Never a dull moment...

Every morning the boys are suppose to play upstairs for 30 mins by themselves. We call it "Brother Play Time." A few weeks ago, I sent the boys up to play and I heard the TV click on. I stood at the bottom of the stairs and yelled up for them to turn it off. William yelled back..."Mom, we are playing doctor's waiting room. We are pretending we are at the doctor's office, so we are watching TV while we wait for them to call our names." It was such a clever answer, I had to let it slide this once.


William had been a real pill for me last week. One night as I tucked him in, I asked him why he was acting so naughty lately. With a straight face he said, "well mom, some naughty bugs bit me and made me naughty." Then he went on to shoot these imaginary naughty bugs with his super hero lasers. I joined in and after we shot all of the naughty bugs, I told him I expected him to be good the next day. Sure enough he was better behaved the next morning. Go figure.


I was shopping at Costco with Logan one day. On one of the aisles we came across a guy wearing scrubs. Keep in mind he was in his mid-twenties, very athletic with longer brown hair. Logan points at the guy and loudly says, "Is that Daddy?" He turned around and gave me this shocked but polite smile. I tried to explain that my husband wears scrubs every day to work. Logan was only referring to the scrubs. I wanted to say, my son knows who his Daddy is. I'm pretty sure the guy thought Logan and I were both a little nuts.


With Spring came the return of the wild rabbits. I hate how they eat our grass and poop all over the backyard. The kids and I were on a mission this year to scare them away once and for all. It became a game for the boys. They loved doing random bunny checks. If there was a bunny in the yard, they would burst out the backdoor yelling, screaming and chasing them. These bunnies were very persistent. We threw balls at them, I sent the kids out banging pots and pans, we tried to block all of their entry points, but they just kept coming back. One day I sent the kids out on a bunny chase. They seemed to be happy running around the backyard so I thought they just wanted to stay outside and play. I started to do the dishes and get ready for dinner. A few minutes later the backdoor flies open and William excitedly says, "We have been petting the cutes baby bunny. I have always wondered what a baby bunny feels like. Turns out they are soft and fuzzy. Just like I thought!!" My mouth fell open, "What!?! There are baby bunnies out there?" William, "Well, there were 3 of them. We were only able to catch 1." I rushed outside and sure enough, there was the cutest little wild bunny hiding under the grill. Now it all made sense why the rabbits kept coming back. They had picked our backyard to have their babies. The next morning the baby bunny was gone and we haven't seen them since.


William and Logan were playing in the backyard today when William came inside carrying something. He said, "look at this long piece of rubber I found." I glanced over and nodded then went back to making dinner. He tore it into a few pieces then sat it down on the kitchen table and went back out to play. Awhile later I went over to the table to throw the rubber away before dinner. Much to my surprise, it was not rubber, but the skin of a small snake! I ran outside demanding William show me where he found it. He pointed behind the grill. I looked around and luckily didn't see any little snakes. I then reminded the boys to not play in the small corner behind the grill, I guess I made the mistake of thinking that went without saying!

Goal!!!!

William started playing soccer with the Allen Sports Association. He is a member of the Goonies. I'm not bragging or anything, but his first game he scored 2 goals, the second game 3 goals and this last game he scored 2 goals. He really loves it and has met some great new friends. It's been good to see William's competitive side come out. Jonathan's proudest moment came during our last game. A giant kid on the opposing team pushed William to try to get to the ball. William didn't miss a beat and pushed the kid (twice his size) right back with all he had. No guts, no glory!

William Griswold

Jonathan doesn't get many trauma calls, but a few weeks ago he got called in on a Sunday. It turns out the guy broke his neck and back when he fell off a ladder trying to put Christmas lights on his house. To quote the doctor, "it's a lot cheaper to pay someone to put lights on your house than it is to break your neck." Needless to say, we hired someone to put lights on the roof this year.

Right before Thanksgiving we drove around our neighborhood trying to find someone to put lights on the house. We came across a sign in a yard for a Christmas light company. Perfect, right? Wrong! Jonathan called and they promptly told us that there was a $1000 minimum for the lights. We were floored! I said something along the lines of, "for a grand I want fireworks coming off the house every night...how crazy!" Then from the backseat William pipes up, "yeah, for that kind of money I want to see Santa up on the roof dancing with some bears!!" We died laughing.

