Already a bargin hunter

Owen saw a $5 off coupon for Toys R Us on our desk. Of course, he read it “$5 off your purchase of $25 or more of Legos” and of course he totally understood the concept. “Dad, if I spend $25, then it will only cost $20… and I have a $20 dollar bill…” So, he’s all fired up about the coupon. Guess we will be taking a trip to Toys R Us soon...

Snow Jam

The latest news

Here is a picture of Owen reading the WSJ on the way to school. He saw a picture of Puxataney Phil (the groundhog) and immediately picked it up. Then he started commenting on the other articles in the paper (mom, why is barack obama in the paper?)

Hmmm

Will noticed this morning that Owen is missing a large chunk of hair in the front. When asked about it, Owen told him a story about a “scissor incident” at school where someone was just walking by and the scissors just accidentally clipped the front of Owen’s head. He said all of this very matter-of-factly. And he was very insistent that no, he did not cut his own hair. LOL

Winter Wonderland

Well, not too much snow, but enough ice on the roads to cancel school. It was too cold to play out in it very long, but we did take walks with the kids. We also had a good time watching people attempt to exit our neighborhood Friday morning. They would get a running start with their cars at the bottom of the hill and get within a foot of the top and slip back down again. Owen thought that was hysterical.

I think the kids were happy to get back to school today. Owen always drags his feet, but immediately gets excited walking into school (he also gets mad EVERYDAY when I pick him up from after-school program - "Mom, it's too early!"). I really think the complaints have a lot to do with his general anxiety about social situations. For example, on Saturday when we went to the birthday party, he literally drug his feet going into the building – “I don’t want to go”. And he made me hold his hand and walk around until we saw his friend, Jacob. And even then, he would not go over to Jacob. He was frozen until Jacob saw him and came over and gave O a hug. Then he immediately ran off and started playing. I think the boy is stressing himself out. Will says he recognizes some of that in himself, so it must be genetic.

In the other hand, Jack is going through a control phase right now (at least I hope it is a phase). If you say the sky is blue, he will say "NO IT'S NOT". And getting him ready over the past week or so has been pure H-E-DOUBLE HOCKEY STICKS. He wants to do it his way. So then you let him have a choice about what the wear and he says "I don't know". Then whatever you pick is the wrong thing, so it turns into a thrashing and screaming meltdown. On Sunday, we had a 45 minute meltdown over it. He wore himself out and ended up laying down in bed for his nap at 9:45AM. It was his idea "I'm tired Mommy". Whew. Hoping whatever this is, it is over soon. My only consolation is that only his parents seem to be the targets of this - teachers and grandparents say he acts no different.

And Happy New Year!

The Godfrey clan joined the Halls for an evening of revelry. While I did not get any pics of the imbibing adults (mercifully!), I did snap this pic of some of the kids watching a 3D movie.

Merry Christmas!!

Some pictures from some of our holiday gatherings. We don't have many with the Halls - all the ones I took are of butts and guts - so share if you have some!













Will and Owen at the Falcon's game...