Warm December Day

Today we went hiking at Caledon State Park with our neighbors. It's amazing to have such beautiful state parks so close to home. It ended up being a 3 mile round trip hike. The weather was beautiful and the beach are on the Potomac was fantastic. I even found a sharks tooth.

I loved it and the kids only complained a little bit. Daddy had to go a half mile with Bug on his shoulders on the way back.

Roo had a hurt foot until I distracted him with a cool looking tree. After that he was fine.

Bug said at bedtime "I don't want to go hiking again, it's painful." I think we'll ignore him.

Nice List

The boys got greetings from Santa this morning via Portable North Pole. The look on Roo's face was priceless. He was well aware that he was a good boy this year and very intently listened to what Santa had to say and was very happy to hear that Santa knew so much about him. He was pleased to hear Santa put him on the nice list.

Then in was Bug's turn. Bug was very excited to hear what Santa had to say. He agreed with Santa when he said this year Bug was working on no more temper tantrums. And when Santa said lets see if you're on the nice list, Bug shook his head no, very seriously. With that same seriousness, he turned to Roo and said "you're nicer than me." Imagine his surprise when he found out he made the nice list.

When I got home from work today, I gave the boys letters from Santa that were in the mailbox. They loved them and were happy to hear again how good they've been and how much Santa knows about them.

They're finally in bed now. All night they wanted to go to bed. Now that they're in bed, they can't fall asleep. Love their excitement!

First Day of Winter

Yesterday was the official first day of winter. We had amazing weather, more like summer than winter. I loved wearing flip flops all day. The kids were able to leave the pool without having to change (which means I didn't have to chase them through the women's locker room!). And we had a bonfire and roasted smores (no toes were burned this time)! The one good thing about a winter bonfire is that it's dark early, so the kids can enjoy it at night and still get to bed on time, that's a win all around!

If..

Roo was sick and missed school on Thursday and Friday. I sent his teacher an email to let him know why he was missing school and he replied saying that Roo had made us some gifts and if I could to stop by and pick his stuff up. I did, and as I looked through everything (but the gifts), I found this project and it brought an instant smile and chuckle!

It says "If I lived in a snow globe I would play hide n go seek inside the snow."

The View

Best.Quote.Ever.

From Bug: "Mommy's a princess, Daddy's a terd."

What?

On the way to swimming tonight, I got a phone call from Daddy and Bug wanted to ask a question. As the conversation went on, Bug wanted to speak with Roo. I passed the phone to Roo and the conversation on my end sounded a little bit like this:

Roo: "what?!"
Bug: blah blah blah blah blah
Roo: "what?!"
Bug: blah blah blah blah blah
Roo: "yes you can play with my Cars game, so I'll play with your Pokemon cards"
Bug: blah blah blah blah blah
Roo" "what?!"

You get the idea. I was cracking up. I've always been entertained by their discussions; for two small humans, they talk about some interesting stuff!

Am I Grounded?

The theme tonight was grounding. When I picked Roo up at daycare, he told me that he lost all three of his pennies today. Each day each kid in his class starts off with three pennies. I'm not sure what happens if they keep them for the day, if the add up or something like that but it seems that it's upsetting to lose pennies. He's never lost all three of them. Today he told me as we were leaving that he lost all three. As we were getting in the car he explained that it was from talking when he wasn't supposed to and then something else about a pointer.

He said his friend was using the pointer (like a retractable one) and that they weren't supposed to, so he was telling his friend to put it away. So I asked if his friend also got in trouble, yes. I'm having trouble understanding how Roo got in trouble for trying to do the right thing. So I ask him to explain more about the talking. He doesn't explain this too well. So then I ask him again about the pointer. Roo finally says, "okay, I'll tell you the rest of what happened." And he explained how they had a sword fight with the pointers. Of course, you're only in first grade, and you're boys, what else would you do with the pointers is what I was thinking. So what I actually said was that he knows better and that it's dangerous and not to do it again.

