Hoss' first encounter with Santa

Yesterday we attended our church's Christmas party for the kids, after practicing for the Christmas play that is tonight. I'm sure I'll be posting pictures and maybe even video of the play tonight.

Santa showed up at the Christmas party. Each child was able to go and see Santa and sit on his lap. Hoss was not a fan.

We don't talk much about Santa at our house. As a child I never believed. A personal choice made by my parents. I never felt like I had a part of my childhood removed from me, as lots of people assume.

I'm not withholding Santa from Hoss, but we have chose not to discuss Santa much and definitely not to push Santa on him. He will get one big gift from Santa each year (a bike this year) and then the other gifts he will receive are from Mommy and Daddy.

Hoss understands that Santa says "Ho! Ho! Ho!" but he doesn't seem to understand that Santa brings gifts or that you can ask Santa for gifts.

Well, when Santa showed up at the party at church, Hoss was very attentive. He stared at him and willingly walked up to see him. He was fine until it was his turn to sit on Santa's lap. Then he wasn't so sure. It was his first ever visit with Santa.

He let "Mrs. Claus" hold him, so he got his picture taken with Mrs. Claus and Santa!

Picture Meme

I was tagged for a picture meme by Lisa at Our Seven Qtpies.

The rules are:
*Go to the 6th picture folder in your documents.
*Find the 6th picture in your 6th folder.
*Pray that you remember what it is about.
*Blog about it.
*Tag 6 people to do the same.

When I checked the 6th folder in my pictures folder I did not have six pictures. I then checked the seventh folder and there was only one picture. I checked the eighth folder and there were only four. I guess I need to do some organizing of the picture folder.

Since I had such a difficult time finding a picture according to the rules, I made up my own rules. I decided I would use the sixth picture in the Christmas card pictures folder. So, here it is, checking out the Christmas ornaments.


I will tag six more people. You can decided if you want to follow the rules or make up your own!
1. My sister, Becca, who is new to blogging!
2. Natalie, my real life friend and mother of Hoss' friend, Daniel
3. Jessie, WV high school bud
4. Becca, another WV high school bud
5. Brooke, who I totally miss at work
6. Janelle at Everyday Stories, she's a busy mom with 4 boys!

Lots of Linky Love

I've had several things lately which I've wanted to share, so I decided to do it all here today. Be prepared to start clicking!

My little sister has started blogging! Her kids (who are 4 and 2) are hysterical! I've always thought she needed a blog to document their antics and humorous conversations. Go check out her blog here.

Check out this video of a family who synchronized their Christmas lights to "All I Want for Christmas is You" by Mariah Carey. This song is near and dear to my heart. We played it at the end of our wedding -- December 4, 2004. The video is fabulous.

Oh, and if you haven't read "Stuff Christians Like," you are missing out! Absolutely the best!

If you aren't on Facebook, you are one of the only ones. I have been addicted to it lately. It's a million times more fun than Myspace. Friend me!

I've told you all about Nick, who passed away on November 29th. His mom blogs here and her transparency and faith is amazing to me. Nick's celebration service held on December 2nd will always remain in my memory. Go visit Youtube and search for Nick Nischan. You can start by viewing this clip of his mom, Tammy, as she is speaking at the service. Such an amazing example for God.

He's an interesting one

My three year old is not yet potty trained. I have tried and we are still struggling with this journey. Recently Hoss has been "doing #2" in his pull-up after going to bed.

Saturday evening I went upstairs to check on him and the stench filled the air. Hoss was asleep, but his pants were full. I tried to change him without waking him, but it was not successful. He squirmed and fought for a few minutes and finally fully woke up.

I told Hoss that if he pooped he needed to tell us by saying, "Mommy, Daddy I pooped!" Donnie also reiterated this with him when he came to check on us. Hoss was barely awake, so I didn't think he heard us.

The next morning Donnie heard him say, "Mommy, Daddy I pooped!" He went to check on Hoss and found that he had not pooped, but was remembering our late night conversation.

Hoss had his Larry the Cucumber and The Incredible Hulk and was talking to one of his wrestling figures who was laying on the ground. The wrestling figure was saying, "Mommy, Daddy I pooped!" as the Mommy and Daddy (Larry and Hulk) stood by.

A few minutes later Larry and Hulk looked like this.

I can't decide if they are about to hug and kiss or if they are ready for a smackdown wrestling match.

Either way, my kid has an interesting imagination.

I'm still trying to figure out if Mommy is Larry or the Hulk. I don't know which is worse, the tall green thing with no arms or legs and very large eyes or the large mean looking man with muscles, torn purple pants, and fists, ready to fight.

Side note: As I was typing this post, my dear child was heard saying, "that's my pee pee" from his bedroom (it was bedtime). I asked him if he pooped and he said, "I poopied." *Sigh* Antibiotics are not this child's friend.

