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!

Happy Halloween!

The annual carving of the pumpkin:

Twin Creeks neighborhood Fall Festival:

Logan's preschool Halloween Party:

FYI...Logan is wearing a monkey costume to his party because the amazing homemaker that I am burned a hole in his Robin costume that morning when I tried to iron it. Classic. So I ran to Hobby Lobby in between Halloween parties to make a patch for the hole that said Pow!

William's preschool Halloween Party:

Below: A super hero fight club broke out during the party. It ended with one Spider Man in tears. Batman held his own though...a chip off the old block. ;)



Trick-or-Treating:

We had a great time trick-or-treating Monday night. There were a whole bunch of kids out and we ran into a lot of our neighbors along the way. The kids lasted about an hour and then got a kick out of handing out candy the rest of the night. I have to say they made a pretty cute crime fighting team...Batman & Robin! (notice the amazing Pow! patch on Logan, I was very proud of myself)

Bye, Bye Pacifier

Logan is one week pacifier free! A major milestone for a paci lover like Logan. It all started last week when we went to a playdate with some friends. One of the moms saw Logan with his paci and started telling me about her daughter's paci obsession. She is 4 years old and still has to sleep with a paci. The mom tried to take it away one night only to find her daughter chewing on an electrical cord because she couldn't fall asleep. Yikes.

I then realized Logan was about the same age William was when we took his paci away. If you wait until after they turn two years old, it only gets worse. I started thinking about the holidays coming, Logan's birthday, then moving Logan to a big boy bed, then potty training and the clock in my head almost exploded. I panicked and threw all the pacifiers away when we got home that day.

Poor Logan, he kept asking for his "ba" and I would just tell him, "Paci all gone. Paci go bye-bye, Logan is a big boy now, No baby paci." He would give me a real confused look and then just stare at me. After about two days he stopped asking for it. Our biggest problem has been sleeping. The first couple of nights and naps were filled with lots of crying. Things are starting to get better and I'm hoping one more week and it will all be a distant memory.

There are lots of methods for getting rid of a pacifier...paci fairy, tying it to a balloon, giving it to the dentist or in our case cold turkey. A mom today told me about a cute way she got her daughter to give it up and I wanted to pass it along in case there are some other parents of paci addicts out there. They took their little girl to Build-A-Bear and put the paci in a bear for her to sleep with. So clever!