Things I’ll remember from this week…

— continuing the tradition of wearing Christmas PJs (Elle insisted!) and drinking hot chocolate while we drove through a large Christmas light display outside of town. We make multiple loops and the kids alternate between hanging out their windows, standing through the sun roof, and sitting in the trunk watching the lights out the back window. We played Christmas music and Callum sang along then created his own lyrics and drummed on the frame of the car.

— being in Best Buy for *minutes* and the kids goofing off in the TV area resulting in Elle hitting her chin on the top of her head and biting her tongue hard enough to draw blood. I had to reassure the Best Buy employee that I’m a doctor and that we didn’t need any help. She was very concerned that the salt from French fries at dinner would be a no-go.. and Cal was repeatedly frustrated Elle wouldn’t “show him the bleed” aka blood. 

— getting home from quick hospital rounds and T explaining that his workout “didn’t go well” because Callum asked “at least 100 questions already”. We are officially in that inquisitive stage! Cal is observant too! He said unprovoked last night, “I’m still thinkin’ about the girl without her shoes”. He’s referring to a dancer at Elle’s dance recital that he spotted in just her tights, no dance shoes.

— Elle’s giggle. She can get on a roll and can be genuinely funny with her sass. 

— funny mispronunciations. “Pass me the beef turkey!” “Santa comes down the jimmy” - Callum. “Well, we are mammoths!” -said Elle, truly thinking she was taught that we were related to the large elephant like animal not that we were mammals.

xo,

Krista

 

This week..

— we got home from our Disney trip and hit the ground running! Back to daycare and work for everyone the next day! Elle with her first dance recital 2 days after getting home (and she missed 2 weeks of classes because of the trip - so she hadn’t even learned the whole routine!) I snuck my arm into the auditorium to record her stage practice so she could cram the routines before the evening show. She was most excited about wearing her hair in a bun and the makeup. She did great!

— Cal continues to make us laugh (when he isn’t testing our sanity!) Tonight, he fell asleep on the way home from an errand with a candy cane hanging from his lips and a book on his lap. He criticized “the gold bells aren’t pretty, we need the hang the red ones”. He asks questions like “how does the wet dry?”. He also says cute things like “I need more caffe-lina!” and when he had a small cut on his hand “It's bleeding AND blooding at the same time!”

This week..

-- we have been reflecting on how difficult but wonderful this stage of parenting has been. The good moments are great! The kids playing together in the living room making up the rules of the game as they go. Cal sharing lying on the floor of the church pew and then popping up and saying with a dramatic sigh "you said one ONE more song!".  Catching Cal at the top of the stairs wrapped in a blanket asking for a push because he thinks his fleece blanket will help him slide. Elle's stash of her tablet, snacks, and craft paper in a bathroom drawer where she has taken up residence to escape her brother. Elle's first spelling test - where she got all of the words correct and "didn't flip my G!" She demonstrated how she held up her left thumb as she started the test to make sure she wouldn't flip it. Elle explaining that "Why?" is one of her favorite questions and sometimes she daydreams about "what if they named ____ something totally different?! What is beyond our galaxy? How do the planets stay where they are?" However, some of these moments are also so incredibly taxing. There is less "Mom! Mom! Mom!" but the whines and them screaming each others names on repeat are like nails on a chalkboard. The clutter around the house and the bigger-than-ever messes when they get creative. 

-- we took the kids to a hockey game. Cal had read about Hockey in our weekly library book haul and asked if we could go to a game. We bought tickets on the glass and the kids were awestruck.. well, once Cal woke up. He slept through half of the first period after falling asleep during the drive. Elle cheered on our team and stressed every second the puck was on the other half of the ice. Cal was observant and asked about why the goalie had his stick in his right hand? Why do they wear those pads? Why do they take a drink and spit it onto the ice? Both kids were equally thrilled and bothered by the body checks into the glass in front of us.

-- T and I are both feeling the year-end crunch at work. We are taking the kids to Disney World after Thanksgiving so this end of the year sprint is especially pressured. We are all excited to escape the day-to-day grind to enter a total dopamine shower of Christmas Cheer. The countdown is on!

xo,

Krista

 

This weekend..

— we attended the Nebraska Academy of Family Physician meeting in Nebraska City. The timing was perfect to enjoy the fall weather and colors. We walked the trails, climb the treehouse & rope course, ate delicious food, swam in the pool daily and sat out by the fire our last night. The meeting had a tailgate for the Husker game which was fun to watch with a room full. 

— Cal jumped from every rock in the landscaping. Elle climbed every retaining wall and counted the stones. They wore their new robes like a badge of honor. Cal shut his eyes while he was leaving the restaurant and came within inches of colliding with a strangers table. We packed an entire suitcase of Lego bricks that we shared with other kids at the conference too. Elle plans to bring her plastic tooth fairy box from her school nurse on all future trips - because she lost another tooth! She almost dropped it down a drain by the pool- but after that she was especially careful with it. It was our most successful getaway to date - but living out of one hotel room with these kids is still challenging!

xo,

Krista