Dear Santa...Oops, we're 6 months too early!

It's exactly 6 months until Christmas, and our little guy decided tonight to start his letter to Santa!
It took him several tries, because, well, the "rules have changed now...you're going to be in 2nd grade in 62 days". He started with "Dear Santa, I want..."

So, we let him know that it is not nice to start letters with "I want" for anything. Be polite, interesting, ask about something you want to know about, or something that interests the other person. So he tried again, and had to go back. Not without a little fussing, it seems that he had already made 7 tries so far with the latest edition he gave us. Back to the drawing board, and then next he came back with "Dear Santa, I think Mommy wants a Barby" and more about how are the reindeer and phonetic spellings for how he's putting out carrots for them. Then another letter to Santa for Papa, asking for a paint gun for him. Mind you, all of these requests are on the drawing paper from his easel, pulled out long and folded.

When it was time for bed, I had to laugh when I entered his room. You could see where he had been sitting on the floor in the middle of the room, with all the papers, pens, and discards all around him in a circle. The camera is in the car, so it'll have to wait till the morning, but that was amusing for me. Considering that he is a bonafide neat freak, it's fun to see him in an artistic mode where the neatness is forfeited for the moment.

And what does Chris want from Santa? Oh, not much, just: a Playstation 3 and games to go with it, Pokemon game for his DS system, and both a Buzz Lightyear and Woody figures from the new Toy Story 3. He recently saw the 1 and 2 versions of the movie, so he's anxious to see #3. He doesn't usually ask us for toys, and usually finds a few favorites to play with, and is easy to deal with for sharing with his cousins. In fact, in the almost 7 years he's been with us, we can count on our hands the number of times he's ever asked us for specific toys.

But now the rules have changed for Santa. We almost feel guilty in advance about "Santa" except I have to say that I will Aways Believe in Santa, so we'll help him transition when the time comes. In the meantime, he'll have to practice his letter-writing techniques, since he's insisting on starting his list exactly 6 months early. He did take his best version and post it on the wall in our living room, so we see it each time we pass by to our bedroom...now that is funny to me. Not so subtle, but funny!

Now, about the movies. Sigh. We "used" to go to the movies in Albuquerque on a regular basis. See, there's a "dollar movie" theater there where you can see new movies that have been out for about 6 months up on the big screen for a whopping $1 to $1.50 per person! The theater is clean, popcorn is regular priced but good, and it was convenient. Now, where we live not...not so much. The theater is old, sometimes clean, not open during the week during the school year, and pricey. Sorry, but not going to pay $50 for 3 of us to go to the movies a couple of times a month under these conditions. So we don't go, we are now on the cycle where movies we haven't seen are not hitting the DVDs and Netflix.

But today...we offered to Chris to take him to the movies to see Toy Story 3 in LIEU of going to see his little cousins in No. VA tomorrow. He said, "no thanks. I want to go play with my cousins." Now, that might have been mean to make him decide, but we already knew the answer, he wasn't about to miss going to see his girl, Skye! She is turning 3 this month, and is, hands down, his favorite! He's been saving a barbie doll for her from our toy box for almost 2 years now, since we forgot to take it to her the last time. On the Wii, he created an avatar for her. He made her "little" because she's just a little girl. Whenever we play baseball, well, there goes Skye! He hasn't made an avatar for anyone else, just her. Today, when we went shopping for her birthday present, he knew he wanted to get her something pink, her favorite color. He found a pink etch-a-sketch, and that was the end of searching. I tried to get him to look at other options, and he was determined that she would love the etch-a-sketch. Well, who wouldn't? And a pink one! On the way home from the store, he did suggest that we go to the movies tonight, since we didn't have time tomorrow. How considerate, to be thinking of alternatives. Maybe we'll drive to one of the malls next week and attend a matinee. In the air conditioning, because I gotta tell you, it's been HOT this month!

In the meantime, I have to go finish cutting cucumbers for refrigerator pickles for a bbq tomorrow at his cousin's house. I'm making homemade hamburger rolls for the first time for this set of relatives, so that will be fun. Mike is marinating baby back ribs, and has already made his own NC-style bbq sauce, which is Great! The folks who will be attending are a lot of fun, so we're looking forward to the day. Gonna drive up in the am and then plan to return at night.

And now, I'll try to get up early enough to take a picture of Chris' room before he cleans it up.

Happy Summer 2010
May it be awesome for you and for all of us!

Only 65 days left until school starts back up

Want to know how we know this?
It's not what you think! No, we're not trying to rush through the summer. Not trying to get our little guy back in school so he won't be with us. He's not having a bad time, or trying to get away from us.

He's a 2nd grader now! He CAN'T wait to be an official 2nd grader...which, to a "literal man" means that you have to go to a classroom and start doing 2nd grade work.

He has asked us every day since school got out last Thursday about "when do I go back to school?" We thought he was having trouble with the concept of the month, even though he does know days, weeks, and months, as in understanding how long they last. He wants to be a 2nd grader.

