library

We haven't been to the library in a LOOOONG time. So long that my card had actually expired. When Neland was little, we visited weekly for "Books and Babies". There was one librarian who was captivating. Then budget cuts took over and libraries were closed, most staff was let go, and hours were drastically reduced. It was hard to keep up with which one was open when. I never took Teague to the library as a baby. I thought about it, but it seemed like we'd drop Neland off at school and Teague would fall asleep once we were back in the car - it was precious quiet time.

I tried to take the boys in October. I've had a goal of visiting at least once a month for while and in October I was going to make it happen. Until I realized early voting was going on and there was no where to park and we'd have to walk past way too many people handing out pamphlets.

Finally at the end of November, we made it. The boys were so excited (Teague asked to play with the trains, and I had to remind him that it wasn't Barnes and Nobles). We walked in and books started coming off the shelves and into my arms. I realized quickly I should have brought a bag.

Teague's first choice was a book called Saving Audie. And he made sure we had it before we left as well. I glanced at it, but didn't read it until we arrived home. It is the true story of one of Michael Vick's pit bulls. I might have teared up reading it. Not to ruin the ending but Audie is happily living in San Fransisco now.

A lot of Christmas books were placed in my arms and then Teague found the puzzles. The kid LOVES puzzles. Any puzzles.

Neland was not distracted by the puzzles or the toys, he was on a mission for books. He has always been a book worm.

The book he's holding is definitely his favorite one of the 17 we checked out. It's called The Mighty Santa Fe. It's a story about a boy visiting his grandmother's house for Christmas with a car too full to take his train set. He's extremely unhappy about this and it turns out his grandmother (Granny Blue - who knew Beyonce and Jay Z would make the name so popular) has a large train table hidden away in the attic and secretly takes him to play with it. I can see why Neland enjoys it, however it's not one we'd really recommend.

Before we left, Neland said, "I wonder if they have any Nate the Great books." And I, very thankful the days of card catalogues are gone, did a quick search on my phone and found the perfect Nate the Great book, Nate the Great San Fransisco Detective. Neland is such a California boy at heart, we quickly found it on the shelves. This happens to be the one where Nate's cousin, Olivia, is introduced (who has her own series of books now). 

We picked up a Mr. Putter and Tabby book, and then I tried to carry the 17 books, plus wrangle Teague all the way to the check out desk. This is where I discovered my card was expired and I dropped my phone somewhere in the kid section. We made it out to the car with a reinstated card and my phone and promised ourselves to return in two weeks (we actually visited for just a few minutes today). I'm sure the next visit will be much smoother, with many new books to discover (and a big bag in which to place them). 

gobble gobble

We headed to Grandpa and Grandma's house for Thanksgiving. We stopped by Starbucks for breakfast. The kids started off celebrating Thanksgiving with coffee cake and Chris and I started ours with caffeine.

We arrived in time to watch the last hour of the parade.

Neland had hoped all week that Grandpa would have the trains set up. When we walked in he didn't see them anywhere. Then grandpa surprised him with the whole track and two trains set up on a table in the garage. And Christmas music was playing in there as well (the following day when Neland wanted to play in the garage he always requested the music be on as well)!

Grandpa even set up a train for Teague (who wasn't quite tall enough to see the trains on the table).

All the great grandparents arrived.

I missed getting pictures of all the food! I was too busy eating it. 

We spent a few days at Grandma and Grandpa's house. In addition to playing trains, there were also walks to the playground with Grandma, a trip to the train store and lots of food. We attempted a Japanese steak house but Neland was a little too nervous about the flames.

And because I can't resist my boys in cute clothes, especially the same set of cute clothes...

Neland, Thanksgiving 2009

Teague, Thanksgiving 2012

One last note, on Thanksgiving Neland wanted to say the prayer before we ate. Chris told me that he said his own quick prayer before Neland said anything because honestly you never know what he might say. But the prayer was super sweet, he thanked God for sharing his love, and for us sharing God's love, and thanked God for the food. When "Amen" was said, Chris and I gave each other a look of "phew". So proud of that sweet little boy. 

pre-thanksgiving festivities

The week of Thanksgiving was filled with activities and traditions. We started off with class parties for both boys. Parents weren't included in Neland's party but I snuck in for a picture since I was there for Teague's. 

Teague's party started with a reading of "Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving" and then they sang a few songs for us before taking their seats and saying a prayer.

After the parties we headed to the playground. Neland's class made shirts for their feast. He was so proud of his shirt and begged me not to wash it. 

The following day we spent as a family keeping traditions alive. We visited Santa (we always visit before Thanksgiving).

For months Neland has been telling us he wants a turn table for Christmas. As we talked about our upcoming visit with Santa, Neland decided that instead of a turn table he'd like a Polar Express remote controlled train. Interesting enough, Teague, who once also wanted a turn table, then wanted a Polar Express remote control train. 

I was shocked Teague visited with Santa. The kid is super shy. 

Both boys are fascinated with nutcrackers. After visiting Santa we took them to pick out their favorite. I was sure Teague would go for the penguin one, maybe the snowman, but he surprised us all by picking a traditional nutcracker. Neland took awhile but decided on the beach Santa nutcracker.

With Nutcrackers chosen, a new pair of shoes for Neland, and a new pie plate for me, we headed away from the mall to a paint your own pottery place. Each year we put a foot or a handprint on an ornament as a keepsake. Teague loved doing the handprint. Neland wasn't so sure.