Roo asked if he was grounded. He also asked if he was naughty. No to both. Not grounded, Friday ice cream not taken away, and definitely not a naughty kid. This is the second time he's asked me if he's naughty and both times I have told him that he is absolutely not naughty. He's a very good kid, with a big heart, who likes to follow rules, who occasionally has a quarterly brain fart with his behavior. He asked, "so a naughty kid would have just blamed it all on his friend?" I told him that the naughty kid would have just told me he had a good day at school. He knows and we've repeated that we are always proud of him for telling us when he makes a mistake or gets in trouble. If he continues like this, he should be a well behaved teen!!

And so onto Bug. Later in the evening Bug shared something with us and worried that he would be grounded. We asked him to show us and we told him not to worry that he wouldn't be grounded. We explained how he could fix it the next time and to ask for help if he needs to in the future, but that he wouldn't be grounded even if it happened again. The topic is poop, no further details needed.

Man, it sounds like we do a lot of grounding in this house, but we really don't. It's rare and is only for really serious infractions.

Pig

I think if I do end up blogging more often it include things about not just the kids, but all of our lives in general.  With that, I give you this story.

Today we were driving to town to meet up with my parents for lunch. On the way as we were approaching a curve that seems to have more accidents than some other spots on the road, there was an accident.

As we passed by slowly we looked and saw something one would only believe if we took a picture.

A pickup truck was smashed in because it hit a pig. But not just a normal pig, this was the biggest pig I've ever seen. I didn't even know pigs could grow that big. Made me wonder when it's no longer a pig and considered a hog.

We contemplated turning around and driving past it again to take a picture. But we thought that would be very rude.

The police were already there and it was hard to tell with all the dirt across the road if the accident was in the early or late stages of being cleared.  Hopefully everyone was okay.

There are farms nearby so it's hard to say if the pig got free and ran away or if it was being transported and fell out of a vehicle. But it was a huge pig.

If I ever find a picture of it, I'll be sure to add it to this post.

Planning Vacation

After our trip to Williamsburg and Great Wolf Lodge this past weekend, we were reminded how much we love going on trips as a family. This summer we had one short trip to Ocean City. Between my surgery and the costs associated with it, we just didn't have the time or money to go on more trips.

So, we're already starting to plan for next year. I would like to take a long weekend to a somewhat local vacation spot over Spring Break, got to Maine for a week, a late summer long weekend, go to Disney or a Disney Cruise (less likely unless it's a bargain) and maybe a trip over the holiday's...not a short list, for sure.

We were thinking one way to make this possible is to spend less on the Maine trip, but that would mean not staying in the house we love.

So we called the boys in to get their opinion.

We asked: "When we go to Maine, do you want to stay on the beach and catch crabs, or on a lake?"

Roo said he wants to catch crabs.

Bug said: "well, I don't know, how about after we catch crabs, well, if the crabs don't bite me then lets catch crabs."

To which Roo said we could wear globes (aka gloves).

Time to get them some crab catching globes!

Holiday Musical

Tonight was the kids holiday concert at daycare. We always enjoy going to this and the daycare is great about scheduling it for pickup time so we don't have to miss work.

As Bug's class entered the room, there was bug, in tears in arms of his teacher. He cried the during his classes entire portion of the show. Normally, Bug is our outgoing, happy to sing in a crowd kiddo.

Roo's class was the last to come and sing and our normally reserved, pained when in front of an audience child, was all smiles and singing merrily along!

Copy Cat

Mom told me I didn't post anything about Bug's birthday and implied that there's an amount of delinquent blogging that's allowable, but missing a birthday is the line. So, to copy my friend Barb, I will try to do one short post a day for the rest of December. Maybe that will create a new blogging habit! I will also take advantage of today's snow day and try to post blog post!

Happy Hanukkah

The kids enjoyed celebrating an early Hanukkah this year. They got one big present from us, a trip to Great Wolf Lodge, and didn't understand that this is something that they should get really excited about. They'll understand once they go!

Future Leah

The boys are very excited about Uncle Matt and Leah's engagement. We have said that she is "future Aunt Leah" which has been translated in kid language as "Future Leah" by Bug.