Jake's Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

Santa, could I please have a Boise State football and a Boise State jersey? Santa, could I please have some checkers with red and black or white and black? Because me and my friends play it at school. This is what I want for Jake.

I want to give you something...a warm hat. I think we should buy a hat at the grocery store. At Albertsons.

I think Tanner would like books because he reads a lot of truck books and lots of animal books. Faith would like a blanket and Baby Mumm Mumms.

And I want an electric game on Spiderman. I like that we decorate a Christmas tree and have salami and cheese and pigs in a blanket for dinner. Santa, I wish that you had like a hundred presents in your house.

Daddy would like fishing stuff like lures and a fishing rod. Mommy wants clothes and coffee. Can Milo have a chewing toy? I been good so I get presents!

Love,
Jake

Tanner Turns 2

On one hand I can't believe my little guy is already two. On the other hand it is hard to believe that he is ONLY two, especially as Faith is nearing one. For weeks prior to his birthday Tanner would say "Me?" anytime he heard us mention the "B" word. We kept our gift giving simple: two presents. One was a pair of Spiderman light up shoes and the other an old skateboard that Brian refurbished. Yes, he may be only two, but he LOVES Jake's skateboard and we decided to get him his own version so the brothers can get their first concussion together. He loved the shoes but he absolutely adored the skateboard. He was attempting tricks on it immediately and after nearly experiencing his first head injury that night we had to take it away for the duration of the trip- until he got home and could wear his helmet.
My mom ordered him a Cars cake from Baskin Robbins. This, too, was a huge hit. He showed much more discretion in eating it than last year. (See? No chocolate on the face!) but enjoyed every bite.
Tanner loved playing with the toy that Lisa and John gave him- a stackable pyramid block thing that was actually pretty cool for the adults, too. He got lots of clothes from Grandma Mary , Auntie Lisa,and Auntie Sue, along with a Cars truck and a set of Magnetix that he loves.

He is SO two now. I swear.... he became a stereotypical two year old overnight. Everything is "Mine! Mine! MINE!" and "I do!!". He wants to do everything himself- including putting on his shoes and socks, which he really isn't quite capable of yet but he insists on doing it himself- even if it means we are late for school/work/dr. appts/the inauguration. He is so proud when he is successful, though. He beams and says, "DID IT, Mama!". He loves to stand in front of the potty and pretend he is peeing like the big boys do. Every few seconds he will stop and say, "Pee, Mama!" and point into the potty. As of yet the potty remains empty. Those of you that had your kids potty trained at 2 are miracle workers and have far more patience than I do! It gets so tiresome that I find myself telling him, "Not now, Tanner" and then kicking myself for squelching his enthusiasm (when he is 4 and still not potty trained I am sure I will regret that!)
In any case, he continues to crack us up. Happy Birthday Little Man. I hope the last two years have been as fun for you as they were for us.

Thanksgiving Roadie 2.0

We made our second annual road trip to Lisa and John's house in Seattle for Thanksgiving this year. Last year it was kind of a last minute sort of thing, so there wasn't really time for anyone else to react or to make any plans - and we had a great time. This year, the trip was planned out enough in advance that Kim/Bill/Abby/Aidan and Cori were able to make the trip as well. Lisa and John (Saint Lisa and Saint John?) had an entire houseful for several days over the holiday weekend. The trip was a lot of fun, but it is easier to recount if I group certain parts of it together, so:














1. Getting there (to and fro) - For whatever reason (stupidly and gluttony for punishment I think) Marisa and I decided to leave from Boise at 3:00 AM and drive straight thru to Seattle, arriving at 11:00 AM. This actually worked out well. Aside from throwing everone's sleep patterns off, the drive was a breeze. The kids all slept for portions of the drive. We hit a personal record best of three McDonalds in a 9 hour time frame and got to Seattle will still a lot of the day left to enjoy. On the way back, we did the reverse (again, who knows why?), leaving at 6:00 PM and driving straight thru, arriving back home in Boise at 3:00 AM. Again, great move. The kids slept, I got to listen to my music as whatever volume I wanted (I was so wired on Red Bulls, I was rocking out to the Ramones as we hit the Idaho border) and it was a very low impact drive. We stayed up for about an hour when we got home to give Faith a bottle and unwind and went to bed about 4:00 AM. Everyone slept until about 9:00, and we got up and went about our day.

2. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (no not the one on TV) - We went last year the day after Thanksgiving and had a really great time, so it was on the docket again this year. This year we ended up down at the Macy's where the parade ends and it worked out really well. It was no where near as cold as it was last year. Tanner really enjoyed the display window with the trains and airplanes going round and round. The older kids really enjoyed the parade, especially the portions where candy was thrown, they watched the entire hour and a half sitting on the curb. Faith enjoyed sleeping in the snuggly inside my jacket. The balance of the grown ups enjoyed popping into Macy's to; use the bathroom, buy chocolate, shop etc. I personally enjoyed the stop at the donut shop afterwards (another running tradition).

3. Thanksgiving Dinner (actually the food in general) - For those of you who have never had Lisa cook for you, let me just say you are missing out. For those of you who have, you know what I'm talking about.....The Thanksgiving Dinner was amazing. There was so much food and it was all so good that it went on for days and days afterwards. As you can imagine with 7 children under the age of 8 at the kids table, it wasn't a very relaxing meal, but it WAS delicious. Additionally, there was the aforementioned donuts (we had some left over hee, hee, hee...), the traditional trip for the boys to The Wingdome for wings and beers, and really great take out Mexican food. Yes, we made four trips to the grocery store in four days, but again, there were SEVEN kids.

4. Random Thoughts - Sleeping in the same room with all three of our children was so FUN (yes, sarcasm intended, it sucked bad). Not a one of them slept thru the night and Marisa and I split the night into shifts with either Faith or Tanner sleeping on one of us, or out of the room on the couch etc. Jake planned to sleep in the room with the girls (and then didn't) and then planned to sleep in with Grandma Cori (and then didn't). Naps were more frustrating than anything. I think the best the kids slept the entire trip was in the truck on the way back home. Tanner had a blast on his birthday (Marisa is writing that one), but really enjoyed vacuuming Lisa and John's house with the toy Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner (sorry guys, we totally accidentally and not at ALL on purpose forgot to pack that when we loaded the car) in Jessa's patent leather pumps (if the kid wasn't such a bruiser I would be worried). Very little, but very necessary and nice adult time. I think that we were all in the room together, before Bill fell asleep in the chair each night, for an hour or so. That is what made the trip last year so great and held true again this year, it's just really good to be able to talk and catch up with the people you care about. (Oh yeah, VERY CUTE puppies!)

5. Bad news for Lisa, John, Quincy and Jessa - I think this is becoming a tradition, and one that won't stop until you tell us not to come anymore. See you next year for version 3.0!

Just Some Things I Don't Want to Forget...

I looked through Jake's baby book last night- and realized how incredibly incomplete it is. Sure, it tells when he first crawled, what kinds of solid foods he started with, and his favorite song when he was one.... but the important stuff, the everyday stuff- none of that was in there. It made me realize how much I want to record stuff for them to see when they are older, for Brian and I to reread when they are grown with kids of their own. So here are some things off the top of my head that I don't want to forget:

• The way Tanner says "Did it!" with kind of a lispy voice whenever he wants to do something himself or when he was successful doing something himself. Lately it is putting his socks on himself, taking off his pants, and catching a football. When he wants a specific person to notice (and applaud!) it is: "Baba! Did it", "Brother! Did it", "Mama! Did it", or "Dada! Did it".
  
• How glad I am that Jake is at Foothills- if only for this one year. The picture above is a project he did at home this weekend. He told me that he wanted to "reuse" materials to create something. So this is what he came up with. He explained it all to me. It is a McDonalds. The spiders are eating the food and the cracked nutshell is the waiter (I'm not sure which McDonald's HE'S been going to!). The Starbucks cups are the building itself. The nut slides down the chute to serve the food to the spiders. The fact that he did this on his own is HUGE to me. At his old preschool the most creative he ever got was cutting out pictures of ovals (or whatever the "shape of the week" was) and gluing them on white paper.
  
• The way Tanner backs up and says "Go..... go.... go!" before running into your arms, kicking a ball, getting his shirt on, giving high fives, etc...
• The morning Faith woke up at 4AM and fussed on and off until 6:30 when we finally went in there and found that her arms had gotten stuck up in the shoulders of her jammies. She must have been trying to free them that whole time and it looked pretty funny and more than a little bit uncomfortable- but she was no worse for the wear. She still greeted us with a huge smile.
• How Jake uses the word "apparently" to begin sentences these days: Ex: When Faith threw her remaining food on the ground after lunch, Jake commented, "Apparently Faith isn't hungry anymore!"
• Tanner's love of all things tidy: the broom, napkins, scrub brushes.
  
