December Shordy-isms

We didn't do much for New Year's Eve.  The Swanson's were having the traditional hockey game on the lake and a party at their house.  But, Darcy had just a new baby girl about 2 weeks before and Tiny had a bit of cold and I didn't want her baby to catch the cold so we stayed home.

Shayne was also gone to a basketball tournament in Anchorage for 3 days and didn't get home until later.  So, we just decided to stay home.

So, instead of pictures of a fun New Year's Eve and  a post about the events surrounding it, I thought I would just post some funny little things our Shordy had said in the past month of so.  This kid cracks us up!  He comes up with the funniest things.  His little brain is pretty creative and you can tell he thinks about lots of things...and he trying to figure things out.  So, the things he says are pretty dang cute as he's learning about his world.

Here are some cute stories little things he's said:

One day he wanted to play something and I told him he had to wait until I got dinner started and I needed to get a pot out.  He just looks at me and says..."C'mon Mom.  Jus pick a pot!  Jus pick a pot Mom."

Playing with Bo, our Golden Retriever, he stops and says to me, "Mom, Bo's my bery bes friend."

One day he just started saying about different things, not always in context, "That's fantastic!"  or "Dat's bery interesting!"

I was changing Tiny's diaper one morning and Shordy was paying more attention to this chore than normal and I could tell he was thinking about something.  Then after a minute he says to me, "Mom, she doesn't have a pee-pee.  How she go pee?  She doesn't have a pee-pee."  I had to take a minute and tell him that girls are different than boys and they don't have pee-pee's...but they can still go pee.  Needless to say I had a small smile while explaining this.  Can't say this kid doesn't pay attention to things.

This next morning after the pee-pee conversation he decided he needed to read one of his favorite books to his baby sister.  So, he sat down on the floor with her and read "Thidwick the Big Hearted Moose" to Tiny.  It was pretty cute.  Too bad her attention span is only long enough to look at one page before she wanted to play with something else.  But, he tried.  :)

So, at the end of October we had just finished up baseball season and had been watching quite a bit of baseball.  During the 7th inning stretch they sing "God Bless America" and he loves this song.  So, dad has taught him the song and they sing it at night before bed.  Well, one morning he was walking around the house singing, "Sing 'bout 'Merica!"  over and over again.  Too cute.

Later that day after his dad came home from work he was wanting some one on one attention from his dad. But, dad was holding Tiny and giving her some kisses and just holding her for a bit.  Shordy decided he needed to get rid of that baby sister, so he tries to grab her leg and then tells his dad, "Dad, she needs to feed.  She needs to feed dad."  Thinking that he could give Tiny to Mom so his Dad could play with him.

I think I've already mentioned this one, but after playing with a little block nativity scene he brought the Three Wisemen to me and told me, "Mom, it's the free wiseman!  Dey sing Happy Birfday to Jesus!  And give him presents too!"  I smiled and agreed.  I told him I'm sure they sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and that the baby Jesus loved his presents from the Wisemen.

He got a Woody, Buzz, and Bullseye characters for his birthday and he loves them.  Three months later they are still his favorite toys and he plays lots of imaginary games with them.  Well, one day he was running around with Buzz flying him through that air and was yelling, "To Infinity and Beyond!" over and over again.  It was so dang cute!

These are just some of the funny things he says.  He says something to make us smile almost every day.  In fact, at the end of the day when Shayne and I are winding down for bed, he often asks me..."So what did he say today?"

We love this little boy and his cute funny imagination.  We are so grateful for him and the joy he brings into our lives.

Yet Another Winter Sunset...

Yup...it's yet another winter sunset.

Hey, at least I'm finding some beauty a midst all the darkness...right?

It is pretty.  I have to admit that.

I never tire of the beauty of Alaska.

Swimmin'

Tiny with Teagan, the Hansen's daughter.

Shordy "swimming".  Not sure there's even any water to splash at this point.  :)

This is a little better...at least there's water to splash around.

