First snow, holiday prep, and CHRISTMAS

First real snow! WOOHOO! Joseph was so excited.
He had been asking every single day when it was going to snow.

Helping to decorate the tree.

Helping to make candies for presents. He was actually very into this. He did this entire tray by himself--which is a lot of work since he had to unwrap a whole bag of hershey hugs.

I decided to throw this in to "round out the picture." Things are certainly not always organized and going according to plan. In fact, I am always hurrying around and tidying things up when I take pictures. Here is what things are like more often. Messy. Joseph was having snack when I ran upstairs to get my phone. When I returned he was standing on his chair, eating hummus with his hands, and sharing with Mischa. Hmmm..

Christmas at Grandma and Grandpa's with cousins Bri and Jacob.

He certainly knows what presents are about now!

Christmas was a bit of a fashion show for Joseph. Here he has new PJs on while trying out his new spiderman bike from daddy.

Pirate costume from me. This is what he always said he wanted from Santa.

Movie time. The one calm time ;)

Back to action. Dancing with Bri.

Poor grandma and her broken leg.

Checking out a new book with second cousin Charlie.

Second prime rib feast of the day!

More dancing! Can you tell Patricia is having fun?

Later, someone--Charlie?--seems to have hijacked my camera. But I will skip those pics. Probably save them for blackmail.

Christmas at the Wells.

SOOO much fun hunting monsters with Carly.

November Pics that were never posted

Another Snake Moutain Hike--this time with grandpa, mommy, daddy, and great unle Yvonne.

And a few Thanksgiving pictures (I find it pretty hard to take pics during these big indoor get-togethers). These are also in a strange order, but I can't seem to fix them.

Cards and Legos for hours the day after Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving meal at the cabin.

Bri and Jacob!

November 28th--Dandolions on our lawn!

But, don't worry, snowy and Christmas pics to come . . .

Overheard

"I'm awesome."

R: "Joseph, you need to sleep in your bed by yourself, because you are a big boy."

J: "But, but, you get daddy with you!"

"I'm not a mind-reader!"

"Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? . . ."

"I'm going to the store to buy boobies."

R: "Remember Joseph, you can be a big boy and use the potty today."
J: "Then I ride the school bus and go to school?"

"You a poopy-butt." (This was kind of funny until he said it to gram at Thanksgiving, now I tell him that no one wants to play with him if he talks like that. That stops him.)

"You have pretty hair on you momma."

About our kitties Mischa and Margo, "He's my brother and she's my mommy." Also, "I want to be a kitty!" "I have fur," "I want to be naked like kitties!" and, "he's not talking to me!"

"I'm frustrated mommy."

He asks all the time, "who bought that?" about everything, "what's his/her name?" about everyone, and "whose car is that?" about lots of cars.

"I want that and that and that and that and that . . ."

R: "Can you go see if the christmas tree needs water?"
J goes and stands in front of the tree and asks, "Do you need water?" He then tells me that it does.

"It's next Halloween!" He really, really loved Halloween and is very much anticipating next years festivities. For both Thanksgiving and Christmas I have had to convince him that we are not dressing up as monsters and are also not going trick-or-treating.

J: "I go trick-or-treating."
R: "No, Joseph, it's not Halloween it's Thanksgiving. No one is going trick-or-treating."
J: "I go trick-or-treating by myself!"

2 and a 1/2 going on 9 (or 13)

