Thanksgiving

We had a really nice Thanksgiving.  Since we don't live close to family, our neighbors invited us to eat with them.  Suddenly they  had a change of plans and had to go out of town.  Did we mind?  No way!  Sometimes the holidays are the best when we can be our normal, relaxed selves.  We had Thanksgiving with just our little family last year as well.  Everyone chooses their favorite thing, we make it, and we just eat when it's ready.  It's fantastic!

Joel decided this year that he was going to make the pie crusts and pumpkin pies.  The kids wanted to help, of course.  William would have helped too but I think at this point he was curled up asleep on the couch, as he usually prefers to be in the late afternoon.

Everett and Ashley each got to choose how to design the edge of their pie crust.  Ashley made an arched pattern all the way around with spoon imprints, and Everett opted for a more simple scallop.  They did a pretty good job for their first try.

The next day (which was actual Thanksgiving), the kids made the veggie turkey.  They remembered doing this last year and decided we just had to do it again.  So I gave them the veggies and a big pan and let them go to work.  Not bad.  And snacking on it keeps everyone's hunger at bay while the real turkey finishes roasting.

We had a nice dinner.  We had the traditional cranberry-orange jello that I like, as well as cranberry sauce, rolls, mashed potatoes and gravy, and turkey.  We also had cranberry ginger ale to drink, so I guess you could say that cranberries were a theme of this dinner.  Unfortunately, Joel's only request was stuffing and I totally forgot to make it.  Whoops.  He didn't even notice until I pointed it out to him, so then I felt less guilty.  I did make it for him the next day when we had Thanksgiving Dinner, part II.

For dessert we had two pumpkin pies and a raspberry cream.  Joel made the pumpkin pies and they were delicious.  I completely bombed the raspberry cream.  I have never messed that pie up before.  I'm not sure what happened, but it was a little disappointing!  I look forward to eating Thanksgiving pie all year long.  Unfortunately (fortunately?), this pregnancy has given me a general distaste for sweet things and one small slice of each on the day of Thanksgiving was all I could handle.  

But let's just say the kids loved the pumpkin pies.  I may or may not have let them eat them willy-nilly and two days later, the pies were both gone.  When I first married Joel, he told me he wasn't a big dessert fan, but he enjoyed the pies at least as much as the kids did.  I guess some things do change.

As soon as Thanksgiving was over, Everett decided it was time to decorate for Christmas.  So here is Christmas, Everett-style.  Star Wars goes with everything, right?

We really missed our families this year, and our kids would have had a blast playing with all of their cousins, but it was a relaxing holiday so we can't complain too much.  

More about James

James gets a lot of love at our house.  He has two parents who are no longer stressed out about anything a small child does, and he has three older siblings who adore him limitlessly.

Yep, James is really in a good spot in this family.  He loves giving hugs to everyone and has to make the rounds before each nap or night-time tuck-in (or when anyone leaves the house).  Hugs and kisses for all.  "Huggie!"  He will say with his arms wide open.  Everyone is thrilled to nestle right into those little arms and James glows under the attention.  

He loves to pretend to be various animals with Ashley, he loves to race cars with William (complete with many sound effects), and he loves to build with Everett.

He also loves to say, "Mommy hold you?" to me especially when I am making dinner (or sometimes, "Mommy help you?").  Once in a while I ask him to set the table, and he really does a pretty good job at putting everything where it needs to go.

 James is always the most excited of all the kids when Joel comes home from work.  

He loves to laugh, but he doesn't laugh for just anyone.  Sometimes he even asks to be tickled.

James also loves to wrestle.  He doesn't seem to notice that he is the smallest and least coordinated on our floor; he jumps right in with just as much enthusiasm.

He also still sucks his thumb and carries his moose around everywhere.  He has started calling it "Moosie."  Usually I refuse to let my children bring stuffed animals to the grocery store, especially large ones, but I have softened up on this to keep him happy.  James hates riding in the cart.  He would much rather help me push and gather ingredients.  He is pretty obedient and really does a good job but he is clumsy and slow and the sad truth is I usually am too harried to indulge him.  So into the cart he goes, moose in hand.

James loves to count and listen to stories.  He is also the most interested in music of any of my kids.  None of the rest of them liked to sing, but James does.  I often catch him plinking around on the piano, singing nonsense songs.  He loves listening to music.  He is always really relaxed during special musical numbers at church.

His favorite songs are Popcorn Popping and Once There Was A Snowman.  He sings them to himself throughout the day, sometimes.

One of James's other favorite things is to wear other people's clothes.  Here he is in Everett's shorts.

. . .And Everett's pants.

He got the whole ensemble on only to be overcome with frustration because the pants kept falling down.  "Mommy fix it!" he'd demand, but there was nothing I could do.  (I have a lot of pictures of him smiling on this post, but we do see these kinds of faces a lot as well.)  Mostly at times like this, he is immediately happier if we validate him by telling him how he is feeling and why, and then giving him a hug.

He also likes to wear William's underwear and anything else he can find.

(Like Ashley's sunglasses.)