So during Christmas break a bunch of friends from our ward took their kids to the Nikiski pool.  It has a kiddie pool area and a big (for Alaska) water slide.  The only problem is it's about 40 minutes from my house, but still worth the drive when you are going crazy with your kids.

I took Shordy here when he was about 6 months old for his first swimming experience.  He was ok with it, but water has never been his favorite.

Tiny is 7 months old and she absolutely LOVED it!  She totally kicked and splashed in her baby floatie, and then was trying to climb out of it to play more in the water.  When I did take her out she would just jump and splash.  She is much more ok with water that her big brother.

Shordy did ok this time.  Better than some previous swimming experiences.  He ventured into a little deeper water and started to trust his water wings a little bit better.  His favorite thing was the ramp that went into the water.  He would get on his belly and then "walk" himself to the deeper water with his hands.  He did this a lot with another friend's little boy, Eli Richards.

It was a bit interesting going by myself with two small kids, but we survived and had a really good time.

We'll definitely go back again...have I mentioned we have REALLY long winters?

Got My Rope

Love that smile!

Nana & Papa Price got Shordy a rope for Christmas.  After his improvising with his stick horse, a bike helmet, and a sword during the NFR I was watching on TV, they decided he needed a real rope.

He thinks it is very cool, but obviously hasn't got it all figured out yet.  So it's mostly in a jumble on the floor somewhere after he's attempted to rope me or dad or Tiny.  Tiny loves it too!  She loves to scooch herself to where it's at if it's close and flap it around.

Maybe she's gonna be our roper...like her mama.  :)

Winter Sunrise...

Woo Hoo!!  It's the sun!  Never mind it's almost noon in this picture and I'm calling this a sunrise. 

Ok...this is a sunset but taken on the same day.  Only about 3 1/2 hours after the first picture. 

I've taken enough sunset pics this month, I thought I would take a winter sunrise picture.

It's so sad when I'm taking a sunrise picture at nearly noon.

Sigh.

Someday I'll look back on this and be grateful for the experience of living in near total darkness during the winter.

Maybe.

Christmas Dinner Tradition...

My own personal chef...How lucky am I?

All I can say is..."YUM!!!"

So, Shayne got a paella pan this past year and has made a Spanish Paella a few times.  It's a traditional Spanish dish he had a few times on his mission.  I must say it is delectable!  I love it!

Anyway, I decided that we were going to add a new Christmas family tradition.  We were going to have a paella for Christmas dinner instead of the Cornish Hens I had grown up having for Christmas dinner.  However, this had to take Shayne's cooperation because he makes the dish.  I just help chop vegetables and prep the seafood.  Not surprisingly, Shayne was in full agreement about starting this new tradition.  He enjoys cooking and this is one of his favorite things to cook.

It also helped I got him a new marble pestle & mortar for Christmas specifically to make paellas.  So, we tried it out and it worked great!

Anyway...true to form, Shayne created a delicious seafood paella.
It was delectable!
It was divine!

So excited for our new Christmas Dinner tradition!!

Christmas Afternoon...

Playin' with her new Christmas toys

My presents from Shayne.  He found wrapping paper just for me.  It's Simms brand fish wrapping paper.  Those are fish scales.  How funny is that?  Only my fly fishing fanatic husband would find fish wrapping paper.

I did think they were pretty though...I can't remember what kind of fish it was, but it was pretty specific.  I think it was a Brown Trout.

Playin' his new "Cars" game on his Leapster Explorer.  He calls it..."My Cars on Splorer."

Dad had to get a pic of his Tiny girl watching a basketball game.

She was pretty enthralled with it for a minute.  It was cute.

So, after church we came home and read the Christmas Story.  This is a tradition in Shayne's family and we have carried it over to our own.  I think it's a great tradition.  I actually was able to find a children's story book through Deseret Book that tells the first Christmas story.  It tells of the birth of Christ in Bethlehem and also the birth of Christ in the America's...the Book of Mormon story.  It has great pictures so Shordy can see the Christmas Story as well as hear it.  I loved it.

