Giveaways Galore!

You can't miss this. It's time for the quarterly event that bloggers live for: Bloggy Giveaways! More than 1,000 faithful bloggers have signed up to give away something FREE. Seriously. So go here to check out all of the oodles and oodles of goodies that people are just GIVING AWAY. I can't resist participating, so I am giving away a $25 gift card to Starbucks. Leave a comment in THIS post by Friday, January 30th at midnight (PST). I will randomly choose a winner on Sunday, February 1st. I'm sorry, you must live in the United States to be eligible to win. Now, go! Enter to win! This is so much fun, I can hardly stand it.

What Will They Think of Next?

Peer pressure and curiosity propelled me to Game Stop last Wednesday. I came out with a brand new gaming system (hint: 3 letters, starts with W). I was instantly hooked. It's amazing! Luke is having a great time, too. We play bowling and tennis every afternoon while Andy is taking a nap. Last night, we had the moms and dads from our Friday playgroup over for dinner. We eat together about six or eight times a year. I asked some of them to bring along their games and remotes so we could have a little tournament. The conversation was flowing as we discussed the highs and lows of the Bachelor, but we finally got around to turning on the games. What a hoot! I can't believe how much one piece of technology can change the way people interact. I don't know whether to cheer because we are all having so much fun together or run screaming for the hills that we are all addicted to our video games.

The prince and the firefighter

We are just plugging along here, lots of rain falling so we are getting creative indoors. Luke came home from preschool with this crown. He is in to making 'super hero' poses in front of the camera. I guess this is one of those poses. Andy is really into firefighting and fire trucks right now. He found Luke's rain boots that look like a firefighter's boots. He put them on and came to find me, just giggling with pride. He was quite pleased with himself. We thought he was so cute with the hat on, but he would hardly stand still for a picture. He kept running at the camera, so this is the best I could do.

Luke had his Christmas program for school on Friday night. It was re-scheduled from before Christmast because of the snow. Anyway, Luke was up on stage with his classmates and sitting down at the far end. Andy was sitting in the audience with us, not really aware of what was happening up front. He seemed more interested in his cars. Then he realized something was going on and he stood up in his chair to see. He spots his brother and yells, "There's Luke! Hi, Luke!" at the top of his lungs. Luke isn't really singing his part, anyway, so he smiles and waves back, shouting "hi, Andy!" This cycle repeats and I want to crawl under my chair. Eventually I popped his pacifier in his mouth, but he just took it out or else yelled around it. I was so glad the program was very short.

Note To Self...

...It's time for a whole new set of parenting books. Or else more quality time with the Big Guy Upstairs. I'm not sure where to start. But I guess if you start with the latter, you can't go wrong. Right? Let me explain: two nieces and a nephew were baptized today. (Sorry, fans, no pictures because the camera bit the dust). Anyway, Luke was snuggling in to bed last night and asked what was on the agenda for today. I mentioned his cousins were being baptized and he was welcome to come along. He was long on questions and I was short on patience, so I summed it up quickly. Ask Jesus into your heart = dunked in a big tank of water.
Alarm was quickly evident in his sleepy little eyes. I could tell what he was thinking, "I asked Jesus into my heart, am I going to get dunked in a big tank of water?"
"Don't worry," I said, "you were already baptized. No one will dunk you in a big tank of water."
I quickly shut the door and avoided any further discussion. Steve was not so lucky, as he was the one to rise and shine with Luke this morning. Apparently there was much questioning.
Luke and I raced to the cousins' church to attend this much anticipated event. All kidding aside, it really was an enjoyable day. The children had both sets of grandparents in attendance, what a blessing. Both grandfathers and my brother in law prayed for each of the children and my sister lit a candle each time one was baptized. We couldn't see the actual event very well because of how the baptismal font is set up, but I think it was pretty evident what happened. Afterward, we jumped in the car and headed to my sister's house for lunch. Oh, boy. Here's where it gets dicey. He was firing on all cylinders with his inquiries: "Is there really only one God and Jesus? Why is there only one?"
"How come when we die we don't come back? Only Jesus did that?"
"Who will get me my drink and my clothes and my food when I'm in heaven?"
"Well, I don't really think that's what happens. Can we call God and ask him why we don't come back?"
"If I pray with my eyes open, will Jesus and God still hear me?"
"When I die, I'm going to call Jesus and God and tell them to bring me back. That's what I think should happen. "
This is the part where I answered those questions as best as I could, although I drew the line at pretending to call God on my cell phone. I was even brave enough to mention the Yucky Place (aka hell), but it didn't really capture his attention like the concept of the resurrection. Go figure.
"Why is there a yucky place? Hell? That's what it's called? What town is it in? Can I see it?"
Thankfully I was rescued by some trivial landmark outside our car window and he was easily distracted. Then we arrived at the cousins' house and no further questioning was needed.
I don't mean to make light of such a meaningful discussion with my child. I am thrilled that my nieces and nephew were baptized, that we were there to see it, that the Papas could pray for their grandchildren with words that brought us to tears. But, as with most aspects of parenting, there are unforseeable moments when I am at a loss for words.

