Smart alec or smart kid???

I'm going to blog about our Christmas fun later, but I had to post this goofy thing that happened this morning. Ben knocked off a bunch of Christmas cards from his Grandma's table and I said, "Benjamin Joel!" He added, "Litwiller!" Hmmmm........

"Christmas" morning

We decided to open our little family's gifts early this year rather than taking them down to Illinois with us for Christmas morning. Less stuff to pack and then bring back up! Rob and I put the presents under the tree and in the stockings after the boys were asleep last night (which was about an hour after they went to bed...crazy kids!)

This morning, Matthew woke up first and was surprised to find the gate locked at the top of the stairs. He has this morning ritual of going downstairs to turn on all of the Christmas lights before we all get up and we wanted him to wait today, since there were presents to be ripped into. Rob got up and went downstairs to light the tree while I changed Ben and then we all went down the stairs, pausing mid-way to grab our stockings off the railing. Matthew was so excited to see his candy cane full of Sweetarts that he dropped his stocking and didn't dig further for the Hot Wheels fruit snacks. Ben was also far more excited about his candy cane full of M&M's (I don't think he ever found the fruit snacks!) Rob and I had given each other our favorite candy (his was dark chocolate Rocher and mine was carmel-filled Ghiradelli squares...yummy!) We then sat down to pass out presents.

Rob passed out the presents, beginning with the youngest. Ben received a large, spinning top which he has already cracked. (I think the Litwiller theme this next year will be stewardship....all four of us need the lesson!) He also got a bag of Mega Blocks. So far he has played with the cards inside, the bag they came in, and he might have built one little thing. Typical kid! Matthew got school supplies. I know, it sounds like a goofy gift, but he was thrilled. He's been begging me for his own scissors, so I got him some, along with pencils, a sharpener, a writing tablet with lines, and glue sticks. It comes with a promise that he and I will do more schooltime together. He put it all in his backpack and has been carrying it around the house all morning, pausing to cut up tons of scrap paper (thank you, Grandma Litwiller, for all that paper!!) He also got the game Hungry, Hungry Hippos. It's a perfect little boy game. It's loud, crazy, and doesn't require parental prompting to play it right. He even plays it by himself, feeding the hippos. The orange one gets fed more often, as that is his favorite color.

Rob and I were just going to do stocking stuffers this year because we couldn't come up with anything either of us really wanted. I got him some Coke bottles from Wal-Mart that are replicas of the 1899 bottles to add to his bottle collection, along with some fun chips. I tried to find Planters Cheese Balls, but I think they stopped making them. He got me a huge box of Hershey's Pot of Gold (eating chocolate while pregnant makes for happier babies, you know!) and a blender! Not exactly a stocking stuffer, but he said he was making up for my birthday :)

We had a nice breakfast together and played with the kids until Rob went to work. Just before he left, he asked me if we gave the kids their new video. Yikes! I had forgotten all about it! We bought the Little Einstein's movie way back in July and had saved it for Christmas. I pulled it out and the kids had fun watching it and playing with their toys.

We got a nice family surprise this afternoon. After the children were in bed (and with Mega Blocks and bits of cut paper scattered all over the floor) some strangers knocked on our door. A man, his wife, and two girls explained that they were from a church in Wisconsin and every year, they call up Maranatha and find out who some of the "non-traditional" students are. Their church takes up a collection and brings these students presents. They brought in two tubs, a box, and a bag full of food, kleenex, wrapped presents, and all kinds of stuff. There was even some money and a couple of gift cards! Praise the Lord! I'm still pretty floored by their generosity and that a church would remember married college students. What a wonderful surprise.

Tomorrow we take off for Illinois to visit with our families. We're looking forward to seeing everyone again. I have all of the presents made, the cookies baked, but I haven't even opened my green and red paper to attempt making cards yet. I usually make cards during naptime so that two little boys don't "help" too much, but I've been napping myself recently. I'm just too tired otherwise. So, the cards won't get done this year, which is too bad, but maybe I can start early for next year :)

If I don't post again before Tuesday, Merry Christmas to all of you who read this blog. May your season be filled with love, laughter, joy.

