Merry Christmas!

From our home to yours ... Merry Christmas!

The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer ...

... is by singing loud for all to hear. (can you name that movie???)

Here's our little cheer-spreader singing two of his current favorites.

Imaginary Friend

Simon may just have his first imaginary friend. His friend's name is Pumpkin. Pumpkin taught Simon how to put on his pajamas by himself. Simon says that Pumpkin showed him how to spread out his jammies on the floor, then you sit on them, and put one foot/leg and arm in at a time. I asked Simon what Pumpkin likes to eat: pumpkin pie. : ) I asked him where Pumpkin lives: at Monkey Joe's. I asked him if Pumpkin has a family: yes, a Mommy and his Daddy goes to work. Then he voluntarily told me that Pumpkin doesn't go to school because his school is closed. Hmmmm ... suddenly Pumpkin sounded a lot like Simon's life on a Saturday. : )

I love his budding imagination! I can sometimes due without the stubborn need for independence. And I adore our conversations. Three is definitely a fun age!

About a blog that I follow

I like following this blog, http://benjaminandholly.blogspot.com/. She makes the neatest items and is having a giveaway. You should really check out her etsy shop, too.

Crossing my fingers that maybe I will win a pair of her beautiful, warm snowflake mittens! Because I think a lot about mittens and hats on a cold day like this. : )

A Visit with Santa

We took Simon to visit Santa last night. He's actually seen Santa twice before this but this was our official visit with photos. All three times, he's run right up to Santa and hopped on his lap. It was pretty adorable. I don't know what exactly they are discussing below -- I can only guess! -- but I love how serious they both look.

And then of course, the official photo, cheesey grin and all! Don't you just love this Santa? He looks like he could be someone's dear, sweet grandfather. And his eyes really do twinkle. : )

Mark and I grew up with visits to Santa so it was really fun to continue this tradition with Simon. So glad he wasn't afraid! Last year, Mark was helping out Santa so he was really the only Santa Simon visited with. It was a memorable experience and I love the photos that capture the visit.

Dancin' Simon

Simon discovered that one of our ornaments plays "Happy Holidays." We took turns pushing the button to hear the music while the other one danced. He thought it was hilarious! And for him, the song never gets old. : ) You'll be able to tell which was his favorite line of the song. Enjoy!

Mud Room Makeover

I love that our house has a mud room/laundry room. And that it has a door between it and the kitchen to hide the mess that sometimes accumulates there as shown here:

We come home from work, take off our shoes and coats and just leave them in the mud room. But when it was time for me to go back and forth with laundry, I was always tripping over shoes. So I decided it was time for an inexpensive mud room makeover.

We had a nine-cubby (does anyone else remember calling them a 'cubby hole' when you were in grade school?) shelf in the laundry room closet that was already housing our extra shoes, boots, etc. Mark and I cleaned it out and brought it to the mud room. We moved the bench that his uncle made into the kitchen (more on that another day) and added a $13.99 coat hook board at kid level for Simon's coats. Here is the end result:

No more tripping over shoes and the room feels much larger now! Simon thinks it's cool to put his shoes in their own special place (at least for now!)

I love watching DIY shows/HGTV, etc. and this is just the first of a few ideas that I have. I'll keep posting as I tackle the projects. I just love projects that I can see through from start to finish in a short period of time. Do you have any projects you're working on?

Happy Thanksgiving

Feeling deep gratitude for family and friends, near and far. Just some random photos of some of the people I hold close in my heart ...

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope that you're able to be with those you love this holiday season.

Flashback Friday

Home with Simon this afternoon because day care is closed. We've got two of his little friends with us -- we try to help each other when we can so that we don't all have to take time off from work. I tried putting all three boys down for a nap together in the same room, just like at day care. I made three little beds on the floor. Two little boys fell asleep very quickly and quietly. One did not. Oh my. Reminded me of when Simon first came home with us and I worked very hard to get him to take a nap. I think he was hyper-vigilant, trying to keep himself awake so that he would know what was going on. It eventually got easier but today was tough. I ended up moving him to our bed so that at least Conner and Elliott could sleep peacefully. Anyway, it made me want to look at photos of Simon from when we first met him. Mark had been looking at photos earlier this week and remarked at how much of Simon's personality was already showing when we were just getting to know each other. He's right. This first photo was about 3 hours into us being together as a family in Ethiopia.

