We're waiting.

I had been talking to Roland before bed at night about Christmas and Santa Claus and suggested that we write a letter this year so that Santa could have a hard copy and to detail every toy that has been advertised on Cartoon Network in the past month. So in the subsequent evenings, we came up with a list. Not to my surprise, the list was hot wheels, transformers, and power rangers (plus a "nice" coat per Mom's suggestion, and a couple of other odds and ends) because Roland could no longer remember any of the toys he said he wanted from the commercials. When Roland woke up the next morning, we went over the list again and I could tell he was a little exasperated that I needed to hear it again. Then he says, "Can you write all that Mom?" I said I was pretty sure I could and he seemed pleased.
So this year, we visited Santa with our typed festive stationary lists in hand and we are hoping for good results.

Now Duncan was another story. Obviously, he couldn't compile his on list, so I helped him a little in that department. As much as I wanted to just list Pampers, I didn't. Duncan only made it to the edge of Santa's "kingdom" before he started crying. And he didn't stop crying when Roland sat with him and he didn't stop when Santa gave him the first stuffed animal, or the second, or when Dad held him and squatted by Santa's knee. He did stop crying immediately after leaving the "kingdom." Roland's 2yr picture is the same way, as is mine. Oh well. Better luck next year. The picture actually looks much better than the reality. There was no chance of prying the reindeer away.

I hope all of you are ready for Santa. I can sure tell you that this Santa is not ready. Have to run and get the lip gloss (now nose gloss) away from Duncan.
Merry Christmas!

Pilgrams and Indians and All That Stuff

Much to my dismay, Duncan had his first day of school. They say it is worse on the parent than the kid (don't get me wrong, it is horrible for me too), but I think Duncan would challenge that statement. He started school on 11/16/09, and did not stop crying until 12/10/09. Poor guy would bawl when you dropped him off and grab on like a spider monkey, and at the end of the day, he would burst into tears the instant he saw us. I think he thought we were going to leave him again and he wasn't taking any chances. He is gradually getting the hang of it, and has already came home singing the alphabet song. The other kids in the class seem to like him as they all say, "Hey Duncan" repeatedly when he arrives.

On the up side, Roland seems to do much better knowing that Duncan is at school with him rather than at home. He is no fan of school either. Poor guy says he doesn't like doing all that paperwork, which is pretty sad seeing as he isn't even in kindergarten yet.

The little men got to have Pow Wow at school before Thanksgiving. Roland (3rd Pow Wow) did a great job. He is really a good singer and we got the privilege of hearing him sing "You're a Grand Ole Flag" non-stop through the month of November. All that practice paid off and he had a great performance. I love this picture because he totally looks like he has two pilgram babes. No Puritanism for my guy.

Duncan (1st Pow Wow) didn't cry and didn't run for Shane and I like a lot of the little ones do, so I would say he did a fabulous job. He hadn't really been in school long enough to learn the songs, but I kept hearing him "clicking" (like the language) and I couldn't figure out why he was doing this. I thought maybe he had watched too much Discovery channel. During Pow Wow I realized one of the songs has this clicking in it so I guess he picked up at least a little bit.

One Little Indian

Although we have many things to be thankful for, especially two great boys and our friends and family, we are extremely thankful this year that Roland appears to be in good health. For those of you who didn't know, Roland had a colonoscopy on 12/11/09 in an effort to find out why he has had some intestinal bleeding. He had a polyp removed and we are thinking and hoping that this will cure him. Thanks to all of you who have been checking on him.
The tree is up (minus a few less ornaments than when we started), we have visited Santa (pics to come) and are waiting on the big day. See you all soon!

Happy Birthday Duncan Butters

It has been two wonderful years since we welcomed Duncan into our lives. And what a ham he has turned out to be. Duncan is the most non-stop (okay-maybe a close second to Roland), hard-headed, knows what he wants, lovingist little man around. I can't get over how mature he is sometimes. He already says and attempts everything Roland does. When I sleep with him, he has to put my head on his shoulder and when we play, if I say " Ouch," he immediately asks "Okay?" Just last week I told him he was a bad boy (a total positive parenting no no, but it is what it is) for dumping the safari track and the train track on the floor all at the same time. He just looked at me blankly, but when I came back in the room he had put every piece of the safari track back into it's box. I was impressed. If Duncan is the first of the two to awaken, he always gets in Roland's bed and rubs Roland's hair and tells me to "Wook Mama." We still have our ups and downs, but overall, we consider ourselves very lucky to have two sweet boys.
Happy Birthday Duncan!

He absolutely loves to sing Happy Birthday and we have already went through several lighters singing and letting him blow out the flame.

Our neighborhood friends.

Duncan enjoying this awesome gift. Oh yeah-paper.

Getting an escort from brother while jamming to the radio and having an ice cream. Good times.

The boys waiting on the neighbor boys to get done with their homework. Sadly, we never saw them again.

Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes and gifts!