fweaky

This morning
4:45 am
little feet running into my room
little fingers poking my cheeks
little scared voice
"Mom, I'm totally fweaked out."
groggy mom, "What?  Why?  What happened?"
"There's 3 shadows on my wall of elephants and it's fweaking me out."
"Oh Bud, they're not real.  You're safe, just..."
"But Mom, they are weal.  I'm getting in bed with you.  Scoot over."


I know someday he's going to be all grown up and I'll miss mornings like this one. 

Oh, I love him.

December happenings...

Doesn't it seem like the days in December fly by at warp speed?  Christmas is almost here, and we're managing to stay busy like everyone else.  Here's our life as of the last few days..

We went on a little roadtrip and visited 2 cities that we could potentially call home next year.  First stop, Indianapolis.  We loved this city!  It seemed like a BIG city to us Toledoans...but after talking to a guy from New Jersey, it turns out that "Indy is just the perfect little town." 

We did some exploring while Eric interviewed and the boys couldn't get enough of the looking out the big windows downtown at the mall.  Sam was quick to point out several pedestrians who forgot to look both ways or hold hands while crossing the streets below; he's my son.  What can I say?   He also kept saying, "Mom, those people down there don't know what they're missing!"  Indianapolis seems to have so much going on.  Pro sports teams, lively downtown, fun parks, low cost of living, etc.  Indy was a huge hit...so was wrestling in the hotel bathtub.

Next stop:  Kalamazoo, MI.  This little city felt much more festive as it greeted us with lots of snow!  Sam was beyond thrilled and again couldn't stop eating it.  Max had a love-hate relationship with the ice and snow.  He loved to pick it up and carry it around, but wouldn't put it down for anything...even if that meant pain and numb fingers.  Kalamazoo proved to be a great place too; much smaller than Indy but beautiful and very family friendly!  I think I could do Kalamazoo...!

And last night we got our letters mailed off to Santa!  The boys also sat on Santa's lap.  We didn't pay the $200 (slight exaggeration)  to get their picture taken, but they loved it!  Santa was so cute with them.  When Sam asked him for a killer whale, Santa's reply was just perfect, "Oh, you mean Orca Whales.  I love Orcas too, Sam."  You can just imagine the smile that spread across my little 3 year old's face.  Santa loves Orcas, too!  Max also loved the Jolly Old Elf.  He walked right up to him with his arms wide open and begged for Santa to pick him up!  I can't wait to get a picture with Santa on Saturday at our ward party.  I just hope  the boys will have the same reactions they did last night. 

I love this time of year!!

Snow!

We woke up to our first little dusting of snow this morning.  Sam couldn't wait to get outside and taste it!  So, we threw our winter gear on over our jammies and headed outside.  There are no pictures of me or Eric.  For some reason we don't look nearly as cute as Sam and Max do in the morning. 

Sam ate and ate and ate what little snow there was on the sidewalk.  I let him have at it, but once he started gobbling up the snow off the car tires in the parking lot and trying to eat the rock salt off the ground I had to end it!

And this has been a common look on Max's face as of late.  He's teething big time and has been letting me know how much it hurts.  I can only imagine!

Christmas is coming...

Dear Santa,

Sam is so excited about Christmas this year!  He talks about you non-stop, and today he swore he saw one of your elves hiding under the table in his bedroom.  He's trying so hard to be good, so I thought I'd give you a little heads up as to what he's asking for this year. 

Here is Sam's Christmas list for 2009-

1) Killer Whale
   - Preferably Free Willy, but I think Shamu will do, too
   - A little hint...we saw a killer deal on these at Target

2) Humpback Whale
   - Could there be a worse name for an animal?

3) Sperm Whale
   - Ok you got me...this is much worse.

4) Garage
   - He's actually saving his money for one of these (I'm totally serious!), so if you're unable to provide the real deal, any contribution to his little garage fund would work.

5) Basement
   - I think he'd actually take any spare bedrooms or space you have available this year.  It would really save my sanity if he and Max had somewhere to run and jump during these long winter months.

6) Chimney
   - This one is mainly for your sake, Santa.  Sam got extremely worried when I told him you could just squeeze through the vents in our ceiling since we don't have a chimney.  But if this isn't possible this year we totally understand.

Thanks for everything.

Love,
Lindsay*
aka Mom

Thankful.

Some things to be grateful for this Thanksgiving weekend:

1) Sam's comments while eating turkey during Thanksgiving dinner.

    - "Mom, where's the turkey's face?  Where is it?" 

    - "We don't eat the feathers, right?"

    -  And my personal favorite, "There's the beak!  There it is!  I see it!"

2) Wonderful friends. 

   -Toledo is FULL of so many great people.  I love them all!

3) Lazy days spent in pj's.

4) Killer Whales.

- I'm dead serious.  I love killer whales.  Recently, they have provided Sam with hours upon hours of entertainment; this weekend was no different.  Print him a picture of Shamu and let him go to town.  He's content to swim them around the house, squeeze them in and out of the cracks on his closet door, and talk to them like they are his best friends.  I love the whales.   

5) Christmas curiosity.

-We pulled out the Christmas decorations yesterday and Max couldn't get enough of it all.  He was enthralled by the little strings of lights we hung up.  He also sat for nearly an hour and pulled out each ornament one by one.  I am grateful that I get to teach my children about Christmas and see it through their eyes. 

I love holiday weekends.  Does Monday really have to come?

A taste of home.

What makes for a nearly perfect weekend? 

For us it includes:

Family visitors from SLC.

Seeing a little sis who's willing to sacrifice a college weekend to spend time in Holy Toledo.

Going to the zoo all by yourself with Pops.

Warm enough weather in November that allowed for golf and some walks in the park.

Trains...both the kind you can play with and the kind you can eat!

 

And of course...eating out!

Thank you for coming!!  We loved everyone second of it.  The only thing that could have been better would have been having the whole Morg-A-Tours group together!  What do you say we do that in about 4 weeks?!  Can't wait.