Coal and Switches

Luke and Steve went to run some errands last Saturday. They saw a friend from church at Safeway. He asked Luke what he got for Christmas. Steve said, "tell him you got coal and switches." Ever the obedient child, Luke repeated what Steve said, having no idea what it meant.
On Sunday, Steve went to church very early to rehearse with the praise team, as it was his Sunday to help lead the worship time. Luke usually goes and plays with another boy before church starts. But, we elected to keep him home because there wasn't any Sunday school this week. Any child older than 2 was expected to sit through the service with their parents. Keep in mind, Luke has gone to church for more than 4 years and has never sat through an entire church service. There is almost always someone available in his classroom to watch him. But, feeling brave, we marched into the 'big church' as Luke calls it. Of course, he spotted several of his friends and wanted to sit with all of them. The place was packed and there wasn't room, so we chose a place near the front where he could see Steve singing. I managed to hold him through all of the opening songs so he could maintain his view of his dad. We finally finished and settled in to our seats when they announced that all the children could come forward to hear a story. I figured he would be afraid. But he surprised me with his bravery and insisted that he go up front. If I had known what was coming, I would have sat on him to keep him in his seat.
Our friend, Mrs. Plett, worship leader and most excellent kindergarten teacher, sat everybody down on the steps at the front of the sanctuary. Luke muscled his way in to sit beside her, then saw his buddy Brayden at the back, so he raced down the steps to sit beside him. Mrs. Plett announced that she needed 5 people to share what they got for Christmas.
"Oh, me, me!" Luke shouted from the back of the group. "I have something to tell you! Pick me!"
"Yes, Luke? What did you get for Christmas?" she said, handing him the microphone.
"I got coal and switches!"
Silence. "Steve?" Mrs. Plett asked, looking around for Steve to translate.
Steve and I were too busy sinking in to our seats. Did I mention it was a packed house?
"Oh, oh, I mean, Geotrax. I got Geotrax." He quickly corrected himself. I guess he wanted to make sure he told the truth. We are in church, after all.
I took solace in the fact that only Steve and I knew what he said. He really seemed to enjoy the spotlight, because he clamored for the microphone once again. Mrs. Plett did an excellent job of fending him off, though, and finished the story without further interruption.
He strutted back to his seat, clearly quite proud of his achievements.
I took him out in the narthex toward the end of the service because he couldn't keep quiet. Several people came up and complimented me on his 'cuteness'. It was obvious to me that they had no idea about the coal and switches. That's good news. Be careful what you tell a 4 year old, they might actually repeat it at a most inopportune time.

T'was a very merry Christmas

Steve and his Wake Forest jersey
Papa Dave

Grandma Nancy

Heather

A nearly perfect family photo

Andy

Luke

We are recovering from quite the merry day yesterday. Our big plan was to get up at the crack of dawn (because that's when Luke gets up), enjoy our Santa gifts, then pile everything and everybody in the car for the trek to my sister's house. Well, there was a wee bit of snow in the driveway. I can't remember the last time we had this much snow. Perhaps this is a first. Luke didn't want to stop opening gifts, but we convinced him that if he opened everything by 7:15 am, he would be quite distraught by midday. Surprisingly, he listened to us and we were able to put a few wrapped gifts in the car. Andy only cared about one thing: the brand new police car he found in his stocking. If that thing didn't cause more problems between here and Puyallup...good grief. We were all fighting about that stupid car. Who gets it, who doesn't, who is going to confiscate it...it went on and on. We arrived at my sister's and enjoyed a delicious brunch, lots of delightful gifts and good conversation. My parents were able to pick up my grandmother and bring her over, as well. I think everybody did very well, given the number of people involved and the amount of gifts that needed to be opened. Heather had more company arriving, so Steve and I loaded up the boys (and all of our loot) and followed my parents back to their house. Grammie was a good sport about all of the chaos. We relaxed, ate some more, played with the boys' new toys, ate some more. It was all very fun. We came home totally exhausted but thankful for our delightful family and somewhat cooperative weather for traveling. We spent most of today just trying to recover and the boys were busy enjoying their toys. They are totally in to trains and hot wheels cars. Very fun.

Ugh. Cabin Fever!

The snow was delightful, I'm so glad it made an appearance. However, it is intefering with my plans for the week and I'm ready for it all to melt. All sentimental notions of a white Christmas have been pushed aside...because I want to go back to my normal, mobile minivan-driving life. We are all just a little bit sick of each other, I think. Steve devised a brilliant plan to cope with the cabin fever: he took Luke to work with him for the morning. Hooray! Andy is having a good time playing with all the toys without any interuptions and I'm enjoying a nice stroll through blogland. We are a little worried that we won't be able to see my family for Christmas. Mom and Dad live at the top of a hill that could be a bit dicey if it is covered in ice and snow. My sister's neighborhood streets are covered in snow, as well. I think we'll be a bit sad if we need to postpone our Christmas day plans.