We are in full holiday swing over here.  Lots of little celebrations going on with family and friends, and we love it.  Last week, we spent the evening with some friends packing up shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child.  The kids all loved it–and though it was sort of a chaotic five minute packing event, we enjoyed each other’s company after and ate some hearty bowls of ice cream piled high with toppings.  Poor James had to miss out on the fun though because Sawyer was sick and needed to stay home.  And did we save him any ice cream?  No.  Stinks to have to stay home with the sick kid 🙁

Sawyer’s new obsession is coloring.  And he’s been bit by the bug hard.  He scribbles ferociously for 1.5 seconds, turns the page, scribbles for 1.5 seconds, turns the page, and repeat.  He gets frustrated about it every so often when the book moves or when he can’t turn the pages without closing the whole book, or for some other reason we haven’t quite figured out yet.  We have never had a child color on the walls or on something they aren’t supposed to before Sawyer came along, but I suspect I may be in for a treat with child number three.  We have already cleaned crayon off quite a few things.  Time to start being diligent about not leaving them around. 

Brayden played with some legos and the sink the other day, and it kept him occupied for awhile.  I think we need a bigger sink.  Or smaller legos.  Or maybe I should let him go in the tub next time.  Legos aren’t getting old in our house, thankfully.  They are small (though messy), and pretty portable.  Just throw a giant scoop or two into a little rubbermaid bin and you have instant amusement wherever you go.

While in Buffalo this past weekend, my mom gave me a Grandma’s Stuffing Making 101 class.  It was hands-on, and full of a lot of bread ripping.  My grandma passed away just about ten years ago, and we try to honor her every year and make her proud by trying to match her stuffing to as close to hers as possible. Will we ever get it completely right?  No one knows.  But we analyze it every year.  The good thing is that the more and more my mom makes it, the less it will be trying to make it like my grandma’s, and the more it will become her own.  I’ll be on my own on Thursday trying to do it myself for James’ family.  I will report back on how I fared.

And finally, today is amazing!  We went outside this morning before the bus came, and it was already over sixty degrees.  Crazy, I know.  Lots of wind, but at least we don’t need coats.  Yippee!  I have a session later on today outside, and I’m tempted to wear flip flops, though for the sake of looking sane, I will not.