CHRISTMAS UNWRAPPED

Christmas Eve was spent at church and watching the boys sing with their choir. Aidan took his first communion by intinction. And the boys got glow-in-the-dark stars to remember Jesus' birth.

At home Aidan and Austin got new Christmas PJs from Grammy and were very excited to put them on. They were less excited about going to bed, but before bed they did put out fresh-baked chocolate peanut butter chip cookies for Santa and 8 carrots for his reindeer (Rudolph wasn't coming because it wasn't a foggy night).

Aidan & Austin did eventually fall asleep and Mommy, Daddy and Grammy stayed up a while longer waiting to catch a glimpse of Santa. The boys didn't take our late night into consideration and woke us up with shouts of "It's Christmas" and "Santa was here" at 4:44am! We got them to snuggle a bit in bed, but by 6am, Mommy was tired of hearing "NOW is it time to open presents" every 5 minutes. So I got up with Aidan who was then allowed to wake up Grammy and headed for the living room. Aidan found a letter from Santa and read it with Grammy.

Then the unwrapping began. Some of Aidan's favorite gifts are his train whistle, level crossing and diesel engine for his HO train set and the slot car race track Santa brought for both boys. Austin loves taking pictures on his digital camera, playing with his Hess truck and wearing the special flashlight that straps on his head.

Christmas Card Rejects

Ed bought some matching Christmas outfits for the boys and then some how convinced them to put them on. This is quite impressive since Austin refuses to wear shirts or pants with buttons and Aidan doesn't care for long sleeves.

Come on boys, let's take a nice picture - for Mommy, pah-leeeease. How about standing up and giving each other a hug?

Okay - these are the photos that will not appear on the front of our Christmas card this year.

But they certainly tell a story! And this last one isn't bad.

Breakfast with Santa

The weeks are getting away from me, but we are officially in the Christmas season. This weekend we hosted our annual Christmas "extravaganza" at the Wevodau abode and had a blast. In an effort to get the boys out of the house while preparing for the party, I took them to have breakfast with Santa (put on by the PTA at Aidan's elementary school). Both boys were excited and this was an especially big deal for Austin. He wanted to sit on Santa's lap - something he had violently protested in previous years. Even though it was a pancake breakfast, Austin couldn't wait to eat. He insisted on having a pop tart and glass of water before we left for our 8am visit. At breakfast, Aidan had his fill, eating the sausage links off of all our plates and a couple pancakes. Austin only wanted a glass of milk - which he downed quickly. Then we got in line to get our picture taken with Santa and tell him all about our Christmas lists.
While standing in line, Austin mentioned to me more than once that his tummy hurt. I asked if he need to go potty, "No." was his response. Then he asked if we could go home soon - I should have seen the warning signs, but alas I subconsiously chose to ignore them. After 10 minutes, we were next in line to see Santa. The boys were watching Santa when Austin turned around and said, "Mommy..." which was quickly followed by some spontaneous projectile vomiting. Yup - the pop tart, water and milk all came up. What a shock - I stood there for a few seconds trying to decide what to do. I was standing amidst hundreds of people and their kids - none of whom did I know. Should I leave my kids and find paper towels to at least cover up the evidence. Or should I stay with my sick child? I decided to go get towels in an effort to prevent others from getting sick. Naturally, now the line for Santa had shifted about 10 feet to the right to move away from us. Someone did get the custodian and he was very kind and cleaned up the floor. I got Aidan back in the line and instructed him to talk to Santa, get his photo taken and wait for Mommy right there. Then Austin and I went to the bathroom to clean up. Austin had to wash his hands and I needed to wash my shoes. While this was an unpleasant experience for each of us - thinking back on it just hours later, I was very grateful that Austin lost his breakfast BEFORE he sat on Santa's lap. If he had thrown up on Santa, we would have had to change our name and move Aidan to a new school to avoid the shame. So in the end, I consider myself luck to have avoided a near tragedy.

Happy Halloween!

All the boys had fun. Ed was proud to have the best decorations on the block (and in true Wevodau fashion - the most). Aidan was very pleased to trick-or-treat at his Kindergarten teacher's house in his train engine costume. And Austin, after a little coohersion from his parents was a great alligator and collected a bunch of chocolate.

The cute story for the night was after we visited Mrs. Gray's house, Austin asked if that was Aidan's teacher Mrs. Gray. Ed said, "Yes, it was". Then Austin asked, "Why is she Mrs. Gray when her hair is black?"

