Day in the Life of a 'Creepy' Elf... (oh, and Santa)

We made our annual Macy's trip to see A Day in the Life of an Elf.  For those of you that haven't seen it, it is really quite cool but I realized this year how incredibly creepy these elves actually are.  If you don't believe me, check out the little horse-maker stage center below.  And if he's not quite creepy enough for you, check out the dude riding the horse on the left.  I mean, they had to go out of their way to actually make these things so creepy!  Anyway, the boys loved it and we had a great time.

Joshi and Jamison clearly feel the same!

We also got to visit our dear old friend Santa.  We had our own private room and he spent lots of patient time with us.  There were no tears, no pulling of the beard, and no hanging from the chandelier - only lots of curiosity and smiles for the white-haired guy.  The boys were very serious as they finally announced what they want for Christmas.

Jack (in a mere whisper that only Santa could here): 

"I want a bow and arrow for Christmas." 

Now, who isn't saying to yourself right now - You'll shoot your eye out kid!!  I know that immediately came to my mind each of the six times Jack has said he wants a bow & arrow.

Joshua: 

"I want the pink bear from Toy Story, Princesses, and Toy Story stuff."

Yep, you read right... princesses.  And princesses he will get!

Jamison:

"Dat!"

Hmmm... your guess is as good as mine but I believe he was pointing at Santa's beard as he said it.  

Jamison has become quite skilled at the voodo magic - "look into my eyes... you WILL ask for a Thomas the Train!"

And this next pic is how you know it's time to go.  

We had a great time!  Thanks Grandma for joining in the fun and helping to corral.  

Joshi's New Boobie

Jack had a birthday party yesterday for his little school friend Abby.  We made a Target run to pick up a gift for Abby and of course headed straight for the Barbie aisle.  Before actually making it to the real Barbie's I got hung up on a larger, Barbie-ish type gal, called a Moxie.  These Moxie Girlz are so cute and stylish, I couldn't resist.  We brought little "Avery" home and laid her peacefully on the dining room table.  That is until Joshi set his sights on this unfamiliar little being that had suddenly graced our presence.  I think I had to take the box from him for what felt like sixteen times.  Yeah, yeah, I know... I should have put her somewhere he couldn't reach but secretly, it was pretty darn cute to watch.  

Time passed and Avery had been forgotten until....

Joshi: "Mommy, I want a boobie."

Mom: "Say what?"

Joshi: "I want a boobie."

(Jack is laughing in the background)

(Dad is chuckling right along with Jack.)

Mom: "What do you want sweety.... ohhhh (light bulb) you want a Barbie?"

Joshi: "Yes, a boobie (said like duh, I just told you that three times!)"

Joshi: "Do you have two boobies Mommy?"

(Jack's laughing has turned hysterical now.)
Jack: "Joshi, it's now boobie, it's barbie!"

Joshi: "Well can I have the boobie?"

Mom: "Tell you what, if you stay in bed and take a really good nap for Daddy today while Mommy  and Jack are at the birthday party, I'll bring a barbie home for you.  Deal?"  

(Side note: This bride in direct response to a very rough nap routine the day prior.  I'm not afraid to bribe when appropriate and potentially necessary.)

Joshi:  Jumping up and down - "yeah, yeah."

Mom: "What color hair would you like your barbie to have?' 

Joshi: "Black, definitely."

Jack and I headed to the party.  It was at a community center gymnasium and as soon as we walked in and I met Abby, I could tell she was more of a sports kind of gal (sports invitation, at a gymnasium, duh!)  Suddenly the Moxie Girl felt a little out of place.  What can I say... I have three boys!  I was so blinded by the thought of buying something girlie, I may have missed the sports boat.

Our sweet little Josh held up his end of the deal and took a long nap for Daddy.  Hooray, because it would have broken my heart not to give him his new boobie, I mean barbie.  We presented "Sophina" and his eyes were aglow.  The boys took her under their wing and welcomed her to the family with open arms, but of course she didn't stay in one piece for long.  It took exactly 1.3 minutes to loose her first boot while the second stayed on for an impressive 2.4 minutes.  She's now the footless wonder but Joshi loves her just the same.

Joshi kindly allowed Jack to sleep with his new boobie but demanded her prompt return upon waking.  I didn't have the heart to separate the little loves so I agreed to let Sophina attend school.  As we were walking to his room, little chatty charlie announced to anyone within earshot "look at my new boobie, I got a new boobie."  Most people got it because he'd hold Sophina out as he was saying it.  But for those that didn't get it and only heard boobie, well, that was just plain funny.

