Tommy, Week before Christmas 2011

Tommy is so excited to show off his "set-ups" that have definitely grown larger since the days of two and three toys in his set-up. I'm constantly hearing, "Mom, come see my set-up! Close yaz eyes!" (yuhz...translates to your) Tommy then leads me to his set-up so thrilled that I've closed my eyes to follow him to his creation.

Tommy fully bundled for his snow play.
Almost fully bundled for outside time! One more layer to go...the "Broncos coat"...just because it happens to be blue and orange, how convenient for our budding Broncos fan!
Thankfully, Tommy loves his snow boots (almost as much as his cowboy boots, but not quite!) I was shocked when he began asking for the snow boots regularly. Not sure why I was shocked since we've had snow on the ground for WEEKS now! This is new for us. It has always snowed and melted away within a few days, but not this year! Tommy has definitely bitten it on the slick ice on more than one occasion in his cowboy boots so he is wise to be asking for the snow boots! It is slippery out there! Our friend even broke his foot slipping on ice just a few days before Christmas.
Tommy has most recently become obsessed with wearing his (one and only) tie. He wants to wear it everywhere. It all started four days before Christmas when Charlie wore a shirt and tie to work (which he NEVER does!) Charlie had to give the message at a teenage girl's funeral and the family had asked everyone to wear her favorite color, pink. Tommy was going to a friend's house for a playdate while Charlie and I went to church for the funeral, but he insisted on wearing a tie like his Daddy. He would not take it off that day, wanting to wear it even for nap. Two days later he was insisting on wearing it to "Uncle Dan and Aunt Anise's" house for our Christmas celebration with Charlie's stepbrother and his wife, despite the fact it is an Easter tie and looked atrocious with his Christmas clothes. I let him wear it with his red sweater vest with which he was delighted. He wore it the entire day that Friday enjoying every minute of it! The next day, Tommy even asked to wear it to the Christmas Eve services we were attending, but I refused. I love that he loves to wear a tie...wonder how long that will last?!?!

Daddy's tie that inspired Tommy's love for his tie (a hand-me-down from his best friend, Reese)!

Options Singing Concert, Dec.13, 2011

Paris was super animated and enunciated each word meticulously. She was adorable doing the movements with each song!

Sarah and Fletcher felt like "babies" doing some of the movements, including this cat clawing motion.
Sarah was proud to ring the bells during her favorite song, "We will, We will JINGLE!" (Yes, an exact take-off from the song we all know, "We will, We will ROCK you!"
Paris was super pleased that she was one of two students selected to have the privilege of holding the American flag for one song in the concert.
Love the lopsided skirt and baggy tights going on! (She put a size 7 skirt on this morning that she got last year thinking it would finally fit, and we could pull it right off her skinny body without undoing it at all. "Mom," Paris told me, "I'm afraid it will fall right down and show my panties!" I had to agree with her that it probably would! That skirt was a NO-go for the concert!)

Round Two Christmas-ish photos...

Dressing up for Options singing concert:

Fletcher was so frustrated with his attire that I allowed him to change into more comfortable clothes for the concert and school day before even leaving the house! Major flashbacks to him at two crying, "Tight! Tight!" Now at age almost nine, he is super frustrated by pockets on the butt of pants (that is over-the-top annoying to his backside!)
Tommy has really been into this stuffed panda the past few days. It goes everywhere with him, traveling via shoulder rides on Tommy and then sitting on his lap when Tommy's not running around. Panda had shoulder rides all over the kids Options school and even played duck, duck, goose with Tommy and all the big kids during lunch break.

Dec.11, 2011

Sarah emerged from the restroom to take one of me and Fletcher together.

An attempt at a brothers photo.
Loving Noah's flyaway length hair on the sides now, right above his ears.
Not many pics that had Sarah in them turned out...oh well. We'll try again in a week.
Paris loved her plaid skirt. :)

First Attempt at Christmas-ish photos with the kids

Sarah was in the restroom for these. It is a fact in our family that if there is something that we are all gathering for, Sarah will be pooping! Charlie affectionately calls her the "poopingest girl!"

Charlie was beside me making the kids roll! He may have even done the weggie dance which usually makes its debut when Tebow pulls out a win for the Broncos in the 4th quarter.


(Sarah STILL pooping! There was no waiting on her with a very tired Noah who was overdue for his nap after the Toy Story 3 on ice show.)

Noah, 15 and a half months (Dec.11, 2011)

I had to get a tushie shot! I love me some bunners!

