Advent Days #5 & #6

Day #5:

The remnants of the glorious fort.

Day #6:

Urban S'mores!

Day #7:

Headed to Tennessee tomorrow!

Advent Day #4

Puzzle day:

This 24-piecer set me back 97 cents at WalMart

Last night's toy drop went off without too much drama. During the purchase at Freddy's, Leelee did try to ask me several times why he couldn't keep the Thomas the Train. I reasoned that he had a whole bunch of Thomas trains at home. He countered that he did not have that particular size train. I guess you can't argue with the truth, but I pressed on and emphasized that 'there was a boy who didn't have any toys who was going to come by and pick up this toy from the drop box, so we had to drop it off'. It seemed to do the trick.

Last night baby had a little reaction to shrimp. Happy little red-faced thing. 

Sleep position #89

The Wounded

Dae sustained a serious injury playing basketball on Sunday night but, before details, let me back up to say he had not played basketball in probably 10 years and when he pulled out his Air Jordans we both started laughing! They had not seen the light of day in approximately a decade.

My prediction? Another decade before these bad boys see another basketball court!

Anyway, he returned a hobbling gimp. I figured it was due to lack of proper preparation and exercise, so I kind of dismissed the actual injury. Oops. He went on to the doctor's office on Monday (since he didn't want to pay out of pocket for a knee brace and they told him he had to make an appointment to get one) and the diagnosis: torn ACL! I definitely felt a little bad about that one. Sorry Dae! So he's a legitimate hobbling gimp now.

Meanwhile, on the homefront, Leelee also sustained a serious (in his mind) injury. He and the baby were playing together in the study room when I heard them rummaging around in an empty box and Leelee start crying. He emerged with a bit of a bloody toenail, but nothing that would require major surgery. So he cried and wouldn't allow me to touch it or put ice on it or even a bandaid, to my surprise. I sat him on the countertop to wait out the pain and after about 5 minutes I heard him say it didn't hurt anymore and he was ready to come down. I set him down and the guy limped off so dramatically I almost started laughing out loud! The only way I got him to put on a sock and shoe later that night was to tell him the toenail would only grow when he had shoes on. According to him, his "toe was broken" so, naturally, he was unable to do anything. We did make it to the Tri-Cities ski swap that night. I remember the ski swap from when I was a kid and was excited to see if we could get some good used items for the kids, like snow pants and winter boots. I don't think either of them will be actually skiing in the next year at least, but it's nice to know the swap was still up and running. I got one pair of snow pants for Leelee ($11) and one pair of ski goggles for him for future use ($19).

Other items of business:

1) This is the first year we hit up Black Friday sales on Thursday evening. Target was opening at 9pm and although the 4 of us (me, Kelly, sister-in-law Hedy and father's wife Sue) had pledged not to stand in line for a ridiculous sale, there we were come 7:30pm, freezing and armed with the ad and high hopes for a 50" TV for Kelly at the doorbuster price of $350! haha. We got the TV after Kelly convinced someone earlier in line to get her a ticket (there were only 23) but the store was a total and complete madhouse inside. Mayhem is a good word to describe it. I made out with a few small stocking stuffers and a $49 Nook which I may still return.

This line did not end. 

2) The Advent calendar has been really fun. We started early since we are out of town in Tennessee next week and out of town quite a bit in December. Day #1 was Glo-Stick baths and it was a hit!

Day #2 was buying and decorating the tree. Beaver Bark is awesome. They literally do everything for you - you just point to the tree you like and voila, it's on top of your car ready to go about 10 minutes later! Right up our alley - minimum effort, maximum return.

Day #3 (today) is purchase a toy for donation. We shall see if Leelee gets the concept. I tried to explain it to him that other kids have no toys so we need to pick one out for them, but when it comes time to relinquish the new toy, will he do it? Stay tuned!

Thankful on Thanksgiving for...

1) The sun!
2) Family
3) Friends who are like family
4) Good health
5) Good jobs
6) Good naps
7) Food

And because...