Mr. Daydreamer

Just as we do every night, the boys and I cuddled up and read books before bed.  Joshi to my right and Jack and Jamison to the left.  They each got to pick a book and Jack picked Mr. Daydreamer.  We have all the "Mr." books but somehow managed to never have read this one.  We opened the book, started reading, and this is what we saw.  

For those that probably don't have their reading glasses on hand (you know who you are,) I'll read the very relevant parts.

"It's also a story about a little boy named Jack."  

Jack looked at me with a big smile and said "seriously, it's says Jack?"  I pointed to the word and he knew it was his name - the smile got even bigger.  

We read on... 

"And you don't know what he looks like, so here's a picture of him."  

Our eyes moved to the right to see this strangely familiar blonde image.  He looks just like OUR Jack.  Jack and I started giggling like little school girls and then suddenly stopped.  At that very instant, we both looked down at Jack's pajama's and realized that OUR Jack was wearing the exact same pj's as our little book friend.  The giggle turned into a full-on, 5-minute, laugh-so-hard-you-cry session.  Joshi and Jamison were in on it too initially, even though they had absolutely no idea what they were really laughing about.  After a minute or so, they stopped and just stared at Jack and I like we had suddenly grew two heads - the look on Jamison's face is burned in my memory because he was clearly thinking "what in the hell is wrong with these people?"  Joshi just couldn't figure out if we were actually laughing or actually crying.  I had to hug him and say "it's ok, it's just so funny" so he knew all was good.

Laugh-so-hard-you-cry moments are so very rare.  I feel incredibly lucky to have shared one with my three sweet peas tonights.  How awesome!

Special Person Day

We were cordially invited to "Special Person Day" at Jack's school.  The events of the day included a ship full of Kindergartners singing more songs about turkey's than I even knew existed and a post singing, classroom party party.  We were even lucky enough to play turkey bingo, using candy corn as the game pieces of course, and yell GOBBLE, GOBBLE instead of the traditional, boring old bingo.  The little cuties spent a whole week decorating and getting the classroom ready and it showed.  Jack was so proud!  Funny thing is, I thought "special person" referred to our sweet little Kindergartners, not us old people.

The grand entrance. Do you love their turkey drumstick hats or what?!?

We have turkeys, chefs, and pilgrims.

Oops, Thanksgiving seems to be missing its "A."

Prettiest Pancake

The boys and I made their favorite meal, blueberry pancakes.  After taking one of the pancakes off the griddle, we discovered it looked like a ladies head with big hair, so why not have some fun with it?  She is pretty, no?  Jeez, thinking I may just need a touch more estrogen in my life.  It's the little things....

Turkey - Real, Real?

Jack: "Mommy, is turkey real?"

Mom: "What do you mean 'real'?"

Jack: "Like real, real?"

Mom: "Like as in a real turkey?"

Jack: "Yes, but dead."

Mom: "Yes, the turkey we eat is real."

Jack: [hold for long pause]..... "But it's dead.  So it once was real but now it's dead."

Mom: "Yes hon, sometimes animals have to die so we can live."

Jack: [hold for another long pause - so long I thought the conversation was over]..... "Ok, can we have some beef with our turkey this year?"

Brotherly Love

Jamison... just minding his own sweet business.  Joshi... playing with a very scary, very large black rat. Any guess as to what is about to happen next?   

Yep, you guessed it.  Note Jamison's closed fist, he is getting ready to knock this big, scary rat right out should it get even a millimeter closer.  Ahhh, the joys of brothers!

The Great Pumpkin

Halloween has come and gone but my Mac problems have not!  Ugh... is there anything more frustrating than non-working electronics?!?  I don't know about you but I certainly take my connectivity for granted and when it's not working it REALLY irks me.  Anyway, my Internet is working - for now - so I thought I'd get a quick post in.  Luckily, I had already added all the picks which is half the battle.  Clearly, this post was intended for the pre-Halloween time frame but better late than never.

We visited our usual pumpkin patch on a gorgeous day in October.  I think I have this very shot of walking the same pumpkin sidewalk since Jack was a walker.  I'll have to pull of them up one day.  They boys had a great time picking their pumpkins, as usual.  Jack is very particular about assigning pumpkins to each family member.  It is serious business!  Since this was so long ago I'm not going to write much, I'll let the pics speak for themselves.

