Merry Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa Carr

For Christmas this year, Grandma and Grandpa Carr came out for a visit. They got in the evening of the day after Christmas. It was SO much fun to have them here! We had asked them to bring some old winter clothes so we could go sledding in Flagstaff, but they showed up with tons of fun new winter stuff! The kids went CRAZY for it all! While it was a chilly 62 degrees, the kids were plenty warm in their snow pants, puffy snow coat, fleece hats, ski gloves, and sweaters while they took Snickers for a walk around our block. Whew, I was pretty relieved to see that they didn't loose any limbs to frost bite!

Hippy Eva

For Christmas Eva got some fun hats and hair things. She's so cute and such a ham anytime we pick up the camera. I don't know where she got the idea to flash the peace sign in her latest pictures, but it goes so well with her new hair bows!

Christmas TIME!!

For Christmas Eve we had the kids open their PJs and the presents that we all got each other. This was the first year that we all drew names and bought presents for each other. It made it really fun and exciting.

For Christmas this year we decided we were going to do it "small". This was great in theory, but because I start buying/hiding Christmas presents in July, we ended up discovering a bunch of things we had already bought and hid in different places around the house. So during our last minute wrapping, I kept having to send Dave to get the presents out of the attic, closet, under the bed, in my secret drawer, and in the trunk of Dave's car. So we ended up with more than we meant to. It was a lot of fun and super exciting to rediscover the presents we had fallen in love with throughout the year.

Children's Shows

Has anyone every seen the Disney movie, Up? If you haven't, then you won't want to read the rest of my post.

We were watching it together as a family the other day never suspecting how truly scary it is for kids. Within the first couple of minutes two cute kids are introduced and hang out and end up getting married to discover that they can't have kids. Eva was very upset by the whole concept that some people can't have babies. She was very distressed, and Dave explained that some people can't have babies, but they share their love in different ways. Not comforted by the response, but accepting it as truth, we kept watching the movie.

During the next part of the show, this great lady that the man loves so much gets sick and dies. Eva asked Dave again why she died. Dave explained that sometimes people get sick and die. He then keeps explaining that everyone dies at some point in their lives. Eva looks up at him and asks "Even YOU? Are you going to die Dad?" Dave looks around for help and I carefully keep my attention on my book. He answers honestly that yes, some day he's gonna die. Eva looks back and the show and then BURSTS out sobbing!! Big sobs that shake her whole body and all she can get out is, "I DON'T WANT YOU TO DIE! PLEASE DON'T DIE DADDY!" Even though we didn't want to make any promises that we can't keep, we ended up reassuring her that Dad isn't going to die for a really really long time. After a few more minutes, she settled down for the rest of the movie.

We thought we were out of the woods with emotional trauma this Christmas season at least, but then we took a trip down memory lane and watched Annie with the kids. Unfortunately for me, I was sitting by Eva and got tagged with the explanation of what an "orphan" is. I explained that sometimes kids loose their Moms and Dads and they don't have anyone to take care of them and that's an orphan. She was very worried and her followup question was, "How do they loose their Mom and Dad?" Once again we touched on the topic of death but this time instead of loosing just Dad, there is a possibility of loosing Mom too...she didn't shed one tear. Didn't phase her in the least. She just said OK and went back to watching her show. Guess who is her favorite parent!! :)

Playing Around

While I was busy making Christmas cookies and candy, Ivy discovered her own secret spot. She spent a good hour playing in this little cupboard. I gave her a flashlight and some crackers and she was THRILLED!

Getting Ready for Christmas

The last few days before Christmas I try to do something fun with the kids that is Christmas related. I didn't realize that one of the activities we always do is Gingerbread Houses/Trains. I hadn't planned on it this year, but Porter and Eva were quick to remind me that we needed a kit. Luckily for me we leave it out for Santa and his Reindeer so it is always gone Christmas morning!

Potty Training Ivy

Ivy has been interested in potty training for the last month or so, and I just haven't wanted to put the effort in to really potty training her. While it would be nice to not have to deal with diapers anymore, I suddenly have to be at the beck and call of the closest public toilet.

So, last week, she took off her diaper, crossed her legs and said "Pee, pee in the potty?" So I put her on and she went! I clapped and cheered her on and put some panties on her thinking that we could put a diaper on later. Well, she appears to be addicted to positive reinforcement, because anytime I tried to leave the bathroom, she would suddenly say, "Pee, pee in the potty?". I ended up staying in that little bathroom for the next 3 hours! At nap time I finally got her back in a diaper.

For the last week, she has done fantastic with going to the bathroom in the toilet. Even if she is wearing a diaper, she'll come and get me and ask to use the bathroom. I finally caved yesterday and decided to try panties all day, not one accident! I am amazed! I guess we are done with diapers!