Santa Claus

This week Andy got to go to the library and see Santa Claus. There is a great guy here who makes these wooden toys and brings them for the kids every year. This year he made a beautiful rocking horse. Andy was so excited to meet Santa. On the way to the library, I was feeling very festive, so I was singing all sorts of Christmas songs (I'm turning into my mom!) I asked Andy which song he'd like me to sing next, and he told me "That's pretty much enough singing." I can't really blame him- I'm not much of a singer! Friday we went with my mom and did our Sub for Santa shopping. It was so much fun. We picked a boy Andy's age so he could get excited about picking things out. Andy really wanted to know what the little boy's name was, so finally we told him his name was "Bob". He had a great time picking out toys for Bob, and now he really wants to meet this boy and be his friend. He was such a good boy about it - I was surprised that a three year old could go toy shopping all day and not complain that none of it was for him. We also bought things for a large family here who needed some help, so we had a great day - my mom and i decided that just that day made our whole Christmas. Today we picked out our Christmas tree. Sadly, Kevin had to work, but my dad took us and Andy picked out a cute little Alaskan style tree. I can't wait to decorate it!

On saturday Andy attended his first birthday party for his friend Xander. He was so excited - he had carried around his Spiderman birthday invitation the entire week. There were a lot of kids there - mostly kids of people who I went to preschool with when I was his age. It was fun. They had a pinate and cake, etc. They went sledding outside, which Andy was so happy about. The bad thing is, we haven't had snow in a really long time, so what they were sledding on was really old, hard, crusty snow. Andy took a little tumble and scratched the heck out of his poor little face. It didn't really phase him- he just kept on sledding. He didn't really get sad about it until he looked in the mirror later.
That night was the Colony Christmas parade. It was short and sweet because it was cold outside, but Andy was excited to see Santa Claus, and one float even had two baby moose!
This weekend was also the famous nativity display at the church. Mom did a great job as usual - it was very beautiful and a huge success.
Tomorrow I'm planning on getting out my box of meager Christmas decorations. I think it is past time. The thing is, I kind of hate decorating for the holidays. I think it's because we are always moving around from apartment to apartment, so I don't feel like I'm decorating my home. I don't know - I just kind of hate it, but I know I need to do it for the kids sake now that Andy is getting old enough to care. On Saturday we are going to get our tree, and Sunday we are going to make some gingerbread houses. Now those things I do like!

So it's pretty rare to get a picture of Daisy without her fists crammed into her mouth. And here's a picture of the kids in my bed, where they both usually end up before the night is over. The sheetrockers will be done at our house by Monday! So now I have to pick out paint colors. It's a good thing both of my brothers are coming home for Christmas so I can have some help painting (and tiling). Andy really wants me to paint Daisy's room pink, but I don't think I could stomach that.

Andy wrote his first letter to Santa Claus. He was wondering why we couldn't just call him on the phone and tell him what he wanted. Seriously though, the last thing this kid needs is new toys! I don't even know what to get him because he has everything. He asked Santa for pirate toys (he is obsessed with being pirate these days), a scooter (still a little too young for that one), and of course more trains and cars. I got him some good old fashioned Lincoln Logs, which I think he'll love because he is really into puzzles and things that get put together.
The other day I was getting so sick of all the toys being a big jumbled mess, so I bought some clear plastic storage containers to organize them in. While I was making dinner, Andy hauled them all into the living room, layed them out on the floor, and proceeded to sort and organize all of his toys into the appropriate categories! I couldn't have done it better myself. I've never seen a three year old who is a neat freak before, but he totally is. He will get the vacuum out himself to vacuum crumbs on the floor. And he gets really upset if the wrong color hangers are in his closet (white go in his closet, blue are for mine). He even puts away his own laundry (no joke! in the right drawers too!) I am one of those people who is really organized in theory, but not so much in practice. I have a goal though when we get into our new house, I'm going to be super organized and clean. Does anyone else love the show Clean Sweep? I'm obsessed!
Right now I am also loving: Iron Chef America, Throwdown with Bobby Flay, House, and Jon & Kate Plus 8.
P.S. Does anyone know what happened to Lost?

My cute kids

Andy was so tired he just fell asleep on the floor while he was playing!

Okay, I'm just figuring this thing out. So apparently this is like some kind of online journal - I don't really know how this is going to go over- even writing this right now, I am boring myself, so I'm not sure who is going to come here and read this. Anyway....
Here is a quick update of our lives in the last year or two. Last June Kevin and I packed up all of our things and drove up the Alcan highway with Andy. We moved into my granny's basement and Kevin quickly found a new job. We've had two very exciting things since we moved here - first, we had a daughter named Daisy Leah. She was born on July 15th, just days after all of my sisters left from their visit here. She's a very adorable little girl! She has no hair (and no eyebrows, as my dad loves to point out. He thinks it's really wierd). Andy , who is 3 years old now, loves his baby sister. And he LOVES his grandpa Chuck. Don't get me wrong, he loves Grandma, Rachel, Granny, Grampy, etc.. But everyone knows Grandpa is his favorite. It is very cute to see them together. And since he and Daisy are the only grandkids that live up here, they get a lot of attention.
The other exciting thing is that for the last six months we have been building our new house!Kevin (and I) have been the general contractors on it, so it's been very time consuming. But so far everything has gone pretty smoothly. Right now the drywall is going up, so we're hoping to be in sometime after Christmas. Kevin and I designed the house ourselves, so it's pretty exciting to see it all coming together!

Here's my first entry into the world of blogging. I didn't really want to create one because I hate the word "blog", but I love reading everyone else's .... so here I am!