Well so much for blogging weekly.  Once again time flew by and it’s been over a month since I last wrote.

We have been fairly busy enjoying life since I last wrote.  I had hoped to have pictures for this post but seeing as our main laptop is in for repair they will have to wait until next time.  So this will be a little bit of a steam of consious recap of the past month so I apologize if things don’t flow well.

First was Halloween with our Ice Cream Cone (or Cupcake) depending on what she felt like calling herself and our Fireman with the fire hose that made noise.  Daddy and Gideon had fun putting that together.

Then the first part of November the kids had a day off school so Adam and I took the day off and we went to the Children’s Museum for the day or at least most of the morning.  That was one of the days that Cecilia’s knowledge and understanding blew me away.  We had grabbed Subway on the way back to the car from the museum and Cecilia had helped Daddy pick out chips.  However, since it was a rather late lunch she fell asleep before the chips were opened.  When we got home she wanted chips so we told her we would have to go get more.  We went to the store and she informed us when we got there that she was going to ride in the cart to go help daddy get the chips.  The fact that she put it all together and had a fairly complex statement blew both Adam and I away.  We knew she was smart but that type of statement isn’t typical for a 2 year old.

November also included voting with mommy.  Gideon was interested in what Mommy was doing and actually got mad that Daddy had already voted so he couldn’t go help Daddy too.  And Cecilia liked the I Voted Stickers.  She ended up with 3.

Stone Soup lunch at school was a fun highlight near the end of November.  Both kids classes helped in preparing the soup and lunch and we joined them for lunch.  Of course they were so excited it took them a really long time to eat.

Then came Thanksgiving which was a somewhat quiet day at home.  We ate Turkey or Turtles as the kids called them rolls for breakfast while watching the Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade.  Then Grandma and Grandpa Nelson came over for lunch.  And our first snow occurred that day too so the next day we spent some time playing in the snow even though it was really cold.

The day after Thanksgiving was also the big decorate the house for Christmas day.  I mentioned on Thanksgiving that we should get the decorations out so that we could put them up the next day and the first thing Gideon said was let’s get the train.  The things they remember.  Although I may end up having to buy a new one this year as two toddlers can be a little hard on it.  But hey they enjoy it and that is what it was bought for.  I did manage to get most of the decorating done on Friday although some went into Saturday because some of the lights weren’t working and I needed additional garland which took Adam and the kids two trips to find.  Cecilia went in the morning while Gideon helped Mommy.  Then Gideon and Daddy had a special treat of a movie followed by errands.

This weekend was spent choosing toys to give to a toy drive which took almost 45 minutes.  Gideon wanted a fire truck but wasn’t finding one he liked.  In fact at one point when I showed him a lego one he said “It wasn’t perfect”.  We finally settled on Sarge fom Cars.  Cecilia had an easier time and picked a baby to give away.  We then got to see Santa (Cecilia didn’t want anything to do with him) and have cookies before getting our anual tree fom the realtor.  We then stopped for lunch at a restaurant.  The kids are getting so much better at restaurants which is nice.  While we were there we were having chips and salsa (it was a Mexican restaurant) and it was a little too hot for Cecilia so Adam gave her a plain chip to help cool her mouth.  Her words were “Feel me better”.  It was so cute.  The turning around of making her feel better.  Then after church yesterday we stopped at a live “Bethlehem” at another local church.  The kids were a little overwhelmed but seemed to have fun.  I think Gideon seems to understand the true meaning of Christmas though as the main thing he wanted to do was go see baby Jesus.  And yes we had to go at least 3 times.  Cecilia also liked that part and sat there just looking at him for several minutes.  I only pray they continue to keep that as the focus as they grow.

Finally today we put the tree up on the front porch and baked Christmas cookies.  We made some Gingerbread people and lots of sugar cookies.  The kids helped a fair amount although when she was done Cecilia started taking the cookies off the cookie sheet (before I could cook them) so I got to redo some.  Also unfortunately Gideon had a tumble while trying to decorate and a whole tray had to be picked up from the floor.  In fact the floor still has sprinkles but at least he was ok just a little scared.  Overall it was fun.

Oh and as I was making dinner I had the following conversation with Cecilia that made me smile:

Me: You’re a pickle.

Cecilia: You’re an olive.

I just had to laugh.  To her it seemed like a logical response.

Well that is all for now.  Until next time and in case I don’t manage to post again for a while.  Enjoy the Christmas season with your friends and family but remember that Jesus is the Reason for the Season.

Heather