Chapter 6 ~ Christmas Crackers!

At night the boys and Jon have story time. It is called "chapters". It is called chapters because they kept wanting Jon to tell the same story over and over every night, he finally got tired of the same story and told the them it was time for the next chapter. They are now up to chapter six. Tonight Wyatt volunteered to do a chapter of his own, blending some of Jon’s stories with his own imagination. To my best recollection it went something like this...

W: Dad, I'll do a chapter.

Jon: okay

W: Dad, it is going to have some of your words..... okay?

Jon: Sure

W: Okay.....Drake,  Kenna and Wyatt were canoeing, and we saw a car stuck in the water and it was Nonnie...um then we went home. At home, Dad made a big fire and we went fishing.  We threw all the fish in the fire and we ate the fish and had lots of drinks; juice boxes, apple juice, tomato juice, grape juice.   We had meatballs, wieners, and chicken.  Then we all went to sleep. Harley woke up, he sniffed something, sniff, sniff, sniff......sniff... then he went into the kitchen and SAW A BIG FURRY BEAR!  Harley said RUFF..RUFF ruff... and the bear ran THROUGH the door.  Drake woke up and said 'Christmas crackers what was that?'  Mom woke up and said 'Goodness gracious what was that?’ Kenna woke up and said 'Goodness gracious.”  Dad woke up and said 'What the heck?’

D: What did I say?

Jon: Drake, you said "Christmas Crackers"

DRAKE: Oh..ha

W:  Okay...then we all went back to sleep and in the morning Drake got out his tools to fix the door "zoom shhs" (power tool sounds).  Kenna and I drove to the hardware store to get stuff to fix the door....the end"

Dhat's my moter.

Tonight, as Kenna was sitting there tooting, she looked up and said to me, "Dhat's my moter."

Drake's 4th Birthday

Can't believe Drake is 4.  He is so excited. He has been waiting FOREVER to be 4.  I told him he could pick anything to have for dinner on his birthday.  He chose the following;
Enchiladas
Rice
Cold Eggs (aka hard-boiled - yoke removed, with Lawry's seasoning)
Scrambled Eggs
Carrots & Ranch dip
Milk
and we had to talk him into dessert...Vanilla Ice Cream

He had a wonderful birthday and loves the extra attention.  Tomorrow is his party with his friends.  We are doing it at the Walnut Creek YMCA.

Daddy/Daughter

Kenna, "Daddy, I love you.  Daddy, sometimes I don't like you, then I do like you.  Now, I like you."  I love this Kenna quote.  She says it quite often to Jon, or about him to me.  I think it is so indicative of what she is going to feel for the next 15 yrs!!  What I think she is really trying to tell him is this...she wants mom to do everything for her (not dad)...but sometimes, it's okay for dad to do something (like put her to bed, etc).

New Years Eve

Kids are snuggled into their beds...but not before Wyatt puked (residual from Drake puking on Tuesday).  Hopefully, this bug is as short lived as Drake's was.  Andersons (tho Brad m.i.a. due to Ukraine duty) came to celebrate with us.  We ordered pizza, decorated cupcakes, had a dance party, and had a blast! As we tucked the tikes into bed, Kenna said, "Mama, you are my girlfriend.  Dad is my girlfriend. First I marry Dad, then you."

Here Comes Santa Claus

We went to Christmas Eve service at Westminster tonight.  Kenna went to the nursery, but the boys came into the service with us.  They were so excited for the candle lighting at the end of the services.  However, right after the first song, Drake says, in a normal voice, which everyone around us heard, "where's the food?"  And after every song, he asked some question about when we are going to eat, he is hungry, etc. When we started Silent Light, he remembered we raise the candle at the last phrase of each verse...he was only 2 last year! What a memory!
We got home, and had fondue.  That was interesting with the little tots, but we hope to make it a Christmas Eve tradition.  We got everything ready for Santa & the reindeer and the kids composed a letter;
Dear Santa,
Wyatt - I hope you like our cookies.  There are a couple carrots for your reindeer and some milk.
Drake - I love youo and somebody's the naughty list.  Ashley's on the naughty list.  She hit Janie.
Wyatt - Santa, she doesn't live here. The only girls are mom & Kenna.  She lives in some house in Arkensas.  You'll see her. 
Kenna - I love Santa.  Babydolls.
Wyatt - We love you Santa. The End.
Wyatt, Drake, Kenna, Jon & Jess live here.

Then Jon read Twas the night before Christmas & The Grinch stole Christmas.  I told the kids they could eat one of the cookies we made today during the stories by the fire.  After they finished their cookies, Drake went in the kitchen and came back with, not another cookie, but the slice of bread that I put in the container to keep them moist.  Then he sat and ate his slice of bread during the stories.

What I want to be when I grow up.........

I had asked Wyatt to help Kenna get to the bathroom b/c I was consoling Drake who just bumped his head.  Kenna was just in her undies b/c we were in the middle of getting jammies put on.  Drake and I walk into the bathroom, and here it goes...
Wyatt, pointing to Kenna's nipples, "and Kenna, you will be a mommy and feed babies from here.  You will be a mommy.  I want to to be a fireman, mom."
Kenna, "I want to be a mommy with babies."
Drake, "I want to be a hunter.  Mom, hunters have real guns, right?"
Wyatt, "Drake, you have to be really old to have a real gun, like older than daddy.  He can't have a real gun."
Kenna, "I want to be a fireman mommy."

Winter is here!

We have dove headfirst into winter and anticipating Christmas. Yesterday we got 14.5 inches of snow. Wyatt played outside for an hour and half...without even coming to the door one time. I don't think that has ever happened, even in the summer. He always is asking for something or some help. He was busy building a snow fort with Nick, next door neighbor. Drake joined in as well, but was more excited about the thrill of going down the neighbor's slide with great speed, as it was slick already and the snow pants made him even go faster.
Kenna has been swooning over Nick lately. When he comes over, she follows him around, complimenting him on his shirt or toys, or anything, and talking in this flirty, high-pitched voice. Totally hilarious.
When I brought Drake to school the other day, we had quite a funny moment. He is supposed to go wash his hands before playing. I walked over to the sink with him and he started to pull his pants down a little. Quicker than words could pour out of my mouth in astonishment, he casually said, "Oops, wrong thing," and pulled them up and started washing his hands. It was hysterical.

Today marks the last of the 'sort-of' warm days....tomorrow I think, for us, winter will begin. The past few days we have spent every moment possible outside, knowing this change is coming.  Hats, boots, mittens...a new adventure.   Drake can't wait for snow.  He, literally, talks about it all year. 
This week also marks the official milestone that I have lost control of Kenna's wardrobe.  My 2 year old learned to open her closet door and her dresser drawers, and those of her brothers' and is forcibly taking the reigns of her own fashion choices.