Oh Christmas Tree

On Sunday, we went to pick out our Christmas tree. We went to Lowe's because they're not as expensive, and they put them on sale because I guess they think Dec 14 is too late to put up a tree. Anyway, since you just throw away the real tree, and our house is too small for a giant one, we just go there. There were about 7 trees left to choose from. We were a row away, and Noah spotted one that he liked -- we walked over to it, and it was a great little tree. (Considering what the other 6 looked like!) We looked at one or two more, but went with the tree that Noah picked. He was SO proud!

Later in the day, Walt got the tree in to the stand, we dragged the ornaments out and started decorating. We were close to being finished, when all of a sudden, the tree just fell over. Crashed to the ground right in front of us! And Noah started to cry. He was so upset - I think it was a combination of the crash, the noise it made and me yelling for Walt. He kept saying "MY tree! MY tree!" I kept reassuring him that Daddy would get it fixed (and with some wood to hold the tree in place AND some rope, it finally is!). Even after he finished crying, he would get sad, stick out that bottom lip and say "I'm still really upset! Will you fix it just like it was, momma?" I tried my best to make it look the way it did before, but I think once it falls over, it never looks as good again.

We did let him put the star on top, so that seemed to help him feel better. I felt so bad for him though, I really think his little heart broke when the tree fell! Notice how he and Walt are making the same exact face - I guess it takes a lot of concentration to put the star on top.

Christmas Time is Here

Christmas specials are my favorite thing about Christmas. Cheesy movies, classic movies, animated shows - you name it, I'll watch it. I wait all year for all of my favorites to be shown on television. In fact, I still get that giddy, little kid feeling when I see the commercials for Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. (And to all of my boocklub friends out there, I briefly considered staying home last week to watch it...even though I own it!) It's my all time favorite, and I guess because when I was a little kid, you only got one chance a year to watch it. That was it, if you missed it, you had to wait an entire year just to see Rudolph learning to fly after Clarice tells him he's cute. These specials hold so much nostalgia for me, and when I watch them, I can just feel the Christmas spirit.

My mother always made a big deal out of the specials, too. Which is probably another reason why I get that warm, cozy feeling when I watch them. We were allowed to turn all of the lights off and just watch them with the glow of the twinkle lights in our beautifully decorated house. I mean, that's what Christmas was all about, Charlie Brown.

Anyway, last night, Noah and I were out, and when I was getting him out of the car, I said "Let's hurry, because Charlie Brown Christmas is on tonight!" (I think I might have even let out a "SQUEEEEEEE!") I was that excited to watch my second favorite Christmas special with my own child. Quickly, Noah burst that bubble. He looked at me funny, and said "Well, Mommy, we HAVE that movie!"

At that moment, I realized that these specials that have been around longer than I have, that I grew up waiting for with bated breath each year, will never, ever mean to Noah what they mean to me. Why would it? He can watch it 100 times in the month of December if he wants to. Or, if he's really feeling like he needs to see Charlie Brown's sad little tree turn in to the best Christmas tree ever in the middle of the summer, he can watch it in July.

On one hand, I think it's great for him...he can watch it whenever he wants. It's technology at his fingertips. On the other, I feel a little sad for him. That he'll never know the true anticipation of seeing a favorite show only once a year. I guess for one time a year, the tables will be turned - I'll be the one who gets excited when I see a commercial for Rudolph or Frosty or the Heat Miser specials, and Noah will remind me that it's no big deal at all.

It's been a while...

I have been lacking in my blogging duties lately. But, we've suffered several illnesses at our home the past few weeks. Last week on Wednesday, Noah woke up screaming at 4 am. He was inconsolable - we finally got it out of him that his ear hurt. Got him in to the doctor's and he had a pretty bad ear infection. So we get him all healed from that -- on Sunday he woke up from his nap and on his way down the stairs he puked all over the place. Fun times! He had a nasty 24 hour bug. I *think* we're all healthy now, and I hope that we got all of the cold and flu season illnesses out of the way. I'm sure this is wishful thinking considering that Noah's in pre-school now, so he's around a whole new set of kids, with a whole new set of germs.

