Puzzle Man

 

Connor is a puzzle monster.  Every afternoon after his quiet time he hauls a puzzle out for us to do.  This afternoon when I was getting lunch ready he pulled this one out and started doing it.  We've done it lots but he has always had my help.  Today he finished this 100 piece puzzle by himself - he was so proud.  So was mommy!!

Our advent calendar

With December 1 nearing I am getting really excited for Christmas.  Connor is starting to understand that you get presents at Christmas.  He doesn't have a list he wants for Christmas yet.  I want my children to know that Christmas isn't about santa, or the presents, or the candy.  I want them to grasp the realization that Jesus was our gift for an eternal life and all that goes with it.  I want them to understand that it is a time to show and give our love to family and people around  us. 

 

So Connor and I made this advent calendar.  I got the idea at Makadoodle.  Inside each party favor tin is a little treat - but underneath the treat is an activty that we can do as a family.  I purchased The Story of the Nativity,  It is a book that breaks down the birth of Christ as a countdown to Christmas.  So everyday when we open a tin we'll read a part the Christmas story.

Our list of things to do are:

1) Make a gingerbread house

2) Have dinner by candlelight

3) Make Ken (a bachelor accross the road) supper and take it to him

4) Make Candy Cane Playdoh

5) Have dinner around the fire

6) Make Snowman soup

7) Make Christmas goodies and take some to a friend

8) Read a Christmas story by the fire

9) Make a Christmas ornament

10) Play a board game

11) Build a snowman outside

12) Pray for the babie born this year

13) Make paper snowflakes

14) Go look at Christmas lights

15)Make a Jesus Basket and deliver to a family in need

16) Go get a Christmas tree

17) Make a meal for Granny and Gramps

18) Make popcorn garland by the fire

19) Go look at the festival of lights

20) Dance to Christmas music

21) Go out for a special supper

22) Buy a gift for a kid in need

23) Decorate cookies with cousins

24) Make a birthday cake for Jesus

25) Go sledding

 

Little bit of Fun!!

With the weather cooling off; the boys and I have had lots of fun inside. We still get out and take Sadie for walks but the inside activity is always changing.  Connor is really into playing games and doing puzzles.  So naturally Kale has to be right there.  I don't know if it is my boys or kids in general but my boys have an extremely short attention span.  They play one game and then rush off to the next.  It is exhausting cleaning  up after them - they are finally learning to put away a game before pulling out another.

 This picture is bad cuz the sun was setting.  The boys wanted to play with their trucks outside before the snow came.  So naturally I let them.  I went to check on them and they were out visiting the heifers.  I kinda freaked out and called them in quickly.  Next time I looked out, the heifers (naturally curious) were following Kale

Painting has become a favorite thing to do.  Connor LOVES it.  All the time he was painting he kept saying "oh it's so beautiful".  

Scoot!

 

Oh Scoot, how he entertains us.  He is totally developing into his own little person more and more.  He knows how to push his brothers buttons in just the right way.  But the next minute he is doing exactly what Connor is telling him say OK or Yup to his instructions.  He is learning lots of stuff because of Connor - good and bad.  While we were reading a story the other day I asked Connor to count the chickens and after he said one Kale kept counting two, three.  The two of them are best friends and are often lost if the other is sleeping or working with Tim.

 

Kale loves to shut doors and turn off lights.  Every door is shut in the house and he won't let me out of a room - he has to shut the door first and then I can come out.  When he leaves the table after eating I always ask him to kiss the cook and I get the sweetest kisses.  Yesterday I asked for a kiss and he says "cookie kiss" and gives me a kiss.  But in all his cuteness he is definitely getting close to 2.  The little tantrums have started and he has had multiple time outs in his crib.  

Happy Halloween

This was Connor's own way of decorating a pumpkin on his own.  He loved doing it and had to take one up to Grandma.  Last night he was excited to see it was decorating her candy table.

 

Connor was a turtle although you can't see it that well and Kale was a lion.  Kale got right into it.  He would enter a house and we would ask him what he says (we had worked on it at supper) and he would reply "Thankyou".  He would then go to the bucket of candy and help himself numerous times before he would try and enter every house.  Connor got into it about 2 houses in (we only went to 8).  It is truly amazing how different their personalities are.