CAMPING

The Wevodaus went camping this weekend. While Ed took the boys camping over the summer courtesy of Aunt Marge and Uncle Larry’s RV – that was really living in the lap of luxury. We scaled it down a bit this weekend. I wouldn’t call it extreme roughing it, but it was a bit more back to nature than their summer adventures (after all Ed’s trusty queen size air mattress had a leak and so we really did sleep on the ground while the boys were at least on top of the bed roll foam).
We visited Dinosaur Valley State Park, about 1 ½ hours from our home. We didn’t explore everything, but we did see a set of Dinosaur foot prints in a creek bed! We rode bikes around the camp sites, when fishing in the creek – Aidan got some nibble using his fake grub worm, but most of the fish were scared away by the large rocks being thrown into the creek by the other kiddos that weren’t fishing. We ate brauts and pork chops (although the boys didn’t – they stuck with plain bread) for dinner and sausage and fried potatoes for breakfast. We made smores and took a ghostly flashlight walk in the evening.
Lessons learned for our next camp out:
1) Bring firewood – especially if it is going to be 40 degrees at night
2) Bring a trash bag – we create a lot of trash
3) Don’t use a whole stick of butter and 2 “glugs” of oil when trying to fry potatoes
4) Put the rain flap over the tent – whether or not it is forecasted to rain
5) Bring Christmas lights- they just make it all look festive
6) At least consider bringing a camera (to capture rare moments when your boys are swinging on swings and holding each other’s hands – sorry no picture)

Things we did well and will do again:
1) Pop popcorn in a skillet
2) Always bring bikes – great entertainment around the camp site while the adults are getting things ready
3) Bring extra shoes and clothes – you never know when someone will fall in the creek
4) Bring good food and lots of it
5) Bring extra flashlights and extra batteries – there’s always one that doesn’t work or someone who doesn’t have one

Fall Has Arrived

Fall is just flying by. This weekend we had two soccer games, instead of our usual one. Aidan really enjoys soccer and when I told him we only had two games left, he asked for clarification - "Two more games this year?" I said yes and asked if he wanted to play again in the spring - he gave a definite "Yes" on that one and then wanted to know why he had to wait so long.

Construction Update: We are moving right along with our home addition. The room itself is finished except for paint, flooring and some lights/fan fixtures. The new bathroom also needs finishing touches including painting, tiling (on the floor and around the tub), staining the cabinets, adding the sink/counter, the lighting and the solar tube. We picked out all the paint, tile and lighting this weekend so all of our decisions are done until it comes to actually using the room!

Everything looks good with the exception of our existing middle bathroom which is still in great disarray. No toilet, no floor, 1/2 of the walls and ceiling torn out. Oh, and no closet in Ed's current office - as it was on the other side of the now missing wall. All of this will come together as soon as the plumber figures out how deep to dig a trench into our foundation so that the upstairs sewer pipe can connect to the downstairs sewer pipe... That is really the only challenge we have had during the entire process. The contractor is still on track to complete the project on their original timeline - keep those fingers crossed.

Austin has narrowly escaped being "locked away" in a recent trip to the Ft. Worth zoo (just kidding). His behavior is improving slightly, but most recently he wrote in blue pen on a white chair cushion in the living room. After I sprayed the lines with upholstry cleaner, Austin had a wet rag and rubbed the lines. We repeated this 4-5 times over the course of 30 minutes, and using all of Austin's elbow grease, the line is virtually invisible. In addition to cleaning up his obvious misuse of the pen, he continues to be banned from markers and pens until next Saturday.

Our Dear Austin

It's our fervant hope that our little Austin is going through a phase - perhaps a phase called "I want to push my parents over the edge". In the last few months he has been exhibiting non-preferable behavior in our house. He has reverted a bit in his potty training skills. He doesn't have accidents (except maybe at nap time), but he does have intentional peeing in his pants, onto the floor and anywhere else he decides. Now, I am sure we will make it through this, but it is a bit distressing to discover he has peed on the carpet in front of his bureau while getting dressed or while standing there telling you "No, I don't have to go potty". He is certainly exerting his independence.

He now dresses himself and in the morning this includes removing his wet pull-up and stuffing it anywhere (hiding it really) instead of putting it in the trash. I have found wet, yucky pull-ups under his bureau, in his toy box, in his closet, under his comforter, etc. He is running out of hidding places (pretty soon he may have to go back to using the trash can as I will have looked everywhere else).

This week he has added another fun surprise. He loves to color with markers and we have lots of them - not all of which are washable (unfortunately). Austin decided to demonstrate his excellent letter structure by drawing a 12 inch letter "A" on our living room carpet. He also had marker on his arms and legs - but that was nothing new. Oh, my... he is pushing us closer to the edge - but on the other hand, he can be so sweet. I just can remember any examples right now.

Time Flies

Our household and house have been in constant motion since the start of school. Three days into kindergarten Aidan was diagnosed with strep throat! He had the long Labor Day weekend to recover and has been enjoying school ever since. He prefers to take his lunch in his Volcano lunch sack, rather than buy something in the cafeteria. He brings home a different train book from the school library every few days and we now work on homework each week – learning to recognize and write works like I, see, the, a, me, red, etc. I think Aidan’s highlight of the year thus far was when Grammy (Ed’s mom) visited school, had lunch with him and watched him play at recess. He is having a blast.

