Mommy and P Days

Fridays are Mommy and P days.  Every Friday we get to spend the entire day together just the two of us, so it is a special day.  We always try to do something special that we don't do every day, whether it is going to the Dinosaur Museum, playing at the mall, building a snowman, visiting one of P's friends, going to the library, making a craft together, or whatever.  Today, P and I went to breakfast...and I let him wear his new fireman outfit.  Several people commented on his outfit, and he was so proud to be a fireman.  

Fire Station Field Trip

 We have been looking in to Preschools for this coming school year, and I visited one this week to check it out.  While I was there, they invited us to come on their field trip to the Fire Station, and since P's current "character" has been rotating between fire man and garbage man, I figured he would love to go.  I kept it a secret until we got there...I told him I had a special surprise for him.  I almost had to drag him out of the house kicking and screaming because he was very involved with his Lego fire station and fire truck and did not want to stop playing.  But he knows exactly where the fire station is (we drive past it several times a week), so when I pulled into the parking lot he started to get noticeably excited.  We watched a fire safety video (which was super educational...when we got home, P showed me how to stop, drop, and roll, he practiced crawling around under the "smoke", he found all the smoke alarms in the house, he somehow found our matches, and we discussed our fire evacuation plan), and took a tour of the fire station (we were both a little disappointed that there was no fire pole...).  P did not want anything to do with the other kids, but he LOVED the fire station.  Glad we went...except that he has already asked me if we can go back tomorrow...

Bonus Days

I love leaving the office on Thursday and realizing that I have Monday off...and it is even better when Dan actually has the day off with me!  That doesn't happen very often!  For President's Day we had a fun filled day at the movies and bowling alley.  This was P's second bowling experience (we went last year around this time, and this is how P reacted), and he successfully beat his father (J-119, P-94, D-92).  

P developed a new bowling technique that I like to call the "run and push", and he was surprisingly successful with it...

Happy Valentines Day!

For Valentines Day, P decided to use his crafting skills to make his own Valentines for some family and friends.  I gave him about 10 options of what kind of Valentines he could make, and he was very clear that he wanted dinosaurs WITH volcanoes AND candy.  He signed his name on the back of each card (with a "P") and he knew exactly which cards he wanted to go to which loved one.

I also decided to go in a little late to work so I could make my boys heart shaped pancakes for breakfast (maybe a new tradition...we will see).  I thought 6 pancakes would be enough for the 3 of us...but P ate 3 all by himself and wanted more.  He also licked his plate when he was done...I guess he likes whipped cream.  Hope you all shared your love with those around you today!

Way too much of this going on....

What P's been working on...

P is not trained yet, but we have had successful #1 AND #2 experiences, which seem promising.  The problem is...he would sit on this thing for hours without any kind of "movement", just because he likes it and he gets a ton of attention while he's on it.  But I guess practice makes perfect...

Happy New Year!

Last year, Dan and I set a goal to each read 24 books by the end of the year.  That might not seem like very many books to some people, but 2 books per month seemed like a challenge to us.  We cut it pretty close, but we both reached our goal and completed 24 books during 2012.  We decided to list the books that we read in order from our favorites down to our least favorites (separated by Fiction and Non-Fiction...we know most people out there don't love Non-Fiction, and I really don't know anyone else who would want to read a book called I Love Charts, but we both read some good Non-Fiction this year that we would recommend for pleasure reading...really).  We read some pretty good books this year, and we hope our lists will help you select something to read this year.  What were your favorite books this past year? Happy Reading!    