I love that they are sharing the handle.

1 down, 4 to go!

I've accepted the fact that it is nearly impossible to get a pic with all three looking in my direction.

Why so sad?  Not sure, but you gotta love those lips!

Mr. Happy

Check out those big blues.

Whatchya finding Jamison?

Hey, I don't know about the pumpkins but this sand is pretty cool.

The hay maze.

As usual, Jack was all about pulling the seeds.

As usual, Joshi was all about keeping his distance from the pumpkin guts.  We wants NO PART of that messy business.

"Mommy, I am not touching the pumpkin, ok, its yucky?"

Jamison, on the other hand, was all about the goop.  He would have stuck his whole head in there had it fit.

Cool.

Seed stew

and... the finished products.  

Funny boy

Life With an 18 Month Old

Breakfast in high chair.  

Throw sippy cup to floor.

 Throw unwanted waffle bits to floor.

Mom picks up said waffle bits and sippy cup.  

Efficiently apply shoes and socks to 18 month old (18mo) feet, while still in high chair.

Pull own shoes from closet and apply.

Turn back to 18mo to find one shoe and one sock on the floor.

Ponder how he managed to get the sock off while in big tray'd high chair.  Decide he has long arms.

Apply shoe and sock.

Gather coats and hats.

Grab 18mo to coat him up.  

Much more interested in playing. 

To show his dissatisfaction, decided a backward head butt to Mom was in order.  

Somehow managed to catch my top two front teeth AND my bottom lip, which now resembles Angelina Jolie.  

Spend 3.4 minutes pulling all five fingers through each arm hole.

Apply cute stripey hat.

Let's go boys!

Out the door and into car.

18mo hat that was there 5 seconds ago has vanished.

Back into house.  

Hat found, back to car.

Drop Jack off at bus.

Mom and 18mo head to the doctor (sore ears.)

Open car door.

Both shoes and one sock on floor.

Re-apply shoes and one sock.

And hat.

Unload.

18mo flirts with woman in elevator "Hhhi." If he could wink, he certainly would have.

Enter doctor office.  

Flirt with women behind desk "Hhhi."

Escorted to room.  

"Hhhi, hhhi, hhhi" to anyone who walked by.

Stand on chair (with Mommies guidance, of course) and dance.  Good distraction for 2.2 minutes.  

Unload Mommies wallet.

Doctor enters stage right.

Hi Jamison, how is the little guy today?  

"Hhhi."

Doctor examines Jamison while he simultaneously manages to kick off both shoes.

Doctor makes a funny joke about it. 

Yeah, super funny doc.

As suspected, ears infected.

Doctor exits stage right.

Wash hands and head back to the lobby.

"Bhhy, bhhy, bhhy" to anyone within a 10 foot proximity.

Load.

Drive to Walgreens.

Open car door.

Two socks and one shoe visible.  

Climb into back to find other shoe.

Re-apply socks and shoes.

Carry into Walgreens and load into cart.

Fill prescription and ask for it back "stat" because Mom has a meeting (in a slightly passive aggressive manner.)

Make our way to Children's pain relief aisle.

Bust open box of Advil and dose up 18mo right in aisle.

Wander around while waiting.  

Uh-uh, shoe missing.

Retrace steps to find missing shoe.  

Discover it at the end of aisle 9.

Re-apply shoe.

"Cook, prescription ready."

Open prescription and dose 18mo at pharmacy counter.

Load.

Arrive daycare.

Open car door.

Shoes and socks on floor, all visible.  

This time one wet - impressive considering the drive from Walgreens to daycare is about a quarter mile.

"Seriously Jamison?"

Re-apply shoes and socks.

Head into daycare while juggling a 33 pounder, big pack of diapers, pack of pull-ups, and bag of spare clothes.  

Front desk staff greets us warmly - love them!

"Hhhi, hhhi (again, with the implied wink.")

Enter room.

Good morning Jamison, did you have a good morning?

Yeah, pretty uneventful.

Loads of kisses.

"Bhhy."

Exit daycare.

Didn't even make it to the car before deciding - I already miss him!

Pirates and Puppies and Woody's, Oh My!

Halloween was so much fun this year.  Joshi really understood what it was all about so he was able to keep up with Jack, almost.  We also attended the usual, and much anticipated, Halloween parade at the younger boys school.  I've always said it's my favorite two hours of the year because it's so stinking cute, you can hardly stand it!  Check out our little puppy dog below - so serious!

