Monday's list...

So. I have a good bit to say today. I'll break it down into a list for ease of reading, lol:

1. BIG BOY BED. Sigh. This was the biggest thing over the weekend. Micah moved into his own "big boy bed." Here's the story. Earlier last week, I found a great deal on a comforter (in "boy" colors). Micah had been giving the other two a hard time about how when he moved into the Blue Room (what we call the boys' bedroom) he was going to have pink sheets. Their horrified reaction only fueled him further in his insistence that he have a pink bed. ;) Noah and Asher continued to argue strongly for "boy" colors and had been constantly lobbying Micah to change his mind and pointing out "boy" bed displays everywhere.

So, even though we'd decided we could and would wait on the whole bed issue, I bought the comforter and Micah quickly assumed ownership and dubbed it his "big boy blanket". By Saturday, he was requesting/demanding that we get him a big boy bed (something we've talked casually about for months but hadn't really pushed). So. We bought a twin mattress and set him up in the boys' room (now truly all three boys'). And without blinking an eye, he slept through the night in his big boy bed and is happy as can be about the whole thing..shoo'ed us out of the room and everything. This is him pretending to be asleep right after we'd gotten things set up (it's just a mattress on the floor right now, as that's easier than bed rails and all that):

I, on the other hand, am sad. I don't remember being sad when the other two moved to their big boy beds. Not that I disliked sleeping with the other two when they were with us, but I just really loved snuggling with Micah. And now our room just seems so empty. Don't get me wrong, I know it was past time and that we'll appreciate the change, and I'm grateful for the ease of the whole thing. But, right this moment, I'm sad. My baby is growing up. This transition has actually been rougher on me than when I weaned him. Sigh.

Oh, and for the record, since it's a big *BOY* bed, apparently I'm not allowed in or on it. Because I'm a *girl*, Micah says. Stinker. :)

2. MORE SNOW PICTURES. It's supposed to snow more tonight/tomorrow and is overcast and cold again. But. Yesterday the high was in the 60s, the sun was shining and it was beautiful. So, of course, we spent some time outside putting up Christmas lights and decorations and enjoying the snow. Here's Asher, delighting still in his new gloves...just before discovering that if you put a snowball into the puddle in the middle of the street and *then* throw it at Daddy, well, it's just way messier. (Guess he was really wanting to test the water-proofness of his gloves...happy to report that his hands stayed warm and dry, lol.)

When not attacking Nathan, the younger two seemed to gang up on Noah. Micah even caught up to him a few times:

Yup, all around fun times. :)

3. MORE ORNAMENTS. Not all the way caught up on the ornament a day pics and whatnot, but here are days 4 and 5. On Day 4, we made the beaded snowflakes I mentioned earlier. The boys had fun making their own patterns. On Day 5, we rediscovered the joys of Shrinky Dinks! The boys were amazed at how cool their ornaments turned out and want to do more Shrinky Dink ornaments...which will probably happen. :) In case you're wondering, here's how we did them...

- Printed out Christmas dingbat art that each boy selected (just had them pick a dingbat that was already in their countdown books).
- Traced that onto the Ruff & Ready Shrinky Dink stuff with American Crafts Slick Writer. Older kids could do this themselves. For expediency, I did these.
- Had the boys color the "ruff" side with colored pencils.
- Cut around the design in an oval (way easier than cutting the actual design, lol) and punched a hole at the top.
- Baked them in the oven and added a ribbon. Voila!

Here are Noah's:

And Asher's:

And Micah's:

I must note here that I love how the shrinking makes even less than perfect coloring look awesome! ;) (And, really, Micah does a stupendous job with crayon and pencil control for his age. Yes, he really colored this all by himself.)

4. ORNAMENT DROP. Oh, and speaking of ornaments, check out this fun project! Methinks the boys and I will definitely be participating in this. :)

Whew. Okay, I probably have more to say but need to go get Micah ready for the day. The boys have their Christmas Program at Options tonight!

In case you were wondering...

...slides after snowstorms are faster than one might expect:

Yup, boys talked me into letting them in the backyard yesterday. :) After I cleared the deck enough that Micah could see where the steps were (the snow was almost up to his knees), they had a grand time.

Need to go get ready for the weekend now...doing some decorating and errands and such. It's beautiful outside right now (sun finally came out) so I may take some more pictures, too. Hope you have a fabulous weekend planned!

Ornaments and snow...

