Elven Magic

These escapees from the north pole appeared on our Christmas card.

For those who didn't get a card here's the cheery photos.

S'mores and Hot Chocolate

We started some Christmas Eve traditions at our house. Our kids had never eaten hot chocolate nor s'mores. They were both a big hit.

And afterwards we put out our stockings and then looked for Santa.

No, really. That's what they told me they were doing standing by the door.

CTW

Yesterday Tiger got a new primary class. Yesterday Tiger remembered what he talked about in Primary for the first time. He told me CTR means Choose the Right. He told me he wants to choose the right.

Today we were getting in the car and he was mad about something and he hit Blanket on the shoulder. Then when asked he told me he didn't do anything. I told Tiger that hitting his brother was not choosing the right, and neither was lying about it. He responded with "I don't want to choose the right. I want to choose the WRONG!"

I am glad he knows the difference between right and wrong. I am glad he has agency to choose right from wrong.

P.S. This post reminds me of my seminary teacher Bro. Wilcox. If you had him you'll know why.

Big Hair

Is it 1985? Blanket came up and asked me the other day for "big hair." I obliged.
Well, I obliged as far as I could with his buzz-in-need-of-rebuzzing. The next day he asked for it again and Tiger chimed in for a similar 'do. I took photos. It should be noted that I do not like this style, but I let them make some of their own decisions. At least they haven't asked for it since.



As an added bonus: Mac still doesn't have enough hair to do anything with: no big hair for him.

Tiger's Conversation: Dogs

I was reading with Tiger the other day and we discussed getting a pet. He said he wanted a dog. I don't want a pet while I still have little kids that need to be cared for as much as a pet does.

Sox: You can have a dog when you get bigger and you can take care of it.

--Much moving around, wiggling, standing, stretching--

Sox: Do you need to go potty?

Tiger: No, I am getting bigger so that I can have a dog.

Sox: But you need to get a lot bigger.

Tiger: (stretching) I am getting a lot bigger.

Sox: You need to get big enough to take care of a dog.

Tiger: No I don't need to take care of the dog.

Sox: Why not?

Tiger: The dog will take care of me. Can I have a dog now?

Sox: Um, No.

A Tiger Emergency.

"A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part." Well, maybe it does if you are my son. Tiger had been reading Chicka, Chicka, 1, 2, 3 and loving it. He saw on
the back of the book a picture of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and he wanted to read that. One day he demanded that I get it for him. I dutifully went to the library's website and put it on hold for him. About an hour later he asked me when we were going to go get it. I told him it would be ready in a couple of days. That was just not going to do. He needed Chicka Chicka Boom Boom today. It was an emergency!

Finally, at 4 o'clock, I'd had it with the daylong requests/demands to go to the library to get the book. I checked to make sure the library had one in stock and then I loaded the whole tribe into the car for a trip to the library when I should have been making dinner. I did manage to negotiate a return of Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3 in exchange for the emergency check-out of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. When we arrived one of our favorite librarians asked why we were there (usually we go in the morning) and I explained our "emergency." Liz quickly filled our request and I picked up a few more books for Tiger. We arrived home about 4:40 and started making dinner late. At least I didn't have a dinner emergency where I was out of a necessary ingredient and had to run out for that too.

I hate 4 pm emergencies, even when they don't involve a hospital.

And for the record: Tiger reads Chicka Chicka Boom Boom 4+ times every day in the week that we have had it.

Phobia update

Tiger's phobia's are changing. His fear of the dark is minimal (he will walk into a darkened room to turn on the light). His claustrophobia is MUCH better (he will shut himself in the pantry and use a small public restroom stall). But with progress on existing phobias we seem to develop new phobias. His newest--Ancraophobia- Fear of wind. (Anemophobia).

This may seem odd, but around here this:
is commonly the icon for the weather from weather.com. During the spring and fall people fly kites for fun, because you can't play catch (it's too windy). I know, I live at 5900 feet, but this is the prairie and the wind blows and blows and blows.

When we lived in Hesperia, California the weather was "too hot, too cold, or too windy." Here the weather is rarely too hot, it is often too cold, and during the spring/fall it is often windy.

Tiger had an encounter with the wind about a month ago. We went to the park about a block from our house on a low wind day. A strong (40 mph) gust (singular) came up and blew Tiger's hat off, and pushed the stroller (with Mac in it) and dumped trash cans and threw trash all over the park. Ever since, if there is a slight breeze, Tiger cannot be out in it. Tiger is afraid that everything smaller than Blanket will blow away (including, but not limited to: library books in a bag, Mac in a stroller, hats, my hair, etc.) If I have more than one door open on the truck (and there is a draft) or any other encounter with major air movement Tiger has a FIT, meltdown, screaming, flailing, cannot focus or reason or follow directions tantrum. This is the same fit we have had with other phobias. I hope I can be as patient with this newest phobia as I have with the others. But if you see me walking outdoors with an uncontrollable Tiger check the weather, because it is probably windy (or just gusting above 10 mph).