His very favorite thing to wear is shoes.  Any time we have a guest, James makes a beeline to the front door to try on some new shoes.  In this picture he is wearing some church shoes of Ashley's.

(You may also notice James is not wearing pants.  He does love to strip his pants off at random times.)

These are the sparkly shoes of a visiting friend.  

Everett's slippers are not safe, either.

James is pretty good at walking in shoes that are too big for him, even Joel's work shoes or my high heels.  In fact, James loves my high heels.  He loves to clomp around in them, delightedly enjoying the major cacophony the heels make on our wood floor.

James also loves cereal.  He is always much happier when we walk Everett and Ashley to school if he can bring a bowl of cereal along.

James's favorite toys and shows are anything having to do with Thomas the Tank Engine or the Cars characters.  He also loves Kipper.  I often hear him giggle while he watches that show.  It has a soothing, hypnotic effect that I utilize regularly.

James was sick one day and was happy to camp out on the couch with Mater's Tall Tales (and his moose, of course).  He is big enough to work some games on the ipad alone, which is also nice.

He is talking more now.  I have been waiting for him to talk well enough to express what he wants.  He is such a determined little guy that he doesn't let go of what he wants even if no one can understand what he is trying to ask for.  

So now that he is two, he is talking well enough that we almost always understand what he wants.  For instance, he always wants milk in a specific cup with a lid, warmed in the microwave for a set amount of time.

He also loves to say No, like most two-year-olds.  In fact, he loves to say it so much that we've all started to banter back with him.  "Yes!" we'll say in reply.  "NO!"  James will yell back.  His No's get progressively growlier until he is yelling in a roar-growl, as deep a pitch as his little vocal chords can go.

I often hear him speak to William in this way when William just doesn't get what James wants to do during playtime.  James is so forceful with it that our sensitive William sometimes erupts into tears.

Even though James is talking well, he has some of the funny speech impediments that most kids his age have, such as fronting his sounds.  This means that School bus is "Boo Bus," which the other kids think is hilarious.  

We love to tease him by asking him about "Bomas" (Thomas the Tank Engine.)  Even though James pronounces it that way, he knows how it is supposed to sound and it frustrates him to no end when we say it incorrectly.  And then he begins with the growly No's, and our smiles split into fits of laughter.

One day he is going to complain that no one in this house ever takes him seriously, and I'll probably be forced to agree.  

We recently started James in a toddler bed.  He shares a room with Ashley.  It didn't take him long before he figured out that he could sneak into bed with her.  She was delighted the next morning when I told her what James had done.  

I also put James in time-out for the first time a couple of weeks ago.  He was in there for a very, very short amount of time.  When I opened the door I found James standing in the corner, glaring at me.

"It's time to come out," I told him.  

"No!  I not want to!"  He said back.  

"OK," I said, "You can come out when you are ready."  And I left him there with the door wide open.  I waited a short time and when James still didn't come out, I went in to get him myself, reasoning that he just didn't get how the whole time-out thing works yet.  Turns out, James did know what he wanted.  He protested forcefully when I carried him out, thrashing and flailing mightily.  "No!  Go back in!  I go back in!"  He shouted over and over.

I'm still not sure whether our first foray into time-out was a success or a failure.  Any disciplinary measures are tricky with this child.  Even if we were to, say, remove his favorite thing in the whole world (his moose) for a time until he said "sorry" for hitting, he would not budge.  There would be nothing we could do to get him to say sorry until he was good and ready, no matter how we tried to convince him.  And the more we tried to get him to say it, the less willing he would be.

Fortunately, he has been so little that this hasn't been a problem so far.  But I am interested to see how this will all go as he gets older.

James has learned a joke that he loves to tell (over, and over, and over).

"Knock, knock!"

"Who's there?"

"Stop crying little baby!"

Well, it's a good start to a joke anyway, right?

We love our spunky guy.  He is a lot of fun and a lot of sweetness all wrapped up into one clever little boy.  

James is Two!

Our sweet, cuddly, determined little James has turned two.  I can't believe it.  I feel like I was just at the hospital with his brand new 9 pound 4 ounce self.

We threw him a small birthday celebration, kicked off by our family tradition of balloons in the bedroom upon wake-up.

I couldn't figure out what James would like to eat for dinner.  Usually I let the kids choose, but James never eats more than one or two bites of any dinner.  So I took him to the store and let him direct me.  He picked out corn dogs and boxed mac and cheese.

I decided to just make the corn dogs.  I served oranges as a side--at least I knew he would eat those!  James would live on oranges, crackers, and milk if I let him.  Oh wait, he basically does.

We did have some juice as well for a special treat.

And then, cupcakes!

At the last minute, I decided to make James a little train engine.  It is very plain because I only had chocolate and pretzels to decorate it with, but it worked.  

James enjoyed blowing out the candles.  He knew exactly what to do and when.

And he had pleeeeenty of help eating.

Plenty of help.

At one point, James decided a birthday train is more fun to eat when each bite is accompanied by helicopter noises.

We are really grateful for our funny guy!  James loves to laugh, and he loves to have his way.  He keeps us on our toes, and every single person in this house as a bit of a soft spot for him.  