8) My baby's walking! (At 14 1/2 months, he's a real prodigy in this family!)

Messes

A few points of interest in these next couple of photos:

1) Baby is a mess. His nose is running like a faucet.
2) He has been squealing so much for the spoon and bowl I started giving him certain food items with a spoon and bowl and he helps himself, not very neatly!
3) I clipped Olin's hair last night and it's not a bad job if I do say so myself. Leelee's haircut disaster might have been a deterrent to others...not me!
4) Look at my morning hair - worse than the kids...

Leelee took this beauty of a photo. My head looks absolutely enormous.

Dae's Caucasian Cartoon Twin

Leelee keeps pointing to this little boy in his book and said "This looks like Baba!". Must be the hair. We had a real chuckle over that one! Wrong ethnicity, wrong age. Literally the only similarity is that hair, and it is quite similar...

Baby's First Words

Baby's first real word, besides mama and dada, may be "Yuck!"

This stems from Christian. He likes to go up to me or Dae, or himself, smell feet, and say a big "Yuck!". Probably not the best or most polite thing for him to do, but I think it's funny. One time I heard the baby say "Yuh!" right after Leelee said yuck. Now, when we say yuck, baby copies us consistently.

Christian's new phrase is to follow everything with "But though". His grammar is a little mixed up. He'll say:

"I want to go to the park, but though"
"I thought you said we could read 2 books, but though"
And on and on...

More photos from last week:

Danielle looks very pretty. Olin's serious face and spiky, uneven cut are so cute to me. It kind of looks like a little wig - hehe.

Leelee was dropping leaves on Olin's head like nobody's business.

Those teeth....Orthodontia is in the cards for both of my little fellas. He sure is cute, though.

From Halloween.

 

I'm glad Kelly caught this photo. He always smiles with his lower jaw shifted to the left, demonstrated here. 

Lastly, I am really excited about this Advent Calendar I made. I hope the kids will enjoy it every Christmas, and I hope I have the energy to follow through with all of the activities and prizes that are promised! 

Leelee's School Photo

We got our school photos in today from Montessori.  I'd like to say these are fantastic. However, the evidence suggests otherwise...

Baby woke up this morning and Dae brought him into our room. His hair was crazy and he was adjusting to the light by squinting. So cute. 

Terri, you there?

I often let the boys press the Home button on my iPhone until Siri comes on. Sometimes Siri will talk to them and Leelee asked me who she was, so I told him. Last week, in the car,  Leelee asked me "What did Terri say?". I racked my brain, and then remembered there was a teacher named Terri at his school. So I asked him if it was the teacher at school. He said "No, Terri on your phone!". haha!

"Terri" has been very helpful, by the way. I use her for directions, to make phone calls, and to text. Terri is marvelous :)

Halloween, etc.

Bathtime with a pear and a good book

I was waiting to copy a whole bunch of pics from Kelly's computer but neither of us know anything about computers and we have been unable to complete the transfer, soooo..... Long story short, here are some iPhone and other random pics which will have to do in the meantime.

Halloween was last week and Leelee was Lightning McQueen (last year's costume) and baby was a bumblebee (passed down and worn by all Bian cousins as well as Adrienne Safranski). To say it was a success would be a lie...Christian made it to about 5 houses then panicked when the wind set in. He insisted on going home. Even the enticement of more candy did nothing, so Dae went back with him and we stayed out with Kelly's girls for another round of Trick-or-treating.

The two bumblebees.  Those little bee legs sure are cute.

Last weekend we went to the Tri-City Americans hockey game. It was fun! Leelee covered his ears during the loud parts and partook in some celebration after each score (we won). Go Ams!

Goal!

Finally, Kelly and I decided to try some 'professional' photos of our own while the leaves were still changing color and they didn't turn out too poorly with Kelly's fancy new lens. I didn't want my kids in matchy-matchy wear but I couldn't find Olin's grey sweater and it was too cold to get Leelee to forego his, so they are matching down to the last detail. At least their hair makes it easier to tell them apart!