Praises Come In All Shapes and Sizes

A few posts ago, I moaned about my Tupperware Open House that did not go over well. Turns out, that was a very good thing. Their warehouse in South Carolina had a fire and they lost almost all of their inventory. I won't be getting this order in until Christmas Eve. I'm so thankful that only four people ordered...otherwise I'd have alot of unhappy customers to deal with. Two of them did order presents, but all for adults, so at least they can explain the situation. I almost ordered presents for my nieces, but I'm so glad I didn't now!

So, I guess that every cloud does have a silver lining.

Silly Boys

Ben has been doing much better about not touching the Christmas tree lately, but yesterday, Matthew hung up two teddy bear ornaments that Ben could not resist. He kept wanting to take them off the tree. I told him no, then explained that we don't touch the tree, we look at it. He bent over and started staring at the tree intently. I was laughing so hard I had to leave the room!

Tonight at supper, I decided to teach the boys some etiquette. Matthew keeps trying to wipe his hands on the table, his shirt, his jeans, his mommy, wherever, so I decided it's time to learn about napkins. (Probably a little later than I should have, but oh well.) I gave both boys a paper towel and explained that we place it on our laps. Matthew took me very seriously and was so intent on putting it on his lap that he fell right out of his chair! I couldn't help it...I just started laughing at him. He laughed, too, and got up and tried again!

Silly little boys!

Puppy Love

The boys have found a new source of fun...playing with their puppies. No, we did not get a dog (and there is no way this momma wants one). They love playing with their stuffed dogs. We put up a lot of stuffed animals into the closet simply because the boys weren't interested in them yet, but Matthew found this dog in the closet, dragged him out, and named him Charlie. Charlie goes all over the house with Matthew. Charlie likes to be thrown over the couch, down the stairs, eats dog food, and poops inside of Daddy's wrist braces. (Thanks, Aunt Mandy, for teaching my son how to get a little puppy to poop by massaging his bottom!)

Charlie has to be present for all naps and at bedtime. He occasionally rides in the car with us, but is not allowed in the stores. We might take him to Tiny Trackers because he looks a bit like the dog, Tiny.

I was informed the other day that Ben needed to join in the fun. So, I found another little dog in the closet for him. That dog is named Abbie. (Hmm...Charlie and Abbie...sound familiar to anyone on the Litwiller side???) Abbie is now Ben's buddy and goes with him everywhere (except when Matthew swipes her and puts both doggies in their "cage.")

I can handle this. It's pretty cute and it keeps them from asking for a real dog. I really have no use for a dog or cat in the house, so a stuffed substitute is just fine with me!

Random Stuff

I haven't posted anything really funny or interesting about the kids recently because, well, I've just been too tired whenever I get at the computer! I'm usually on here during their naptime (which is also my naptime) or before bed, so my brain has not been functionally well enough to type all of the funny stuff they've been doing recently. But, I'll give it my best shot!

Let's start with Benjamin: He has been talking up a storm recently. He pretty much starts babbling when he wakes up and doesn't quit until he's asleep. Now that he can speak in sentences (some 8-9 words long!) it's like the dam has broken. I'm glad that he can speak better now, because he's been whining and crying a lot less. He will tell me, very calmly, when he needs help with something. He has also been taught to say, "May I be excused, please? when he's finished eating. Politeness at the table is big with Rob and I and if a child can speak in sentences, then they can ask for things politely.

Ben has also taken up the hobby of singing. He can sing the theme songs to Bob the Builder and Winnie the Pooh. Okay, not the entire thing, but enough that anyone could understand it. He has added Jesus Loves Me and Away in the Manager to his repetoire as well. He usually wants me to sing Away in the Manager and he does the motions. It's like I have my own little interpreter! He is quite the charmer and smiles a big, cheesy grin at everyone he meets.

