He's baaack!

Sammy, the Elf, that is.  While technically, the Elves on the Shelves aren't deployed by Santa until Thanksgiving, we'd been hearing that neighboring elves were making their annual appearances starting in early November.  Even the pre-school class elf, Candy, arrived early (she even checked in on the kids this summer!!).  So, we weren't terribly surprised when Sammy showed up in the mud room the other morning.  

Boden has a hard time staying in bed until 6 every morning because he's so excited to find Sammy.  Given that Augist is up at four and down for a "nap" at 6, the timing is not working out in my favor! But, this gives me and Todd a little time to figure out what Sammy is going to be up to and how creative we want to be,  there's a Pinterest page on all the places Elves have shown up... people can be quite creative.  We're just happy when we are able to stay one step ahead of Boden and get Sammy to his new perch before the hunt begins.

We got spirit, yes we do!

This December and Holiday season was so much fun because Boden had so much holiday spirit:  Santa, being good, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, the Grinch, the Advent calendar, presents, the Elf on the Shelf--all of it! 

Early in the month, Todd and I went to Southern Utah for a short weekend hiking trip in Snow Canyon State Park and Zion National Park.  We LOVED it and I'm already planning for my/our (sorry, hon, I'm willing to go with or without you!) next escape.  It was a bit chilly while we were there, but the hikes warmed us up plenty--I couldn't imagine doing it in 80 degree heat (or warmer).

Enjoying Serenity and an Exhilarating Uphill Climb

While we were off gallavanting in another time zone, Boden spent a couple days with his grandparents, thoroughly enjoying being the center of attention from what we were told :)

Boden was also introduced to his own personal elf this year--Sammy.  Our little Elf on the Shelf came to live with us the first week of December to help keep an eye on Boden's behavior and report naughtiness and good deeds back to the Jolly One each night.  Amazingly, this did seem to help keep him on the "nice" side sometimes.  I considiered keeping Sammy around year-round--for those boys that Santa wants to keep a real close eye on.  But, he went back with Santa on Christmas Eve and is vacationing in Aruba until it's time to start working on next year's Christmas inventory.  I'm sure Sammy will be back around Thanksgiving.

We loaded up the trusty family sleigh and headed to my mom's to celebrate Christmas with my side of the family.  Boden always has a good time checking the chicken coop for eggs with my mom.  Unfortunately, it was very cold out while we were there, so we didn't get as much outside time as we like.  His behavior was less than savory, but I've learned that keeping boys indoors and cooped up goes against their nature. Just like animals, free range children are well-exercised and have a better temperament.

Off to the Chicken Coop with Grandma

But, we did get a chance to get a sleigh ride in with Molly and Dolly again this year.  They were feeling a little feisty so Boden didn't get a chance to take the reins, but he still had fun.

On board with Grandma, Mom, Uncle, and Cousins

While the cold weather put a nip in my running plan for the weekend, I did get a chance to slip away one afternoon and meet with one of my high school friends at a coffee shop in town.  While I would have liked for our kids to play together, it was great to have some 100% one-on-one friend time! We were talking and talking and then noticed that the place got incredibly quiet, other than our voices--turning off their music was the subtle sign to "please leave" :)  I do regret I didn't get our pic together!! 

We got home on Christmas Eve afternoon and Boden had time to set out cookies and carrots for Santa along with his first handwritten note (so cute!).  The note won't last, but I was glad to get a picture for posterity.

First handwritten bribery note to Santa

With all the travel and fun of the previous days, we thought Boden would have slept in on Christmas morning.  But, we should have known--if it's not a school day, but is up before 7.  For someone who can't quite tell time, yet, he has an amazing inherent ability to distinguish between school vs non-school days.  Todd and I had set up a rocket ship from Santa the night before and were excited for him to come down and see it.  He played with it until Nana, Papa and Uncle J came later in the morning when we could open the rest of his gifts.  It was a great time and so fun to see his genuine excitement over everything--so sweet.  Boden continues to ask what day it is so he can check the Advent calendar for his treat and why we only have one day of Christmas.  He's got so much holiday spirit, he wants even more Christmas :)




Okay, everyone but Doug and Susie, make a silly face!



Laughing all the way...ha ha ha!

