My Library

This post is just for me. It will be boring snoring for anyone who doesn't care about books in general, my books specifically. I put up pictures to liven it up a bit, but again, this is just for me.

I had so much fun making my stacks of books! They were all stored in Nicco's closet until just the other day, so whenever I went up and came back down with an armful of books, Nicco did the same. He has just about as many books as I do.
I moved different books to different stacks as I tried to decide how to organize them. Patrice asked if I was going to organize by size at one point. No no no! That would never suit my needs!

So far, on the top two left hand shelves I have my adolescent literature and my non-favorites. Books I don't necessarily need easy access to, or they aren't especially display books. On the top right I have reference books. On the left again, I have pretty books...Shakespeare, Monet's Garden, Mini Masterpieces, things like that. The next two shelves will eventually have to be my Pulitzer books, I may even need another shelf for those. Then I have my series...Harry Potter, Unfortunate Events, The Dark is Rising, and The Lord of the Rings. I will need to move those because two of the HP books are paperback, and I have not yet bought #7 and five of my Unfortunate Events are missing. I am pretty sure I know where they are, and also pretty sure I will just replace them. On the right hand side, I have my all time favorites and classics. That section already needs to be reorganized. Yay! Organizing and reorganizing! The middle section has more pretty books...gilt edged leather bound, and otherwise beautiful books. This will be a continuously fun thing for me to have! Yay again! Merry Christmas to me!

Merry Christmas!

I was a little paranoid about Nicco waking up first on Christmas morning, so I finally got out of bed at 7:30. I was the first one up and cleaned up a bit from the night before, made coffee and hot cocoa, ate a little breakfast, then waited and waited. Dad was the next one to make an appearance at about 8:20 and the others followed shortly. We did not hear from Nicco until about 9:00. We need to relish this, because I'm guessing it might be the last Christmas morning for a long time that we get to sleep in. When I went in to help Nicco get himself and his lot of things out of bed to see if Santa came while he was sleeping, he said let's check on him real quick, meaning let's check the Norad Santa tracker. We finally made it downstairs to the empty plate of donuts with a thank you note from the man himself and the toy airport left for Nicco.
Here is Nicco playing with his magnetic fish puzzle with Mamie.

His big and huge airplane from Tante Zouzou. (She wins the prize for favorite present this year...she even outdid Santa Claus.)

Nicco loving his big airplane in his Christmas jammies.

Nicco and mommy flying his "cute little" airplane. (Imagine a soft squeaky Nicco voice saying cute and little.)

It was an airplane Christmas this year. Nicco got:

The big airplane from Tante Zouzou

The airport from Santa Claus

A Little People airplane

A book about how people learned to fly

A paper airplane book and kit

An airplane placemat and an airplane pillow from Grandma

An airplane ornament

The rest of us have quite a stash of chocolate.

After opening our gifts, Patrice made crepes with our leftovers. Mmmm Mmmm good!

We had a wonderful day and we are all thankful for Christmas and what it means in our lives, and we were especially happy to have spent it together with all of Nicco's grandparents.

Making Donuts

This was Nicco's first year making our traditional Christmas donuts. He can be a bit meticulous, and the sugar on his hands bugged him at first. It ceased to bother him after the first time he licked it off.

After sugaring a few donuts, Nicco decided to do some quality control taste testing. He dipped, took a bite, dipped again, took another bite, dipped again, etc. until he finished a donut. He did the same thing with several donut holes.

Here he is getting sugar lessons from Grandma.

And this is how the process went.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas

We had a lovely Christmas Eve. Mom and Dad joined us in the afternoon and we ate snacks, watched Nicco watching Christmas specials, and got had a very festive Christmas dinner. The first course included different kinds of cheese, shrimp and homemade mayonnaise, pate, smoked salmon on cucumbers, smoked salmon on avocado and toast, fresh guacamole, and fresh ahi tuna sashimi. We were stuffed for quite some time after that, so while we let that settle, Nicco made donuts with grandpa and grandma and tracked Santa on Norad's radar. A while later, we had Patrice's awesome scalloped potatoes and stuffed pork roast for our main course. Yummy! We also had a delicious cake, but it was too late and we were too stuffed so we saved it for Christmas.