• The way the boys adore their sister and want to help feed her (see picture above), change her, bathe her, and play with her.
• Tanner's crazy dancing and how he likes to run in circles around Milo (as Milo dozes on the floor), get dizzy, then fall down again.
• How Faith flaps her arms when she is excited like she is about to take off.
• Last Sunday when Jake and Brian were watching football and they showed a sweeping view of the stadium with all the players in position and Jake said incredulously, "So, Dad, you mean ALL those football guys have two kidneys?" (Jake only has one kidney and knows that he won't be able to play high school football, so this has been a hot topic lately)
  

Jake- 4 years 8 months, Tanner- 2 years on Wednesday, Faith- 8 1/2 months

Faith- 8 months

Faith learned to pull up to standing this week. She started on the bathtub and quickly progressed to anything else that stands about 18 inches off the ground. She also learned how to get back down- I was quite impressed as I watched her gauge the distance between her butt and the floor, clearly think it over, then decide to take the risk. She plopped right down and looked up at me prouder than proud.

With the holidays coming up I had to get her several Christmas dresses last weekend (which Brian humored me about until he got really tired of chasing after the two boys in the consignment store and asked me to JUST MAKE UP MY MIND ALREADY!)- one of them is an over the top long sleeved, red velvet number with a satin bow in the back which she will wear with white tights and her patent
leathers :) I am SO opposite of the "girl mom" I thought I'd be (much to the amusement of those around me, I am sure!). She is still toothless- and mostly bald- but I am sure she will be a vision in her holiday finery.


I think she is saying words. "Na-na" comes when I am feeding her bananas. "Da-da" is said first thing in the morning when she is laying next to (or crawling all over) her daddy. I know, she is only eight months old and I'm sure it is just coincidental babbling. Still, it is fun to listen to and a huge reminder to slow down and enjoy her babyhood while it lasts!

Some Species Eat Their Young

Those species may have got this parenting thing figured out.

One of the fallouts of Jake attending Kindergarten this year is that he is acting more like a Kindergartener. Go figure.

Actually, if I hadn't compared notes with several other parents with children age 4-6 I would describe his behavior as "pre-teen".

"Whatever" is now a "time out word".
As in, "Jake, please put your shoes away.".

"Whatever!" (often accompanied by a deep sigh and possible eye rolling.)

He continues to entertain (or is the word I am looking for "annoy"?) us with his constant dialogue. I swear this kid never shuts up. Especially in the car. You know that scene in Shrek 2 where Donkey and Shrek and Princess Fiona are driving to "Far Far Away" to visit her parents and Donkey keeps talking and talking and talking and finally Fiona shouts: "Just for five minutes, can't you just stop being YOU!". Let's just say that Brian and I can relate to that scene.

Seriously, though. He has grown up overnight. In good ways, too.

• He is so much more independent and helpful with Tanner and Faith. The other morning Tanner woke up before 7 (the time at which Jake is allowed to come in our room) and we heard him get up and crawl into the crib with Tanner. He proceeded to read book after book to him while saying things like, "Dada is sleeping right now. He'll be in to get you soon, Tanner." (By "read" I mean look at the pictures and recite what he remembers about each book)
  
• He is into taking care of the environment and reminds us to reuse everything, picks up trash on walks to throw away at home, and recycles all that he can. My car is full of empty soda cans and wrappers he has found while running errands.
  
• He is really into football right now. And he plays it like a pro. I swear. You'd think he had lessons or something. He throws with a spiral, catches from across the yard, and loves to "kick off" and "hike" the ball. He can keep score and add each 7 point touchdown (we haven't gotten into the one point conversion thing yet...) to the previous score.
• His latest favorite song is by the Dixie Chicks- "I'm Not Ready to Make Nice". He tells me that he feels the emotions in the song -that parts make him feel sad and ready to cry, parts make him mad, and parts just feel good to shout out at the top of his lungs. We listen to it several times each day on the way to and from school. He tells me that part of the song makes his eyes get teary... and I know exactly what he means.

In all the ways that matter to me he is still little, even when he acts big: He's still my snuggle bug and loves hugs and kisses and sitting on my lap. He doesn't mind when I sing and dance to the songs on the radio, and I've yet to embarrass him in front of his friends. Most importantly, he still thinks his dad and I are the coolest things ever.

For now I think the kid is safe from being ingested.

