Santa's Local Connection

Ok Hunstvegas Parents -

I'm passing along a great way to get a letter from Santa to your rugrats... I do this every year and it is fabulous. For a mere $5 per letter Santa will write to your kid AND send him/her magic reindeer food. He'll reference an accomplishment your child did that year and tal about a toy that is guaranteed to make it under their tree.

The best part? It's all for a good cause and you can get warm fuzzies about that.

Go to:
United Cerebral Palsy's Letters from Santa


Thanksgiving was great. I'll post photos and stuff after I renew my Flickr account.

Blessed Be We

Things I give thanks for:

- that the first thing Finn does when he wakes up now is look for his little brother.

- for DVR and its ablity to hold all my episodes of Heroes & The Office, as well as a thousand hours of Little Bill, Batman, Blue's Clues, and The Corpse Bride (a favorite of Finn's we just can't erase).

- for Eli's healthy (ahem...) appetite.

- for Boys who actually have a bedtime, and usually stick to it.

- for Spanx.OK... let's be realistic. Assets.

- for curbside recycling & clotheslines!!

- for a great CDC we love.

- for Library cards with no limits and stoytimes seven times a week.

- for a compatible and exciting marriage.

- for small would-be victories in Iowa.

- that Finn will agree to just about anything if I say it in an excitable, sing-song tone.
Me: "Who wants to go home and take a long three hour nap?"
Him:"Meeee-eeee!"

- for boots of all sorts. Here there be cowboy, pirate, Mommy's glamourous-but-comfy high heeled brown leather boots, and her witchy patent leather black ones.

- that we live in a free country, have a full pantry, a nice home, a huge & wonderful family, a good (gas-efficient!) car, amazing friends, good jobs - and the ability to know it could vanish so fast we have to enjoy every second of it all.

Escape Artist

Since he was 18 months old we had those doorknob covers on the inside of Finn's door to his room. We could get in, but he couldn't get out without our help. To some this may sound harsh, but it was much better than the alternative: Finn locking us out of his room while playing with the lock (not on purpose mind you) or having him roaming the house at 3:00 AM in the morning. And the stairwell is right by his door - I had terrible visions of him stumbling around all sleepy and falling down a whole flight of stairs tring to get to us. He always sleeps with the door to his room closed and we have never had any trouble with him opening the door right after he goes to bed.

So we took the knob covers off several months ago because he was getting old enough and is more skillfull getting around (he can walk that bannister like a gymnast and do perfect back-tuck dismount now). Until quite recently Finn has never tried to even open the door; conditioning had engrained that the door simply doesn't open without Mom or Dad on the other side...

No more.

The last few mornings we have been awakened to little boy morning breath in our faces and whispers of "I wake up - let's play!" at 6:00AM. Luckily we can buy a few extra minutes by sending him into Eli's room to climb into the crib and play with his brother. Eli thinks that's really cool and they wallow around in his bed for a while.

Until he learns how to get our of there too.

Slow Transition

I know, I know. This transition from one page to another is taking me f-o-r-e-v-e-r.
The trouble is there are photos I really want to post but I need to update my Flickr account to get them all in and I just haven't done it yet. So I guess I'm just going to have to go ahead and make some entires in the meantime because the boys aren't getting any younger.

If you are a new friend to us, please know I'm using this venue as a baby book of sorts. This is where I'm keeping track of all the firsts and noteworthy items as Finn & Eli grow. So some of this will probably be VERY boring to you, but I'll try to keep it entertaining when possible.

To help me catch up, I'm going to do a few "Boy Briefs" (not the kind Michael Jackson likes...) and jump from one update to another as I think of them. Sooner or later I'll be able to do more cohesive posts, and hopefully they'll have pictures to go with them.

BOY BRIEFS for October/November

- Jesus & Bweakfast Part II
Last Sunday Finn wasn't going to let it rest. He wanted to try the wine at communion and nothing I could say or do would put him off. Joan, the sweet little lady who was serving that day, was fabulous. She went in to put the cup to Finn's lips and saw that bread-coated tongue wagging toward the wine. She pulled back. Went in for a second attempt. Pulled back. Finally she knew what had to be done, and quick-as-a-bunny gave Finn a pretty good sized gulp.
Finn looked shocked! He actually did very well... no sputtering or yelling "Eww Yuck!" or anything like that. Just some gasping on his part and he was satisfied. Needless to say I don't think he will be wanting more next time.

- Eli the Flirt
I have never seen a flirt like Eli. The boy goes out of his way to makes goo-goo eyes at any woman in close proximity. He plays peek-a-boo and pretends to be all shy just to look extra cute.
Where did he learn this trick??

- A Few of their Favorite Things
Likes and dislikes in this house change faster than you can say "What would you like for dinner?" This is my attempt to record the moment's preferences for posterity's sake...

Eli -
LIKES: raisin bread, cheese, bananas, applesauce, pizza, black olives, mandarin oranges, pancakes... just about any and all food!! Johnny Cash, bluegrass, OCMS, Jack Johnson, CCR; he will cut a rug to anything with a good beat and a guitar. Climbing the stairs, chasing Finn, wrestling with Daddy, bubble baths, blowing kisses, dancing, reading books.
DISLIKES: late sleepers, MIA pacifyers, mosquito bites

Finn -
LIKES: grilled cheese sandwiches, goldfish soup, apples (he eats at least one every day), Smarties & Butterfingers were his favorite Halloween candy, chocolate milk, Happy Meals on occasion, pancakes, cheese, the smell of coffee, Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness, all things Halloween, pirates, Batman, going to visit grandparents, boots; both the cowboy type and the pirate type, crazy hats, identifying shapes, and finding things to "show Ms. Margie". Singing Sweetly Sings the Donkey, getting his back tickled (or his arm or his face), potty treats, watching Little Bill.
DISLIKES: all the above things on any given day.

- A Man of Few Words
Eli is 16 momths old, and, like his brother before him, only has a few words in his bag of tricks.
"Daddy"
"I did it"
"Mama"
"Brudder"
"Yay!"
"No"
"Yesh" (yes)
"Grandaddy"
"Dat?" (What's that?)
... and the newly-founded "Stop dat!" when Mommy was singing in the car on the way home. (sigh)

- Halloween? Rocked.
Thanks to Aunt Teresa, Eli had a fabulous costume. He was the Parrot to Finn's Pirate ("aaarrrrggg matey!") and actually looked just like a giant mutant parrot on people's porches during trick-or-treating. Finn had a blast and really got into this year, practicing on us at home saying "T.O.T." and "thank you". He did the whole thing in character, and loved his costume. Eli was asleep on Caleb 30 minutes into the process and made it an early night. Finn could have went on for hours. He still hasn't figured out Halloween is over and keeps taling about pumpkins, and witches, and ghosts. He is already thinking about what to be next time... so far he will be going as somne sort of crazy schizophrenic ghost/skeleton/Batman/pumpkin/scarecrow/tinman (he saw the Wizard of Oz last week).
Can you do that Teresa??