So. Without further ado, here are the ornaments the boys and I made during the first three days of December. On day 1, we made the beaded candy canes and wreaths. (Micah was so proud of himself and did a really good job of placing his beads on the wire and in a pattern all by himself. The other two found themselves jealous of the simple pattern Micah chose for his wreath, lol.) On day 2, we were in a bit of a hurry and made foam star snowmen...nothing very creative there but the boys liked them. :) On day 3, the "hit" by far so far, we made sequined globes...styrofoam balls covered in sequins secured by straight pins and beads. Time intensive, but the boys are working on their third ones each because they just can't seem to get enough. (Yes, I made Micah's for him.) ;)

Here are Noah's:

Here are Asher's:

And here are Micah's:

In honor of our snowplay earlier today (Thursday...yes, I'm up really late again), day 4's ornaments were beaded snowflakes. I'll take pictures later. :) And, speaking of snowplay...

According to the weather folks, with windchill, it was about 7 degrees (and, incidentally, still snowing). The boys insist that they were more than warm enough (I, of course, was freezing). Micah, though, would seriously like to know why they can't make better little kid gloves. I've not been successful at finding actual gloves small enough that also happen to really "work" and stay on. This was the first winter that Asher's had gloves that remotely fit (they're still a bit big) and keep his hands dry...it made a HUGE difference in his attitude toward playing in the snow. My poor Micah was, um, not happy with his mittens/gloves (yes, Molly, glittens). Over the course of the time we were outside (almost an hour amazingly), I changed his gloves four times before we finally settled on some little fleece mittens. And those, really, only worked better because I simultaneously found him a sand shovel and started him using that instead of his hands for any snow moving. Oh, and apparently sand toys are awesome in the snow...

Yup, they filled dump trucks and had races and made tracks through the snow. Simple joys. :) Tomorrow, they want to tackle the back yard. We'll see.

So, what do you think of our ornaments? I'm so happy with the whole thing, as the boys are really loving the creative process! Also, does anyone know of better hand-wear for little ones? The other two boys are sporting waterproof REI gloves with multiple straps and gathers to keep snow out, but they don't make them small enough for Micah. Sigh.

Yesterday.

Yesterday, Wednesday, we awoke to snow...finally. Normally, we've had snow days already by this point but October and November were strangely warmer this year. So, we were pretty happy with the view out our window yesterday:

We'll be heading out into it later today...yes, I'll take some pictures. :) (Wish me luck in not going crazy bundling and unbundling them all, though! LOL!)

Also, yesterday (or really late Tuesday night), we got our ornament trees set up. I had some that I'd intended to use but upon further inspection November 30, that didn't work. So, the boys picked some new ones Tuesday night and I was a softy and let them also pick their own tree toppers and tree skirts. Here's what our fireplace looks like:

Yes, they each have more than four ornaments on their trees. And, actually, this picture was taken yesterday so that would have been after day 3 of our ornament making. But they wanted to include the ornaments they made at our ornament co-op a couple weeks ago and, as mentioned, some days we've ended up making more than one ornament already. :)

So. I'll take pictures of the ornaments we made yesterday and post those along with the other individual ornament pics and the snow pics I'll take later today, okay? Hopefully I'll have that up tonight. Whew.

Fifty nine.

That's how old my dad would have been today. Last year, the first time our family celebrated his birthday without him, I wrote this post. I'd forgotten about that. But, I did actually go to church today...though not for an actual service, just to take Noah to religious ed class. I'm in the process of finishing up a little project about my dad to hang in our house and had it in my head that it was something of a birthday gift, but didn't get it finished by today like I'd hoped. With luck, I'll have it done by the end of the week. In the meantime, here's a layout I did almost a year ago about my dad and his birthday:

Not sure if you can read the journaling, so I'll include it here:

Happy birthday, Dad! You’d have been 58 today. I’ve been trying to think of something we can do as a family every year to celebrate your birthday...some little tradition we can start so that we can feel together even when we’re not. When I asked Joe if he had any ideas, he mentioned that every year he’d ask you what you wanted for your birthday and you’d say simply “go to church and say a rosary.” So very like you. I wasn’t able to convince all the others, but I did go to church today for you. Nathan came home early so we could go to the evening service as a family. The homily was amazingly fitting. The priest talked about advent and the word “prepare.” He emphasized how we must prepare not only for the material trappings of the season but how we must prepare our lives for God...how we must live a life of faith and service. Dad, I can’t think of a single person who was more prepared to meet God than you. I wish you were here to blow out your candles, but I know that you are in a better place and that you are at peace. The way you lived your life simply leaves no alternative. So, even though we were not at all “prepared” for your death, I find comfort in the fact that you were. And so, today, I celebrated your prepared life. I have no present for you, but you’ve given me a priceless one...your example.

Happy birthday once again, Dad. I love you.

(More on our ornament projects and all tomorrow...)