Duck Pond

I absolutely love watching my kids creativity. Between the two of them they have so much fun pretending and playing. One night Jonathan created a little duck with Duplo blocks. After having some success with one duck he decided to make a family of ducks. Jonathan and Jason had an absolute blast playing and pretending with the duck family.

Aren't those cute little ducks? :)

 

A few minutes later I noticed Jonathan was digging through our bin of Duplo blocks, pulling out all the blue blocks and putting them inside a circle he'd made with train tracks. When I asked him what he was up to he said "Mom ducks HAVE to have a pond to swim in!" as if that was supposed to be obvious to me... Needless to say we have all had a lot of fun playing with the ducks in the duck pond.

Bed Time

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Jason. Jason liked to sleep with so many stuffed animals that there wasn't really room for him left in the bed. There was Froggy, Baby the Giraffe, Blue, Angel the whale, Laugh a lot Bear, and a poor ducky smooshed under his knee. But he sure is cute!

Yellow Belt #2

Ever since Jonathan started Tae Kwon Do last January Jason has wanted to do Tae Kwon Do too. Kids can start classes as young as three as long as they are 100% potty trained. Jason turned three in April but unfortunately wasn't taking too quickly to potty training so despite his constant nagging he was unable to start Tae Kwon Do. When he finally (after 2 or 3 months) realized that not being potty trained was why he couldn't do Tae Kwon Do he was suddenly very motivated to potty train. His mantra became "If I potty train I can to Tae Kwon Do." By the end of August he was 100% potty trained and was able to start lessons in mid-September. Last week he earned his first belt promotion from white belt to yellow belt.

He was super happy.

Jason's yellow belt is different from Jonathan's yellow belt. Because of his age and general abilities Jonathan was able to start right up with regular Tae Kwon Do. Since Jason is so much younger he does a program called Tiny Taeks. This program moves at a slower pace than regular lessons and is specific to younger ages. They learn all the same stuff but have different belt promotions and different requirements. Jason is in the Little Dragon class, which he thinks is super cool! When Jason graduates out of the Tiny Taeks program, about age 7, he will enter regular Tae Kwon Do as a full yellow belt, like his brother is now.

Both the boys really love Tae Kwon Do and we are both very happy that they have such a good outlet for all their boy energy, especially in the winter!

Tubes

Jason has always had problems with his ears. His ear problems go all the way back to his 6 month check-up. He's 3 3/4 now so these problems have been ongoing for over 3 years now. If you want the full rundown or need a refresher check the label ears and all my previous posts about his ears will come up.

We had a reprieve last winter and he only had 1 ear infection the whole winter. I thought maybe we were done with ear infections, maybe he'd just grown out of them. Unfortunately I was wrong. He got his first ear infection in September and by mid-December had been on 5 rounds or antibiotics. Finally I got fed up, switched Drs, and asked the new Dr about tubes. The new Dr said he would recommend tubes now given his history. So on December 20 we got a referral to an ENT.

Now being so close to the holidays I figured it would be after the first of the year before we could get in for a consult. Imagine my surprise to find out that they had an appointment available December 29! I didn't have to think long on that one. We met the ENT who said Jason was definitely a good candidate for ear tubes and said to go ahead and schedule surgery.

When I talked to the lady who schedules surgery for this dr I told her the next available appointment would work great and mentally began thinking about time off of work, a sub for Dan and all those details that I obsess over. I was shocked when she said he had an opening January 4. Not the most ideal way to spend our last official day of break but it also meant no one had to take time off of work. Dan was slated to return to work on January 5 but I didn't have to go back until the 9th.

Our report time to the hospital was 7am. Oh boy was that hard for us. We were on vacation. We had grown accustomed to going to bed at 3am and getting up at 10am. Never the less we made it, very tired, to our check in time.

Jason got all hooked up and dressed for surgery and then he got to watch some cartoons with his trusted friend Froggy. The whole surgery was super quick. We spent more time waiting in the room before and after surgery than he spent in surgery. Everyone Jason met was so enamored by him. He had his sweet, charming personality turned up to 10 that morning.
After surgery he came back to the room complaining that his ear was hurting. Poor baby he couldn't understand or process why his ear was hurting so much. We had to stay an hour after the surgery was done just to make sure he didn't have any complications from the anesthesia. Once we were clear we headed home and all took a glorious nap.

