Christmas Card Conundrum - An Ode to Old Navy

Just killing time before I can get the littlest lovie down for her nap and then sneak out and run errands. No worries... Daniel is working from home today. No, I do NOT leave my children at the house alone to run errands even if I actually think Parker wouldn't notice I was gone for at least 62 minutes... the length of Blue Mountain Mystery. 

We've got our family pictures on Sunday for the good 'ol Christmas card. How is it already Christmas card time?! So here's my debacle..... I didn't want the standard "everyone in coordinating neutrals" picture like I did last year. I'm in a colorful phase right now with my $19 Old Navy color pop jeans that you KNOW my kids will laugh at in a few years and I will regret terribly (anyone having visions of puffy sleeves, shoulder pads and acid washed jeans?). So I set out a month ago for outfits that said "we just put this on and it happens to look good together and Oh hey... there is someone taking our picture!"  Avery had a leopard sweater dress and tulle addorned leggings Parker had a plaid shirt and puffy vest. Daniel a collared shirt, sleeves rolled and jeans and I had cobalt blue jeans, kelly green cardigan and a necklace that brought it all together. It was coordinating without being too matchy matchy. I was pleased and no longer loosing sleep over it.... a sad but true fact.

Then I checked the weather on Wednesday and realized at 9am on Sunday morning (yes mom, I'm skipping church for family pictures) it's gonna be freezing... literally.... like frost on the ground cold. I'm having to scrap my very planned and purchased ensembles for something warmer. After looking in our closets, I decided I could go 1 of 2 ways.... funeral chic or Old Navy ad bright.

Everyone but Avery has nice black peacoats or winter coats and I know I could easily find one for A but I'm worried pictures in the woods in black coats might look like we buried a family pet and were memorializing them with a family service caught on camera. 

So Old Navy ad bright it is.... obviously, I would prefer for it to not look like an Old Navy performance fleece ad (are you singing the jingle yet?) but lets be honest... man in a thermal shirt and puffy vest, woman in a yellow peacoat, son in a plaid shirt and puffy vest and baby girl in a pink peacoat and colorful leggings is only a dog in a hat and random black child short of an Old Navy ad. 

Wise Family Christmas Card Preview

I called my fashionista sister who lives in NYC for her opinion but she's pretty busy with bigger problems like lack of power and water. I called her the other day to discuss color combinations and she was walking like 60 blocks to see if her apartment was broken into and if the power is back on. I felt like an ant but I suppose now we're even with bad timing phone calls. When she was in college at UNCW, she called me from the beach telling me she was having "the best day of her life" and then asked what I was up to.... you know.... just getting my 1st round of chemo. Now I'm gonna have to quit holding that over her head since she has ammo of her own! I digress.... back to my ""problems"" .... which deserve double air quotes and I KNOW they aren't actually PROBLEMS so much as they are conundrums.

 

In all honestly, I AM excited about our "Merry and Bright" photoshoot as I'm calling it. Maybe Old Navy will love our ode to them SO MUCH that they'll buy the rights to our photos and we'll be thousandaires. 

Now off to get little lovie to sleep so mama can go pick up Parker's vest that's on hold at Gymboree, bribes for smiles and a football for Parker to hold in the pictures in efforts for his train collection or Woody to NOT be in this year's family pics. Kid doesn't know what to do with his hands!

 I couldn't resist!

Oak Island

I power blogged in September and have since dropped off the face of the earth! Sorry! I, once again, over committed myself with sewing orders and needed to complete 24 orders in 5 days.... which I didn't manage but I came close! I was time crunched because on Thursday morning the kids and I headed to Oak Island, NC with my parents for a long weekend. Daniel joined us late Friday night after work for a fun, family beach day Saturday.

We had never been to Oak Island and were pleasantly surprised with how pretty the beach was. The sand was clean and there were pelicans and dolphins everywhere! It was really wonderful for the kids. I was worried that the kids would time out quickly on the beach but they proved me wrong by staying on the beach from 10 to 3:45 on Saturday! The town was quaint but a bit sleeper than we're used to. Thankfully, we were looking for R&R anyways so it worked out.

