This Christmas

For three years, I have waited for this Christmas.  I have played dress up with the boys for pictures, filled stockings, participated in school parties, put up half-decorated trees so the destruction would be minimal, singing Christmas songs they could care less about, forcing them to watch the 1964 Rudolph, etc. etc. etc.

This year is different.  This is the Christmas I've had three years in the making. 

In the morning before the boys get up, I turn on the tree lights and move Hermey (our Elf on the Shelf) to his daily destination.  Once they wake up and come downstairs, finding Hermey is first on their list.  They both run around looking for him as fast as they can and little Sam is equally as good at finding Hermie as his brother.  After they get their milk, they sit in front of the tree just staring at it.  Every day, they tell me which ornaments they helped put on the tree and then they touch all of the presents underneath it.  Then, a lot of times, they'll just sit there.  Not talking, not poking, just staring at it.  They have both told me on separate occasions how beautiful it is.  It's not beautiful because it's fancy, it's beautiful because every ornament has a special significance.  They know that the Shamu ornament came from Colt's birthday at Sea World, the purple ones are "go go tigers" from Mommy's school, the reindeer one came from GG and they both sit in front of it when we sing the Rudolph song. There is no rhyme or reason, it's just beautifully perfect for our little family and the boys see it too.  You can't slap the smile off my face.

Sam and Colt are doing a great job not touching the ornaments too much, but they had the worst time hanging them up.  They LOVED helping, but every one they put up would fall right off the branch.  Normally I would care.  This year, I didn't.  My babies were having an absolute blast putting up ornaments and were so proud of themselves.  They could have dropped all of them, I just didn't care.  They were enjoying it so much and I was enjoying watching their excitement more. I even left the ornaments in the clumps they put them in, at the bottom of the tree where they could reach.  I thought it was kinda cute.

Yesterday, Colt got his guitar and asked if we could sing that horse and sleigh song (Jingle Bells), so we sang away and he played his little guitar.  Then he wanted Rudolph, then that "better not pout" song.  So we sat next to the tree for about 30 minutes just singing.  I'm not sure I'll ever forget that.

Our next exciting Christmas moment takes us to Santa.  Colt will see him, but is VERY cautious.  This is a huge improvement from last year, since he used to act like he was being murdered.  Sam on the other hand, well, he still acts like he's being murdered.  Better luck next year with Sam. ha.

Both of the boys also know about the naughty and nice lists.  If one hits the other, if one draws on the wall, if one does ANYTHING wrong, they are going on the naughty list.  However, if they are sweet to their friends and mind their teachers at school, they get on the nice list.  This has greatly improved their behavior - I sure wish we could threaten naughty and nice lists all year long!!

This is a time when we are hit with the harsh reality of the fact that we are not promised a tomorrow and that these precious children are a gift and a joy that can never be taken for granted.  We need to embrace and cherish every hug, kiss, every morning finding Hermey and every sleigh song we sing.  It's not about having the perfect tree or the perfect present, it is only about love and joy. 

I want my boys to hold fast to traditions, family and remember always that this time of year is about the birth of baby Jesus.  Colt will be a cow in the stable at his Christmas play tonight.  For the last two years, he gets on stage, sees me and runs off crying.  But maybe, just maybe, this year will be different.

Merry Christmas!!
Love, Sarah

Budder and Baby

I can't actually believe that it has been such a long time since I've posted.  We have just had one crazy summer!  But there is nothing like an April date as my last post, to make me feel like a terrible mother.  I will play catch up as best as I can.

We started our summer out at Sea World for Colt's third birthday.  I thought Colt would be at a good age to show him Shamu and boy was I right on the money!  My already wide-eyed child had eyes like saucers when that gigantic, graceful animal came out of the water and for 20 minutes, nothing else existed in his three-year old world.  Set-match-point-score one for mom!  We had a great time and it couldn't have been more fun introducing my babies to my favorite place.  My Sam was still a little young for it all, but he had a wonderful time and was completely worn out chasing around his older brother and cousin, Mar Mar.

Our family vacation took us to Gulf Shores, AL at the end of June. We went into GSAL the day after tropical storm Debbie and the remnants were still swirling around.  Being overly anxious to introduce the boys to the water, let's just say that we went in the water WAY too soon and the waves scared them to death.  After the sixth day of being there, they finally decided to get back in the water and we left on day seven. ha. They did have lots of fun building sand castles and swimming at the pool though.