What is Everett like at age 7?

Everett is so many things.  I love this boy with all of my heart.  I loved him when as a baby he wouldn't let anyone else hold him and wanted to be fed All The Time, I loved him at age two and three when he had fifty tantrums a day, and I love him now.  I don't know anyone who has as much excitement for life as Everett does.

He is a feeler and a do-er.  Everett feels every emotion with conviction and intensity.  This means he is very empathetic and is great at recognizing others' needs.  He also feels frustration easily and strongly, but I have been amazed at the ability he has already developed to control those powerful emotions in a productive way.  His loyalty and love for me means that he is generally always willing to do whatever I ask him to without complaint.  I really do not think I could run this house without him.

A few days ago, Everett saw me sit down rather heavily.  This pregnancy has been filled with aches and pains, and though I'm careful to not worry the kids with my complaints, Everett must have seen the pain on my face.  He sat right next to me, put his arm around me, and said simply, "I know it's hard to carry a big baby around all day."

He loves to make people laugh.  When the missionaries from our church come over for dinner, Everett has a very hard time controlling his desire to be extremely clown-ish for the duration of the evening.  Everett genuinely likes everyone he meets and does not understand how people can say rude things.  Once or twice Everett confessed to me in tears that a friend had said something hurtful to him.  I did my best to reassure him and offer some perspective.  Even though Everett is very teachable in those moments, he cannot wrap his mind around how someone could be intentionally or casually cruel to a classmate.

Everett also has a pure, unshakable conviction of the power of prayer.  He leans on prayer.  He always reminds me that he needs to say a prayer before he goes to sleep (because I would never remember if left to my own devices, unfortunately).  Everett loves to pray.  He usually prays for almost everyone he knows so sometimes his prayers are quite long.

For a long time, Everett complained about going to church.  I considered many different options, and kept him in my own prayers, but nothing really worked to help him feel more inclined to be more positive.  I think a lot of this had to do with the hours of sitting and the uncomfortable clothes (this is a boy who can't even stand wearing jeans).  Case in point: immediately after we park the car in the garage after church, Everett RUNS up to his room and tears his clothes off, then usually changes into pajamas.  One morning, Everett prayed that he would have a nice time at church.  I didn't think much of it until later that day when I realized that it had been the first Sunday in a long, long time that Everett had not complained.  When I pointed this out to Everett, he beamed.  He prayed for himself every week after that and has never had another problem.

What a simple solution to an issue I had been trying to solve in a more complicated way!



One time on the way home from school, Everett did something inappropriate (I can't remember what) so I confiscated his Ewok.  Everett was, understandably, upset by that and stewed the entire way home.  We all climbed out of the car and went inside and eventually Everett earned his Ewok back.  I thought that was all there was to the story until later that night when I was tucking Everett in bed.  He told me that when he was sitting in the car that afternoon, he had a feeling that he should look after James.  Everett jumped to it and saw that someone was in the middle of slamming the door shut right where James's hand was.  Everett reached out and stopped the door just in time, keeping James from having an injured hand.  "Mommy," Everett said soberly, "Even though I was feeling angry, I listened to the Holy Ghost and he helped me to save James's life today."  Everett would do anything for his little brother James.

Our nighttime conversations are precious.  These are the times when Everett is the most open with me.  We often spend quite a while talking about the things that are worrying him.  I just listen and reassure as much as possible but when I do give Everett some advice, he is always eager to listen.

On one such night, Everett confided in me, "Mommy, I just don't like William very much."  I smiled.  I understood the feeling.  William was just getting old enough to do many annoying things to an older brother.  Everett's eyes were glossed with shame, so with my arm around him, I reassured Everett that his feelings were normal, that everyone feels that way from time to time about their siblings, and that there is absolutely nothing wrong with him.  Then I told him some things from my childhood and we talked about how if he wants to build a stronger love for William, the best thing to do is to serve him.  Everett eagerly accepted this advice.  I have not reminded him to do nice things for William, but ever since that night, Everett has made a conscious, daily effort to involve William in his activities, serve him, and treat him with respect.  I still hear bickering, but they have become much closer.

Everett and Ashley have always been close.  Everett was less than two years old when she was born, so he has never remembered life without her.  One time a neighborhood friend said something that hurt Ashley's feelings.  When she crumpled into tears during dinner after telling us what had happened, Everett must have felt the need to make it better.  So early the next morning he walked next door with her and helped her to articulate that her feelings had been hurt and kindly requested that the friend please not say that again.  I did not know they did this until after it happened, but when I saw confidence in Ashley that hadn't been there before, I was less worried.

When we moved to our new city this summer, both kids had to make new friends at school.  Everett found a best friend very quickly.  Ashley likes to build friendships more slowly, and often was alone (though not necessarily lonely) at recess.  Everett noticed this and made sure that she could play with him and his friend each recess if it made her feel more comfortable.  Everett's sweet friend never complained, to my knowledge.

(Everett hates spelling.  Needless to say, I think we need to go over his middle name, which is Wayne.)

And, just for fun, this is what Everett's primary class said about him this year.  It's pretty accurate, I think!