The boys also painted snowman salt and pepper shakers. Neland picked out a nutcracker to paint as well.

The finished products. 

Chris needed a haircut so the boys ran around a huge Christmas tree while we waited.

After a full day away from home, we were ready for some football in the back yard and some pies baking in the oven.

same week, different kids

Last week I went to pick up Neland from school and read the list of their favorite thing from the day. Looking over the list usually gives me a good idea of what the kids did that morning. Here's what I saw:

I'm so glad my sweet guy is so liked in his class. He loves school and never has a bad word to say about any of the other students.

This same week I received an email from Teague's teacher that he threw a car at a friend (apparently there was a competition to clean up cars the fastest and Teague was upset). It was at this point I realized that I cannot take credit for Neland's sweetness being a result of parenting, it's just him.

randomly catching up

The past few weeks have flown by way too fast. This is just a jumbled post of pictures to remember November so far.

Most nights the boys sleep in their bed (since they get a dessert at lunch if they don't come to our room - thank goodness for their love of sweets), but this night they both ended up in ours. When I woke this pretty much melted my heart. (the picture is terrible because I couldn't bare to turn on the light and disturb them).

 Teague has been a handful these past couple weeks. Most days he crying or screaming about something at least once an hour. He has a cold, so maybe that's to blame, and he seems to be exhausted quite a bit. At least once a week he's fallen asleep in the car, and has been put in the stroller and stayed asleep (it's never happened before, he's never been a kid you could move while he was asleep, even as a tiny infant). He's lucky he looks so sweet when he's sleeping. It almost makes up for him screaming things like "I don't want to say thank you."

 Since Halloween we've had some work done in the house. Mr. James as the kids call him as been here almost every day (he finished up yesterday). Each morning the boys wait for him to arrive and each afternoon it's exciting to walk upstairs and see how things have changed. One day Teague said he was going to get his tools and be Mr. James. While we're excited about the work, it also meant the playroom was off limits for two weeks. It was extremely hard not to rely on tv to entertain the kids when we didn't have our usual routine - and there were many days I gave up on getting creative. 

 There's a finished picture somewhere down in the post.

 The preschool had a book fair at Barnes and Nobles. Neland's teacher read stories during storytime and the boys sat so nicely and listened. 

 Neland has been making notes for around the house to let people know our "rules". There are signs like "no smoking" "no cats" "no fish" and for little things there are "no babies" signs. And by signs I mean, a picture with a circle and a line through it. It's really sweet because he's thinking of Chris and I who are allergic to those items and about babies who might choke. As soon as Teague got a chance at the note pad, he took it. There were probably 12 notes surrounding him when he was done.

 I finally figured out how to back up our files. 20,000 pictures are now safe. When we had our computer issues on our old computer we lost Teague's birth announcement video - which we of course never burned because he's the second child and we didn't have the time. Now, nothing will be lost (hopefully)!

 When playing hide and seek on the playground, Teague usually chooses to hide under this jungle gym.  I love that he thinks Neland can't see him. He also thinks if he closes his eyes while I'm disciplining him that I can't see him. Sometimes I'll look at him in time out and he'll close his eyes and yell "You can't see me."

 Neland's homework for school - to make a turkey in disguise. Teague begged to make one too (at least until he put the paint in his mouth and was banned from the table). Neland made a Batman turkey this year.

Blue hot chocolate for the start of basketball season.

 The boys had Veteran's Day off from school. Some Curious George started the day.

 Watching George gave me time to whip up some homemade chocolate chip pancakes. Chris and I used to think we'd need to half the recipe because we'd have so many left over. Between the two boys there were two left over, and I didn't half the recipe or eat one myself. Looks like we may be doubling the recipe soon.

 Neland loves to dress himself now. Whenever he does he usually picks a button down shirt, undershirt, belt and non-jean pants. He likes to dress like daddy. I asked to take his picture and he asked if he could make a silly face.

 Beach ball tennis in the yard.

 Still unbelievable that Teague could be so tired to sleep in the stroller - I'm not even sure when I used the stroller last until these past few weeks. Thank goodness it was in the trunk.

 Pumpkin-Cranberry bread with my favorite chef. He mentioned he needs an apron.

Handprint turkeys - Teague also ended up with a handprint on his face.

 Mr. James also built some bench seating for our kitchen eating area. Although now I need cushions (and the kids to promise never to spill anything). The cubbies are the future home of all our art supplies, we currently cannot close the cabinet they are in and they are constantly tumbling out.

 Yet another sleeping in the stroller day - with the same shirt. Maybe I should post him screaming so it represents things evenly.

 Our finished office. Neland wants to know when we'll call Mr. James for help again.

 We've tried potty training. It was going pretty well, then got worse, and worse, until I went back to diapers. The day I went back to diapers, he had no problem going to the potty in the bathroom. Ice cream for everyone with sprinkles - two bowls. I think he just likes to be in control, he's a power player already.

 We now have a new functioning dishwasher (no playroom access and no dishwasher made for a stressed out mom). Grandpa and Grandma came down and Grandpa installed it for us. Once it was out of the box, the box looked like a perfect opportunity to play. I cut a door and windows and let the kids go to town painting it. I need a finished project picture.

 We did some salt-water color painting. The boys really enjoyed this and I love how Neland's robot turned out.

I'm sure I'll remember something I've forgotten, but I wanted to jot this down while I could.