Matthew is still my little sweetheart and I think he always will be. He's so much like me in personality that it's hard not to adore him :) He has been amusing me quite a bit here lately with his "raised eyebrow" face. It makes me laugh everytime! We've had some interesting conversations, like when he asked me what to do when you love a girl. I decided to just go through the whole thing and told him to pray about it, get to know her, talk to Mommy and Daddy about her, and if he wants to marry her, he needs to ask her Daddy. He took it all in and then I asked him if he had anyone in mind. He said that he didn't yet. That's a relief!

I've enjoyed seeing their senses of humor develop as well. Matthew finds situations and people very funny. An example: Yesterday, we were at the library and Matthew usually climbs up and down the stairs while I check out books. Then we meet right near the entrance so I can re-winterize them. While I put on his gloves, he told me that a lady going up the stairs looked at him and said, "Oops! Wrong kid!" He found that very funny, that she mistook him for her son! Ben's sense of humor involves teasing people. If I tell him not to touch something, he'll get near enough to it to almost touch it, and then he'll look at me, grin, and run away laughing. I hate to admit it, but I think that my sense of humor got split in half and each of my sons has a piece! Poor Anna will have to suffer with Rob's sense of humor.......j/k!

Speaking of Anna, she's doing well. I had an appointment today and everything is fine. I take the glucose test at my next appointment. This time, I get to drink the stuff at home an hour before the appointment rather than doing it there and waiting for an hour. I'm sure I'll have the diabetes again, but at least it will only be for three months this time around!

And that's my little guys. Oh, the big guy is finally done with school for the semester. So far, it looks like he passed everything, even the class that he thought he had failed. Praise the Lord!

O Kissmasmee

That's right: The Litwillers have finally decoracted for Christmas. I put it off for quite awhile only because I wanted the mininal amount of time possible to keep little fingers off the tree and other decorations. We also don't do much (my wonderful husband detests Christmas decorating) so I knew it wouldn't take long when we started. Matthew kept asking and asking and asking, so we finally got out the decorations on Saturday night after the Christmas Cantata at church. (We went to work in the nursery.)

The tree went up first. Our tree is leftover from the apartment days, so it's pretty small. It's also very scrawny. I really must post a picture of it. We're afraid that the neighbors might take up a collection for a new tree for us so we don't disgrace the neighborhood (we live in a nice, historic district with houses that do those house tour thingys.) Anyway, Rob took out the top part (it's in four parts) and said, "Well, boys, this is it! How do you like it?" Matthew made a face and immediately looked in the box for the rest of it. What was funny was when they kept looking after the thing was up!

Rob put on the lights and red beads while I sorted through the ornaments for all of the indestructible ones. That's means only 1/4 of the ornaments went up, but since that's all the tree will take, it's okay! The boys put them on with my direction. Matthew did very well and has since then been fussy about the tree being perfect. Ben couldn't figure out how to get them on the branches so he gave up and just handed me ornaments. Since then, he has been taking some off and managed to tip the tree over yesterday. ***Sigh*** Now you know why I waited so long!

Rob put up the star on our Charlie Brown tree (the first time the star went up, it tipped the whole tree over, hence the nickname) and plugged in the lights. Next, we took out the stockings and put them up, along with my decorations that go on top of the piano. The boys went to bed shortly afterwards and we collapsed.

The next night, the boys and I went back to church for Cantata Round 2 (again, working in the nursery) and while we were gone, Rob surprised us. He hung up lights in the window! I'm so proud of him...getting over the trauma of Christmas decorating in childhood (what did you guys do to him, Leanah???) They look nice.

You know, as I've sat back and looked at that sad little tree, I realized something. It's grown on me. I actually like it now. I don't think I could ever get rid of it. It's perfect for the boys, it doesn't overwhelm them, and it's just plain cute. They think it's a big tree and that's all that matters. I'd have to say that was $20 at Target well spent.