Coming back from the other direction.  Yep, still serious!  A smile was not in the cards for this grumpy puppy.

Joshi on the other hand, did not stop smiling the ENTIRE time he was on display.  He was so proud of his costume and loved every second of his 6 minutes of fame.  See the horse he's carrying?  Well, his name is Bullseye (of course, right?) and Joshi could not have loved his Bullseye more if he had been a real pony.  He kept saying "look at my horsey."  

This was the first time in 5 years I didn't get to see Jack do the walk of fame so we had to settle for a photo shoot before hitting the streets.  How cute are they?  Jack was FULLY in character as you can see from the pics below.  A big thanks to Grandpa Florida for the costume - so awesome - now we get to use it for dressup!  On a completely different note, check out the size similarity between Joshua and Jamison.  They are exactly two years apart in age with only a 2-pound weight difference.  Jamison is one big boy!

 Alas, pictures were over so we set out to the streets.  Jamison stayed home with Gradmama and Grandpa Bill to hand out candy so Corey and I could tag-team the older J's.  The following shot captures Joshua's state-of-mind perfectly throughout our adventure.  He would run up to a house, say trick-or-treat, gather his goods and run back as fast as he could and loudly announce the new gem added to his bucket. 

"I got enough Skittles for EVERYBODY (which is exactly what he was exclaiming below!")  As far as the running, we were actually a little concerned about it because he kept wiping out - we thought for sure he'd have bloody knee's by the time we were done.  But, he would pop right back up each time and was no worse for the ware.

Jack loved every minute as well!  There was a bit of a bottle-neck at one house with a boatload of kids arriving at once.  All the parents were waiting at the end of the driveway and he came back to the group and announced in a very serious manner "well that house sure had a very big line."  Everyone got a good chuckle out of it.  Of course, par to last year, he opted NOT to take any chocolate offerings.  At least this year he'd say "no thanks" instead of "I don't like chocolate, do you have anything else?"as was the case last year.  Hey, we are making some progress.  I thought for sure he'd want to stay out all night but after 45 minutes or so, he was ready to head-in and be the candy passer-outer - an equally cool job as far as our boys are concerned.  

It's become a bit of a tradition now to TorT with our neighbors.  Check out their beautiful little vampire below.  They also have a son who is Jack's age who didn't quite make the picture.  He was a handsome little vampire.  Thanks for hanging with us Mike & Ang - always fun!

I'm so bummed this shot turned out a little blurry but I couldn't resist posting it anyway.  He is certainly the cutest little puppy I've ever seen!

It was a fantastic day!  The boys have already begun planning their costume plan of attack for next year.  Joshua is certain he wants to be a 'good' witch.  Jack is pondering Captain America - we shall see!

Belly Envy

Greetings Cook Boy Chronicle fans (all five of you ;).  It's been 21 days since my last confession, er, I mean post.  Trust me though, there is a good reason.

Big news on the Mom front.  9 pound baby, 5.8 gallons of amniotic fluid and a 50 pound weight gain (X 3) wreaked havoc on this previously hot little body.  I decided that while I am still somewhat young, I needed to repair the irreversible damage done to my mid-section.  I'm so proud of myself for making this decision and following through on it because far too many people look back and say shoulda, coulda, woulda.  Oh, and there is no way I was going to walk around with a gaping hole in my stomach muscles and a belly that rivaled the Wonderbread factory.  

Hi-ho, hi-ho, off to surgery I go.  (*this is where you may want to cover your eyes if your of the squeamish type - ahem... Corey*)  It was a pretty massive three hour surgery - one hour per baby, I guess.  I have an incision from side-to-side (all skin about an inch above my belly button and below was removed) and three layers of stitches were placed to pull my stomach muscles back together (that were 7 inches apart by the way - no wonder my ribs were rubbing together!)  The stretched and unrecognizable tattoo that previously occupied my stomach is completely gone, all but one tiny corner anyway.  I like to think of that little corner as a sweet reminder of the dough belly that once was.  

Today is 4 weeks since the big day and I'm doing wonderfully!  I haven't regretted the decision for one second, even at the worst of it when I felt like my body was on fire.  Swelling can take three to six months to completely resolve.  When that happens, I promise to post a pic of the beautiful new belly and enviable new belly button.  

A big THANKS to family and friends for chipping in and helping out while I was down for the count.  It wasn't always easy with Mom out of commission for so long, but we all made it through - and now we've got an even happier and more confident Mommy on the backend.

