me, and affords me with the flexibility to maintain an important life-work balance. 
  
• Day 13: I am thankful for the opportunity to continue my education. I've always been a good student and while grades are VERY important to me, it's even more important for me to be a lifelong learner and set a good example for my son. One of my educational goals has been to have conferred graduate-level credit. Well, today I applied for graduation for my Graduate Certificate in Academic Advising from Kansas State University! One day I'll get my Master's...baby steps! 
  
• Day 14: I am thankful for Nathan's desire to help and to learn new things. Once he comes home from preschool, he is my shadow if I am doing any sort of housework. Tonight, he helped me with laundry by moving all of the laundry from the washer to the dryer. Even more amazing (and a bit startling) was that once everything was in the dryer, he knew how to hit the power button, select the cycle, and push 'start'. I see a chore chart in our future! 
  
• Day 15: I am thankful for my OCD tendencies that help me to stay organized and on top of my game, for the most part. It saved me several times this week at work!
• Day 16: I am thankful for 'sleep in Saturdays'! The work week can be long and exhausting, so Chris and I developed a new system about a year ago where I get to sleep in on Saturdays and he sleeps in on Sundays (as long as we don't have any conflicting plans). It's such a nice thing to look forward to! 
• Day 17: I am thankful for the rare and fleeting moments of calmness in my house. With a three year old boy, a husband, and two 'vocal' dogs, it can get loud. Moments like these in the morning help to even out all of the craziness! 
  
• Day 18: I am thankful for the safety and security of our family and the general area where we live. Sometimes it takes a wake up call to remember to be grateful and fight for this sense of security.
• Day 19: I am thankful for my son's sense of humor. Between the inflections lent to his words and his mannerisms, I generally have a hard time stifling my laughter with this little guy (even if it's something that he wasn't supposed to do to begin with - remember these fiascos and what happened when he needed a little course correction?)  Well today we took a look at all of the things that the kids in his preschool class said that they were thankful for. A good 90% of them answered some form of mommy, daddy, or both. My kid's answer? T.V. 
  
• Day 20: I am thankful for whoever came up with the "clean up song" (and no,we don't watch Barney). This song is pure magic and Nate is conditioned to stop whatever he's doing and put everything he owns back in its designated spot. Magic, I tell you! 
• Day 21: I am thankful for my undergrad experience that helped me through a crash course in becoming self-sufficient, as well as helped me to 'check the box' with a degree to demonstrate capability of learning. Let's be honest, that's what bachelor's degrees really are in today's world. I treasure the time that I spent at JMU, the things that I learned about myself, and for the people that I met ... and the fact that I can now dress my kid up in JMU gear and it's adorable.
  
• Day 22: I am thankful for the wonder of imagination. After Nathan's bi-annual haircut (I know, it's terrible to wait that long), we walked around the mall to see the Christmas decorations. Nathan found one of the coin operated rides and had the best time sitting on the different parts of the ride. I love that he doesn't remember that they actually move - who carries cash around these days, much less change? Nate was perfectly content to pretend to drive his boat and "catch monsters" as he told me. It really is the little things.
  
• Day 23: I am thankful for the sense of balance that I attempt to keep in my life. The last year has been a huge hurtle as Chris and I have taken graduate courses simultaneously, but we've learned how to work together as a team to help fill in the gaps. This weekend is a perfect example, as I have a big paper due and he has to log some hours at work. Planning, patience, and coffee!
• Day 24: I am thankful for being able to witness the little things and milestones that Nathan hits - it seems that the older we become, the more that we take mannerisms and behaviors for granted. Just today, I walked into the restroom to check on him and found him like this. Where in the world did he pick this up? lol
  
• Day 25: I am thankful for the opportunity to use my paid time off for my staycation. Nate and I went bouncing today, had an absolute blast, and we are exhausted
  
• Day 26: I am thankful for being able to make small changes around the house from time to time to make everything feel more cozy. I decided to retire our bedding set and invest in a new one that I found on Groupon. It finally got delivered today. I love the design and color even more in person than I did online!
  
