Our New Year

Resolution
It's simple - my new year's resolution is to get back to blogging.  My hope is to do it at least 5 times a week but we'll see how it goes.  This is the 1st resolution.

My 2nd resolution, which anyone who's been to my house will say is definitely in need, is to declutter & purge so we can actually do stuff at home.  While I've been home for Christmas vacation, we've kept the living room fairly clean which has allowed Cameron to crawl all around and explore the place but has also allowed us to play games in the living room and color and have fun.  We even played "Cars Trouble" on New Years Eve waiting for the ball to drop, the boys loved it.  "Superhero Memory" was another fun time this week.  All made possible by decluttering the living room enough to have clean floor space on which to play.  So next up, cleaning & purging in the boys' room, our room & the kitchen.  We have so many toys, most of which are broken or missing parts, that all need to go and so many clothes that are out dated and/or never worn.  Why do we keep these?  Yes, it was a favorite dress - but I'm not going to wear it again so it has to go.  The kitchen is full of mis-matched pots/pans & bowls & pie pans, etc, and we use the same ones ALL the time.  We keep gadgets thinking we'll one day use them, but if we haven't used it since the 1st time we took it out of the box, it has to go.  We need space for homework & baking with the boys & playing games so declutter is on the agenda.

Tradition
As our usual, we all stayed up to watch the ball drop last night.  In the past, Alex has fallen asleep at 11:45pm but this time even he made it the whole time.  I thought Cameron was going to pass out at 10:00 with his bottle but his ears are hurting him a bit (pretty sure he has an ear infection - either that or it's just teething pain making him clingy) so when he finished the bottle and almost fell asleep by himself, he instead demanded I sit with him & rock him.  He lays his cheek on my cheek as we rock - so sweet.  Then when he's soothed enough, he'll move his head to lay on my shoulder or something - that's usually the sign he's ready to let me put him to sleep.  However, the boys & Steve were playing Trouble and that was too entertaining to allow those tired little eyes to go to sleep.  This suited me just fine as I prefer to let us all ring in the new year THEN go to bed.

The only problem with this tradition is that today - New Year's Day - was Sunday meaning we had to get up for church.  On the plus side, we did have breakfast at church & Ethan's class was having a PJ party so I was letting Alex go in his PJs as well which cut down on our getting ready time.  Even the after church nap though hasn't gotten rid of the lack of sleep cranky's the boys seem to have.  Ethan & Alex are pushing each other's buttons and making each other cry and then 5 seconds later helping each other & playing with Cameron.

Things to work on (but not calling them resolutions)
1)  Get Ethan to school on time - he's been 2 minutes late to school enough times that we've gotten a letter on truancy from the school (even tardies count towards truancy).  This must stop & it will.
2)  Get Alex to eat when it's time to eat.  Alex always has some reason why he doesn't want to eat what we're having - even if it's his favorite food.  Then he'll be hungry an hour later.  New rule - if you don't eat when it's time to eat, you don't eat till the next meal.  That's not really a new rule, it's just that we plan to enforce it now.
3)  Get Cameron to eat more than just sweet potatoes & bananas & pears.  He's seriously got to branch out and so far, he's having a screaming fit with any other options.
4) Chores - both boys now have a "chore chart" - there are actual chores like picking up toys, loading the dishwasher, putting dirty clothes where they go, putting their clothes away, etc.  But there are other things they need to work on like for Ethan getting "green" at school (or better) & for Alex listening & doing what he's told (a major problem for him).  They can get a sticker for each thing they do each day & if they get 30, 40 or 49 (7 chores, 7 days of the week) they get different levels of rewards.  Hopefully this system will work for us.  Ethan at least is anxious to do his chores now so he gets the stickers.

From Ethan:  Hapee Nu Yeer! (he told me how to spell it)
From Alex:  The ball dropped, it's a new year - YAY!

I think that's enough for this post.  Hopefully you'll hear from us again tomorrow.

From Santa Claus to the Easter Bunny

Background:  Steve works at Verizon (at least for another month till they close) and has for the past 2 Christmases.  At Christmas, someone (the same guy both times thankfully as Ethan has a mind like a steal trap), dresses as Santa and the kids can go see him in the Verizon lobby.  The kids bring a book to give Santa so he can give it to kids who don't have books, then they sit on Santa's lap like any other Santa at Christmas.  Ethan did this both years.

Wednesday evening I picked up the boys at daycare and then went to Walmart for a few things.  On the list was gatorade for Steve cause he's trying to cut out pop & caffeine and wanted something besides water.  The boys and I then went to Steve's work to give him the gatorade because his dinner break was coinciding with our schedule.  We saw Steve for a few minutes, delivered his drink, he gave the boys kisses all around and headed back into work.

