Lots & Lots of Questions

Jaxon: "Was you scared of Santa's beard when you was a little boy Mommy?"

Me: "I'm not sure I remember that far back! But I do know I was a little girl... not a little boy!"

Ah, the questions! It seems we've been getting more and more of those lately. Some hilarious, some not so hilarious! Santa always brings Jaxon a new movie every year, normally a new Disney Pixar (if there's one out). This year that movie was "Up". After viewing this, (as a family) Christmas morning, a floodgate of questions started pouring out! "Why are you crying Mommy?" "Why is the man sad?" If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend it, it's very good! But be sure to put lots of Kleenex in the pocket and ready to answer lots of questions during and afterward!

Counting Dots

Every once in awhile my child says something to me that makes me laugh out loud when I probably shouldn't... this was one of those times!

We do a lot of counting throughout the day. We count things like tires on Matchbox cars, the pepperonis were putting on homemade pizzas, letters we pull out of the mailbox... you get the idea!

As I was taking dishes out of the dishwasher today I heard Jaxon doing some counting in the dining room. I really wasn't giving it much thought until I began praising him for his efforts. As I made my way around the island in our kitchen I began to ask what it was he was counting. There on the dining room floor was Jaxon underneath our little dog CoCo. "I'm counting CoCo's dots Mom, she have lots of 'em." Dots, are Jaxon's term for nipples!

Oh well... I guess at least it was an educating experience! He then went on to ask me what CoCo used her dots for! That lesson will be for another day!

Top 10 Reasons I am NOT Dreaming of a White Christmas

Number 10: Carrying feed buckets through 3 foot snowbanks is not my idea of a very, merry Christmas!

Number 9: I have probably put on 10 pounds in the last 3 days due to the baking and boredom of being trapped in my house!

Number 8: Digging two cars out of huge piles of snow only to find that neither one will start makes me want to drink and were not talking eggnog people!

Number 7: "Mom, I made a whole mess in the living room." ~ Jaxon

Number 6: Instead of looking forward to getting Christmas cards in the mail, I have been looking forward to FaceBook updates!

Number 5: Quality time w/ family is one thing but this is just ridiculous!!!

Number 4: Spending 10 minutes putting snow clothes on a three year just to find that he has to pee... and then being peed on!

Number 3: Instead of just one big dog in the house at night, ( farting next to my side of the bed), I now have three!

Number 2: "Snow days" w/ my husband!!!

And the Number 1 Reason why I am NOT Dreaming of a White Christmas... I am not done w/ my shopping and I know Santa isn't either! If this retched snow doesn't melt, we are going to have a very disappointed little boy on Christmas Day!

So Over "Snow Day"

I now know why my Mom would cringe every time a "snow day" was announced! Seriously, I have had enough quality time w/ my son! And if that wasn't bad enough... I have to put up with my husband's lazy a** lounging around too! I have done more cleaning in the past two days than I have in months and my house continues to look as though a hurricane passed through instead of a blizzard! I can't stay out of the fridge! And I still haven't changed out of my pjams today... after all, who's going to see me anyway?!

To add to my frustration, I started a batch of sugar cookies yesterday that just won't roll out! I'm not sure why I even attempt these sort of activities! Even though I can't stand Martha Stewart, I love her ability to make everything look so easy and pretty! Why can't it be that easy?!

Jaxon loves to help... he's quite the little chef! Here are a few pictures from yesterday's two attempts at rolling out that sticky mess!

The Missing Tractor

Shopping w/ Jaxon is always an adventure and one that I rarely enjoy! My Christmas shopping is done almost entirely online due to Jaxon's "toddler tirades" in the toy aisles! Trips to
Wal-Mart are almost unbearable for me to think of, but one of those necessities that all Mom's have to endure.

Grandpa asked Jaxon and I to pick up some stuff in Salina for the dairy yesterday. I figured since we were probably going to be going into hibernation again for a few days, I'd better grab a few groceries while in town. Things had been running smooth all day. Mom was able to join us due to a canceled Christmas Shopping trip of her own. Lunch at "Donald's", (Jaxon's favorite place to dine), was really nice. They had an indoor play place so we didn't have to hear him ask repeatedly if we could go outside. And he was real good in the other stores we had to stop at.