After reading the Christmas Story we proceeded to open presents.  Shordy of course, LOVED it!!  He tore into as many presents as he could, often helping Mom & Dad open ours.  The cute thing is that Tiny didn't need much help opening her own presents as we thought she might.  She was all about the tearing sound of the paper.

They both enjoyed their presents.  So did Shayne and I.

It was a good Christmas, and so much fun with two little munchkins.  I've always loved the Christmas season but it's so much more fun and exciting when you have little kids.

We are so grateful for the many blessings we have been given this year.  We have two wonderful little kids who bring so much happiness into our lives.  I made a point at church to find Doc and his wife and thank them for helping make this Christmas so meaningful to our family.  If it wasn't for that man, and the support of his wife, our lives would be very different.

What a good Christmas!

Christmas Morning...

Playing with Tiny's toy before she was awake.

Ummm...not quite awake yet.  Not sure what all the fuss is.

Now she's waking up!  She thinks her piano is super fun...so does her brother.

Looking in his Christmas stocking

Her first stainless steel water bottle...gotta love her momma!  :)

Playing with is jungle animals...loves to play with all his little animals.

Tiny in her Christmas Dress

I love the tongue!!

Because Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, and because we had to be to church by 9 am, we only opened our Christmas stockings and then opened the rest of our presents when we got home.

Santa left them each one present and their stocking stuffers, and the rest was wrapped for later.  Tiny got a piano to play w/ and practice standing with.  Shordy got some legos.

Then they each dressed in their new Christmas outfits.  I loved Tiny's dress...thank you Kaye and Malia for unknowingly giving us her Christmas dress.  :)  I totally forgot to take a pic of Shordy's Christmas outfit.  His Great-Grandma Gerth made him a vest/pant outfit out of light blue corduroy.  She made him one that was khaki last year and I loved it! So, she made him another one this year.

Anyway, I was singing and playing my flute with our combined ward choirs so Dad got to hang out with the munchkins for the Christmas program...and he did great!

It was really nice to have Christmas on Sunday.  It helped us to really remember why we are celebrating and the reason for the season.  It was awesome to share with Shordy that it was Jesus Birthday and that all the fun stuff for Christmas was for His birthday party...that's how a three year old thinks.

In fact here's a cute little story about Shordy and learning about Christmas:

I have two different nativity sets that are child friendly.  He can hold them, play with them, look at them, and feel comfortable with them.  We had on more than one occasion talked about each of the pieces and identified them and why they were important to Christmas.  One day he came up to me with the three Wisemen and told me, "Hey mom!  Dese are da free wiseman!  Dey bring presents to Jesus' birfday!  They sing Happy Birfday to Him!"  I just chuckled and said, "They did bring him presents Buddy.  And I'll be they did sing Happy Birthday to Him dude.  That's a good idea."

I love how open and spongy little three year old minds are.  Makes me smile every day.

Christmas Eve

Munchin' on her first teething biscuit.  She loved it!!

I wanted to take a pic of where the sun was at like 10:00 in the morning...not up yet.  This could have been 10:30 actually.

This pic was taken at noon.  However, the clouds were rolling in so you couldn't see where the sun should have been.

Decorating a ginger bread house w/ mom and dad.  I think he ate more of the little candies that he put on the house.  
Oh how fun!

And of course making Christmas sugar cookies.  He loved all the fun Christmas shapes. 

Rolling the dough was fun too.

Christmas Eve was full of fun things for us.

We decorated a ginger bread house, made Christmas sugar cookies, took presents to some friends, ate a killer seafood chowder w/ homemade bread, and watched some Christmas movies.

We didn't have any plans this year...just hung out as a family, and it was so fun.  I think that's a new tradition for us...hanging out as a family doing fun little Christmassy things.

I love Christmas time, but I love it even more with a 3 year old.  He LOVES it!!