Here is my Christmas dinner place setting.

The whole table.
Nicco passing time until Santa's arrival playing with Mamie.

Nicco tracking Santa with Grandma.

Nicco was very excited to see Santa getting closer and closer and went to bed like a good boy after setting a plate of donuts for Santa's stop at our house. He made sure we knew the donuts were for Santa and not for us to eat. We tucked mom and dad in around midnight, we stayed up a while longer playing games, then Patrice's parents tucked us in. I think they would have stayed up all night!

Encore!

Nicco made up a new game the other day. He has someone wrap him and SpongeBob like a burrito in his soft blankie then swing him to the couch. This is his airplane game. The swinging is flying, and the couch is where he lands. He puts his things on the floor and hollers "flap it!" to whoever is nearby and willing to play this game. We do it over and over and over again, and when one "pilot" gets tired, Nicco knows it is time to hire a new one. In playing this game, Nicco learned a new French word.

He jumps up and down, points his two fingers and says:

ENCORE!

Tamara's Fantasy

The last few times Patrice asked me what I want for Christmas or my birthday I answered "a bookshelf." Except for this year...I told him I am just happy to have our families together, which is true. Also,when times are tough, you don't ask for something big and expensive. So I guess the trick to getting what you want is not asking for it. Here are some pictures of the work in progress... Nicco wanted to help.

The "big and huge" wall in the framing phase of the project.

My custom shelf all cut and put together, before staining.

The finished product: stained, installed, lights accenting our beach photos of Nicco...Now the fun REALLY begins. I get to look at, touch, sort, and organize all my books! My parents, husband and in-laws asked if I will need help putting up my books. The answer is a resounding NO. That is half the fun of my fantasy being realized. I get to touch, look at, sort and organize my books!Ahhh.....

Getting to Know You...

It has been so fun to watch Nicco interact with his French grandparents. In spite of the language barrier, they have been connecting and having quite a bit of fun together. Nicco likes to read books with his Mamie and enjoy other comfortable and cozy activities with her.
His Papi on the other hand, is great at what grandpas do best:

I have to say, so far (day 3) the visit has exceeded my expectations.

Festival of Lights

We had Hanukkah parties in our classes on Thursday and Friday last week. I was really happy that Papi, Mamie, and Patrice came to visit Nicco, meet his teachers, and participate in a little sample of his day. They made a little craft together, ate some latkes, and the kids sang a song for the visiting parents and other relations. Ms. Georgia said that Nicco sang very loudly and I would have been proud. He is quite a bit more bold this year than he was last year. Here he is with his daddy and grandparents at the little party.

Nicco's Invention

The other day at school I peeked my head out the door to make sure one of my students got down the hallway to the bathroom and back safely, and who did I see coming down the stairs? Nicco's class. His teacher Miss Kim gestured for me to get back into my room quickly. I knew some kind of trouble was brewing. The Bumblebees (Nicco's class) came to my room to demonstrate how well Nicco taught them to use his new invention. Apparently, the kids were playing with playdough using various tools for constructing their playdough creations, including straws and Q-tips. The other little ones were innocently playing and building and Nicco came up with this:

I'm so proud!

Papi and Mamie Arrive

Papi and Mamie arrived at 2:00 in the morning on Tuesday. They were supposed to land around 10:00-ish Monday night, but had delays in both Paris and New York. We wanted Nicco to be able to greet them at the airport for many reasons, his obsession for all things relating to airplanes among them, but mostly for the special moment of seeing Papi and Mamie again after 2 years. Landing at 10:00 was already pushing the bed time limits even for my little night owl, but I am happy to make exceptions for certain occasions. I was less enthused when I found out about the delays, but when we realized they wouldn't land until 12:30 a.m. I nixed Nicco's airport excursion altogether. On the way home from school I told him he should get ready to give Papi and Mamie lots of hugs when we get home. He said "Silly Mommy, hugs don't belong in the computer!" (We talk to Patrice's parents every week via the web-cam.) When I told him that Papi and Mamie arrived while we were sleeping, he said "NO!!! We DON'T see Papi and Mamie at home. We have to see them at the AIRPORT!!" It took some talking to convince him they were waiting for us at home. We were a little nervous about how he would react to them, he has a tendency to be a bit grouchy at times...ahem...but Papi is no dummy. He brought chocolate and a brand new airplane and they were best friends from the start. Here is a little video of the first few moments they spent getting reacquainted.