In other phobia news: Blanket has Acrophobia-fear of heights (his only phobia). He won't go down slides. He freaks out being up on Daddy's shoulders. He is very happy being very low down. At least Tiger hasn't acquired this phobia, yet.

Taming Tiger

Ever since Tiger could crawl sacrament meeting has been a challenge for me. I like my kids to be quiet enough so that I (and those around me) can listen to the speakers. I'd love for my kids to want to sit and listen too. But those aren't my kids. The toys that keep them the quietest are cars (still too noisy for me, but they are the best that I can do). Tiger has never really enjoyed coloring/scribbling. His newly discovered reading/writing/spelling skills have suddenly helped him be more quiet during sacrament meeting (he still talks incessantly during Primary).

This past Sunday (Mother's Day) He spent reading the hymnal. He liked that he could read the words to some of the songs, and he worked on number theory (the hymnal has hymns numbered past 300 with BIG numbers on the pages). Blanket LOVES to color (everything, but that is another post for another time) and so we have paper and crayons for him to scribble his way through the meeting. Tiger now likes to use the crayons too, in his own way:

some, some, more, word, word, word I, word, some

Tiger wrote his name and Mac's name and mom, be, one

like, and some faces

Tiger practicing his name.

Oh, and when he went up to sing for mother's day, he said lots of funny things like, "I can see dad!" that many people heard. And he didn't sing. Not one single word.

Turn about is fair play

If you don't know, my kids LOVE adult cereal. Grape Nuts, raisin bran, frosted mini-wheats, and granola. Seriously, I am the one who eats Cheerios, and B.A.R. eats Froot Loops and Lucky Charms. This is necessary information for the following story (which just happened).

Tiger and Blanket like to eat granola without milk for snacks/meals. Earlier today Tiger poached the unfinished granola out of Blanket's bowl while Blanket was napping (saving his own unfinished for later). I refilled the bowls after Blanket woke up. The fresh fillings went 80% consumed (normal). A couple of hours later (just a few minutes ago), Tiger was playing somewhere else and Blanket took Tiger's unfinished granola and poured it into his own bowl. Tiger returned and complained to me (in his whiny way) that Blanket had stolen his cereal. I explained to him that I had no compassion for his situation as he had done the same thing to his brother only 4 hours before.

Now I'm off to make Mac 'n' Cheese for them for dinner.

Tiger's birthday party

Traditionally, I make a train cake for birthdays around here. Well, for everyone's birthday but my own. See this post. But with all the craziness around here, coupled with my exhaustion and lack of 3 hours in a row to do anything, I decided to get a store-bought cake for Tiger this year. B.A.R. (of his own initiative) selected and purchased one while at the store picking up something else.

Tiger was absolutely thrilled with his Thomas & Friends cake! Thanks B.A.R. for making my life less stressful and making Tiger's birthday enjoyable.


Well, at least Blanket had a good time.

Happy Birthday to Whom?

Why to Tiger, of course. Happy Fourth!

1 week

1 year

2 years

3 years

He belongs

in the family. Do you see the resemblance? Here are 2 pictures each of Blanket and Tiger when they were very young. Which one do you think looks most like Mac? Vote in the poll.

Tiger 1 month

Blanket 1 month

Blanket 2 months

Tiger 1 week

Kids say the darndest things

Tiger is going to grow up to be a comedian. I have proof. When he makes you laugh, he tries all his good lines to keep you laughing.

Lately, we have been making Tiger do many things for himself that he would normally want us to do for him. Examples: clear your dishes, dress yourself, pick up your toys, bathe yourself, etc. Always things that he is capable of doing but would say, "It's too hard," or "I don't want to." So we always say "You're a big boy. You can do it." and then add some addendum about why he can do it. Like: "your arms work," or "your strong enough," or "you know how."

This morning Tiger came and got in bed with us for a couple of minutes before asking me to go down and make him some breakfast (which we don't expect him to do for himself). I declined. I told him to go downstairs and play and that I would be down later to do that for him. His response is: "Mom, you can do it. You know how to walk."

I rolled away from him and started laughing. I covered my head with the blankets and laughed even harder. I thought I had concealed my amusement somewhat when Tiger tries his other sure-fire line on me: "Mom, I said, there's a hook stuck on the front of that jeep."

Kids say the darndest things

Yesterday, while I was at an appointment, B.A.R. took the kids to run a couple of errands. When he came to get me he told me that the Tiger "quote of the day" happened while they were at the Apple store. He had the boys in the parking lot and Tiger says (at full Tiger volume): "Hey! Check it out! There is a hook stuck on the front of that Jeep!" This was in reference to the winch on the front of a Hummer.

Possibly funnier to me, was while B.A.R. is trying to remain calm and not laugh hysterically at his own son, there was a woman getting into her own car close by and she was laughing uncontrollably at what my son said.