Last stop, Wal-Mart! I should have known that after such an easy day of shopping that something would have to go wrong. One of our stops was to one of Jaxon's favorite stores, Tractor Supply. While there he picked out a little tractor to take with him. He asked if he could take the little tractor into Wal-Mart and I told him that he could.

Like every other trip, our first stop inside was to the bathrooms. He of course did not have to go... "I not have to go Mom... I promise! I want to walk, not ride the cart... I BIG!" I gave in, that was my first mistake! The cat food aisle was right next to the bathrooms and since I didn't want to forget Misfit's food, we started our shopping there.

I asked Jaxon what food he thought Misfit would like since they didn't carry his normal brand, that was my second mistake! After picking the cheap bag we headed over to the "pull-up" aisle, I was looking for some "night-time training pants". Before we could even find the "night-time pants" (which were right across the aisle from the cat food), Jaxon proclaims that he has to potty! As I am asking, "Are you sure? We were just in there and you claimed that you didn't have to go!", I noticed that he was not holding his tractor!

I rush back to the bathroom w/ him... really pleased that we now have to use the little stall since the big stall is now occupied! I am asking him if he remembers where he sat his tractor,
"I not know Mom!" We finish up in the bathroom and make a mad dash back to the "pull-up" aisle in search of the tractor. No tractor! I am convinced that some little kid has come along and grabbed that tractor right up and it is now gone.

The only other place we have been is the cat food aisle. After searching every shelf I have come to the conclusion that the missing tractor is now gone for good. I see my Mom at the end of the aisle and holler down at her to see if she has the tractor... "maybe my mind is playing tricks on me, maybe we never had the tractor to begin w/, maybe she has had it all along!"

She had it alright! She found it sitting on top of a bag of cat food and thought, "that has to be Jaxon's!" We had been discussing on the way there that we both needed cat food for our finicky kittys. Thank goodness for Misfit and Screech and being out of kitty food! Next time I won't ask for Jaxon's opinion on the cat food!

Jaxon's ArtBoard ~ November

With Christmas just around the corner, I have been scouring the SALES ads for children's art supplies. As you can probably tell, Jaxon was really into painting throughout the month of November. A BIG THANKS goes out to Jaxon's Granny who was nice enough to send him a whole stack of Thanksgiving coloring pages... we will have plenty of pilgrims to paint in the future!

I have to share a story about one of Jaxon's many creations featured on the November Board! Since Jaxon is so into using scissors and glue, collage work is right up his alley! I flipped through a few Parents magazines and had Jaxon point to pictures of the food he'd like to see on the Thanksgiving day table. He did pretty good... he pointed to obvious things like taters, turkey, and pecan pie! But the one that stood out to him the most was an ad for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (aka... chocolate cups)! He thought it'd be a good idea to serve them as the main dish... hence, the giant picture of them! (Can't say I blame him... I'd pick the cups too!)

Christmas Traditions

Awww... the smell of a freshly cut tree! That smell brings back memories for me of Christmas' past. As a kid we used to go out to the pasture every year after a tree. While they were never as pretty as the ones we now have cut at the Bird's Nest Tree farm north of Washington, the tradition of choosing a live tree continues to carry on here at my little family's home.

I gave Jaxon the distinct privilege of picking the tree this year. Daddy had to work so we went out on our own in hopes of finding the perfect tree... I think he did a great job! Ironically enough, the tree Jaxon chose for our home this year looks almost identical to the tree we had last year!

After two days of decorating, (due to Jaxon's cold putting him to sleep too early every night), here is the end result, packages and all!

Jaxon's Papa & Grandma Vicki have started another tradition in our home every year by sending him Christmas PJams... here he is modeling this year's footies!

When Jaxon was just four months old we picked out his first tree for his room... another tradition we have kept going now for the past 3 years. The first tree was tiny and fit just perfect on his changing table. We chose blue decorations to match his room and a tiny star to top it off. This year my Grandparents gave Jaxon a new tree! This one is quite a bit bigger and we are now decorating with John Deere tractors to match his newly decorated room that he'll be getting as part of his Christmas this year.

What Christmas traditions are you keeping alive in your homes this year?