Jason woke up from his nap just as happy as could be. If you didn't know he had surgery you never would have guessed it. He was chipper and joyful the rest of the day. He has his two week post-op appointment today. I feel like things are going well but we'll see what the Dr says. He is also going to get custom ear molds made so he can take baths again. Right now we are stuffing his ears with cotton when he showers. Maybe ear molds will work better??? Dan said they didn't work for him but I'm willing to try, after all technology has come a long way since he was 3.

Not Quite Soup

If we'd had soup for dinner Jason would have been face down in his soup. Instead he's laid his little head down on the table during dinner. He didn't get a nap and just couldn't handle it any longer. He looked at me and said "I'm tired," then he put his head down and was out.

We were at AG's house for dinner and since Jason was so soundly sleeping we moved him to the bed and the boys ended up spending the night at AG's house. That kid will sleep anywhere!

Pajamas

Last night the boys got to open a gift from my mom. She gets them a new pair of Christmas pajamas every year. We opened them last night that way the could enjoy them for the whole week before Christmas. This year's pajamas are Grinch Pajamas from Pottery Barn Kids.
Funny story, right after bath we tried to get Jason to put his pajamas on and he had an absolute meltdown. He absolutely did not want to put on the pajamas because "The Grinch is a scary bad guy and so mean." Every Grinch on the pajamas is smiling and happy but Jason was sure that the Grinch was mean all the time. We finally bribed him into the pajamas and then showed him the last few minutes of the movie to show him the Grinch is a good guy. After that he was fine with his new pajamas.

Kitchen Sleeper

I've said it may times, Jason can sleep ANYWHERE. A few weeks ago he had an ear infection and the way his med times worked he needed to get up at 11pm to take his meds. So one night he came into the kitchen, found the rug, and went back to sleep.I mean how cute is that! I showed him the picture of himself the next morning and he laughed and said, "Funny Jason."

Sleepy Jason

Remember the other day when I said Jason can sleep anywhere in any position. Well I wasn't kidding.This is how we found him the other night. I went in to check on him before I went to bed and found him basically standing on the floor slumped over his bed. Of course I had to snap a quick pic as proof before I moved him. When I showed him the picture the next morning he said, "Wow mom I'm a silly sleeper boy!" Yes love, yes you are!

Sleepy Boy

Once there was a little boy who wasn't tired. He insisted that he wasn't tired at all. His grumpy frumpy attitude told everyone he was tired but he was sure he wasn't tired. He laid down in a nice, warm, comfortable bed for a nap but just didn't need sleep. He got up and took his trusty blankie and his baby giraffe and he made himself a fort behind AG's bed to play and there he fell asleep.

Ice Day Decorating

Rain in December, unheard of you say?

It wasn’t on this December day.

No school in the morn,

A tree to adorn.

Let’s have some fun

While we get the job done

And enjoy an ice day

A very nice way.

Ok so I may not have a career in poetry but we sure did have a fun Sunday and Monday. There isn’t much that causes school to be cancelled in Alaska but freezing rain and icy roads is one of those things. Sunday evening we got the call that there would be no school on Monday due to poor and deteriorating road conditions. Sunday’s we usually have family dinner at my parent’s house and this Sunday was no different except that we had come prepared to spend the night. It had drizzled off and on all day and drizzle plus frozen ground is a recipe for poor road conditions.

Once we got the call that schools would be closed on Monday bedtime went out the window and we set about decorating my parent’s Christmas tree. Every year we each get a new decoration to put on my parent’s Christmas tree. It’s always an ornament that has some special meaning to the person who receives it. This year was no different.

Jonathan received a moose in a cocoa cup from Lenox. Before Jonathan was born we chose a moose theme for his room. He has moose galore. Stuffed animals, blankets, pillows, shirts, sweatshirts, books and pictures, you name it he’s got it. Cocoa is a big thing in our family. None of us, except my dad, are coffee drinkers but we all LOVE cocoa.

Jason got a little bear holding a cup of cocoa from Lenox. Jason’s bedroom theme was bears and for every moose item Jonathan has Jason has a bear item. And like I said we LOVE our cocoa! These were the two most perfect decorations for my boys.

Dan got an Oregon decoration. The old White Stag sign is an iconic Portland landmark. It’s right along I84 and you drive into downtown. Dan saw this sign every morning on his way to school and it’s something that really reminds him of Portland. While we were in Oregon this summer I found a decoration that depicted the White Stag sign and knew it was the perfect decoration for mom to give him. He was thrilled with it and the meaning behind the decoration.

I got a moose holding a teddy bear riding on a sled from Lenox. There is a story about me and moose which you can find here.

After we opened our decorations Mom took pictures of me and the kids hanging ours on the tree. Not sure how we missed Dan but we did. Sorry Babe! We still love you I promise!