He is back to his usual funny self. These are a few conversations we've had over the past few weeks:

Walt was watching the Steelers game, and the announcers tell us that Ben has called a time out. Noah's eyes get as big as saucers and he says "WHY did Big Ben have to get a time out???" Walt told him it's because he holds on to the ball too long. It's funny what the words "time out" mean to a 3 year old. (And we don't even do time outs at home!)

During dinner one night this week, I told Walt that we should scrap our plans for Light Up Night because of the weather. I told him maybe we could do some Christmas shopping and maybe we'd have dinner and just have an evening. Noah says "I want an evening with Momma!" Then, he comes over and gets really close to me and whispers, "Momma, what's an evening?" My parents are going to watch him for us tonight and take him to dinner. My mom told me to tell him that the three of them are going to have an "evening"!

Election Day

On Election Day, Walt stopped to vote on his way to take Noah to school, so Noah was with him. On the way out of the polls (and for the rest of the day, he'd tell anyone who asked him), he told everyone that he voted for "Big Ben". When I asked him why he didn't vote for "Fast Willie Parker" (his most favorite Steeler), he told me "Daddy voted for him". So there you have it... Big Ben in 2012! ;)

Pictures

I finally got a picture of our godson, Cameron, with us. Of course, we all looked much prettier in our fancy clothes at the actual baptism - but, since I didn't get a picture then, this is all I have. He's getting so big - he's only 3 months old and already in 6-9 months clothes. He's also started laughing and "gooing". He is just so sweet.

Below is Cameron, his sister Carlee, and Noah. Noah and Carlee are besties. (Don't tell her about Olivia, okay??) The day that this picture was taken, we had somewhere to go early in the morning. Noah said "I can't go with you, Carlee will be here any minute!" The rest of the day he kept asking "When is Carlee coming?". The two of them play amazingly well together - which you know, is a lot to say for a two and three year old!

Happy Halloween!

I'm a little behind, and I have a few things I want to blog about. But, we'll start at the beginning. Last Friday was Halloween, and Noah had his first school party. Walt and I volunteered to help out at the party, which was a lot of fun. Although Noah was really grumpy that morning, and while he did get better as the day went on, he was super clingy with us. Wouldn't go play, didn't want to sit in circle time. I almost felt like maybe he'd have had a better time if we weren't there!

The party was wonderful. His teacher, Miss Trudy, organized a few games in the classroom - like pin the nose on the Jack-o-Lantern, bean bag toss, and scooping ping pong balls out of a tub of water. We then went to the "big room" at his school, and all of the kids decorated their own sugar cookie (and they were saved for dessert after lunch), they were taken on wagon rides around the school, and another bean bag toss. I had a lot of fun helping the kids decorate their sugar cookies - oh the creations! I also enjoyed meeting and getting to know all of the kids in Noah's class. Then, the school paraded around the block in their costumes. It was like cuteness overload.

Here he is with his girlfriend, Olivia. He's known her since they were babies. And during the parade, he kept holding her hand and telling her she looked "pretty". AW!

Thankfully, the party wore him out and he took an excellent nap, so he was raring to go when trick-or-treat time came around. He and Walt just went on our street for about an hour, I stayed home to give out treats to the other goblins. Noah thought trick-or-treating was most excellent, in fact, the rest of the weekend, he'd go around the house with his plastic pumpkin, trick or treating. And I'd have to drop something in to the bucket. He keeps asking when he can trick or treat again. Thankfully, it only happens once a year. We have more candy in our house than a candy store!

That's 'sgusting!

I am happy to report that I am over the black plague, finally! Last night I stayed home from bookclub to make sure I was 100% recovered, so we carved our pumpkin. Noah was really excited, until he saw the "guts". Then he told us they were 'sgusting! (disgusting) He made Walt do most of the scooping and kept saying "EW!"

Noah chose the shape of the eyes and mouth - I can't say it's the most beauitful Jack-O-Lantern I've ever seen, but it's ours! And we had fun as a family carving him.

And just a note, be sure to bring your Jack-O-Lanters in tonight. It's Devil's Night, and sometimes mean little kids smach pumpkins for fun tonight. (Can you tell I woke up one Halloween morning to find the biggest and coolest pumpkin we ever had smashed to smithereens all over the street?) Here's everything all decorated, hopefully we get lots of Trick or Treaters!