  
• Day 27: I am thankful for having a husband who takes care of me and all of the craziness that goes on at our house when I'm having an off day. Today's migraine hit me pretty hard and now that I'm able to tolerate a small amount of light and sound, I'm starting to feel like a real person again!
• Day 28: I am thankful for the chance to get together with relatives every year to celebrate Thanksgiving. Chris and I switch off years with our families - last year we went to Texas, so this year it was my turn! When we first got there, Nate started to play with the other kids immediately and five minutes later told me that he was too busy to eat because he was playing with his friends. Made me so happy! :)
  
• Day 29: I am thankful for being able to decompress after an eventful holiday! Today, I got to edit my pictures from yesterday, spend time with my brother & sister-in-law and nephew, and do a whole lot of nothing. Get ready for a three part day of thanks!
  Part I: I got to watch the video of the James Madison Marching Royal Dukes lead off this year's Macy's Day Parade! I always tear up at parades and I've always loved marching bands, even though I did orchestra. It's perfect that I ended up living with band people in college and remain good friends now. Congratulations to the MRDs!
  Part II: To continue the JMU trend, I am so happy that we were able to take a few photos at the JMU campus. We took a photo at the "life sized" statue of James Madison (poor guy!) and then upon seeing the statue of the Duke Dog, Nathan immediately stuck his head into the dog's mouth
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Part III: Spending time with Chris's brother, sister-in-law, and our nephew! I am going to miss them so much over the next few years. I mean, how cute are these two together?!
  
• Day 30: I am thankful for the holiday season! It took every bit of restraint that I had not to decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving, so we spent today putting up the tree and listening to Christmas music. I love that Nathan is old enough to help this year. He had a great time putting on a few ornaments, although we did suffer a few casualties. We now have a tailless dog and a spaceghost that is no longer a real ornament. It's starting to look a lot like Christmas!
  

thanksgiving 2013.

We headed down to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family in Roanoke yesterday and what a fun and interesting day it turned out to be! I made ridiculously detailed lists earlier in the week, packed the car and laid out clothes the night before, and we hit the road at 9:00 a.m. on Thanksgiving morning. I love driving on Thanksgiving day because the traffic is always so light!

The half-way point to Roanoke is my alma mater, James Madison University, so we took a quick break to get some wiggles out and take some family photos around campus. Very intuitive but not well known fact: the campus is completely empty on Thanksgiving Day, thus allowing for primo parking and lots of places to take great photos. We took one family photo with a life sized statue of James Madison, poor guy. I know people were shorter back then, but geez! When this statue was put in, the landscaping crew went to great lengths to plant beautiful flowers and people always hopped right into the flower beds (like we did) to take a picture. I noticed on this visit that there are now these very handy stepping stones built into the bushes :)

We also headed over to the football stadium that has an enormous Duke Dog, our mascot, outside. My son's first reaction wasn't to be afraid or intimidated whatsoever. Nope, instead he stuck his head right inside the dog's mouth.

We also managed to get a family shot here, too, but Nate was much more interested in playing with his own stuffed animal Duke Dog and trying to climb on the big Duke Dog to really look at the camera. This was as close as we got to a 'good' shot.

Once we got to Roanoke, we had a really nice lunch with my family -- I miss their food so much! I have the recipes, but that would mean I would have to learn to cook in general :)  I'll admit that I was a bit worried about Nate and the other kids, as he's become a bit shy, but he jumped right in with his cousins and within minutes insisted that he was too busy to eat because he was playing with his friends. That makes for a happy momma moment!

That moment was quickly squashed as Nate turned to go downstairs and play with the other kids, missed the first stepped and barrel rolled down an entire flight of 9 stairs (yes, I went back and counted afterwards). Surely, I thought we would be on the way to the Emergency Room, but little mister rough and tumble jumped up, said he wanted to go play, and ran off without as much as a single tear. His guardian angel is amazing but certainly overworked!