It was a proud night tonight:  Todd and I attended Boden's first ever "Christmas Program" (of course, we both think in the age of PC, it should be called Holiday Program and have less emphasis on songs about Santa but, being this far out in the MN 'burbs, we don't have a lot of diversity, so "Christmas Program" it is) and he was a star (in our eyes, at least).  Boden has been practicing his songs for at least a week and when show time came we were wondering if he was going to be one of the kids singing, crying for his parents, or smiling and hamming it up for the camera.  Thankfully, no crying, and I caught a sneaky smile or two, when I was able to actually see him.  Lesson learned for these first time parents from this excursion: unless you are seated in the front row, you might as well be one of the parents/family members standing in the back so you can get a good panoramic view of everything.  One of my videos was a lot of heads and backs of other parents and not so much kids, despite mutliple attempts to navigate around my screen blocks. I was getting frustrated and told Todd I was going to sprawl out on the aisle so I could put my camera right in Boden's face -- he was going to take a picture of me being THAT parent...I controlled myself, though, and was happy with the video I got.  Turn the volume up so you can really hear those pre-school voices belt out Jingle Bells.

Dad + Boden sharing a cookie post-performance

Dad's Day--just smile, please

Doug, just look at me and smile.

Doug, really? Just keep smiling.  I'll click as soon as Boden looks good.



Doug!  OMG.

 Who would have thought that the hardest person to manage during the dad's day photo would be the 72 year old...not the 2 year old?!  Sheesh :)  We all had a good laugh over that!

Oh, Christmas Tree

Boden trimming the tree

I thought this year I could put up some Christmas decorations and even entertained the thought of having a Christmas tree...until this morning.  I gave Boden his little "tree" to decorate (thanks, Mom!) and thought he would be entertained while I worked on some of the more "serious" decorations.  I was wrong.  He was all up in my business and, with his help, we managed to break two ornaments and have a meltdown over the vacuum ("mac") cleaner (Boden, not me, though I was close to my own meltdown).  In the end, I have an ornament tree up in the front entry and that might just be as much holiday cheer as we can muster this year.

Thankful for naps

Ahhh, a much needed nap

We traveled to my mom's for Thanksgiving and I gained a really good understanding of what friends meant when they explained to me that "A family vacation is not really a vacation for the parents."  Boden was on-the-go-go-go constantly...good, and to be expected:  He was exploring new surroundings (like running up and down the hotel hallway) and embracing new experiences like chasing chickens and touching cows' wet noses.  However, he also embraced a couple lousy nights of sleep and fought his naptimes. 

Toddler sleep equation:
Boden sleeps lousy and wakes up crabby = Momma sleeps lousy and wakes up wanting a nap

We timed our drive home to coincide with nap time, but, like the drive up, Boden decided to change up his nap schedule without cluing us in.  By the time he fell asleep, Todd and I were relieved and thankful for the silence.

Looks like a duck

Dinosaur Henry, Boden, and me



The cat and the li'l duck


 Halloween was a success, but there was a lot of bargaining in the parking lot at the MN Zoo and Boden seemed a little unsure about getting into his duck costume.  In the end, through peer and parental pressure, he stepped into his costume.  We all sweated our way through the Tropics Trail in costume with lots of other kids and parents and costumes in search of treats and animal sightings.  We were going to end the evening with the Owl show but apparently 2000 other parents and kids in costume had the same idea, which changed our minds immediately.  We left with our loot and got home in time for bedtime...all in all a successful (and somewhat exhausting) endeavor.

Pumpkins!

Earlier this Fall, Boden and I saw tons of pumpkins at the Arboretum--they were all shapes, sizes, and varieties.  He had a great time touching them all (and he did throw one, which I was a little mortified by) and ever since then, he thinks pumpkins are pretty awesome: He yells out "Pumpkins!" whenever he spots one (and what a great time of year to spot pumpkins).  So, I thought it would be fun to carve pumpkins for his birthday.  Boden's Papa did a nice job of helping with the carving--especially, the best looking one of the bunch--and Boden did a nice job of posing with them. 

Dress rehearsal

I was fortunate enough to get a hand-me-down costume from a friend whose son is 1 month younger than Boden...it seems the flow is going the wrong way, but it works for me :)  I'm trying to really talk up the costume so when Halloween comes, he'll maybe put it on for longer than 3 1/2 minutes (a la last year's candy corn costume debacle).  So, this is the dress rehearsal and what's not on the video is the part where I said, "Okay, let's take it off, now" and he ran from me like a screaming banshee...good sign.  We just need to keep up the momentum for another couple weeks.