Naughty or Nice?

This morning, Nicco was not being nice to his daddy and I reminded him that Santa Claus will only visit little boys who are nice. Since then, Nicco has been obsessed with making sure S.C. knows he is nice. We went shopping for an ornament for his cousin at St. Nick's where the Big and Huge Santa waves from the rooftop. When we went in and when we left, Nicco made me holler up to the jolly old elf that he was being nice. "Tell him, mommy! Tell him I'm nice!" I said to Santa "Nicco is being nice." He made me repeat it loud enough that Santa could hear me. We got a couple of giggles in the parking lot. I also had to stop a few times in Target when we passed some large-ish Santa Claus decorations to share the news of Nicco's niceness. When we got home, I was replacing the tree skirt and Nicco gathered all the Santa Claus ornaments and lined them up so I could tell each one that he is being nice. I wonder how many times I will have to repeat this ritual before Nicco feels confident that he is on the nice list.

Elf Yourself

My friend Steph made a Christmas JibJab video and as you may have guessed, Nicco loves it. He tells me "I want to watch the Dancin' Guys." so we watch the elf video over and over. Her youngest has his tongue sticking out and the first several times we watched the video Nicco said "Look at that guy. He's silly" every time Trevor was in the shot. Apparently, the JibJab guys at the beginning of the video are scary...Anyway, here is Nicco watching the Dancin' Guys for about the 50th time today. Thanks Steph! Merry Christmas!

P.S.

Nicco was reciting an episode of SpongeBob in which Squidward exclaimed "Can't you see I'm busy here?" in much the same tone Nicco used in the car the other night. I officially acquit myself of any guilt regarding my kid hearing I am too busy for him.

Quote of the Day

I took Nicco to another grown-up birthday party today. This time he had some friends to play with at least. He got to take a balloon home with him and in the car, he managed to seriously tangle his airplane in the string of the balloon. He was back there mumbling "How am I going to get out of here? What did I do?" I asked him what was going on and he said, no, he screamed, "CAN'T YOU SEE I'M BUSY HERE? THIS IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!!"

I think he got the "can't you see I'm busy here" part from TV. When I need to, I am very careful to tell him I'm busy in a way that doesn't convey I'm too busy for him. "This is driving me CRAZY" however, I'm pretty sure he learned from me.

Christmas Carols

Nicco likes to sing. A lot. He sings in the car, he sings while he plays, he sings himself to sleep. he is also very excited about Christmas coming up. He knows 3 Christmas songs: Jingle Bells, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, and Christmas is Coming. He sang a medley of these 3 songs to put himself to sleep last night. It went something like this:

Christmas is coming, the goose is fat. Put a penny in the man's hat. Santa Claus is coming to town jingle all the way. The goose is fat. You better not cry. TOOOOOO Town!

Nicco Watching Videos

Just about every day, Nicco watches airplane videos on the computer via YouTube. He has his favorites, most of which are set to music. This is him watching a video set to Linkin Park's "Numb."

Thanksgiving

There are so many things to be thankful for in our little corner of the world. Last week at school we went around our circle and asked the kiddos what they are thankful for (after discussing what it means to be thankful and giving some examples and reading a story, of course) and one of my girls said "nothing." It didn't really surprise me coming from this particular child, but I told her that she has so much to be thankful for whether she knows it or not and she really ought to start thinking about it. The fact that we have a home, family, food, transportation, school, friends, etc...She finally confessed that she was thankful for her parents because they are always nice to her. That is true too...spoiled little thing that she is. I was impressed by one of my boys who said he is thankful for the military because they protect the United States. Yes, a direct quote from a 4-year-old. There were some other good ones, but those two stuck out to me. Personally, I can't even begin my list of things I am thankful for, but my family is at the very top. We are so lucky to be close to my parents and to have them be part of our lives. I am thankful that my friendship with my sisters spans the miles between us. I am also thankful for unlimited long distance. I am thankful that all my cousins and aunts and uncles remain close and that we all keep in touch regularly. Last but certainly not least, I am thankful for my two boys.They don't look anything alike, do they? Love you all! Happy Thanksgiving!

