Polar Express meltdown

Adam was in New York state all week, so I took the boys to an ECFE event about the Polar Express. Things were looking up on our way there, but they quickly started turning as soon as we walked in the room. Kale didn't want to share, Nolan didn't want to listen - it was great. It all came to a head at circle time, with Nolan running out of the room, standing near the lockers and screaming "I don't want to!". I picked up Kale, who was also not doing so hot, gathered our coats, bags, and purse, went in to the hall, picked up Nolan and marched them away from the classroom so they didn't continue to interrupt the other kids and parents. They were the only two acting up, which made it even worse! I have them scheduled for another event next week, but Adam is out of town again so I'm not sure I'll go.

The tree, the tree!

The boys were so excited to see the tree set up and to help decorate it.  This was the first year they've really helped.  One small section of our tree looked great!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We spent Thanksgiving day with the Oven side in St. Cloud.  We went up the night before so Adam and I could run the Wishbone 5K on Thanksgiving morning.  Brian ran with us, too.  I hadn't run a whole lot since my 10 mile race, and Adam didn't have a chance to do any training.  With that said we did pretty good!  We had fun hanging out with everyone, especially the boys and their cousins.

Park time fun

We didn't have daycare this week, so Adam spent 3 days at home with the boys, and I spent two.  We were lucky enough to have some great weather, so we spent some time at their favorite park. I was suprised they were both able to climb the rope ladder!

Go Vikings!

Nolan and I scored tickets to the Vikings game today, courtesy of Anna.  We had such a great time!  Adam was out of town hunting again, so our babysitter came over after church to watch Kale for me.  Nolan and I parked near Target Field and took the lightrail to the dome.  It was his first time downtown Minneapolis, and he thought it was so amazing.  He was in awe over all the big buildings!  He was such a good listener, too.  On our way to in to the dome we passed some people who were smoking. Unfortunately the cigarettes were right at his level.  He kept saying "mom, what's so stinky?"  I picked him up at that point and carried him to our entrance.  We got our food right and got to our seats right at the first kick off.  He ate a little bit of a hot dog and a little bit of Cracker Jacks.  He told me he was all done and then said he was ready to go.  The first quarter wasn't even done yet! He hung in until the end of the first half, with the help of some cotton candy.  The people sitting around us were so impressed with how good he was!  As soon as we got back to our car he fell asleep all the way home. 

So many questions, so little time

Kale has become more and more enthralled with asking why, what’s that, what happened, etc. He repeats things like crazy and then doesn’t forget what he’s learned. He is talking in pretty full sentences that we can understand, but I’m sure leave everyone else guessing. He is getting closer to being potty trained and does a great job with #1. He does great at daycare with the other stuff but struggles more at home. If we catch him before or during the act we can get him to the potty. He still gets excited when he goes on the potty and we make a big deal out of it. He has almost memorized his favorite book, Dora and the Pumpkin Patch – to the point where he tells us what ingredients go in to a pumpkin pie. Nolan has a good memory, too, but I don’t remember him memorizing books at this age! Kale has developed quite a temper and doesn’t shy away from letting us know when he doesn’t like something we’ve done or said – or he doesn’t get his way. We’re talking fists at his side, jumping up and down in the air and flailing on the ground at times. We describe them as epic, because Nolan didn’t have tantrums like that at his age.

PJ club went a lot better this week, and both kids made it through story time no problem. The issue we’re having now is that Nolan just crashes when we get home, but Kale picks up some extra steam and has a hard time calming down to go to bed. He always wants the “door open”. He also goes down really easy if I sit in the hallway until he’s sleeping. Bad habit I started!

Do we get to eat it?

This was the first of two deer hunting weekends for Adam up at the farm. All I heard for 3 days from Kale is “where’s daddy?”. I would tell him hunting and he would say “buck or doe?”. I told him daddy wasn’t picky! I had a wedding to attend on Saturday, so the boys spent the day and overnight with Grandma Ellen. She definitely drew the short straw with daylight savings time. They were up and ready to go at 5 am! I picked them up at 8 so we could get to church. I was hopeful Kale would go in the nursery again, but it was a no go. Adam and I have decided the only way to get him comfortable in the room is to volunteer in it, so we are signed up for two times next month. We usually get a quick report from the teacher regarding what Nolan worked on in Sunday school. She said all the classes are practicing for the Christmas program. I wasn’t surprised when she told me that Nolan was scared and wouldn’t participate. She said she would keep working with him. I told her not to expect too much, as he still won’t go up for the children’s message! My hope is that he at least stands up there for the program.

After nap we went to EP Center to run errands. The boys were antsier than normal, and half way through Kohl’s Nolan asked if they could go to the play area. I agreed and they spent 15 minutes or so running around. Nolan then wanted to move out of the play area and over to the fun little ride area. I don’t mind if they “ride” on them because I never have to put money in them. Things were going great until Kale picked up a Caribou cup that was on the floor while I wasn’t looking. I turned around and he spilled what was left of hot chocolate down his entire back. It was absolutely disgusting, and he smelled like cold hot chocolate. I cleaned him up as much as possible but we needed to leave at that point. That was fun because neither of the boys wanted to leave. Once we got moving in the stroller things were fine, but it was loud until then!

Adam called on Monday morning with the good news that he got an 8 point buck. When I picked up the kids after work I told Nolan about it. He was so excited and the first thing he asked was “can we eat it?” I asked Adam about that later and he said he explained to the kids that we always eat what he’s brought home from hunting. Our kids are usually pretty picky about new foods, but they haven’t had an issue with any of it yet! We made our way over to Grandma and Grandpa’s house after daycare so the kids could see the deer. I wasn’t sure how they would react to it, but they were just fine. They thought it was pretty cool to touch it and look at it. They weren’t even bothered by the doe that was being processed in the garage! Hopefully they’ll enjoy the many meals of venison we’ll enjoy this winter!