My family has a tradition where a group photo is taken on the front porch every year. Usually a poor neighbor gets stuck with twenty or so cameras and we stand outside in the cold  This year, Chris and I took our tripod and remote, and revolutionized the family photo! So easy and quick! :)

We also took a trip across town to visit one of my great aunts who is incredibly sweet and just loved on Nathan. In fact, he asked her to feed him a bowl of cereal because he was "so hungwy". Only my child would scarf down multiple bowls of cereal on Thanksgiving instead of a proper home cooked meal!

Cereal aside, it was so good to see my great aunt. We had a very nice, sweet visit. Nathan slept for half of it, woke up, ate 2 bowls of cereal, and then told us that he wanted to stay and live with her. Lots of loyalty with that kid.

After finishing our visit with my great aunt, we headed back to Thanksgiving Central and had dinner, let Nate get a few more wiggles out, changed him into pajamas, and hit the road. I'd like to say that we made a graceful exit, but our exit was hurried and involved a terrible-threes-tantrum that lasted through multiple rooms of the house, into the car, and until we left the neighborhood.

Shockingly enough, the ride home was excellent. Between paying under three dollars a gallon for gas (even if it was $2.99/gallon), some strong coffee, a Disney sing-along with Nathan, and the fact that he stayed awake and happy for over half of the drive home. It's not the easiest, but 7+ hours in the car plus a day chocked full of family visits with a three year old can be done!

Since I refuse to do any Black Friday shopping in stores, we stayed home today and relaxed a bit. I did go to the grocery store, which was marvelously empty. We also saw Chris's brother, sister-in-law and our nephew today. Our boys always have so much fun together, they are too sweet!

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving, spending time with family and friends!

staycation.

I'm not very good at using my paid time off in normal increments, so I am finishing this year with a bang - the whole week of both Thanksgiving and Christmas off, no plans to go anywhere, and I'll still be rolling over about 80 hours of time off into next year.

So, since I'm home this week, I thought we would use one of our daycare "vacation weeks" so that we only pay half price. On one hand, my eyes want to pop out of my head that we have to pay at all, but I've talked to lots of people lately who have to pay full price, even when they are out. I'll count my half-blessing and keep going.

Yesterday, we went to our local House of Bounce and had a great time at their 'open bounce' time. With only five kids there, Nate pretty much had the run of the place and I even did all of the slides and bouncing with him! Side note: I am super sore today. We had a great time and I'm not sure who was more exhausted when we were done.

With Nate being home, I have a few comedic gems to share, that I'll likely add to throughout this week:

In the car waiting for open bounce time:
Nathan: Mommy, I have to go potty - peep, peep!
Me: I'm not sure if the building is open yet. Do you just want to go pee pee in this empty cup?
Nathan: Yes!
[a few moments later after some crafty repositioning]
Nathan: Mommy, you're going to miss! You're going to miss!
Me: No, I won't. I'm holding the cup, just go.
Nathan: It's on the wrong side.
Me: [after a light bulb went off] Oh dear Lord. Let's go see if we can get them to open early. Stop! Do not do anything!
Nathan: But Mommy, I want to poop in the cup!

Getting out of the car after driving in the rain: 
Me: Nathan, please do not lick Mommy's car.
Nathan: But it's tasty!

While getting in some old fashioned pretend play time: 
Nathan: [pointing to a toy 3" away] Mommy, the crocodile is in the sea!
Me: So are you in the sea, too?
Nathan: [with the MOST condescending look I've seen from a 3 year old] Umm, no Mom. I am on the floor in my room.

About 10 minutes Chris accidentally stepped on Nathan's toes:
Me: [poking my head into Nate's room to see if he's okay playing with his toys] You doing okay, buddy?
Nate: No, Daddy stepped on my toes. Tell Daddy that I'm mad at him.
Me: Okay, I can do that.
Nate: Wait! [waving arms emphatically] No, no, no, no, no! Don't tell him. I'm not mad anymore.

Chris trying to get Nate to talk to him: 
Chris: I just want to talk to you. Promise you won't run away.
Nate: Okay. [promptly leaves the room]
Chris: Nate, you said you wouldn't run away.
Nate: I didn't - I walked! 

thanksgiving dinner, preschool style.

