FIVE

ZERO

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

Happy Birthday, my dear boy!

No Such Thing as a Short Story

We are running a tad low on Christmas books for our advent tradition. I included some very short board books in the pile, including a beautiful picture book with the words to The Little Drummer Boy. I read (sung) the story, then we talked about the meaning of the story.

"Look, Matt. He is a very poor boy and he has nothing to give to the baby Jesus. He can play his drum for the baby, though, even though he has nothing."

Matt, ever the cynic, said,

"Why doesn't he have any money? He shouldn't have spent it all on that drum!"

I suggested that perhaps someone gave him the drum.

"Well, then he should sell it. Or play it as a job and earn some money. Then he wouldn't be poor!"

At that thought, Matt shook his head, disgusted with The Little Drummer Boy.

It's hard to instill the magic of the holiday season with such a tiny skeptic in the house!

Scooby Doo, Where Are You?

Living in a house with two small boys with active imaginations, I am used to finding toys in all sorts of locations. There is little that can surprise me.

But then I came across Scooby.

Poor, poor Scooby.

Was life really so bad?





*For concerned readers, Scooby is alive and well. That was the "rescue chain" from the helicopter, hauling him upstairs from the evil dragon. My kids are strange, but they're not that strange!

The Proper Care and Dressing of a (Little) Hockey Player

Generally, my husband handles all of the sport-related gear in our household. Particularly the hockey gear, which involves approximately 1,000 pieces of protective equipment in a giant duffel bag. Unfortunately, he was out of town, and I had to dress The Boy for practice. If anyone else ends up in this situation, here is a helpful guide to the proper preparation for a little hockey player (click on pictures to enlarge):

Step 1:

Step 2:

Step 3:

Step 4: (Repeat Steps 1-3 once completing Step 4):

Step 5:

Step 6:

Step 7:

Step 8:


The rest of the gear (ice skates, helmet, and hockey gloves) are put on at the ice arena. Thankfully, a (weary) husband arrived from snowy Canada just in time to help with the rink-side finishing details!