Austin is exerting his 3 ½ yr old independence. Of late, he will not let us in his room while he is “cleaning” it. Cleaning consists of taking every visible, movable object (books, toys, clothes) and piling them into the closet. Austin picks out his own outfits each morning – and they are colorful to say the least. He prefers red, orange or green shorts all with red socks. When Austin goes missing in the house, you are sure to find him in his closet or under his bed sneaking a snack – yes, he likes to take food back into his lair without us knowing. He is now a very proficient bike rider with the help of his training wheels.

Ed made a special trip to Colorado over the Labor Day weekend. On the spur of the moment, he accepted an invitation to go climb a “fourteener”- Mount Elbert. He really enjoyed the experience and was pleasantly surprised that after reaching the summit, the threat of storms disappeared and he was able to stay at the top for an hour enjoying the views of surrounding mountains and the successful climb.

Our fun continues with Aidan playing soccer (and me coaching). Aidan and Austin are starting choir – Austin is very excited to be old enough this year. Hot water has been restored in our house (after having our hot water heater moved and replaced). Now the boys’ bathroom is being dismantled (with a jackhammer) in order to put in wider pipes for the new upstairs bathroom to flow through. The concrete chunks and visible rebar are distressing, but we’re sure it will all come together as planned in another 8-9 weeks.

Kindergarten here we come!

A new era has begun at the Wevodau house - we now have a school age child. Aidan headed off to kindergarten on Monday. He was very excited and had been counting down the days for well over a week. We had a few scares over the weekend that made us think he might not make it to the first day of school. On Friday night at 10pm we received a call from the school nursey. Aidan's shot records were incomplete. After finding our copy, Ed called her back at 10:15 pm and confirmed that we did in fact have all the shots required. So I just had to deliver a copy again on Monday morning when dropping Aidan off. The next ordeal was on Saturday. We spent the entire day away from the house since the roofers were working. We spent several hours in Ed's classroom helping him prepare for his new school year. Late in the afternoon, Ed was hanging curtains, standing on several student desks to do so. Aidan decided to copy the behavior, but lost his footing. He fell of the desks and landed on his face - OUCH! He nose bled and it took several minutes before he could even open his eyes. We thought he had broken his nose. Ugh. We call the doctor and they gave us some signs to look for and assured us that as long as he wasn't having a hard time breathing, he didn't need to be seen immediately.

Well, the drama ended at that and Sunday was a calm day. In the evening we attached our newly acquired tag-a-long bike to the back of my bike. Aidan and I took it for a test spin and he was very excited to ride it to school the next day - although he did request that I not make the ride so "squiggly". Apparently when I go too slow and have to turn my front wheel frequently to stay balanced, it has a bullwhip effect on the back passenger. With a little more practice, I assured Aidan I could improve.

Aidan had a great day. He strode into his classroom very independently and got to color, sing a song (which he can't remember), play with legos at "center time" and eat lunch in the cafeteria. He liked it so much he was still eager to return on day 2!

Bean Bag Boys

The boys' favorite toy this weekend was the bean bag chair, minus the beans! For Ed's first Father's Day, I made him an oversized Bucknell colored bean bag chair so that he and Aidan could spend quality time together on the floor. As the years have gone by, the bean bag has been a popular item, but from time to time it has to be dismanteled to be washed. Well, this weekend the boys discovered what fun it was to live inside the bean bag. They fit their pillows, blankets, stuffed animals and toys in there. They informed me that three kids could live in the bean bag or just one adult (if the adult "folded their head" to fit). It's the simple things in life that really make us happy.
Kim

Digging deep has nothing to do with heavy lifting

You may or may not know that we decided to add on to our abode. Since we have a one story home and no room to expand out due to our pool and neighbors, we are expanding up. We are adding a staircase (the boys' favorite part), a large bonus room over the garage and a full bath. The room is already named "Ed's Retreat", although it is intended to serve as his office as well as a play room for the boys. At any rate, the demolition of the roof and attic started Monday (8/13/07) and in just a few days there were stairs and some framing. Unfortunately, the stairs are not where we expected, so they will be redoing them. The contractor expects the project to take 13 weeks - I just hope it is finished for Christmas. I'd be happy to take bets on the completion date.

Kim

The Dragon

In the spring, a new gourmet grocery store "Central Market" opened close to us and every Tuesday evening is family night at their gourmet eatery. We frequent the eatery on Tuesdays so that the boys can eat free and Ed and I can eat healthy (or at least more healthy that fast food). The highlight for the boys is the playground. They love to play hide-n-seek, go up and down the slides and dig in the sandbox. But their favorite activity by far is climbing on the various dragon parts that pop up through the shredded rubber ground covering. It took a few visits, but now they are both proficient at climbing up the scales. They do however, have to be reminded not to push each other off while vying for the best seat.

Blogging - here we come

Well, I have been introduced to blogging over the last few months, and especially enjoy reading my friend Jenn's site. She posts stories and photos, mostly about her kiddos. I am going to attempt to do the same on a semi-regular, let's say, maybe even weekly basis. Let's see how it goes.

Kim