Piece of Work

We're coming up on Tanner's 2nd birthday. I have to say - he is a boy with a personality. I've said before that he is my Grandpa Simonich reincarnated, and I still believe that. First and foremost, there is the smirk - dead on Grandpa smirk, nobody else in the family has that. This is the look that says, "You can tell me to stop doing this all you want, and I may or may not, but we both know you're really not going to do anything about it, don't we?" I love my boy, but I am terrified that maybe he got more than his fair share of my "eff you" genes. We were driving this last weekend and this song came on the radio. This is, and will be Tanners theme song (I added it to the mp3 player if you want to listen to it - it's the Jimmy Buffett version). Here are the lyrics:

Piece of Work
(Will Kimbrough)

I'm a piece of work, I'm iron and lace
I'm shy, I'm right up in your face
I'm all dumbfounded, stubborn as an ass
Sharp as an arrow in a pile of glass.
I'm a sweetheart, genius, reckless jerk.
Lord, have mercy, I'm a piece of work.

Well the Lord made me on a long thin limb
Made sure I'd remember him or her
In the middle of a long dark night
Creation crazy, death-sheet white
Made in the image of a lion shocked lamb
I am who the hell I am
Even better, bad to worse,
Down to the letter, I'm a piece of work.

I'm a piece of work I'm an angels fiend
Bathed in lavender and gasoline
Scared brave, shallow in an ink black well
Lightly browned in the fires of hell
Wicked, holy, full on fake
Best known for my big mistake
I'm zen wise, peaceful, gone berserk
Good God almighty, What a piece of work.

I'm a dreadful sight, I just don't care
Spent all morning pull out my hair
Woke at dawn with a crazy spin
I was half the day trying to glue back in
Mother, bloody mary, please
Wipe that smile right off your knees
I'm the CEO of the mailroom clerks
Lord have mercy, I'm a piece of work.

I'm a piece of work, I'm a love sick boy
Cloth cap, caviar, and corduroy
All over the map, justa lost in space
With a filthy mind and a choirboy's face
Heels up, head down, straight on through
Watch out woman, I'm a get to you
I'm a gladiator with a mind to irk
I'm a see you later, I'm a piece of work.

Happy almost 2nd birthday buddy. I Love You. (P.S...you scare the crap out of me!) - Dad

Dinosaurs, Superheroes and Vegetables, oh my....

After us "Non-Professional" Trick or Treaters had our fill, we came home to do the philanthropic work of the handing out of the candy. Tanner and I came home and got him into jammies in between answering the door bell. Tanner didn't quite get it at first, but was very curious. Once he got in the swing of things, he had a lot of fun. The routine had to be as follows: we would sit on the couch and watch an episode of Magic School Bus (as far as kids shows go...not TOO bad) until either the doorbell rang, or Tanner spotted someone from his seat. I would then get up and answer the door. He would come up right behind me a little slowly, if the costumes were not too scary (if they were scary, he would watch from the family room). He would check out the costumes, and once he could tell that the candy had been dispensed and the interaction was at an end, would very loudly announce, "BYE" and slam the door in their faces. Then he would run back to the couch and point at my spot and say (equally loudly), "Dada, Dada, Dada" while pointing where I was supposed to sit....and the parade would begin again. We did this for an hour or so, after which I took him to bed, not be heard from again until this morning.

The other photo above is one of the few we have been able to get of him lately. He has begun to love the camera, not being in front of it, but looking thru it, so it has been difficult, at best, to get him to hold still. He is just a blast to be around and is starting to follow in his big brothers foot steps, playing both baseball and football. He is VERY proud of himself when he catches the ball or get's a hit....he stands and preens and yells, "Mama, mama, mama", non-stop, until you say "Good Job Tanner" at which point he lines up to do it again.

Trick or Treat

Faith was just about the sweetest ear of corn I've ever seen. Tanner loved his dinosaur costume,despite being unable to walk in the "claws", and Jake enjoyed throwing make believe spider webs at all passersby while trick or treating last night. Thank goodness my mom was here- we definitely needed the extra pair of hands while getting them all ready, pictures taken, and out and about for the festivities. We had to divide and conquer: I took Jake, Brian had Tanner, and my mom wheeled Faith around in the stroller. After going around the block with all 6 of us, Jake and I joined up with another family in the neighborhood to continue the serious trick-or-treating while Brian and Tanner went home to answer the door and hand out candy and mom took Faith home and put her to sleep.

Jake loved running from house to house while my friend and I kept toasty warm with the hot toddies, hot cocoa, and hot cider that many houses were handing out to the adults. Best quote of the night? Overheard from a father: "Time is candy, Josh. Let's keep moving!" The kids were out in the hundreds (literally). Though warmer than last year, it was down to 35 by the time we got home a little before 9 and Jake and I were both ready to cuddle up under a blanket. Jake dumped out his candy and Brian, mom, and I laid claim to our favorites while he dove in for a few more bites before bed.