In between the lines of the text, enter in the absolute hell of putting our house on the market, getting a contract on our house, packing up our entire house, putting a contract on a new house, setting closings for both houses and the week before, finding out that the old house DRASTICALLY missed appraisal by close to 20 thousand dollars. Ahhh...stress...as of this moment, we still do not know if we will sell or where we will be living.  Due to the stress of seeing this typed out in front of me, I am moving on...

Last week was the boys' first day of school. They had on their little matching outfits, all the way down to the shoes.  Colt was SO excited for his first day and little Sam was OH SO SAD. On our way into school, Colt said, "You love payschool baby, it's okay." Sam responded, "Me love payschool? Okay budder." Their little friendship and Colt protecting his brother puts a smile on my inside that even a house appraisal can't take away. They had great first days. Sam only cried for a few minutes when I left and Colt couldn't talk fast enough to tell me about his incredible day. 

Budder always watches out for his baby and baby adores his budder, even though he's mean sometimes. :-) They love to ride bikes with their dad and go to the park. Sam is adamant that he can do everything his brother can do and it makes your heart drop so you have to follow him around the playground like a shadow. 

They are growing so fast and not only are things getting easier, they keep getting more fun.

Until next time...love, Sarah

 

God Bless Hair Cut

My little Colt Colt takes the reigns now when he says his prayers.  He may get a little prompting from me, but for the most part, he asks Jesus to bless everyone individually.  Many times, he will pray for Dora, the giraffe at the zoo and his bicycle.  But, the other night, he added a new addition to his little prayer....God bless haircut.  Not "my haircut" or "the haircut," just plain old "haircut."  Then I realized that my poor child has to get so many haircuts and so often we are talking about his haircut, that he thinks it's an actual body part.  Poor little Colt and his massive amounts of hair!  Now, he even tells me to kiss his haircut, instead of kissing his cheek, or he'll say, "Mommy, the baby hit my haircut," if Sam hits him on the head. Ha!  I know that I should probably correct him, but I he'll learn the difference soon enough and every time I hear the word "haircut," it just makes me smile.

Easter has come and gone and the boys loved every minute of it.  They were master Easter egg hunters and they became so addicted to jellybeans, that I had to buy several bags of "emergency beans" for when they get on their jelly bean kicks and I have nothing to offer.  I fear the summer months, when I am out of beans with none in sight to buy. haha. 
The Easter bunny was good to them and they loved all their little goodies.  They loved biting the different body parts off their chocolate bunnies.  Colt would bite off a body part and tell me, then little parrot Sam would repeat what he said, but bite off a totally different part of the bunny and start giggling.  Back and forth, like they do with so many things and it just makes you smile.

Colt started swim lessons two weeks ago and I am proud to say that he graduated from the Guppy class tonight and can now move into the catfish class.  He can float on his back, kick his way to the side of the pool and retrieve dive rings on the bottom of the 3 ft. pool. 
Every day for two weeks, parents were able to watch from an observation room and I so enjoyed being able to watch him interact with the other kids and his swim teacher.  He started out crying because he didn't want to go and it went to him crying because he didn't want to leave.  We definitely made some progress!

My little Sam is just a growing machine.  He can count and can communicate better than any 17 month old I've ever seen.  He is a little hurricane, but the cutest, sweetest, smartest hurricane you've ever encountered.  His little giggle is contagious and I find myself acting completely crazy (Bryan came home other day and I was jumping on furniture acting like a monkey - this is true, ha!!), just to hear his sweet laugh.  Sometimes I think I could play with him all day.  He still has his chubby cheeks and his soft baby skin and when I look at him, I can't help but think that I'm just not ready for him to grow up yet. 

I think that catches us up for now.  Just remember that when you say your prayers tonight, to make sure and thank God for your haircut. :-)

Papples, Cowboys and Baby Fun

So much has happened since I've last written, that I am not sure where to start.
My little boys are growing by leaps and bounds and I can hardly keep up.  I find myself running from the time they get up in the morning, until the time they go to bed.  Sippy cups, milk, tee-teeing on the potty, parks, diapers, wipes, lunches, dinner, etc. etc. etc. consumes me, but my babies could not possibly be more fun if I scripted it myself.  They keep us in constant stitches and we find ourselves laughing harder than we do when we watch Chris Rock.