Nathan's preschool hosted a "Thanksgiving Dinner" earlier this week that Chris and I both rearranged our schedules to go to. Given that 'dinner' was at 3:30 p.m., we also skipped lunch :)

Nathan was very excited to see us but ate a 'dinner' that consisted of two rolls, one piece of cantaloupe, and three grapes. I'm starting to really wonder if he will ever eat "real" food! In any case, we got to sit at a teeny tiny table (unfortunately by the bathroom) to have our little family meal.

I'd like to point out that I dress my child much better than this for school. He must have known that I was going to take pictures because he sabotaged his entire outfit, down to his shoes, with a combination of peeing his pants (on purpose, ugh!) and wiping copious amounts of paint on his shirt. So our kid is in the toddler equivalent of workout gear with no socks or shoes. Notice, I at least was able to frame his bare feet out of the pictures!

All of the kids made these adorable little hats earlier in the week and I had been looking forward to snapping a quick photo of Nathan in his hat. Unfortunately, the hat was missing and I was convinced for a while that he threw it away (he HATES hats, unless it is the Woody hat from Halloween). We later found his hat literally being jumped on by three other kids, so it is toast. Fortunately, there are TWO kids named Nathan in his class and I was able to snag the other kid's hat for just a minute and then later edited out the other kid's last name initial. So much work for a silly picture, but it is just too cute!

diy digital detox.

My son is three and obsessed with television. Thankfully a lot of other kids at his age are, too ... but that doesn't make me feel better about my couch potato in training. Tonight I decided to step outside of my comfort zone and try to make something to vie for his attention that would also encourage more creative play.

We made a play t.v.! I am not inclined to craft or be overly creative and this was an incredibly easy project. It also was very cheap - unfortunately we didn't have any of the materials at home already, but it was $15 at Michael's and will last longer than a cardboard box (I already dropped it in the floor and not a scratch!).

Here's what you'll need:

• Wooden photo frame with NO glass 
• Wood glue 
• Paint: one color for your t.v. and an additional color(s) for the button(s)
• Paper plates to put the paint on 
• Silver pipe cleaners
• Paint brushes or sponges 
• 2 wooden blocks (to stabilize the back of the photo frame) 
• At least one round, wooden circle (get more if you want more buttons)
• Newspaper to put on the surface that you'll be working on 

Next, here's how we made our play t.v.:

1. Remove the cardboard from the photo frame and throw it away, unless you have another project for it. One crafty project a year is about my max. If there are the little metal clasps to hold the cardboard backing, make sure that these are pressed safely down in place so they don't hurt your kiddo. 
2. Break out the paint! Nathan did a really great job painting the picture frame. We started with the front and the sides.
   
3. While the front dries, paint your button(s). We only did one button and Nate wanted to do red (of course!)
   
4. Once the paint on the front of the frame is dry, flip it over to the back. 
5. Use the wood glue to attach the 2 wooden blocks to the bottom of the frame. Make sure that the hangar attached to the top of the frame is actually on the top (we'll get to this later). 
6. Paint the back of the frame, including the blocks.  Don't worry, the paint will even out - the photo below is still while this was drying.
   
   
7. Take a break. Let the front and back dry - we took about a 20 minute break. 
8.  Lay the photo frame on its back so that you can attach the button(s) to the front 
9. Need any touch-ups? Paint any spots that you may have missed before, but be careful of the buttons! 
10. Time for the pièce de résistance, the pipe cleaners! Rabbit ears pre-date my son by a good two decades, but it makes this project very recognizable :)
11. All done! Stand back to admire your work!
    

Once we were done, I think Nate was a bit confused about what we were doing and what this new t.v. was supposed to do. I did a pretend news broadcast for him that resulted in lots of giggles and applause! Next Nate tried it out and 'cheese' is more than an understatement for his network debut. He then took on a very thoughtful approach to his storyline.

 And given that this is a successful project and Nathan wanted to 'interview' me for his show, I tried out my new camera remote. Nate pretended to be a crocodile and told me that I was Captain Hook - despite the potential for a very intimidating interview, we had a lot of fun :)