Speaking of rest... little miss slept fantastic on Thursday night, terribly Friday night and for 2 hours Saturday night. The only way to keep her from crying was to hold and sway her so I held her and swayed her from 10:30pm to 4am so she wouldn't wake everyone up. I'd sway her to sleep, lay her in the pack n play and she would immediately scream. WHEW. Eventually I got so desperate, I curled up in the pack n play with my feet hanging over the side. She laid on my chest for an hour sleeping and I spent the 2nd hour sitting up in the pack in play with her curled next to me like a cat. It pretty much sucked but I now understand why kids hate pack n plays and probably won't bother bringing one next time. You would think she would have slept the whole way home... not so much. 1 hour.... Vacationing with kids is really more like changing scenery for a few days because I usually come home needing a vacation from vacation. During the day was SO fun.. the night... not so much.

We toured the island and really enjoyed playing at the inlet during low tide. Parker was in his element making endless tracks in the sand for Thomas and Percy to forge while Avery ran the beach and met new doggie friends. The beach was dog friendly so A was in heaven! A fishing tournament was going on while we were there and apparently sharks liked the bait used to catch spanish mackerel. The fishermen would slit the sharks they caught and throw them back in so Saturday morning the shore line was covered in dead sharks. As morbid as it sounds (and it really is sad) it was so national geographic to touch and get up close to the sharks. Parker kept shhing us.... apparently they were napping. Sweet, innocent boy!

Daniel and I went on a dinner date Saturday in our Clemson spirit wear. Thankfully, we ate with the senior citizens so we were home in time to watch the most exciting parts of the game! So proud of my Tigers!

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend on a beautiful beach. It's always fun to explore new places but it's also wonderful to be home in my own bed (and Avery's own crib!).

3 1/2 Years Old!

Parker Alexander Wise, you are 3 1/2 years old! You have grown up so much in this half year! The biggest change is in your speech. You are still quiet in public and sometimes at school but you're a chatterbox at home! You LOVE to reenact. Misty Island Rescue (Thomas the Train) is your favorite movie and you have to watch it with all of your trains in tow. Once the movie is over you run to your train table and word for word recite the movie. Your memory is impeccable. You remind me of myself when I was in school. I think you'll easily take to Bible memory, spelling words (through memorization, not phonics), remembering what you've read and will probably be a pit of useless facts you've seen. This will be great in school but if you're like me, you'll struggle in college to actually learn instead of memorize. 

Your best friends are Max, Cameron, Jonathan (who you call Jon-a-pa-than), Colby and James. You're happy to play with just about anyone but those are the people you talk about most.  You're a gentle friend and I can't remember the last time you were nasty to a friend (excluding your sister, of course!.

You really love school now and your teacher, Ms. Monica, is very patient with you. Together we're working on your fine motor skills and overcoming some of your tactile issues. You know all your colors, numbers to 30, alphabet and can identify them all, shapes and you're learning to write with purpose. You're not really into art right now but when I give you a crayon, you usually just make crazy "circles." We're working on straight lines to prepare you for letters. 

When asked what you want to be when you grow up, you still answer "cow" like you did on the 1st day of school. You like animals and really enjoy the zoo. While you still like zebras, giraffes (girappes as you call them) are your favorite now. 

You really like to walk the dogs and insist on holding Moses' leash. You don't ever drop it which is nice. You're back into Thomas the Train and pretty much don't play with anything else except your train sets and climbing mountain. I'm hoping you get back into Buzz Lightyear before Halloween because we already have that costume! I am happy; however, to have a break from Toy Story movies. There are a lot more Thomas the Train videos than Toy Story for mama's sanity. 

Like most 3 year olds, you're in a bit of a food rut. You still love fruit snacks and milk but we've weaned you a bit from both. You like apples, blueberries, grapes, strawberries and watermelons. The rest of your diet consist of things I'm not so proud of like chicken nuggets and mac n cheese. You'll eat a peanut butter or cheese sandwich but only if it's cut with a cookie cutter in the shape of a duck. 

Speaking of odd quirks, you've got a few but we love you anyways. You're a freak about dirt. You'll get dirty but want to be clean immediately. You request to be washed probably 8 times a day. If your crocs are dirty, you whine until I wash your crocs and your feet.... so lately I've been making you wear tennis shoes.  You insist that I need to take a shower because my moles and freckles are "dirty."  We struggle with public bathrooms because until Wednesday, air dryers scare you and you cannot use the bathroom if one is blowing. Certain textures wig you out and lately you've requested most tags to be removed. I've started buying t-shirts without tags. You're terrified of construction equipment, motorcycles, most lawn equipment and anything that makes loud noises (including real trains that actually toot). You're extremely cautious in public and don't like to try new things if it seems like an unnecessary risk. (like your mama). When you get hurt, you want a bandaid but you just carry it around. You won't wear it (neither would I as a kid). When you hurt your hand, you held it in the air for 3 days. By the time you quit, the scratch had healed. You will not eat "broken food."  If I break a nutrigrain bar in half to share with your sister, you won't eat it. When I send pretzels to school, you only eat the whole ones and the "broken" ones are returned for your sister to eat. It's a bit frustrating sometimes but we love you in spite of your quirks. We're working on them. :)