Meet the Sleep Ferry

The Sleep Ferry is the honorary sixth member of our family.  She comes late at night and delivers cute little sleep coupons under the boys pillows when they are quick and cooperative sleepers.  We love seeing their proud little faces every morning when they run into our bedroom with their new coupon in hand.  

Thank you Sleep Ferry for making bed time so easy, most days anyway.

Yesss Ms. Cook

Well, it's official, I am a Sunday School teacher of eight 3-year olds and I couldn't be more excited about it!  Yesterday was the first official day but it was a weird one because there was a keeping the promise of baptism event so all the parents were invited to stay for the hour.  

The best moment of the day happened during the large group time.  There were loads of kids and loads of parents present for the lesson of the day - which happened to be "Everyone is unique."  Their way of visually proving this point was to gather one of the Kindergarten classes of 7 kids up front.  The leader slowly pulled out 7 colorful, uniquely different fish from a big mesh bag.  She asked the children to pass them down until they each had one.  Simple right?  Not so fast.  The entire crowd was watching what kind of fish the leader was going to pull next and didn't notice that the little girl on the end was desperately trying to hang on to 6 very large fish in her tiny little arms.  They were stacked so high you could hardly see her little face.  It was one of the funniest, most innocent child moments the crowd had laid their eyes on!  What a great start to what I am sure is going to be a great year of Sunday School.  

Solid Advice from a 3-Year Old

Joshua: "Mommy, if you ever get naked at Target, the police will come and get you."  Well there goes my plans for tomorrow!

Week One Down

The much anticipated first week of Kindergarten is done!  Only 39 (or something like that) to go!  I was lucky enough to be invited for the first day so Jack and I made a day of it.  We dropped his brothers off at school and raced back home just in time to meet the infamous bus driver.  We weren't taking the bus on this day but I wanted Jack to see him and for him to see Jack - and boy am I glad we did!

We still had a little time to kill before the 10am start so we headed to Caribou for a very grown up beverage.  A coffee for me and a very berry smoothie for Jack.  After an in depth conversation about where bugs go when they die and what they do up there (of which I explained that bugs have their own heaven because they are not invited to the people heaven), we headed to Jack's new home away from home.  He was excited and raring to go!  We made our big debut and the festivities were all coordinated very nicely.  After crafting a Clifford the Big Red Dog project together (see below), Jack and his classmates were escorted off to do something fun while Ms. F talked to us parents about all the boring stuff.  Upon their return, we did a scavenger hunt and visited the playground and lunch room.  We left at Noon feeling very excited - in fact, Jack didn't want to leave at all - I think he would have camped out until the next morning had he had the choice.

That's a good looking Clifford!

It took everything in me to just stand back and watch - he seemed so little.

This slide rocks!

  Next up - Some Mommy/Son bonding.  We made our way to the mall to pick up new school shoes for Jack, went to lunch at a good 'ol fashioned diner, did a little clothes shopping, hit the rides, and most importantly, got Jack's portrait drawn (as you can see above.)  Cute, right?!?  Looks just like him (albeit it does look a tad creepy in photo form.)

Wednesday was the first full day of Kindergarten, which meant the first bus ride home.  The bus ride was really the only aspect Jack was nervous about.  He didn't understand how he was going to find the right bus and get off at the right stop - he seemed to be pretty convinced he'd end up in California.  I assured him there would be helpers and I'd be waiting at the stop but nothing seemed to convince him, he just needed to experience it for himself.  Here comes the bus (btw - gorgeous day, or what?!?)

 And here comes the kindergartner.  The driver had to say his name about 4 times before it occurred to Jack that this was his stop.  He was literally glowing as he approached, and I don't mean from the sun.  It was immediately apparent what a great day he had and boy did he have a lot to share.  He started with his bus buddy - I nice young fella from his class named Malkup.  I said "Malcom?"  Jack: "No, Malkup."  Ok.  Jack and Malkup made a deal with each other that they'd sit together everyday.  How comforting!  By the way, come to find out his bus buddies name is indeed Malcolm. :)  

Jack continued to tell us about his whole day.  Another BIG highlight was the foot long hot dog, with two white packets of ketchup, and the fact that he got to eat it WHOLE!  I've always cut his hotdogs in half the long way so to Jack, this whole hotdog was the unofficial, or maybe official, leap into bigboyhood.  There was nothing he didn't like about his first day of Kindergarten and couldn't wait to go back the next day.