He can sleep anywhere

My child has odd sleeping patterns. He likes to try to stay up late, play and throw toys all over his bedroom, then scream and fight every morning when he has to wake up.

It's a joy.

He's just like his Momma!

He is lucky too, his Momma has lots of patience in the mornings after her shower.

Since Hoss refuses to stay in his bedroom during the beginning of his night time routine, we use a baby gate in the hallway to prevent him exiting his bedroom.

One day last week I went upstairs to go to bed (way too late), and found Hoss sleeping in the hallway against the baby gate with his pillows and blanket.


And another view.


I love that he is laying face down in the pillows. I don't know why I think that's cute. After all, he could suffocate like that. Well, at the time, I thought it was cute.

Being the mother of the year that I am, I left him there. He was sound asleep. I didn't want to disturb him. And I have woke him before in such a sleep and I am well aware that this is a horrible, horrible thing to do. I wasn't risking it.

The next morning when I went into his bedroom to wake him (which is my least favorite part of my day), he had moved and was in an equally amusing position.

I like how the books are flanking either side of him. He looks like an airplane.

Or maybe I'm delirious in the mornings.

Christmas Card Nightmare

Oh, the joy of taking Christmas card pictures. Wednesday evening I realized that it was the TENTH OF DECEMBER! and I have not even thought about sending out Christmas cards, let alone, take pictures of the kiddo for them. I purchased several boxes of insert-your-own-picture Christmas cards last year at after Christmas sales. I was determined to get a good one for this year, but Hoss wasn't having it.

I grabbed my digital camera and discovered that the battery was DEAD! I had already changed Hoss into the Christmas picture outfit AND bathed him. I decided to try our camcorder's picture setting and, well, it wasn't good. It doesn't have a flash so an indoor picture in a house with not much lighting just didn't work out.

Hoss was also not too cooperative so I decided we'd have to try again Thursday evening. Thursday evening I change Hoss into the Christmas picture outfit again and started over.

Hoss was done with the pictures before we started. He had no desire to take pictures at all. He was mad, so our pictures looked something like this:


Then, the pictures turned into this which Donnie has named, "I like dem french fried taters" (name that movie!):


We took a break to play with toys.


Then we resumed. But Hoss was much more interested in the Christmas tree than looking at the camera and smiling.


Finally, after 50 pictures, lots of tears, and nearly an hour of picture taking, we got a winner.


I am so glad that this only comes once a year. I couldn't handle much more.

I prefer to be lazy, but sometimes I have to be productive

Today I am recupperating from a busy, busy day yesterday. I ended up taking a two and a half hour nap with Hoss today. I didn't mean to fall asleep, it just happened. That is only after it took me an hour to drive five miles today because it snowed an entire 1/4 inch.

So, back to yesterday. I was off work and I decided I needed to be productive because I was not very productive Thursday when I was off work.

I had to get Hoss to school at 7a.m. so I was up at 6a.m. ON MY DAY OFF! That should be illegal. But since I was up, I decided it was time to be productive.

I ran over to Macys after I dropped Hoss off at school (they opened at 7!) to get a Christmas present while it was on sale. Then I met Donnie at Mickey D's for a quick breakfast. We then went to get my tires fixed. I noticed a screw in my rear tire the day before and one of my other tires was having issues. We went to a used tire place Donnie has used before. I was in and out of there in 20 minutes and paid $45 for a new tire and repair to the tire with the screw in it (actually, it had 3 in it! Darn construction at work!). I was amazed.

Donnie and I parted ways and I continued on to do more Christmas shopping, stopping at 4 stores plus the mall.

I arrived home around 11:45a.m. and heated up my leftovers from Olive Garden the day before. I made a few phone calls that were on my to do list and at 1p.m. we left and went to see a movie.

After the movie we stopped at another store to check prices on a bike for Hoss then to pick up some books for church at another store. We picked up Hoss and returned home where I cooked supper.

Once the dishes were in the dishwasher I started my second load of laundry for the day. Much to my husband's chagrin, I was pulling out Christmas deocration boxes by 6p.m.

At 9p.m. I was mostly done with decorating inside the house and started putting the boxes back. Hoss went to bed and around 11p.m., after catching up on DVR shows, I went to bed.

I awoke this morning around 8:30a.m. and sat around the house being lazy for hours. And that is how I get things done!

Freud is playing a mean joke

This note was sent home from school with Hoss yesterday (yes, I realize his name is on it).

I'm trying to figure out if the second sentence was a Freudian slip or if there is something I need to know.

Since no one has stepped up to be a parent as of yesterday, I'm assuming the Freudian slip is the correct answer.

4 years

Today is Donnie and my 4 year anniversary.

We celebrated with dinner at Olive Garden and a visit to K-Mart.

We are already an "old married couple" after only four years.

It's been a busy four years, but good ones.

Here's to four more (atleast!).