Santa has arrived...

Tonight after we got the kids to bed, we started putting out the toys that Santa brought.

Brayton got a big frog tent, some books and puzzels, and a big marble and blocks set.

Lauren got a new baby, stroller, carriage, and bassinet. She also got an electronic hooked on phonics set that teaches all the letters of the alphabet. We used to have one, actually it was Glenda Clark's that she lent to us for a period of time. It was one of the reasons Brayton learned his ABC's at such a young age. About the time Lauren was starting to get interested in it, we had to return it to Glenda, so miraculously Santa brought one for her.

We also set out the chalk board that was Daddy's idea, but the result of Mommy and Grandpa Anderson's handiwork. The chalk board is one that Colette had played with as a child. I thought it would be a good idea to frame it up and pass it on.

Grandpa Allan cut all the frame out in his shop. I thought of painting it white or staining it, but Colette had a better idea of painting it with lots of colors and designs. Finally, I repainted the actual chalk board and assembled all the pieces together with some finish nails and lots of gorilla glue. That chalk board frame won't be coming apart for a very long time. Which is good because I intend for it to be handed down someday, probably to Lauren since it was Mommy's. I still need to figure out about what year Colleen had it made so we can mark the back of it. Maybe it will be around 100 years from now, that would be pretty neat.

Pictures of the chalk board and a quick video of all the toys Santa left for the kids.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Santa brought a new iPod for Mommy. He wanted to bring a cricet machine for Mommy's scrapbooking but it was a bit out of Santa's budget. Santa know's how much Mommy likes to scrapbook and listen to music. Now she can do so anytime she wants.

Thanks to Grandpa Anderson for letting me borrow his clamps for the chalkboard.

See you all in the next few days...

A call from Santa...

As you know from reading previous posts, we took the kids to Santa's workshop at Jolly Holiday Lights. There Brayton and Lauren got to meet Santa up close for the first time. Last year Brayton wouldn't go anywhere close to Santa.


On Monday, when I took the kids to the mall to play we also stopped by the Santa exhibit. While we were standing there, a kid got up from Santa's lap and before the next one came Santa turned and looked directly at Brayton and waved and smiled. I played this up quite a bit for Brayton. I told Brayton that Santa must have remembered him from his workshop when we vistied him. Brayton soaked it up like a drunk soaking up Boones Farm...


Tonight we got home from Matt and Audra's house after going to Christmas Eve Mass at Holy Trinity with Matt, Audra, and Tim & Kathy Meyer and eating some soup and having a little play time.


When we got home, there was a message on the answering machine from Santa (Actually Grandpa Anderson). We played it one time for Brayton, after a seeming to be in a state of shock and disbelief he proceeded to push a chair over to the counter and play the message over and over and over...About six times. To get him away from the answering machine, Colette and I had to coax him into helping to clean the ashes out of the fireplace so that Santa could come down the chimney without getting all dirty.


After we cleaned out the chimney, we put out two cookies and a glass of milk. Brayton asked if I thought Santa would like the cookies he baked. I assured him Santa would be very hungry and that he would love the cookies.


Santa actually had too much to eat at Matt and Audra's so the cookies, while very tasty, made Santa feel more bloated than he already was.

Kitchen Delivery

Today, the post man delivered Brayton and Lauren's kitchen.


Grandma and Grandpa Anderson bought the kitchen for the kids but it would have been prohibitive to put it together and bring it back to Des Moines in the van, so Grandma had it delivered (sort of anyway). Colette and I put it together Sunday evening and stored it in the basement.


Colette took the kids to our room this morning and sequestered them long enough for me to get the kitchen out of the basement. When I got it up, I rang the doorbell a few times, Colette then brought the kids out and voila, a new kitchen.


Brayton, in his excitement coming down the stairs slipped and fell. I caught it all on video. He wasn't hurt but did throw a bit of a fit.


They proceeded to play for the next hour without leaving the kitchen. They actually never fought over any part of it, there were plenty of accessories to go around. Lauren made about 100 phone calls to Grandma on the phone that came with it.

Big Brother comes to the rescue of his sister.

Over the past few months, I've deliberately been telling Brayton that he needs to be a good big brother and help his sister whenever she needs help. I really didn't think these frank conversations had any effect on him, but once again I've been proven wrong. He takes everything in that I say to him. That became evident today.

Today I took the kids to the mall to play at the park there. Colette was trying to make some carmel corn and it's pretty hard to work in the kitchen with two children at your feet all the time. So I packed up the kids and we went to the mall. Of course, since it's two days until Christmas the mall was packed.

There were kids and parents everywhere. Many of the kids however are completely unsupervised, this is a problem that drives me nuts. Parents just drop their kids off at the park and then go off shopping or whatever, it's like a mall babysitting service. It's really shocking.

Well, B and Lauren were playing on the train in the park. Lauren was sitting by the slide and some little boy, about B's size and age started pushing Lauren. Presumably because he thought she was in his way, if he was wanting to go down the slide, she wasn't in his way. So, really there was no reason for this boy to be pushing on Lauren.

Brayton, seeing this happen rushed over to his sisters rescue. I was about to jump in but when I saw B taking charge, I kind of stood back to see what would happen.

Brayton said two times to the little boy, "Stop pushing my sister." This didn't deter the little pusher. When he pushed Lauren a third time, Brayton pushed his arm through placing his palm against the wall of the train and separating the little boy from Lauren. Then the little pusher proceeded to try to push Brayton. Brayton turned his body so his back was facing the little pusher and Brayton stuck his butt out and with a big hip thrust effectively shoved the little boy off the back of the train. He fell about a foot and was not harmed at all. He proceeded to stand up and ran off.

At that point, I went to Brayton and asked him if he was allright. He proceeded to tell me "That boy was pushing Lauren!!" I told him I saw it all and that I was proud of him for sticking up for his sister.

When we got home to eat lunch, Colette asked B if he had fun at the mall. He said "yes". Then Colette asked him what had happened (I had not told Colette the entire story at this point) and Brayton proceeded to tell Colette the whole thing. "There was a boy who was pushing Lauren."

I was very happy to see big brother stick up for his sister, and happy to know our conversations do get absorbed into his little head.