You've grown up so much but the thing that still makes you seem little to me is how you twirl your hair. At my 16 week ultrasound, you had your hand on your head and every ultrasound afterwards you were playing with your head. Since birth you have patted your head or twirled your hair to fall asleep. It's my tell tell sign that you're sleepy. You sleep from 7:30 at night to usually 7-8 in the morning. Every now and then you have nightmares but for the most part you sleep straight through the night. For a while we woke you up at 10:30pm to use the bathroom but now we don't and you're still accident free! :)

You're a sweet big brother unless Avery is messing up your train tracks. You will tell me "Avery is tired. Please put her in her crib." What that really means is "Avery is annoying the snot out of me. Please remove her from my presence."  Your favorite things to do together are climb on the mountain, take wagon rides (you dictate who sits where), wrestle and blow raspberries on my bed, take bed sheet rides across the carpet and play trains when she's any train except Thomas. You usually give her some obscure train I've never heard of and am not sure where we acquired it but she doesn't know the difference yet so it works out. Avery adores you and gets so excited to pick you up from school or wake you up in the morning!

I love that you're still snugly. It's true that boys love their mamas. You love for me to lay in bed with you and twirl your hair. You must love me a lot because you let me be Percy and sometimes Thomas when we play trains! When I pick you up from school you always ask me "Did you have fun at school today mommy?" It makes my heart smile. You're so thoughtful. 

You are such a joy to your father and I. We love watching you grow and become the sweetest little boy. I look forward every night to your sweet prayers. You sing "God our Father" at each meal and your sister is learning it from you. We love watching you be a good example for her. I think it's precious when I hear you say "Thomas is going to church!" and then you chuff him to "church" and sing "My God is so Big!"  We feel so blessed that you go to a Christian preschool where you learn about Jesus. You also enjoy church now which makes taking you so fun! If only your sister felt the same! We love you SO much and are SOOO proud to call you our son, Parker Wise!

Choo Choo!

Yesterday at MyGym they had a new activity.... train rides! Man was that a hit! Lately Parker hasn't been too thrilled with doing the planned activities (we make him though!) but he ran straight to that train and plopped himself on the caboose! Daniel and I couldn't stop laughing at how excited he was for his train ride! When the instructor said "One ride a piece" we knew we were in for meltdown city when his turn was over! Thankfully, the swings came out right at he got off the train and we were able to distract him (momentarily) until there was a lull in the line and Daniel snuck him back on the train for a 2nd ride. The look on his face was PRICELESS!

SOOOOO..... as most parents would do, when we got home, we googled it. Parker has very expense taste... that train (new) was $499 PLUS $99.99 for the extra track pieces and $300 for the caboose! Wowzer. However, savvy mommy found one on Craigslist for $125 in new condition. If I didn't tell you it was used, you'd never know. We decided to wait on the extra train tracks (which I'm so glad because I have NO idea where I'd set it up if there were more tracks!) and the caboose. Who needs the caboose if he doesn't like it. It's a "Thomas the Train" and he has no idea who Thomas is (of course I probably paid a premium for that silly face and #1 painted on the side) but it's super cute and I'm happy with the quality.

Obviously, when we got home, I had to set it up because we only turned the train on while I was at the sellers house. I wanted to see how big it was, if it was, in fact, in excellent condition and if Parker liked it. If not, the seller told me she'd give me a day to play with it and return it OR I could put it on Craigslist and get more than I paid (some are selling for $200+). Lets just say Parker has been burning up the tracks now for over an hour yelling CHOO CHOO! Precious and worth every penny! Thankfully, this year we can let him play with it today and bring it back out on Christmas morning and he won't know the difference!

Check out that smile!

As he passes me (perched on the couch) he tells me "Bye Bye Mommy" and blows me kisses. Love him! Well it's nap time... we'll see how willingly he and Thomas and a little break! Fingers crossed!