Day 343: Crazy day with this Crazy Family!

Phew, that was a day that went by fast!  Jared was gone to breakfast first thing this morning, so we slept in until 8.  But I got the kids going pretty quickly because I needed them to make some effort on their schoolwork before we went shopping.  At Toys R Us.  Two weeks before Christmas.  Yes, I'm insane sometimes.  But, I felt bad that Justin got to spend his money and Keturah, who had waited 6 months, hadn't.  So I packed up the 3 younger kids and took them to Toys R Us, so Jared could work at home.  (Benaiah was still sleeping and slept in until 11am today!) I went to the one near our house, which isn't in the hubbub of Greenwood (which is SOOOO full of stores and ALWAYS full of traffic!), so it wasn't too bad.  We spent our whole time in the Lego aisle.  I at first wanted to see what Abishai would do, so I let him run around a bit on his own and then quickly decided that it's really hard to chase him, supervise the other two and navigate the store's tiny aisles (who designed these stores?  Not a mother, that's for sure!), so I scooped him up into the cart.

The kids made their choices fairly quickly, but then I spied the Thomas the Tank Engine aisle and just had to see what Abishai would do when he saw all those trains!  Yes, I am insane sometimes.  They actually had a train table out with the wooden tracks, so Abishai got to play for a bit, which was kind of the point of just getting out of the house.  I perused the shelves and also pointed out the huge displays of kid sized Thomas and Percy train fronts to Abishai.  He just wanted to play.  Then I realized it was going to be hard to get him away from the train table, and I had a gift card that I had saved, and saved, saved, so I went ahead and bought him the take along Thomas and Percy trains, with the idea that he might get some for Christmas or we'll find some at a yard sale and that his birthday is coming in two months.  I am a softie in my old age!  Ok, I'm not old, but I can't help it.  I LOVE seeing my kids' faces light up when they have in their hand the ONE thing they wanted the most.

And then we were off to the cash registers.  We had made sure we could use our gift cards here in the States before we went shopping because the cards were actually bought in Canada.  Unfortunately, because of the exchange rate, they were worth less American dollars than the bought for in Canada.  Boo!  But the kids didn't really realize it and adjusted quickly.  We got our three transactions done easily and we were out the door.  Yes, the kids bought their own Lego sets with money they earned, two weeks before Christmas where they will be getting even more Legos.  Lego obsessed kids.  But at least they didn't ask to buy video games or nerf guns or zombies or something, right? Lol.  We made a quick stop on the way home to the Goodwill nearby to pick up one more gift for Benaiah and we found a cheap basketball that Justin bought for his 3rd friend at co op.  So, both of those errands were done in one stop, yeah!  I am done shopping for the J6! And the rest of the Johnsons are done.  Just got to figure out a little bit more on the Howell side.  But I have to buy socks for Monday's sock exchange between the kids, so I'm sure I'll figure it out.

Phew!  Then Abishai had a quick nap and we finished the day with a humble supper of plain bread topped with pizza sauce, cheese, and pepperoni, plus hot chocolate.  And we decorated the tree finally.  Rather, Jared did most of the work.  The kids were too busy with their new toys.  Then it was movie time and bedtime.  Again, phew!  That day went by so quickly!

But I managed to get a lot of photos, so here goes!

We got some snow today!  But it was gone by the time we got back from shopping (11am).  The first year we were in Canada, I kept taking pictures first thing in the morning after it snowed overnight because I thought it would melt by noon like it does in Indiana.  Well, it doesn't melt, so we don't have to stop what we're doing to enjoy it.  We can wait until later.  I'm going to miss the white covering of snow in the winter.  I've always said, "If it's going to be cold, you might as well have snow to go with it."

My phone decided to black out on me, so I only got one picture at the store today.  I did get some videos though because I had the video camera to catch Abishai's reaction to the snow before we left.  We discovered this new series of really cool racing cars in Lego that are also on the Need for Speed game.  And they were 40% off today (they weren't two days ago!) so Justin was able to get two of them!

The perfect reaction for when you get to play with your new favorite characters!  Thomas and Percy for the win!  Thomas actually talks and toots.  Abishai will press the button several times until he hears the toot and then he giggles.  My momma heart is so full when my babies smile like this.

My sister wanted the recipe of my grandmother's gingerbread men.  Well, I'm not sure if this is it or not, but it's from a book published in 1945, right around  the time my grandmother would have started to make them.  I think she made the the spice cookies listed.  The essential ingredients are molasses and ginger.  I tried to make them twice with no luck.  Oh, and my grandmother used two raisins for eyes on each gingerbread men before she baked them . And she only baked them just enough so they were still soft.  She'd make them before we did our Christmas celebration with that side of the family on Christmas Eve and then we would take them home to eat on Christmas morning.

I'm not sure if this was Gramma Koski's book or not, but it's very similar I'm sure.

4 kids and 4 plates.

I let him play in the water in the bathroom this time after he heard me running water in the bathtub to scrub a dirty cloth diaper.  He was very good about taking a towel and cleaning up his spills.  It was adorable.

Hey long arms, can you please get the stuff that fell behind the couch?  No problem, Mom!

We have a rodent in the house!  Ok, it's just a zhu zhu pet, but it still works (we gave away the rest of the track and pets) and Abishai loves it.  It moves back and forth to dance and makes all kinds of noises.

Hot chocolate in our matching snowman mugs, which are part of our snowman dishes set we've used for 13 or so years.

I think I want to teach myself some more piano mom.  Sweet!

Leave it to Benaiah to find the lazy man way of putting ornaments on the tree.  And I can not believe he is big enough to fill Gramma Howell's rocking chair!

This is an ornament Keturah decorated 5 years ago when he was 3.  Look at how big her hand is now!  We painted our hands and then  gently "grabbed" the ball ornament.  Then each finger became a snowman.  We did this on our vacation with the Johnsons in FL in 2011.

All done!

Keturah's $40 Lego set she bought with her own money!  It's really pretty and has some fun moving parts, including the dragon.  It's from the "Elves" line.

Helping Dad cut wood for the fire.

Justin's new Nexo Knights Lego set.

Up close picture of those new Championship car Lego series.  The tail fin on the yellow car kept falling off when Abishai was playing with it, but he would also ask for one of us to put it back on.  Abishai does really well for a 2 year old of not throwing stuff and destroying stuff.  

Awwww, picture perfect!