• If you ask Joseph, "how old are you?" He will answer, "9." This started at Nora's birthday celebration last summer when Joseph learned that his cousin Jasper was 9. Then at Thanksgiving when someone asked him how old he was, he changed it to "10" for some reason. I'm thinking because Jasper was standing right next to him . . .
• He has definite ideas about what is "cool" or "not cool" and will certainly let you know his thoughts. (Transformers, superheroes, trains, all thing Halloween and scary, and anything that shots or has to do with sports is cool. Sweaters are not cool. As is anything "for babies." He also likes to let you know what "is for boys" (or girls); of course I am trying to counter this, but cultural indoctrination apparently starts young.
• He loves to follow the big kids around and try to do whatever they do. Climb, play sports, games, etc. . .
• When he is with his best buddies and they have a game going I can barely get his attention. I have to call him over and make him give me a hug goodbye at daycare and when I pick him up he doesn't give me a kiss until we are in the car and away from his friends.
• If you tell him to do something, you can be pretty sure he will do the opposite. A lot of the time I just trick him into thinking it is his idea.
• He has many strategies to get what he wants. Take turns asking each parent (or whoever else is around). Ask in super-cute voice. Whine. Demand. Throw a tantrum. Just like a preteen or teenager whatever is going on in the moment is THE.MOST.IMPORTANT.THING.EVER. He also knows who to ask for what (for example Brad gives in more on sweets and I am more likely to negotiate about clothes).
• If you ask him, "what did you do in school today?" He will often answer with the long parent-dreaded, "nothing." (Luckily, Sarah is very good about communicating with parents what they have done throughout the day, so I can probe and get more out of him.)
• He is very concerned about what he wears. He would wear "baseball shirts" everyday if he could. Last night we had a whole fashion show when he received a number of great Phillies shirts from GG (great-grandma). He gets ideas about what "matches" that are very important to him. And if something is, "not cool," he certainly can't be seen in it.

Getting crafty

Lately I have been feeling somewhat creative and have enjoyed some crafty projects of my own and with Joseph. It is very, very exciting for me that Joseph is old enough to do projects!!

I never really loved carving pumpkins and Joseph and knives don't really go that well, so these were our pumpkins this year. I made the funny eyes and mouths out of sculpey (with half toothpicks in the back) and then Joseph choose where to put them. The two painted pumpkins he made at preschool with his teacher, Sarah, and his friends. This is actually one of my very favorite things about his preschool--they do tons of crafts and creative activities. Sarah has way more experience and materials then I could ever have.


These are turkeys Joseph made at school. They were actually the party favors from our fall celebration.

As you can see our fridge is getting very full, with art from home, school, and story time. Every Wednesday Joseph and I go to story hour at the Middlebury library. This is one of my very favorite things to do with Joseph for many reasons, one of which is that each week Judah (the librarian) has organized and laid out all the materials for a great craft relating to the weekly theme. As we drive into Middlebury Joseph always talks about doing the craft and he runs right over when it is time. When we return home he heads right to the refrigerator to display his work. Sarah also sends home lots of projects. I am thinking about trying to find a wall somewhere to dedicate to displaying Joseph's projects.

They turkey shirt I made for Joseph!! I am very proud of this. It is my first attempt at sewing in a long time (therefore don't look too closely at the quality). Of course Joseph didn't appreciate it adequately and I had to force him to wear it. He only likes "baseball shirts " (any shirt that looks vaguely sporty). Tutorial hereif you want to make one: http://morganmoore.typepad.com/one_more_moore/2008/11/a-turkey-for-me-and-a-turkey-for-you.html

I am planning on making some wreathes, and Brad has not stopped laughing since I came home with my supplies. He decided to make his own, with cedar branches from our land, to prove you don't need to buy materials. I love it and am very happy he is getting in on the crafting!

May I suggest

If you need something to bring to your family festivities, I highly suggest pecan pie! It is soooo easy, yummy, and--for some reason--impressive. I have tasted MANY pecan pies in my life; during one particular trip to Texas with my father I pretty much lived on pecan pie. We traveled together around southern Texas, stopping at local dinners, BBQ joints, and restaurants of any kind as they appealed to us, and at each I ordered pecan pie. To be honest, I hardly tried anything else to eat. I was about 12 and you do weird things at that age. Anyways, in my very informed opinion, one of the best pecan pies is from the recipe right of the back of the corn syrup bottle (in case you didn't know pecan pie is mostly sugar of different forms) and this is the recipe I have been making for years.

Give it a try:

http://www.karosyrup.com/pecanPie.asp

I'm still debating whether to reveal my crust recipe . . .

Halloween!

Halloween was soo much fun for Joseph this year! I thought he was just adorable handing out candy. He was very careful to make sure everyone got some.

We spent quite a while trick-or-treating with Grandma and then Bob. He could have gone for longer--though some costumes and decorations did make him pretty nervous. He is still talking about the haunted house in the library we went to!

Back to handing out pictures. We had such fun!

These pictures are all from a Halloween photo shoot soon after, since I didn't get many pictures.

He was a singing cowboy with his harmonica. Even on the real Halloween he gave some performances!

Posing.

About to get to eat the candy I bribed him with.

This is the preferred way of dressing.