Playdates

We've been getting together with Missy and her boys a lot lately. I think we met up 3 times last week and twice already this week.

On Monday we went to Monkey Joe's again. Again, it was almost empty. Will, Carter, and Rylan are really enjoying playing there right now. Rylan will even crawl into some of the bounce houses on his own now.


Today we met three other moms (including Missy) and a nanny at the park with 6 other boys ages 8 months to 3. It was so nice today - it was sunny and got up to the mid-60s. All the boys had a lot of fun!

House Update

There hasn't been much to report on the house the last few weeks. There have mainly just been small changes. And now the house is locked so it's not so easy to get in and see the changes.

I spent a couple of hours there last week with a saleswoman from Budget Blinds measuring windows and deciding on what we wanted. While there, I got to look really closely at the house and make a long list of little things I wanted fixed. Nothing was major - it was mostly drywall repairs and they may have already fixed those things.

When we were going over selections in the design center back in August, we were informed that the city of Franklin was requiring that an arbor be built over our garage because it faces the road our neighborhood is off of. That went up the end of last week ...


Not much landscaping is included in the basic package (just front beds around the house with small plants). However, when going over our lot layout and the driveway plan, we'd been told that there would also be landscaping in the semicircle created by our driveway. We asked the builder about it a couple of weeks ago and he said he'd look into it. This is what they decided to put in ...


I'm not sure yet if I like them.

We thought they'd just put in small plants like they had along the house, but instead they put in these five giant (10 - 12 feet tall) trees. They probably cost way more than all our other landscaping combined! I sure hope these don't grow much bigger.

Santa Claus

Carter totally gets Santa Claus this year. We've been talking about him a lot lately. We even took Carter to some stores to look at toys so that he could figure out what he wanted to ask Santa for.

Before looking, Carter kept telling me he was going to ask for a car. Once we looked at Walmart, he became fixated on a Spiderman car he saw. But when we went to Toys R Us, Brian and I saw some cool Animal Planet toys. We pointed them out to Carter and he saw a treehouse set that he wanted right away. Since seeing it, Carter kept telling us that he was going to ask Santa for "a B-I-G treehouse".

After naps this afternoon, we decided to get out of the apartment because we'd had no water since noon. It appeared that a line had been hit outside of our apartment complex and they cut off the water until a couple of hours ago. We have water now, but it's brown.

Anyway, I had told Carter a few days ago that I heard Santa Claus was going to be in town this weekend to find out what kids here wanted for Christmas. We hadn't gotten out to see him yet so Brian and I decided to take the kids to the mall.

After waiting in line for about 30 minutes (including waiting through a potty break for Santa though we told Carter he had to go feed the reindeer), the boys got to visit with Santa. Carter was very excited but Rylan wasn't so sure about Santa. He slid right off his lap and came back to me. Then I tried to put Rylan standing in front of Santa, but he wasn't having it. He wasn't getting upset but didn't want to be left with Santa. Santa tried grabbing his collar to hold him there, but that didn't work either. Oh well. Carter got his picture with Santa at least.


I wouldn't normally buy a picture, but the basic package included a CD with the picture and 2 - 5x7s for $28. Also included was a $20 Shutterfly gift card. So ultimately, the pictures "only" cost $8.

After getting his picture taken, Carter told Santa about the big treehouse he wanted.


Poor Carter though was confused and upset when he didn't get what he asked for right away. But we explained how now Santa's elves have to make his present and hopefully Santa will bring it for him on Christmas morning.

Dickens of a Christmas

Downtown Franklin has a street festival in December called Dickens of a Christmas. There are craft vendors and performances, but the main attraction is people that dress up as characters from Charles Dickens' stories.

We went this morning before lunch to check it out. There weren't as many people as I expected in costume but we enjoyed walking around before we got too cold (it was only about 40F).

We managed to get a picture of the boys with Marley ...


Brian and I were a little creeped out by this guy but the boys weren't (luckily).

Opryland

We took the boys to Opryland this evening to see the Christmas lights and displays. There is plenty of really cool stuff you can pay (a lot) for, but we just walked around the hotel and viewed all the free displays.

The outside of one of the entrances was decorated with millions of white lights.



There was a beautiful nativity scene. As we were walking up, Carter was excited about "baby Jesus". All the crafts at school on Thursday were baby Jesus related so Carter is all about him right now.


Inside was the largest Christmas tree I've ever seen.




Two of the three atriums were decorated with gorgeous hanging lights.






As we were driving away, Carter announced that he had fun. I'm glad we made it out there - it's really starting to feel like Christmas!

Christmas Ornaments and Cards from Santa

I've finally gotten around to making some Christmas ornaments with the kids. I found this super cute idea last night, and I love how these ornaments turned out!


The snowmen are the fingers of a white handprint on the ornament. I added the details but I love that no matter how messy the handprint is, you can make some really cute snowmen!

A few weeks ago, Tiny Prints was offering free cards from Santa. I customized one for each boy and mixed them in with our mail today.

I've been talking to Carter about Santa a lot and thought he'd be excited about the card. He was, but not in the way I expected. He didn't even let me read his card, but he held onto it most of the night.

Here's Carter's card ...



The inside says: Dear Carter, Happy Holidays! My elves have been watching you closely and they said you've been very good this year! Please visit me soon and let me know what you would like for Christmas! See you soon! Santa

And here is Rylan's card:



This card says: Merry Christmas That's right, Santa has you on his "nice list" because you're a sweet and adorable little boy. Love, Santa 2011

The Apartment

Just one more reason I can't wait to move ...


Yesterday while running the garbage disposal, it just fell off the sink. Everything is falling apart here.

The day we moved into the apartment, I had a sinking feeling of "what are we doing?!?!?" I didn't think we'd be able to live in this little place that is so rundown (yet SO expensive). But I knew that we didn't have a choice and tried to not stress about it. But now that the end is in sight, December 23rd can't come soon enough!

Rylan or My Dad

My dad sent me a picture of him today as a kid. I've always thought Rylan looks a lot like him. This picture really shows it. Rylan even makes this same expression!

The Boys

at Monkey Joe's ...

Building

Brian had to work last night so I had a morning of activities with the boys out of the house planned so that Brian could sleep. Unfortunately he had to go back in this morning only after a couple of hours of sleep. But the boys and I still went to Home Depot and Lowe's to do their building workshops.

We got to the one at Home Depot just after 9 am and they were having the workshop outside! It was COLD!


Rylan had to sit on a bucket just like Carter (and almost fell off several times). Rylan is copying everything Carter does lately.


Today's project didn't use any nails, only screws. Carter liked this a lot.


Carter took my camera and snapped a few pictures of Rylan and me ...



After building the snowman napkin holders, the boys got to paint them.


Miraculously Rylan didn't get any paint on himself (except for on his hands).


He was a huge fan of painting and got super mad when I took the paint brush away from him a few times to add more paint to it.


We added stickers once the paint dried. Here are the finished products ...


After Home Depot we headed to Lowe's to make the first part of the train they will be building over the next few weeks.

Both boys did really well sitting with me and helping as we built the cabooses.



The kits came with two sets of stickers so Carter decorated his caboose with the Christmas stickers and I put the regular stickers on Rylan's caboose.


It was a little difficult building two kits at the workshops but both boys were super patient (for them) and they seemed to enjoy themselves.