This was like the third time we took this picture. Mom was trying to get the lighting just right. Clearly my smile wasn’t holding up through all the retakes!

Jonathan hanging up his moose. His expression is so serious.

Jason was having some difficulties hanging his decoration on his own so I gave him a hand.

At some point in the evening mom snapped this pic of the boys and me. I think it’s pretty darn cute.

We spend much of the afternoon on our "snow day" decorating the tree and now the job is done. Mom said this is probably the earliest we've ever finished the tree. We always have it up Thanksgiving weekend but decorating it can take several weekends. It's nice to have it done because now we have more time to enjoy!

Brotherly Love

My mom snapped this sweet picture of my boys at a local parade this past summer. I love this picture. Such a sweet moment captured forever. They may not always get along but they really are great friends.

In other news we are home from school today due to severe ice. School doesn't get canceled for much up here but freezing rain will bring town to a near halt. We are out at my mom's house waiting out the weather. We came out for our usual Sunday dinner but looked at the weather and decided we better come prepared to spend the night. So we will spend our day off sipping cocoa and decorating the Christmas tree at my moms. Should be a fun, unexpected, three day weekend.

Pots and Pans

The same pots and pans that were enjoyed as drums are now being used as shoes. Please excuse the diaper only. I NEVER let my kids run around in just a diaper but he had just gotten out of the shower and this was too cute to pass up!

Sleeping

Jason is a sleeper. That kid likes his sleep. And he will sleep ANYWHERE!
Including on the living room floor on top of the toys he was just playing with. Upon careful inspection of the picture I can identify several things he is sleeping on top of:

• Green army men
• half of the Millennium Falcon
• a video game controller
• a blue blanket
• a magazine

But he looks so comfortable!

Mattress Sliding

Let me preface what you are about to watch by saying that I know this wasn't really safe but all the toys were packed up so I let him have some fun. His big bro was at a friends house but if he had been home this never would have happened!

That said Jason was having a blast!

Drummin'

When the movers are coming and all the toys are packed away and all that's left are the pots and pans that didn't make the cut to move to Alaska what is a little boy to do?

Drum!

And when there in nothing else to use as a drumstick the crevice tool to the vacuum will work just fine!
Creativity at its best!

Fashion Statement

Remember our little Super Model? Well Jason has returned to let us all know what the hot trend is for this spring.Jason is wearing a blue camouflage shirt. This shirt is "vintage" purchased for his big brother back in 2007. With his "vintage shirt" he is wearing pair of striped shorts. These shorts are long enough that they can substitute for pants in a pinch, especially when paired with the always fashionable Sorel Boots. So there you have it, Spring Fashion 2010.

Silly Boy

Jason, honey, that's not how you usually use a Magna Doodle. The pen that's in your mouth is for coloring. What's that, oh you know that. Well then by all means carry on being silly!

Freedom!

Over Spring Break my mom came to visit us. We were lucky enough to have her here for almost 2 full weeks, her spring break and ours. While she was here we took the opportunity to rent a UHaul truck, and move the stuff we had in storage, from my grandparents house, from Boise to Pullman. It wasn't as hard as we had imagined. However having the truck, and a little boy who hit every bathroom in every little town from Boise to Pullman, the return trip took us about 8 hours. By the time we arrived home the boys were really twitchy. What you are about to witness is what happens when my boys have been stuck in the car for 8 hours and a suddenly released to freedom! Enjoy, I know i did!

Sick Day

A couple of weeks ago both the boys were home sick from school. Since they were sick and not very energetic we spend our day in our pajamas watching movies and reading books. During one of the movies Jonathan asked me to pause so he could go get something. He went into his room and came back out with is pillow and blanket. Jason saw what his big brother had done and thought it seemed like a great idea and went toddling into their room and also came out with his pillow and blanket. And there they lay, cuddled up, watching a move. I absolutely love their relationship and watching the interact. They are great kids!

Super Model

Jason is growing. All of his pants give the appearance that he may be preparing for a flood sometime soon. So this weekend when we finally put our Christmas decorations away, the next box of clothing was pulled from the shed. Now it sits in our living room waiting to be sorted through. Last night I looked through the container and found an adorable cream, corduroy blazer. Of course I just had to try it on Jason right then just to see how cute it looks.
Never mind he's wearing pajamas, models are trendsetters after all. I bet you'll be wearing jackets with your pajamas soon. No? Yeah me either. Jason however looks adorable and from the pose he's striking and the look on his face I'm fairly certain he knows exactly how cute he is!