I can just see William someday as a Christmas light designer standing in front of a house going, "O.K. This is my vision for your home this Christmas. I see a bunch of light, a Santa on the roof and some dancing bears. Christmas magic!"

The Elf on the Shelf

This is our first year to do The Elf on the Shelf. I put the elf out on December 1st and told William he showed up when Santa heard William asking how Santa knew if he was naughty or nice. William named our Elf, Freck. He told me the other day that he heard Freck flying to the North Pole one night. He totally buys into it.

One of the rules of The Elf on the Shelf is to never touch the Elf. If you touch him, he loses his Christmas Magic! A few nights ago we put Freck in the garland on the stairs. I was sitting on the couch the next day when I heard a loud thud and a scream. I ran into the entry way to see William lying on top of Logan. Apparently, Logan was trying to touch Freck and William freaked out and tackled him to the ground. From now on Freck will stay way above Logan level. I have also overheard William getting mad at Logan and telling him that he is on the Naughty List. I have to remind William that Logan is too young to understand and not to threaten him with the Naughty List.

Gotta love blackmailing your kids during the holidays.

Tiny Tim

Backstory: You might remember a post from a few months ago about the curse of the light-up shoes. To refresh your memory, William HAD to have these cheesy light-up Cars shoes for back to school. About a month after we got them one of the lights went out on the bottom, the Cars stickers rubbed off and the tongues on the shoes slide to one side. Trying to teach him a lesson, I have refused to buy him new shoes until he saves up enough money or grows out of them. I reminded him that Mommy wanted to buy the nice, fast shoes that didn't have lights and to listen to Mommy next time.

So...I took the kids to the mall last week because I had to return something. I promised a stop by the play area for good behavior. On our way we walked past the mall Santa. To my surprise, there was no one there and Santa looked bored stiff. He flagged us down and insisted that the kids come in and see him. Santa asked for their names, if they had been naughty or nice and then asked William what he wanted for Christmas. William wants everything he sees so I just bought him the things I think he will like most. I have really been trying not to go overboard this year. I was extra interested to hear what he told Santa he wanted and hoping it was something I bought. William thought for a few moments and then said, "Santa, I really need a new pair of shoes for Christmas." Santa looked dumbfounded. He kind of sized me up with a confused expression. He sounded like Tiny Tim..."Please sir, can you spare a hot meal and a pair of shoes?" So pitiful!

I think Santa is going to have to run to the Stride Rite outlet this week and buy a new pair of fast shoes for Tiny Tim.

Chuck E. Cheese Party

Here are some pictures from William's party. They are a little out of order but I'm sure you will get the idea. A big thank you to my mom and Tom for helping me, could not have done it by myself.

A few little girls were terrified of Chuck E. Cheese but the rest of the kids had a blast.

Happy 4th Birthday William!

William turned 4 years old on November 20th. We celebrated with a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party. It was a big success and he had so much fun. He says he wants to have a Chuck E. Cheese party every year until he's 30 years old. I just nod and say o.k.

He got a clean bill of health from the pediatrician and seems to be right on target. The only bad news came when we went to his dental check-up. Turns out both of his front teeth are now dead due to a pretty bad fall when he was about 18 months old and one this summer. The dentist wants to pull both front teeth. I was really concerned when they told me he wouldn't get the new teeth in until he was 7 years old. That's 3 years without front teeth, yikes!! We are getting a second opinion on the teeth situation from our family dentist when we come to Houston before Christmas. Even if we could just wait another year, that would help.

William is really into superheroes, Cars 2 and guns. He is constantly pretending to shoot me with his fingers. Logan has caught on so there are continuous gun battles going on at our house. (not sure if I should be concerned) I'm not going to lie, it does feel good every once in awhile to fire back my imaginary bazooka or throw a few air grenades at them. They of course squeal with delight and it's game on!

Not much has changed with William over the last 4 years. He still loves people, loves life and is always having a good time. It warms my heart when I drop him off at school each week. It's like a scene out of Cheers. William stands at the front door (we are usually late) and all the little kids scream..."William!!" He gives a big grin and dances a little jig before walking in. We were late to Jonathan's Christmas party on Saturday night because we had to make a short appearance at Emma's birthday party. Her mom told me Emma would be devastated if William didn't come. How can you say no to that?

How dull and boring our lives would be without William. I never knew the definition of enthusiasm until I had him. I wish I knew what special plan God has for him because there is no way he will let such a sweet spirit and big personality go to waste!