And this one was from Thanksgiving week last year. He looks about the same, he's just about 4-5 inches taller!

And this one was taken at a Panera on our way to visit my family in PA for the first time in May 2010.

And this last one from his first haircut in May 2010. Love that chubby little face!

Happy weekend, everyone! Cheers for naps, sunshine in November and a short work week next week!

Superman

Super Simon paid us a visit tonight. Here are just two of the six or so clips that I have. Note the feety pajamas peaking out from under the Superman costume. I love the weekends when we have time to goof around like this!

Simon the Photographer, Part II

One night while Mark was cooking dinner, Simon told me that he wanted to go outside and take some pictures. So we grabbed the camera and I followed him around the yard. It was fun to see what he chose to photograph. We started in the backyard and worked our way around the side of the house to the front and back to the garage.

Please excuse our messy garage. : ) The riding toys have taken over. I love Simon's imagination and encouraging him in the activities that interest him. He has been quite the camera hog lately and it's so fun to see him improve in his skills, like framing us in the photos and not cutting off our heads. He is so proud of himself when he learns something new. And his attention to detail is amazing! OK -- I'll get down from my proud Mama box now. : )

Simon the Photographer, Part I

Simon has really been into using the camera lately. He is especially fond of taking self-portraits and photos of me and Mark. Here are a few recent photo sessions by Simon. And as a side note, if Simon is in the photo, he was serving in the role of 'director' and was telling us what to photograph.

And a photo of his Friday night snack ... some Halloween candy and his cup of milk.

Mr. Dumbo his elephant is also a favorite subject.

Stay tuned for Part II -- our trip around the yard with Simon taking photos as we walked.

Fall Fun

We have been having a ton of fun this fall. The weather has been gorgeous and we've been doing many fun activities. We had a Halloween party and were able to be outside for most of the time thanks to the beautiful fall day. I made these cupcakes and thought they got pretty cute.


Mark created an enchanted pathway at the side of the house to lead everyone to the backyard. Simon especially liked the blue spider.

Isn't Mark's costume awesome? He had fun putting it together. He even has a real sword that he made PW -- pre-Wendi.

We played a couple of games and had a family costume contest. The kids waited very patiently to take a swing at the pumpkin pinata. Nearly everyone we invited was there -- I think we had 17 kids ages 6 and younger -- wowzers!

Notice Simon's 'Bob the Builder' hat flying to the ground as he takes his turn with the stick. What? You didn't know that zebras could do construction work? ; )

We made two trips to Happy Hollow Park last weekend -- one with Mark while he was working and the other as a family for fun.

We couldn't believe it but Simon climbed up this climber all by himself. Of course, we were underneath him the whole time but his climbing skills were impressive! He is so independent right now -- he has to do everything himself. It's both rewarding and exhausting! I love what he's learning and to see the sense of accomplishment on his face is priceless but sometimes I just need to have more patience because some things take longer than if I could just do it for him. But the smile when he completes a task or learns a new skill is amazing and worth checking my frustration at the door.

He was kind of afraid of the tall slides at first ...

But quickly learned to love them!

Walking the balance beam -- thanks for teaching him that, Special Agent Oso.

Our neighbor is the pastor of a local church and I know his sister-in-law from Purdue. She invited us to the 'trunk-or-treat' event at the their church and wouldn't you know? The Boilermaker Special was there too. What a fun treat to take a ride on the Special!

This was the best I could do at getting a photo on trick-or-treat night. The kids had a blast! Simon quickly learned to look for houses with the porch light on. He very politely said "Trick-or-Treat" and "thank you!" And then he would turn to me and say, "Can we go to another house?" Yep -- he got the concept. I think we wore him out because he didn't complain at all when we said we were done and it was time to go home. He climbed right into the wagon and talked about his full bucket of candy and admired the half moon.

Mark and Simon didn't waste any time at all checking out the bucket of candy. We told Simon that he could choose one piece to have that night. He chose the full size candy bar -- we turned our backs for just a second and the whole thing was gone! No wonder he didn't sleep well that night. (Our plan was to only let him eat half of it! Oh well.)

We've had a lot of fun so far this fall and have a lot to look forward to! Each day brings a new learning for Simon. He's learning how to write his name and he is loving it. He sings songs all. the. time. It is hilarious! Life is good with our sweet little boy.