Oh, and today...is the First Day of Summer!
Summer Starts Today!
It's The Longest Day of the Year!

We love our Literal Man.

And now, please excuse me as I go and make a summer calendar of activities so he has other activities to look forward to, besides just going back to school again.
Please, let's enjoy as much of the next 65 days as possible, let these days be productive and educational, in a fun way.

Happy First Day of Summer!

Happy Father's Day to all you Dads!

Happy Father's Day to all you Dads out there! I hope this finds you all enjoying your day and your weekend. Really, each and every day is a father's day, where you can celebrate the reason(s) you can this your day. Whenever I look at our little guy, I remember all the reasons why I love being a mommy (yes, even on the challenging days/moments) and I imagine that there are those moments for all you guys, as well.

Remembering those little fingers and little toes. Feedings and diaper changings at all times of the day and night. Toddling to running, and then taking the bus the first day of school. Okay, I get it, the women typically get more choked up at the changes in milestones, the events that make our little people grow up on us. But, tell the truth, I'm sure that you guys also get a little emotional at times.

Then, today, our little guy brought in his Papa's 7th Father's Day by picking up a book that he put on hold at the public library (on his own, mind you. I found out it was on hold when I got the email notice that it had arrived), and then by reading almost the entire book in one day. "The Diary of a Wimpy Kid" is apparently not on the shelf of his school library, perhaps because it uses the words "dumb", "stupid", "idiot" and more, that are not allowed in schools. On the way back from the Farmer's Market, he started to read his book. While we started to build scarecrows at our shared/family garden, he sat in the chair and read it for almost 2 hours. In the car on the way home after dinner with my brother and his girlfriend, he turned on the overhead light and read some more. Then, once home and changed into his pajamas, he read some more. Made it to page 151 before we told him he had to put it down and go to bed. He's had books in the past that he didn't want to stop reading, but this is his first book on his own that he just couldn't put down. Not sure how many more actual pages he has left to go, but he's about 2/3 of the way done now. What a nice gift for his Papa, the love of reading!

For his actual present to Mike, well that's a funny story. Mike bought himself a new watch about a month ago, to replace his several broken ones that have seen better days. He left it under Chris' pillow that day, with a note that basically said that Chris could decide to keep the watch for himself, or he could save it for his dad for Father's Day. He found the note and watch under his pillow when he was getting in bed in his top bunk for the night. He read the note, and without hesitation, he decided to save it for Father's Day. He slept on top of the packaged watch and note for several days before he would agree to move it to a new location, which was a bin with clothes in it. We put it on the bottom, so it would be hidden. Mike had entered the room to help Chris change his bedsheets that day, and Chris almost got caught with the present under his pillow. He told Mike he had to leave the room for a few minutes, and when Mike asked "why?" he told him "It's none of your business!" I think he panicked and couldn't think of what to say, which if funny, because he's never at a loss of words. Well, that's when we moved the present to a bin. Which brings us to tonight. He's going to bed and I remind him that tomorrow is Father's Day, so he'll need to give Papa his present in the morning, after we wrap it. He says it's still hiding, and that's when he tells me that he had moved the present awhile ago! Hmmm, I wonder where, so I ask him. He peeks over the top end of his bunk bed, and says, "down there, under the air mattress." We have a queen-sized air mattress in the corner of his room, only there because it has a leak and we need to inflate it back up this week so we can repair the leak. He apparently put the watch package under the bottom layer of the mattress. This wouldn't normally be a problem...but Mike and I both have stepped on the mattress to help make up his bed! I quickly grabbed the watch package and found it was a little banged up, but fortunately, no broken watch face or band! How lucky!

Father's Day will be fun for us, because we are going to take it easy and enjoy the entire day. Might go out, might not. Not sure. Might go fishing, maybe a softball game, not sure.

May you all enjoy your Father's Day and each and every day!

Updated: we slept in -- YAY!!!!
then, Chris brought Papa his gifts he had been hiding and making
while I was doing dishes, Christopher finished his book he had just gotten yesterday. as he says, "it has 217 pages and I read all of them in one day!" I'm amazed, and also excited that he loves to read.
called a few folks, including my Dad, to wish them a good day.
then headed out to a softball game / bbq with the brothers and sisters and some friends at a nice public park from about 2 until almost 7 pm. it was nice to play softball again, and to watch Christopher try to hit a softball for the first time ever. I even hit the ball a few times, which made me happy since it's been Years since I played on the co-ed team in Alexandria, VA.
went back home in time to catch the recorded interviews and coverage from the previous weekend's demolition derby, as showed on "Weekend Sports" on channel 50. they showed most of the guys, including our nephew, Patrick, who is a new driver. I had never seen a demo derby until last Spring. it's not "my thing" but I will say it was entertaining, especially since they guys usually don't get hurt.

and now, time for bed.
I think Mike had a good day, too!

Happy Father's Day!