Jorden's Fiction 2012

1) A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith

2) Peace Like a River by Leif Enger

3) The Princess Bride by William Goldman

4) The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

5) The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

6) The Giver by Lois Lowry

7) The 13th Tale by Diane Setterfield

8) Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

9) The Memory Keeper's Daughter by Kim Edwards

10) Grimms Fairy Stories by The Brothers Grimm

11) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson

12) Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

13) Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

14) Divergent by Veronica Roth

15) Insurgent by Veronica Roth

16) City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

17) Stealing Mona Lisa by Carson Morton

Jorden's Non-Fiction 2012

1) Book of Mormon 

2) The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

3) 1776 by David McCullough

4) Leadership and Self Deception by Arbinger Institute

5) Anatomy of Peace by Arbinger Institute

6) The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

7) Angels Round About by Judy Olsen

Dan's Fiction 2012

1) Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

2) The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

3) The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt

4) The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

5) Robopocalypse by Daniel H. Wilson

6) Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

7) 11/22/63 by Stephen King

8) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest by Stieg Larsson

9) The Girl Who Played with Fire by Stieg Larsson

10) One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey

11) Agent 6 by Tom Rob Smith

12) I Don't Want to Kill You by Dan Wells

13) Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan

14) Hollow City by Dan Wells

15) Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

16) Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling

Dan's Non-Fiction 2012

1) The Wall Street Journal Guide to Information Graphics by Dona M. Wong

2) Show Me the Numbers by Stephen Few

3) Crucial Conversations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, Al Switzler

4) The Oz Principle by Roger Connors, Tom Smith, Craig Hickman 

5) The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell 

6) Switch by Chip Health and Dan Heath

7) The Big Miss: My Years Coaching Tiger Woods by Hank Haney

8) I Love Charts by Jason Oberholtzer and Cody Westphal 

Goodbye Santa...until next year

Today, P shaved off his Santa beard.  He still pretended to be Santa during his entire nap, but he told me several times today that it is not Christmas anymore.  

He spent a good chunk of the day out in the snow, helping dad shovel and making snowballs.  

December 25th: Make a special Christmas Breakfast with Dad

When P woke up this morning, he went out to the kitchen for a second, then came back into our room with a scowl on his face..."Santa didn't bring us anything!"  There were no presents under the kitchen tree...he was a little confused.  But then he saw his Legos and went right to work playing.  

P was not really interested in helping make breakfast, and he was even less interested in letting me take pictures...

But once we went downstairs, he perked right up.  We left a snow shovel unwrapped, and he just picked it right up and started shoveling.  He proceeded to shovel all the wrapping paper and everything from our stockings for the rest of the day.

 He went right over to his stocking and just dumped it out on the floor...none of this "one gift at a time" stuff for him;

 And, like yesterday, he was tired of unwrapping presents after about 3...so we are taking note for next year.  Maybe 3 gifts and a stocking.  Seriously.  Nana gave P a Knight costume, so here he is all dressed up for you Nana!

And Aunt Jen sent P a couple of games, and he broke right into the Squirrel game...

 And last, but certainly not least, here is Santa Claus:

 I can't wait to find out how much longer he is going to be Santa...my guess is it will wear off around the 3rd week of January...but who knows!

December 24th: Track Santa

P really enjoyed following the Santa Tracker tonight...he loved seeing Santa drop off presents and fly over cities that he recognized (like when Santa flew by Big Ben...or as he knows it "Big Bentley", thank you very much Cars).  

We also wore new PJ's to bed...

And here are some highlights from Christmas Eve at Grandma and Grandpa's house:

1) Peyton Manning jersey

2) P's very own razor (to shave off his Santa beard once Christmas is over...)

3) P getting tired of opening presents after about 4 presents...

 4) P building a Christmas tree and presents out of an ornament and garbage wrapping paper

 5) P's excitement over getting a bazillion legos...my feet are already hurting. 

 6) P and his very own Mack the Truck (just like the one baby Cooper has!)

 7) P's full cowboy outfit (with boots, chaps, holster and gun included!) He actually stopped being Santa for a little bit to dress up like the best cowboy ever.  

December 23rd: Wear New Pajamas to Bed

 We are doing Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa tomorrow morning, so tonight P unwrapped some new PJ's.  He also left out some cookies and milk for Santa.  Today, P told me that Santa can come to Grandma and Grandpa's house because they have a chimney, and he can go to Sophie's house because she has a chimney...but he can't come to our house because we don't have a chimney.  Hmmm...

This is the best picture I could get of P in his new PJ's 

And here is my handsome boy on our way to church...trying to kill me with a snowball.  

December 22nd: Read Twas the Night Before Christmas

We also went to visit Sophie today, and P made his own Santa mask.  

Time to see Santa in action:

Apparently, Jake is on the Naughty list...

December 21st: Go out for a Special Lunch as a Family

Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera to lunch today...so no pictures.  Sorry.  However, here are the craft projects that we did on December 9th.  

December 20th: Deliver Treats to Neighbors