As we started driving away, Ethan asked, "Where's Daddy going?"  To which I replied, "he's going to work." 
E: "Why?"
Me: "Because that's what they pay him for."
E: "Where's Santa Claus?" [he asks this pretty often when leaving Steve's work]
Me: "Honey Santa Claus isn't still at Daddy's work.  He's back at the North Pole now.  He went home and is only here at Christmas time."
E: ....silence - 1/2 mile later pointing out the passenger side window "I thought you were going to turn there."
Me, curiously: "No, honey.  We're going home."
E: "But isn't that the North Pole?  I thought I was gonna go see Santa Claus."
Me, chuckling: "No, honey.  The North Pole is far away from here and it's way too cold."
E: "But Santa Claus is there."
Me: "Yes, Santa is there but he lives there.  It's just too cold for us.  Santa has a special kind of magic that makes him live there and I don't think you could see him right now anyway - he's hidden by all the snow.  He only comes here at Christmas time just like the Easter Bunny only comes at Easter.  It's almost Easter now and the Easter Bunny is probably watching.  He gets together with Santa and they compare notes to make sure you are good all year long."
E: silence....thinking about all this (keep in mind we're driving through this but I can see him in my kid-view mirror and his has his finger tapping his chin thinking as I talk)
Me: "What do you think the Easter Bunny will bring when he comes?  Remeber he brought you Baby Pete [our rabbit] last year.  Have you been good this year?  What do you think he might bring you?"
E: "Yeah, I'm good.  I think he's going to bring me my puppy dog."
Me: "No, I don't think he's going to bring you a puppy dog.  He asked Mama and I told him you couldn't have one."
E: "But I dust want a little one.  I dust want a little puppy dog."
Me: "Well honey, when we have our own house, you can get a puppy.  But the people who own the house we live in don't want us to have a dog so you just can't have one right now but when we get a house, you can have one."
E: "Yeah, I dust want a little one.  Owix wants a big one."
Me: "You just want a little puppy dog but Alex wants a big dog?"
E: "Yeah, he wants a big one like Chavy.  Chavy is a good dog."
Me: "Like Chavy, huh?  Whose dog is Chavy, do you remember?"
E: "Ummmm..."
Me: "He's Evan's dog.  Remember cousin Evan?"
E: "Yeah, at Aunt Katie's house.  And Webekah's dog, too.  He's a good dog, too."
Me: "Rebekah's dog is Oz."
E: "No, I'm talking bout WeBEKah's dog.  The big dog.  WEBEKAH's dog."
Me: "Yes, Rebekah has a big dog - his name is Oz.  Evan's dog is Chavy at Aunt Katie's house."
E: "No.  Member, Mama?  Webekah's dog.  It's big.  It tried to push me over.  Member when we dropped you off and me and Daddy and Owix went to the Quarium and we saw the tractors and stuff.  When we came back, Webekah's house.  I'm talking bout her dog.  THAT big dog."
Me: "Yes, when you dropped me off to see Rebekah and Amelia [8 months ago when she was born - I'm telling you, steal trap] and you and Daddy went to the Bass Pro shop to play and look at the fish in the big fish tank - it's not the Aquarium but it has a big tank like that.  Then you came back to pick me up and you came in and saw Rebekah's dog.  That dog is Oz."
E: "Yeah.  I'm talking bout that dog. Well Owix wants a big dog like that.  But I dust want a little one."
Me: "Ok honey but we can't get one right now.  We have to wait till we have our own house and then you can get a little dog."
E: "Ok.  But the Easter Bunny dust won't bring one right now."

OK so I got him off the Santa Claus/North Pole deal but maybe I should have picked some other topic.  The kid remembers like every detail of an event that was quite literally 8 months ago but didn't believe me that the dog's name was Oz until I confirmed that dog from that event is the one I meant.  Sheesh.  But he's right - he has been good so I guess we'll see in about a month or so what the Easter Bunny will really bring him - cause it won't be a dog.

Christmas with kids is so much more fun than any other Christmas

Surely anyone with young kids has to agree.  It is so much more fun to enjoy Christmas with & through the eyes of your child.  Let's start with Ethan and what he wanted for Christmas.  He told everyone he wanted a guitar for Christmas.  The first I heard this was when he told some of my co-workers.  Steve told me his mom had been mentioned something about his nephew having a guitar so we thought that's where this came from so we kept asking what he really wanted thinking it wasn't really a guitar.  Then we went to see Santa at Steve's work.  Ethan went right up to him and gave him the books we brought (new books for Santa to give to other children) and sat on his lap for all of 60 seconds - long enough for a picture and to tell him he wanted a guitar for Christmas.  I had wanted a picture with both boys together but Ethan was having no part of going back to Santa's lap - he only wanted to tell Santa what he wanted and he'd done that so he was DONE.  When asked what Alex wanted, he told them - "Owix wants a drum."  Mama kept disagreeing with this because we already have electronic drumsticks - but Ethan was insistent.  Then as we start to leave, Ethan says, "but where's my guitar?"  I had to explain that he just told Santa what he wanted and Santa would bring it on Christmas Eve.  We head out and Steve & I discuss amongst ourselves how we can't believe he really wants a guitar and we need to try to get him hooked on something else & that a drum is NOT happening....Then a few days later a package arrives from Nana.  Steve says something like "I wonder what's in it?" and Ethan states quite matter of factly, "It's my guitar."  OK - so now we're resigned to the fact that Santa will definitely have to bring a guitar for Ethan.  Ethan told every person who asked, everytime they asked that Santa was going to bring him a guitar.  When he was sick last weekend and we were waiting around Walmart for his antibiotics, we saw the very guitar he wanted but didn't buy it because that's the one Santa was supposed to bring him.