Nicco the Airplane

At Grandma and Grandpa's house, Nicco flew like an airplane over and over and over again. I was worried that he would repeat a childhood incident of his Aunt Danae's and break his ankle jumping off the couch, so I made him put pillows down to cushion his landing. He had a little routine for takeoff, and he made sure to follow each step as any good pilot will do. He first put out his wings, made his Daddy count to 3 for him, (he would NOT take off if Patrice said ready, set, go. It had to be 1,2,3) then he flew high in the sky:


This was not a perfect takeoff, but it was the only one I recorded : )

Musical Chairs

Every afternoon at school we have little 20-minute enrichment programs for the kiddos. Monday is dance, Wednesday is science, and Friday is Hebrew. We are basically going through the Hebrew alphabet and teaching the kids a word that starts with each letter. Today, the letter was Kaf and the word we learned was kisay. (Chair in English) To help reinforce the word, the kids played musical chairs. There were only two kids who stayed for the afternoon in Nicco's class, and they got a little prize for winning. The prize was an ink stamp "tattoo."
Clearly, with only two kids they each won a lot! Nicco ran out of places to stamp, so he has an airplane covered belly.

A Chip Off the Old Block

We went to mom and dad's house for Sunday dinner and on the way about a mile from the house, Nicco said "Mommy, I like reindeer. Did you see that reindeer?" I thought he may have seen some Christmas decoration that I missed, but then he said "Look, there's 1, 2, 3 more reindeer." And sure enough, there they were! Just regular old deer, not actual reindeer, but close enough for a 3 year old, right? Grandpa Madsen would have been proud. Before I know it, he will be spending his birthdays on the hunt with dad!

Quote of the Day

Every once in a while just out of the blue, Nicco will say "Mommy, I sure I love you." Sometimes it is not out of the blue...sometimes when we are teasing or tickling him he will give us this little bit of love, perhaps to make us stop? Anyway, we were driving home from Target (not anywhere NEAR $16 this time...) and out of the blue Nicco said "Mommy, I want you." I asked for a clarification, "You want me to do what?" His answer, "To do laundry." Hmm. Well. I don't know what to say. I will know better than to ask next time!

E-I-E-I-O

The other day, Nicco carried his "lot of things" to the couch and arranged them just so, set himself up and read his book. The book is nursery rhymes, and the page he is reading is "Old MacDonald." He went through each animal on the picture, pausing before saying the name...
"Old MacDonald had a farm, e-i-e-i-o. And on that farm he had a.......SHEEP! e-i-e-i-o." It is hard to describe and I was lucky to get a picture, let alone a video. If I had tried to record his little song, I would have been met with squawks and shrieks. I'll just have to try to remember his high little voice singing to himself.

Daddy's Little Helper

We have to take advantage of nice weather and get all the leaves cleaned up before the snow starts falling. (Don't tell Patrice I said the "S" word...) Nicco loves to help.
Here he is, "helping." I think maybe his airplanes are getting an aerial view, in case Daddy needed a better idea of where the leaves were concentrated.

Now he is actually getting into it a little, dragging the rake behind him.

Real work: he honestly helped! He pulled a big pile of leaves toward the fence and helped put them in the bag. He only did this a couple of times before he figured out it was more fun to run and jump in the leaves.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

I know, I am not supposed to say the "C" word until at least after Thanksgiving, but Nicco was just too darn cute helping his daddy with the lights the other day. F.Y.I., just because we put our lights up on November 1, does NOT mean we turn them on! They will not be on until December 1, I promise!
Here is Nicco playing in the leaves. I could not get him to look at me. He is suddenly camera shy.

