This week has presented with lots of challenges, but none the less, we are grateful to be enjoying the season. We can't help but feel the Spirit of Christ, even through all of these challenges :) Hopefully you can laugh with us as we describe the most interesting last three days.
-On the 23rd, Skyler lost his FAVORITE dog blanket in the mall. That night there was lots of crying as we tried to get him to sleep. I searched the house, car, mall and my mother's home for hours until I finally called it quits around 1am.
- On the 24th, Skyler greeted us at his bedroom door .... This was a HUGE surprise as he has never climed out of his crib before!!! Time for a toddler bed we decided .... we tried to put it off for as long as possible, even though our pediatrician has been recommending it for the last year. Apparently his dog blanket was the calming influence (like the good angel on his shoulder), keeping him in line while we weren't there to tell him no!
- After lots of fervent prayer and requests for a Christmas miracle, we started our Christmas Eve morning searching for Skyler's dog blanket for hours ... NO LUCK. We then bought other blankets to try and replace doggie, but no luck. Bren jokes that Skyler appears to be getting along fine, but his mommy is torn up. (a note - can you get PTSD from your son loosing his favorite blanket?) It is so sad to see him ask for and reach for something that you cannot give to him!!!!!
- We then put together the bed rail for the new BIG BOY BED .... what a joke those things are ... the first one we got was so difficult to put together we had to take it back and the second one did not fit. Of course that was the night that all the stores closed at 7pm!!!! That night we put Skyler to bed in an empty room, in his converted crib, without a bed rail. Well that was a mistake! It took at least half an hour for him to fall asleep ... at the door! The little guy kept rolling out of the bed onto the blankets and pillows on the floor. We finally set up the pack n play to keep him somewhat contained, praying that he could not climb out of that too! Fortunately, he stayed in that and fell back asleep after another half an hour! We have now decided to postpone the transition until after the stores re-open on the 26th.
- Christmas Eve also included the building of many toys! No one told us that Santa does not bring the toys already built!!!! A late night for mom and dad :) Here are the finished results :
- Christmas morning - the weather was warm, rainy and extremely HUMID! We woke up, finished the toy building, and went to get Skyler. We did a recreation of the nativity. This was a wonderful activity and too funny to watch Skyler put the shepherd to sleep in the manger!
Then we opened Christmas presents. Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher brought Skyler this amazing train table that started off like this when Skyler saw it -
And ended up like this by the end of the night :
My favorite line was when Brendan told Skyler that when he yanked and pulled on the pieces that it was like an earthquake for the people living in the little town! Skyler did not seem to be moved by that speach and really set the earthquake in motion.
We then went to Grandma and Grandpa Mitchell's home for dinner. What a great influence Aunt and Uncles are ... Lots of candy and even a mud pit party :
Then it was dinner time ... This is how we do dinner at the Fletcher house ... We start off with a good showing of all the food groups (or at least most) -
And then end up with something like a Corn Dog if we are lucky -
Night time for Skyler on the way home from all the fun and relaxing time for Mom and Dad while we wait for his birthday to hit in a few hours !!! What were we thinking with a December baby?
Now we are waiting for the Fletcher family to join us for some more Christmas and Birthday fun all the way from Arizona !!!!
So glad to have friends and family like you .... Enjoy the holidays :)
So, we were so busy partying with Skyler on the 26th I didn't get the chance to wish him happy 2nd birthday on the blog. E, Grandma and I popped down for a quick weekend to celebrate the momentous occasion. (I promise Grandma was there she's just taking all the pics.) Sklyer had one rocking party and Ellis and I had a blast jump, jumping away with him at the Jump Zone. Here we are at the bottom of a huge inflatable slide.
Skyler had the most delicious Yo Gabba, Gabba cake that you can see both boys enjoyed. It was quite tasty. Bauer, agreed so much that he finished it off when we weren't looking. He is one smart doggie. I was fortunate, I ate 2 pieces and got my share first though :)
We followed up that fabulous party with another one at the park. The menu was Skyler's choosing: Chicken Mcnuggets, french fries and pop. You can see from Ellis' cheeks that quite agreed with him.
Bren and Ally graciously put us up. Their house was so prettily decorated for Christmas and they even had my favorite, white cheddar popcorn, plus a comfy bed. Thanks guys!
Here Ellis is helping Skyler to get quieted down for bedtime. The boys thought a little wrestling and body slamming was the best way to get settled down.