This is a classic Noah expression. Charlie and I provoke him daily to try and get him to do his, "uh, Uh, UH!" face with round, open mouth and wide eyes. He usually does this expression when he thinks there is something fun and exciting going on around him. It is often followed by the chubby finger point indicating what caused him to do the round OH-shape with his lips.
Noah had fun today scooting around the VIP box at the Pepsi Center in Denver. The popcorn treasures on the floor were just as captivating to him as the Toy Story 3 on ice characters skating around in front of us.
Noah is quick to smile and engage with his family.
This is such a great Noah expression. We all love when he gives us this smile! Even better that the camera caught those two bottom toofers.
Another version of the excited "Oh!" face.
More smiles for his Momma.
Loving his cheeks and lips in this one. Noah loves to carry that loofah stone around, even outside the tub (Momma realizes how gross this is and returns the foot scrubbing stone back to the tub once he's caught toting it around!)
Kissable baby!
Noah lovin' him some ipad (he never gets to be near it but sees everyone else in his family with this "treasure" so he felt really proud today when he could swirl his chubby finger over it like the big kids do and no one was there to stop him!)

Cupcakes during lunch at Options School

Fletcher is great about taking Noah for a "spin." He is willing to walk him around by the fingers to show love to Noah.

When Tommy had had enough of his cupcake dessert, he apparently passed his leftovers on to Noah about which his younger brother was quite pleased.
Tommy got to play with Reese during the lunch break since Tannille was helping out at Options this week.
Paris was so excited to celebrate her birthday during lunch.
There was a rush on the cupcakes from all the Options kids.

Our 6 degree temperatures...

Tommy has been more than willing to don the green (his favorite color) froggie hat to brave the cold weather!

Paris got some new pink, cold weather garb for her birthday! It got put to good use on the 6th with 6 degree temps!
Tommy's new bragging rights have centered around getting his clothes on for the day (and his jammies at night) all by himself, "Mom, don't help me!!" He beams with pride when he rounds the corner to show the family his daily accomplishment. Of course, his feat earns him many cheers and accolades from his siblings and parents which he doesn't mind in the least!
Tommy was doing the motion I captured in this photo and when I asked him what he was doing, he replied, "Mom, I'm shaving my armpits!" What? How does he know about that? He certainly had the motion down just right, none-the-less.
Noah reminded me of Ralphie's brother from The Christmas Story movie who was bundled up so much he couldn't lower his arms. He was just bulky to load into the car seat on Paris' birthday morning.

Two buddies, Paris and Tommy

Paris and Tommy have gotten so close the past few months. Tommy LOVES when Paris plays with him. The night before her birthday Paris made pink cupcakes in ice cream cake cones. When it was time to frost them, she invited Tommy to help her. I literally did nothing...in fact, I was on the phone in another room. When I came back in the kitchen, Paris had iced all the chocolate frosting and Tommy had done all the vanilla frosting and both had added sprinkles to their cupcakes all by themselves. Tommy was so cute with his frosting knife in his left hand (he is FOR SURE a leftie like Sarah!) and his right hand shoving sprinkles in his mouth.

Here are the buddies tasting their creations to "make sure they are not poisonous!"

Paris was excited to share cupcakes with her Tuesday Options school classmates.

Tommy Quotables, Dec.2011

Tommy's new friend, Cape, was a great playmate tonight. The boys played Hiden' where Tommy proceeded to count to five or nine and then call what sounded like, "chicken pie," but was really, "Peekin' pie." He was trying to imitate his older siblings who count out loud and then yell, "Apples, peaches, pumpkin pie, whose not ready, call an I!"

Tommy and Cape played, "Catchin' bad guys," in which they found the bad super heros and "caught" them with "nets." They kept bringing bad guys down to show me on the ends of their respective sticks.

After Sarah and Paris decorated bracelets, they decorated Cape and Tommy with war "paint" since they were playing "Mare-icans" (Native Americans) Warriors.

"Baf-tize"...apparently, Tommy thinks the word baptize is really "bath-tize," maybe because when he has seen people get baptized, they are dunked under water in what appears to him to be a large bath tub, hence the word "bath" with his three year old pronunciation "baf-" tize. :) love it!

Today I told Tommy to be brave like Superman when I went to brush his teeth and he was disappointed that the adult "spicy" toothpaste was on his brush instead of the milder kid version. "Mom, me want kid kind!" "Tommy, be brave like Superman." Tommy just looked at me seriously and stated emphatically, "Mom, me NOT Superman!"

I overheard this exchange between Tommy and his new friend, Cape, whom we all fell in love with tonight when he played at our house. They were playing, "Native Americans," which Tommy just calls, "Mare-icans!" with much gusto. As the two little friends ran down the stairs into the basement taking their make-shift weapons with them into their couch-cushion tepees, Tommy declares, "Me have a spear-it!" Cape asked, "A what? A spirit?" Tommy replies with much emphasis, "Spear-it. Me have a SPEAR-it! A pokey thing." Cape seemed slightly distressed in his confusion about Tommy's comments so I say, "Tommy, you mean a spear. You have a spear." Tommy says very matter-of-factly, "MOM, I just said that! A spear-it!"