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From Thanksgiving to Christmas

Yesterday was the big (90+ people!) Thanksgiving meal we organized and hosted at Wycliffe. It was GREAT. Somewhere we have a photo of Erik and the other guys carving one of the three 30 pound (!) turkeys we had. The kitchen staff at Wycliffe cooked the birds for us which was so helpful, because one of them alone was about the size of our fridge and in no way would have fit in our oven. The rest of the meal was potluck and we had an amazing spread with all of the traditional trimmings, including stuffing, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie. ALL of the food was eaten, save for part of one turkey that we delivered to a homeless shelter in town. Once I sift through our pictures I'll post some.

While all of the boys in my house are asleep I've just put the lights on our precious little Christmas tree. It smells AWESOME, even though Erik says he can't smell it. Here's the thing about our Christmas tree lights, which I'd forgotten since putting them on last year: in the States, the lights on a string have a plug on one end that goes into the outlet and the other has an inverted plug for, well, you know what I'm saying. Our lights here have a plug on one end and the string of lights is like a loop. The string begins and ends with the plug and there's no inverted plug to connect another string to, so you have to separate the loop and wrap it around the tree. Huge pain in the neck, especially since I didn't distribute the lights properly and had to unwrap and start over. Things are definitely easier in the States.

I hear Mason awake from his nap; both the boys have chest colds and have been under the weather the past few days. Poor little boys were so good yesterday for the whole time at the party despite not feeling well at all. Pray for them to resume their heathy and happy selves.

A Baby Comparison

In the following five posts are side by side (or on top of) photos of Carter and Mason in consecutive months so we can all see how similar -- and different -- they look during each month. In each post Carter's pictures will appear first. On the "three month" post there are two of each, two of Carter followed by two of Mason. Tell me what you think, how they look similar and different and who, if anyone, they look like. I'll try to continue this each month...

At the hospital

Both with their tongues sticking out!

At one month

Look at that mohawk!

At two months

At three months

Two of both because they look so yummy

At four months

Baby Blue

Mason @ 4 months

My friend, Princess Atta!

Carter loves tv. A part of me admits this with a tinge of embarassment, but I'll save that for another entry. He actually loves dvds and videos since we don't pay for tv here. Lately he's been hooked on his two new movies. We bought A Bugs Life and Toy Story at a flea market in the city center and he's been in love with them since we first poppped them into the VHS player.

He's learned some of the characters' names and will point them out when they're on screen. He loves to stomp around the house like a grasshopper, bent over at the waist with his hands on his hips and a half smile on his face. It's sweet because he doesn't really seem to get that the grasshoppers aren't the nice ones. He just likes the way they walk. He'll stomp around and say, "Uh-oh, grasshopper's comin'!"

A few days ago he started including Princess Atta in everything we were doing that day. He told me that Princess Atta was going on the train with him when we built one out of couch cushions. She was coming with him and Dot to Flick's house (Flick, by the way, is Princess Atta's love interest in the movie; to Carter they're brother and sister.). He said she needed an airplane ticket when we went to the back yard to get on the "airplane" to go see Daddy at school. He shows me how he "crashes," (wrestles) with her on the couch. Erik got him ready for bed and was ready to lay down and read him a book. He told Erik to leave because Princess Atta was going to read with him. Two days ago he announced that he was going upstairs to talk to his friends Princess Atta and Flick. He wants Princess Atta to sleep when he takes a nap and when he wakes he immediately reminds me that she's awake too.

This morning he wouldn't eat his oatmeal so I gave him a big bite and told him it was a grasshopper size bite. "No, Mommy. Dot-sized bite."

A few nights ago after he'd gone to bed I heard him talking to himself. I went to the bottom of the stairs to hear better and heard him in his own Carter-speak saying "To infinity and beyoooond!"

All of these little examples to say: I love two year olds' imaginations. I love our Carter.

This marks my entry into Bloggsville. Enjoy.