Every time Patrice moved his big and huge ladder, Nicco moved his. He likes to be strong and carry/move heavy things, exclaiming "Oh man, this is heavy." What a little helper.

It was tricky to get a picture with Nicco actually looking at me, but here he is alongside his daddy on his Nicco sized ladder helping with the lights. Now he thinks that when the sun is goin' down, we can see the pretty lights. Not so, not so. I WILL wait until after Thanksgiving!

Holiday Excitement

I went to Target yesterday to pick up a few odds and ends--I only spent $16!!! Amazing! Nicco was excited to see the Pumpkin and Monster. I told him that since Halloween was over the Pumpkin and Monster would probably be gone. He said "I think I will go trick-or-treating tomorrow." Sorry buddy, you missed it. That excitement would have been welcome a couple days ago!

Our Christmas store put up its "big and huge" Santa Claus, so now that Halloween has been over for a WHOLE WEEKEND, it is time to get into Christmas. Nicco saw the big Claus when we drove past on the way to school and said "Santa Claus is wakin' up. Time to get ready for Christmas. I like Christmas."

The Final Phase of Nicco's Birthday

The thing about being born on October 25th is that Grandpa and Grandma will most likely be in Utah for the deer hunt, so celebrating with said grandparents is either done early or late, depending on the most convenient time for all parties involved. This year, we celebrated late.

Here is Nicco with his daddy singing the birthday songs. The cake was a major disappointment. Patrice objected to my baking anything other than "The Cake," but Nicco wanted pink...hence the strawberry pillsbury cake from a box. My cake decorating skills leave something to be desired...the birthday boy didn't seem to object, so I guess that is what counts, right?

The Birthday Pancakes were daddy approved.
A quick thank you hug to Grandma, and Nicco is off...
...to give a quick thank you hug to Grandpa, then he is off again to play with his new toys.
Thanks again to Grandma and Grandpa for making the celebration a success!

Happy Halloween from the "BOOdous"

These are my spooky Halloween decorations. The halloween Ms are on top, almost gone...(scary...) and under those are my harvest Ms. I will have to restock my bowl with more harvest Ms to be festive for Thanksgiving.
Here is Nicco with the pumpkin Grandma and Grandpa got him, that we never got around to carving (SLACKERS!!!)

Nicco with his well-loved Halloween ghost card from Grandma and Grandpa. When the card is closed the ghosts do not light up..."You are not a ghost."

But when you open the card, the ghosts light up..."You are a ghost! OOOoooOOO"

Thank goodness for grandparents, or we would not have had any kind of Halloween to speak of at all!

SpongeBoo NiccoPants

Patrice and Nicco worked really hard to make a SpongeBob costume to wear for Halloween. As you can see, Nicco (with airplane in hand) was very happy to help and excited to watch the creative process.
Putting on the finishing touches...

And the final product! I think it looks great. However, it remained in Nicco's room all Halloween day and night. We watched Halloween specials and built up the whole trick-or-treat idea all day and I thought I had him at a sufficient level of excitement to put his costume on and at least go around the cul-de-sac. But alas, no. It apparently would be "too sad" for Nicco to go trick-or-treating. I still don't know what that means...
So, we spent our evening handing out candy to those who ventured up to our doorstep. It was not nearly as intimidating as the Biles' patio, all I have in the way of porch decorations is the nasty spiderweb on the porch light.

And more Africa...

The zebras stand together in groups to confuse their predators

Cheetahs resting in the mid-day sun.

How awesome is this to have a lion looking right at you!

Papa lion, keeping his eye on the passers by. You can tell he is at a distance...

Ken & Damaris and some of their group at the Southernmost point of the continent at the Cape of Good Hope.

Africa continued

You do not want to be in the wrong place when the hippos decide to close those jaws!

A little giraffe family lunching and wandering.

Elephant family marching along. Cute baby! The elephants are very caring and affectionate to each other. Dad told me a story of a pair of elephants who walked toward each other and wrapped their trunks together and nudged each other then went along, just like good friends giving a hug and a kiss.

Elephant ride...it will be difficult to appreciate the zoo after this trip!

I love this picture of mom and dad's shadows from the back of the elephant they rode.