When I heard the story it made me laugh uncontrollably too.

Not 5 minutes later we stopped to get some dinner and Tiger says, "Hey! Check it out!" and points to the flashing "OPEN" sign at the restaurant.

Where did he learn it anyway?

I guess some things never get old.

Last year I did this great post about Tiger and his love of shoes. At some point after that Tiger just got too grown-up for the whole thing until a couple of weeks ago. When he showed Blanket how to wear Daddy's shoes:Here they stand posed so that I could get a good picture of both of them. Tiger can walk around in big shoes, but he has big feet for his size. Blanket still has very small feet and is very small for his age so he has difficulty walking around in adult shoes. One day I even caught Tiger wearing Blanket's shoes. Now if only I could get him to put on his own shoes!
Yes, they are both holding Snoopy dogs. I will post about Snoopy at a later date.

Tiger is wearing 1 of 3 pairs of pajamas I made for him. They weren't hard. In fact I just made another set for someone else this last weekend. I got them done in 4 hours or so including the time it took to cut them out.

Staying busy

While I took a break from blog posting for a while I did take some time in August and September to finish this quilt I started for Tiger back in the spring. I had done everything but hide all my threads. It sat around as a UFO (unfinished object) for many moons until I got motivated to get it finished and up on the wall.

I made it from a pattern called Around Town published by The Country Quilter. I like using patterns (instead of kits) because then I can customize it and use fabrics that I like. I did add a few personal touches to the quilt that weren't included in the instructions.

• I made the flower delivery truck into a FedEx truck.
• I made the gas pump a diesel pump
• I changed two of the yellow signs. One I put on a U-turn and the other I put a tractor on. Both of these are legitimate signs that I did find on the internet. (Where do you think I got the picture for the tractor from?)
• The two white signs say "DO NOT PASS" and "RIGHT LANE MUST TURN LEFT." The former being a legitimate sign and the latter a little bit of humor all tucked up in my quilt.

The border/sashing fabric has roads with all sorts of cars and trucks on it. I bought it at Great American Quilt Factory but I also saw it at High Prairie Quilts. I also used it for the backing fabric. I machine appliqued all the cars and signs. I used Sulky Totally Stable iron-0n tear-away stabilizer during the applique process. I fused it to the back of the fabric at the same time I fused the appliques to the front using Steam-a-Seam 2. This worked well for 2 reasons: 1) I fused both in one easy step and 2) because I had to move each piece in and out of the machine many times and the stabilizer didn't become separated from the fabric. This is my favorite stabilizer for working with iron-on appliques. I quilted in the ditch around each block and then added some lines in the borders. I used a blue/green varigated thread for this and for the back when I quilted around each car/sign individually in clear monofilament thread.

I did cut out all the pieces individually. So each time you see a fabric change it is a different piece of fabric. The only things I did "color" myself were the checkerboard on the taxi, the lines on the RR crossing sign and the lettering on the diesel pump, stop sign, RR crossing sign, "DO NOT PASS,"and "RIGHT LANE MUST TURN LEFT" signs. In some cases there is thread painting of detail lines on the vehicles.

I have since completed 2 other sewing projects. The Halloween costumes and pajamas for Tiger. I think I will post pictures of the pajamas at a later date.

The haul.

Well, the first part.

Here's the boys enjoying the one piece of candy I let them have from their buckets after the trunk or treat. After I wouldn't let them have another piece they insisted on taking the buckets to bed with them (I did put lids on them). We will see what happens when they get limited tomorrow to only one piece.

Getting all dressed up

for candy, that is.

Cookie Monster and Elmo were a big hit at the ward trunk or treat. And they did stand still for a moment. As you can see the photo shoot went downhill fast:

Though they still looked really cute at the end of the party. They didn't wear those head pieces for very long though.

Dirty Money

Today, I offered to make the kids sandwiches for a snack. They both got really excited.

Tiger said, "I want a sandwich with butter and money on it."

Lucky for them I made a sandwich with peanut butter and honey.

Preschool learning

So I didn't send Tiger to preschool this year for various reasons; none of them had to do with his mental readiness. He will definitely go next year. We have been teaching him important things:

• We are teaching him to subtract since he figured out how to add all by himself.
• The difference between a "prop job" and a jet. Since we live close to an airport this learning happens whenever we are outside.
• Logo recognition for all sorts of different shops and companies.
• Vehicle recognition. Tiger can now tell the difference between a Ford, Chevy, Dodge, Jeep, Hummer and Fake (Toyota) truck. He knows the Honda logo and we are working on recognizing cars by logo too.

While we were outside this morning an Audi Allroad drove by and Tiger asked, "Mommy, is that a Jeep?"

"No, that's and Audi car."

"An owwee car?"

"Audi car."

"Mommy, thats an owwee car."

Conversation over.

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What's the advantage of an Audi?

No Lint. Just ask Blanket.