The Scribner Family: the first snowfall

Well December has come and it is breezing by as fast as I thought it would. We have been filling our days with fun, plus the normal day to day activities. We went to another open swim as a family and this time Callan got to join. He loved it and we all had a good time. We have also been getting in the Christmas spirit by putting up the tree and the kids have been making lots of Christmas crafts. They love the all the holiday music that is played 24/7 on the radio. We also are experiencing the "Elf on the Shelf" this year, although our 4 year old is already a little skeptical. If you don't know what this is, it is a book about an elf that comes to your house every morning and watches you all day to see if you have been naughty or nice. At night he flies back to the north pole to report to Santa. You can't touch him and he doesn't talk but he finds a new place to sit every day. So we read the kids the book and then told them to go look for their elf. They found him and were pretty fascinated. Mostly because they wanted to touch him (if you do he loses his magic power). Carter, from the beginning, kept making comments about how he does't move and that he is just a puppet. Smart little booger that kid. You are also suppose to name your elf and after we threw out several bad names (monster, diaper, elf) we settled on Noah, after Carter looked in his bible book and thought we should name him after Noah. Needless to say, the kids are excited in the morning to see where the elf chose to sit for the day. I enjoy seeing a little bit of Christmas magic in my kids eyes. But speaking of eyes, you know who's eyes I don't like looking at me? That freaky elf. He is a very homely looking thing, and it seems to always be looking at me.

our elf "Noah"

posing with the new book

We also got to enjoy or first snow of the winter. This could not have made Carter happier. He has been talking about snow forever. So Sunday they got to go outside and play in the snow and then come in and have some hot chocolate. I have to give a shout out to Camden here too because he was not a stick in the mud this year and actually enjoyed playing in the snow, which also made Carter happy because he has someone to play with.

Now a little update on the kiddos. Carter is still trucking along in preschool, and is even volunteering more information every now and then. He has been big on "teasing" a lot lately. He will tell us "I spilled my milk" followed by "just teasing". Even though I know kids do this, I am not really fond of it. I think mainly because he does it to Camden who doesn't understand, which then leads to tears. So we have been working on saying and doing nice things to our brothers. Carter has also been very inquisitive about Santa and all things Christmas. He usually spends several minutes at breakfast questioning Chad about the validity of Santa. It is really funny to hear how much he understands and comprehends. When we were driving home one day we saw a blow up Santa in someones yard and it was holding a teddy bear. Carter pointed it out and I told him that Santa would give that teddy bear to a boy or girl who wanted it. He replied with "mom, that is just a puppet Santa, not a real one." One other little tid bit of info is that Carter is having his tonsils out on December 30th. He snores a lot at night and is so restless. When we had them checked out the ENT said his tonsils were pretty darn big and that he would not hesitate to take them out. So that does it. He is excited about popsicles and ice cream. He doesn't know that he will probably not feel the greatest to want to eat those things, but we will see.

Camden is become "mr. independent". He wants to open the doors, put on his seat belt (the best that he can), wipe off his face ect. I have been waiting for this phase hoping it would bring some relief for me, but it hasn't quite yet. Usually these things just take longer and try my patience even more but I know that in the end it will pay off if I just let him do it. Camden continues to amaze me is how he plays. He really copies a lot of what Carter does, but when he is by himself he usually has his imagination going like crazy. I listen to the story he is telling his toys and it make me chuckle. I also hear things I say to him like "go to time out, woody!" The thing that has really made me step back and look at how grown up my kids are, is the time that just Carter and Camden are playing together. Those two are like two peas in a pod some times. They will sneak off to their bed room and play so nice together and I love eaves dropping on their conversations. I never thought I would see the day when they would play together and be so nice to each other. Those times seem to be coming more and more often now.

Callan is Callan. Walking around everywhere, finding trouble at every corner. This child has smashed his fingers, hit his head, and fallen more than anyone I know. I have noticed though how much he really understands. He can follow short directions and knows exactly what we want from him. He has also been voicing his disapproval when he doesn't get what he wants. His favorite word is ball, and he says it all day long. He loves hangin with the big boys and doing what they are doing. They are so good to him (most of the time) and try to include him in play.