December 7, 2010

Two nights ago, as Josiah was taking his turn in "detox" (a 30 minute bath in apple cider vinegar and epsom salts), he glanced into my bedroom on Mike's side of the bed and spied a hint of Spongebob underneath some of Mike's clothes. He notified Sam, who was roaming freely in the room, and Sam investigated, finding the two Spongebob Snuggies I bought them for Christmas. I didn't get mad, I just gave them the Snuggies. They did such a fantastic job all day helping me out with cleaning the house anyway. They loooove the Snuggies! Sam has been asking for a "kid snuggie" for over a year now. Then I surprised them with the Elf on the Shelf. We read the book and talked about how we were going to play Elf on the Shelf. We agreed that when we find the Elf, we will make wishes for others, the world, the animals, but not for ourselves. We named the Elf Hooper after our favorite bar, Hooper's. It is now morning number two, and we still haven't found the Elf from yesterday yet! Ha! I hid him on the storage shelf in the laundry room. We also read the Christian version of The Christmas Story. I have some new books coming telling different perspectives of Christmas, from different religions and different areas of the world. I am especially excited about the Winter Solstice books. I hope to have a bonfire here on the 21st to celebrate.

There is a lot of excitement and wonder surrounding water freezing now that the temperatures have plummeted, especially freezing to the shape of the container. I am going to pull what I have here in our library and make it a science lesson, of course. Sam was fascinated with ice in the shape of the dog bowls as he did his morning chore of caring for the dogs, but he was especially thrilled with the ice in the shape of the sandbox toy...an ice castle! He wants to keep it it, so we put it in the freezer.

Yesterday we decorated gingerbread houses for the very first time. I have probably done it some time long ago that I don't remember, but the boys have never done it. I had a big bag stuffed full of different candies and icing for over a week, more prepared than I normally am for sure. The boys were just excited because it was at Kailey's house, and they weren't really sure what to expect, even though I showed them pics of gingerbread houses. When we got there at their favorite place and their favorite friends are sitting around tables covered with bags and bowls of candy, they jumped right in and loved it. I was so impressed that Josiah used Twizzlers as "logs" on the roof of his. Then he bit into it a couple of times. It was such a great day with awesome friends.  We are now looking forward to going to Asheville with friends to view the gingerbread houses on display at Grove Park Inn, then have pizza! Maybe we can get some ideas for next years decorating! Kailey surprised the boys with scarves that she knitted herself, and they didn't want to take them off when they went to bed last night. Sam rolled his up carefully, handed it to me, and said, "Mom, please take care of this, okay?"   Now they are curious about knitting on the looms, so I will pull the yarn and my looms out of the attic and let them give it a try. I used to sit and knit on them with Jen while the kiddos played, and the knitting also helped me calm my nerves through the many painful court dates I went through during my separation, divorce, and custody hearings. Oh, and my two assault charges. Ha. I made toboggans and scarves. I put the looms away years ago, probably because I then associated them with a painful season in my life. I can't see the boys sitting still long enough to finish a scarf, but then again, when Sam has an idea of what he is going to do in his head, he is going to do it come hell or high water. I'm not sure where he gets that from ;0) We'll see! I am now looking for one of the tiny looms that Kailey uses to make that particular style scarf. I have this set already: http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=&q=circle+loom+set&rlz=1B3GGLL_enUS386US386&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=10438463860265545739&ei=s5n_TNy4EcWclge35PSpCA&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=image&resnum=4&ved=0CDQQ8gIwAw# .....and an ass-load of yarn!

I'm going to have to pony up and learn how to tie them when they are finished...Jen always tied mine for me. Jen did a lot of "tying up ends" for me in those days ;)