The season of Advent

It's upon us once again, the beautiful season of Advent. I didn't realize until this afternoon that today was the first Sunday of Advent - still in November mode and our church doesn't specifically celebrate Advent (makes me sad and is one of the very few things I dislike about our church) so it wasn't brought to my attention at church this morning. Thankfully after years of much practice we know just what we need to begin celebrating the Advent season in our house. Two of the three nativity sets we own have been dusted off and brought out for the boys to play with, the third nativity set is my Willow Tree one that little boys are not allowed to touch and isn't out yet as it is awaiting the finishing touches of the piece of furniture on which it will be displayed (more on the that when it's complete). New candles adorned our city of Bethlehem Advent wreath. As I tell the stories of Advent that lead up to Jesus' birth night after night Matthew probably won't understand most of it, but will be mesmerized by the candles on the Advent wreath. Joshua on the other hand soaks it all in which reminds me why I adore this age/stage (some times at least) and why this is one of my most favorite times of the year, especially with children! Time to quiet our hearts and prepare for one of the most beautiful celebrations, Jesus' birth.

A little Christmas shopping done. . .

. . . . okay, so maybe it's more than a little. After 34 years of never having taken part in the early morning, Black Friday chaos I finally bit the bullet this year and went out with a friend and did it. My apologies to Erin who I called crazy for many years, I see now why she does it! Busy is an understatement when describing stores on Black Friday. I've never seen anything like it! I've never tag -team shopped (one person stands in line while the other goes and gets what they want and then you switch) nor have I ever stood in lines as long as I did that morning. We got some great deals, put a huge dent into many Christmas lists and had a fantastic time doing it. Pretty sure this will become an annual tradition.

Future plastic surgeon. . .

Practicing his "liposuction" procedure . . . Every time the vacuum is out Matthew has to use the vacuum hose to suction his cheeks, ears and even hair. It's hilarious to watch and he gets such a kick out of it!
Seeing if he can suck out some of the chub from his cheeks.

On to the ears!

Seriously?!?!

In case you thought maybe I was exaggerating the truth a bit when I say Matthew is a climber just check out the video below. The first time he did this I had just taken some fruit out of the refrigerator to wash it and left the refrigerator door open just a touch; in the less than a minute it took me to wash the fruit and turn back toward the refrigerator this is what I found! Not only is he a climber, but a quick one! Seriously kid?!?!

My monkeys at the zoo

Since the weather was so nice this week I figured we should take advantage of it and visit the zoo. The zoo used to be open all year long, but now is closing for a few months so we won't be going again until the spring or summer. The last time we were at the zoo was early summer and Matthew couldn't walk, so today was a whole new experience for him being able to walk around and walk right up to the exhibits. Many of the animals had been moved inside already which was a bit disappointing and the ones that were left weren't all that active, but the boys had fun anyway. The biggest hit this time around was the aquarium, the frogs and the reptile house. The first time we ventured in the aquarium building a zoo employee was feeding the penguins which enthralled Matthew for quite a long time. A great morning spent together!

Staring at the bald eagles.

An up close look at the wild turkeys.

Crawling through the train.

Peek!

Joshua screaming, "wake up!!!" at the sleeping bear.

Discovering what footprints belong to what animal.

Matthew liked his up close view of the flamingos.

Looking at the monkey who was at the top of the exhibit.

Wild Child

Our second born is a wild child, especially when compared to his older brother. He's a daredevil yet has no concern for his safety or well-being which doesn't make for the best combo in many scenerios. Pretty much banking on this one being in the ER a few times during his life; honestly, I'm surprised we haven't made a trip there yet with this little stinker. Below is a video of Matthew's latest game.

Escape Artist No More

Matthew is a climber. The child has been climbing ladders with ease since 11 months old. We knew we were in trouble with this one, but I was still praying that he wouldn't figure out how to climb out of his crib; unfortunately for me, Matthew did just that last week. I heard him gibbering away in his crib so I went to get him up from his nap, but apparently I didn't come fast enough because as I opened the door he was just about to lower himself over the side of his crib. Nice. On Saturday I never even heard him climb out of bed, but about 30 min. after I put him down for his nap I heard a banging noise and discovered not only was Matthew out of bed, but he'd been playing in his room for quite some time. I popped him back in bed only to hear him banging around again, this time he decided it would fun to empty out his sock drawer and even deposit some socks in his diaper champ. Back into bed he went for the third time and thankfully this time he fell asleep. So what to do about the monkey climbing out of his bed?!?! He's definitely not ready to handle a toddler bed, as evidenced by Saturdays shinanigans, and I'm not ready to play such games so the search began for a crib tent. The bad part is we have a convertible crib in which the front and back of the crib become the head and footboard for a full size bed, so finding a crib tent that will work is not easy. I read some reviews and someone mentioned that a certain brand tent actually fit on a convertible crib so off on an online search I went. I happened upon an ad on craigslist and it was the exact crib tent I was looking for at a fraction of the cost! We picked the tent up today and I rigged it up the best I could before nap time - I have to add some additional velcro on the straps so they actually go around the crib more securely since the tops of his crib rails are thicker. Matthew thought the tent was all fun and games until it came time for him to take a nap, then he was perturbed that he couldn't get out! We'll see how long it takes until he figures out how to unzip the tent, because it's just a matter of time until the monkey figures that out too!