Decorating a gingerbread house (or train) has become a yearly tradition with Grandma Morehead. If the boys had had their druthers, they would have eaten as much candy as they put on the house.
In other news, today was also a sick day for Jason, who has a nasty cold. And we had a most unwelcome visitor: a squirrel somehow crawled into our pipes and died, blocking the main and backing up a drain in our basement. Yuck.
DPP pics from past years: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
The boys love to watch Daddy play some sort of game on his phone. I don’t really know how it goes — something about running. I’m not sure he’s too good at it. Most often I hear Simon say, “Whelp, you’re not going to win this one, I guess,” and Ian saying, “Awwwww” or “Oh no!” But in Jason’s defense, I hardly ever pay attention, so take that as you will.
DPP pics from past years: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Lunch with Daddy is the best.
DPP pics from past years: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
DPP pics from past years: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
DPP pics from past years: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
You’ve never seen cheeks like my nephew’s cheeks. No one in the history of cheeks has ever had cheeks as kissable as these.
DPP photos from past years: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Quiet afternoon.
DPP pics from past years: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
The boys helped me make waffles this morning, and Clara didn’t want to be left out.
We’ve started a couple new charts on our kitchen chalkboark, one for obedience and one for (not) complaining. The obedience one is new this morning, and we have some kinks to work out, but the basic idea is every time I ask the boys to do something, they get either a smiley face or a grumpy face, depending on how they respond. There will be some sort of reward and/or withholding of privileges depending on how the count stands at the end of each day. I’m thinking something to do with more stories or later bedtime; I haven’t quite decided yet. The complaining chart has been going on for a few days now, and it was a stroke of brilliance, if I do say so myself. If the boys complain — about turning off the TV, about what we’re eating for lunch, about whatever — I simply put an X on the board under the complaining one’s name. If they continue to cry about the X, they get another. Two Xs is usually enough to put a stop to it because at three Xs, they lose their privileges (usually screen time), and five Xs means no privileges tomorrow either. No Xs at the end of the day yields a treat of some kind. It has all but put an end to my threatening (and then having to follow through) and to my pleading with them to stop whining/complaining/crying. Depending on my mood and tolerance level, I can hand out Xs fairly liberally or I can be less strict without sacrificing consistency.
So far this has been a four smiley face, one X sort of morning.
DPP pics from past years: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Another beautiful day, another walk at Pioneers Park.
DPP pics from past years: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
Our sweet girl loves to blow kisses, especially to her daddy.