There is no denying it any longer, Sam is a prodigy.  He is truly a genius child (and I'm not just saying this because I'm his mother, ha).  He can talk, he can answer questions, he can pick things out in books and repeat them.  His teachers actually said Wednesday when I went to pick him up, "Yeah, Sam kind of freaks us out a little with how well he talks."  His new word is "papple" which means apple.  He doesn't like apples, but he loves to crawl on the table, get them out of the fruit bowl, take one little mouse bite out of it and throw it around the house, yelling "papple, papple, papple."  He LOVES to go to the park and from the time he gets out of bed, he starts telling me "park mommy park."  He goes to the park, climbs up the steps and finds the biggest slide to slide down.  His little 24 pound body goes flying down the slide and he runs to do it again.  He actually runs so fast, that Bryan and I cannot catch him unless we trick him and go the other way.  This is the truth.  So, I think it's safe to say that not only will he run out of the Tiger Stadium tunnel one day, he'll be pre-med as he does it.  A mom can dream, can't she??

My little Colt remains my constant comedian.  Yesterday Bryan took the boys bike riding and a spider landed on Colt's pants.  He freaked out so bad that he cried for 30 minutes after Bryan got it off of him.  When he came in the house, he ran up to me and said "Scare dat spider Colt Colt."  Meaning: That spider scared me (he likes to refer to himself in the third person).  Colt is the kindest, sweetest, smartest baby and I love him so much.  He loves blocks, puzzles and his cowboy hat.  He actually has a huge heart and in some way or another, displays amazing compassion on a daily basis.  This even applies toward his brother, which I never thought would happen.  The boys had "Go Texan" day at school last week and Sam didn't have a cowboy hat.  Colt did not understand why Sam didn't have one and told me that he was going to get him one and would be right back.  He then proceeded to spend the next 20 minutes before we left for playschool upstairs looking for his brother a cowboy hat to wear.

I also never thought simple things could be so exciting to toddlers (I need to stop referring to them as babies, even though it breaks my heart to do so.)  Last weekend, they each got a balloon at the race and you would have thought it was Christmas morning.  They loved their balloons so much and literally stared at them in awe for two days.  Also, as I mentioned before, they LOVE to go to the park.  The slides and swings just excite them to no end.  It's so much fun to introduce them to new things and watch their reactions.  It makes you wish the world was simpler place.

I have so much to write, but I must close now because nap time is over.  I will write more very soon. 

Where do you live?

If someone were to ask me where I live, I would instantly rattle off my address in Richmond, TX.  However, if someone were to ask me where I lived two weeks ago, I might have accidentally given my address as, "silver gmc yukon, I-10."  In nine days, we put over 1,500 miles on my car (some of these miles were actually on I-45, but you get my point).  I have two toddlers and I had them in the car with me for all 1,500 of those miles.  Think what you want about car dvd players, but I promise that if you had two toddlers in the car for nine days and 1,500 miles without one, you might be reading this blog in a padded room, ha.

All joking aside, we actually had a wonderful, blessed Christmas and New Years and our children were troopers for being in the car as long as they were.  The kids loved Christmas, especially Colt, who took much delight in opening all of his presents, all Sam's presents and any other presents that someone wasn't opening fast enough. It was lots of fun and even though it has taken me about two weeks to recover, I'm kind of sad that Christmas is over. 

Sam started playschool in the Wee Ones class this week.  He goes on Mondays and Wednesdays from 9am - 1pm.  He cries when I drop him off, but I am assured that he stops a minute after I leave.  His teachers love him so much and when I pick him up, he's always playing and giggling with his other little one-year old friends.  I have tried desperately to take a picture of him at school, but as soon as he sees me, he runs to me and won't let me put him down long enough to get a picture.  I promise I will try to get one soon. 

After New Years, we went back to Lake Charles because I got the terrible, heartbreaking news that my Uncle Daryl had passed away, very unexpectedly.  Everyone was truly devastated, but the saddest part about it, was that he left behind three amazing, wonderful children that loved him with everything they had.  To see his funeral was to realize exactly how many lives he had touched with his kindness and if you knew his children, you would know the kind of parent that he was.  He was a parent that should set the bar for all parents, his support and love was unconditional.  He was respected and adored by his children, so much so that, even through their sadness, they beamed with pride to be the child of Daryl Khoury.

So, in this new year, I will strive to live by his example.  I will be kind, generous and loving to all around me, so when I go to dance on those golden streets, my children can say that they were proud to have me as a mother.