What These Two are Up To

Max:
--Is pronouncing his r's as l's right now...Refers to his "Froggy" lovey as "Floggy." Found him hiding outside the bathroom door while Harry was inside. He told me "I'm going to Suplise Harry!"
--Only participates in toddler basketball because of the snacks. Otherwise, lays on the floor. Last week, the mom charged with snack duty waved a bag of fruit snacks in front of him, and he ran out on the floor and made a basket! (OK, Coach Tim had to lift him up.) Then he laid back down on the ground.
--Loves individually wrapped items. He is so intrigued by them. We are at odds on this issue because I hate them for the needless waste but they are so effective at bribing him!
--Had a tantrum last week because I would not let him drive the minivan. True story.

Harry:
--Is doing somersaults and learning to skip at his Tumblebears gymnastic class.
--Is obsessed with our new wii fit, which I allow him to use in the afternoon when we can't go outside. The idea is he burns excess energy this way instead of doing laps around the kitchen and driving me crazy, or wrestling his brother and ending up in time out. His approach: "Mommy, can I do the wii fit? It's really healthy to exercise." Isn't he good?
But he beats me every time we try to race. I know I can run so much faster than him, but somehow the way the wii fit registers his little body makes him a superfast runner! I nearly pass out trying to beat him! Love that he will run for like 25 minutes without stopping though.
--Loves eating clementines.
--Is often worried that we will run out of gas. He checks in with me often to make sure we will make it to our destination. Also does not believe that people will be able to find our new house. When I tell him someone is coming to visit, he says "But they don't know the way here!"

Oh these boys. Love them.

Santa Always Knows!

After our earlier freakout over not specifying to Santa WHICH Transformer Harry wanted for Christmas, it turns out, Santa figured it out!


Oh, man, Christmas morning was the best thing ever. We all had been horribly sick the entire week before Christmas -- so sick we had to cancel our family cookie-making party, which devastated Harry and yours truly. But on Christmas morning, Harry was like Ralphie with that Red Ryder BB gun and it made it all worth it!

Parenting FAIL

In the car, on the way home from seeing Santa, I turned around from the front seat to see Harry's bottom lip puckered as he tried to stifle a sob.
"What's wrong?!" I said.
"Santa's not going to know what to bring me!" he wailed and started sobbing.
"Yes he will." I insisted.
"No, you just told him I wanted a Transformer. You didn't say Transformer that turns into a police car."
WAHHHHHHHH......

Bad Mommy moment. Harry froze when Santa asked him what he wanted so I jumped in and said Transformer. But I was not SPECIFIC! Oh, man did we feel for him. I'm hoping to rectify the situation with a video from Santa that spells out Transformer that turns into a police car!

A Christmas Story

Fun Fact: Everyone's favorite holiday movie, "A Christmas Story" was filmed in the next town over, which has a month-long festival dedicated to the movie. (Complete with an "Oh FUUUUDGE!" race, a Mommy's Little Piggy mashed potato-eating contest and much more fun.) The boys haven't seen the movie yet, but Rob and I were very excited about this. (OK maybe it was just me.)
Matching Christmas sweaters in front of the replica of a storefront from the movie.
Intrigued by the model trains but not quite knowing what to make of all this.

Looking out for little brother.

This year's "official" Santa shot. The festival had an awesome Santa. Max brought along his lovey, Puppy, for support.

Kids could ride a slide down after meeting Santa!

Scene: A Restaurant in Indiana

At the end, what you can't hear Max saying and what I try to get him to repeat is: "Coming right up!"
Harry took it to another level for his turn, with an apron and a pen behind his ear. But I failed to capture it in a photo. Bad Mom.

We Live in A Box

Yes, the children have spent much time in boxes over the past month. They've grown so comfortable with boxes that we even feed them there :) With the move, and then trying to unpack, and not succeeding in unpacking, and having two toddlers repack things that you pack or dump bins of unpacked items or undo any organization that you've done, it is quite challenging to actually feel settled. But apparently, HUGE amounts of fun for them to have boxes laying around the house for two months -- one month pre-move, and one month post-move!


We did manage to get Harry off to his new school in our first week.

Daddy and Harry on our new front step!


During the first week, Harry had a field trip to the performing arts center in our new town for a performance of "Sleeping Beauty." Mommy had to work, so we booked Nana as his chaperone. He was very excited for his date -- Note the argyle sweater! Max insisted on being in the photo, even though he is in his pajamas and had big plans of his own with his Grammy, who was also in town to help the super stressed-out parents!


OK, so when you move to Indiana, you get a yard. And when your kids get crazy, you can just turn them loose on a pile of leaves. Glee!

The discussion over what kind of pumpkin to have -- Spooky? Silly? Happy? Max obviously has an opinion. (Are you serious with this, Daddy?)


Harry takes a stab, or a pre-stab. Daddy is not giving up, note him sketching furiously in the background.


Harry's attempt!


The resulting compromise. Yes, Max is in Christmas pajamas. Not because we are one of those families that jumps seasons ahead, but because they fit NOW and we have unpacked THIS box.


A proud Harry and Daddy.


My Super Duper Zero 3000!

Max is very busy these days saving everyone in the household from various imagined villains. He is quite adept at transforming any boring toy into a SUPER DUPER ZERO THREE THOUSAND! According to Max: "It can do anything!" In the example below, he is trying to save Harry from Frankenstein and then describes how he does it.