Brad-isms 12/29

Yesterday Brad says to me "Let's pretend that you're the mommy and I'm the daddy."
Me: Ok, sounds good.
Brad: (From the other room) Dear!
Me: Yes?
Brad: I need a Diet Coke!
Interesting to get his perception of our relationship!







Today, at the dinner table:
Brad: Mommy, do you like cats?
Me: No, not really.
Brad: (With a sweet expression on his face holding his thumb and finger together) Just a tiny little bit?
Me: Yeah, I guess a tiny little bit.
Brad: Ok! Let's get one!
We're going to have to teach him about the hard sell.

Bath Time!

Wow, three posts in one day! Aren't you proud?

I know the day will come when I can't put my kids in the bath together, but that day is not yet. Lucy loves her big brother so much. She just laughs and laughs at everything he does. He also loves her and does everything he can to make her happy. There's been no sibling rivalry at all. Having two is so much more fun than I ever thought it would be!

The Gingerbread Rocket

This Christmas season Brad has seen a few Gingerbread Houses and he wanted us to make one.  I decided it would be better to use graham crackers because there was just no way I was going to make gingerbread from scratch.  We went to the store and got candy and the crackers and frosting in a can (is that any worse or better than cheese in a can?) and came home to build the house.  Upon arriving home Brad informed us that he didn't want to make a gingerbread house, he wanted to make a gingerbread rocket.  It's a bit unorthodox, but it turned out great.  Here are the pictures!  

Brad spent a lot of the time eating the frosting and candy.

Here's the rocket starting to take shape.

And here's the final product.  Pretty sweet for the first ever Graham Cracker Christmas Rocket.

Merry Christmas

I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Ours was wonderful. Wednesday night we had a great time playing games and singing carols. Joe read us the Christmas story from the bible and as we read each piece Brad put the ceramic nativity pieces into the stable. We also watched Joy to the World which is a DVD the LDS church put out last year (or the year before, I can't remember) which depicts the birth of Christ and the corresponding events in the Book of Mormon. It was a really nice evening.

That night both of the kids were TERRIBLE! Brad woke up like 4 times and Lucy woke up wanting to nurse like ever hour and a half. I don't know what it is about holidays but it just throws kids off. I was sooooo tired in the morning. Luckily both kids are too young to want to get up early for presents so we slept in until about 8:00.

Brad thoroughly enjoyed opening his gifts, however the first 2 he opened were both clothes and I think he got worried there were all clothes. He got some Legos (the big ones) and also a Little Critter Collection book which he loves. Lucy was way more into it than Brad ever was at her age, but still she liked the paper better than anything else.

Around noon we went to visit Grandma Pitts who is Joe's maternal Grandmother, who lives about 20 minutes away. There were other cousins and family there and we had lunch and enjoyed the company. She gave us the best present - Food Storage! What a great idea! She went to the cannery and packed oats and sugar and macaroni and other things and gave us a whole big box. I was really excited about that. She also put some of Grandpa Pitts' papers and pictures on a CD for us that I'm really excited to take a look at.

At 4:00 we had a family dinner hosted by Josh & Jo-Elle. We had turkey and potatoes and all the fixings. She had set a beautiful table and it was really nice. We then exchanged gifts with everyone in the 2nd annual Tibbs gift exchange. Last year we started a tradition where each couple buys for another couple and you have to get the most creative and fitting gift for $20.00. It is a lot of fun and also saves everyone money. Grandma Pitts even kicked in a $5.00 prize for the winners who were Jo-Elle & Josh. Brad had a great time wrestling with his uncle Matt and Lucy enjoyed being the center of her Grandparent's attention.

I feel truly blessed this year. It's been a great one for us and I'm so glad so many of you have been a part of it. I love Christmas and the time it gives us to reflect on the birth of Jesus Christ and the reminder that we should be focusing on Him all year.

Ok, here are the pictures. There are a lot so I threw them into a slide-show. I hope you enjoy them!

THAT 8-year-old girl

A couple of weeks ago our bishop announced that there were some families in our ward who could use some help with their Christmas needs. He said we could donate money through the ward and that they would make sure those needs were met. Joe and I felt strongly that we should help but we wanted to do something a little bit more personal to try to help Brad understand better about how Christmas is for Giving not Getting. Joe asked the bishop and was told that there was an 8-year-old girl in the ward whose family was short on cash for presents and that we could pick out a few things for her.

A few nights later we were talking to Brad and told him we were going to go shopping to get some Christmas presents for an 8-year-old girl. I didn't really think he would understand, but I did not expect his reaction at all. He totally went off the deep end! He was telling us that presents were only for him and his friends. He said we could buy presents for Kennedy, Anela, Kara, Abby & Alyssa, but not for THAT 8-year-old girl. We continued to explain that the girl's family didn't have enough money this Christmas and that we did, so we were going to share. Brad replied with, "We can't give THAT 8-year-old girl my dad's money! My dad likes his money!!" It was all a bit comical and a bit concerning at the same time. I told Brad that Christmas is to celebrate Jesus's birthday and that we give each other presents for His birthday and that Jesus would want us to share with this girl. Brad simply stated, "I will share with MY friends."

I am happy to report that the story has a happy ending. When we got to the store and started looking around for things an 8-year-old girl would like Brad had a change of heart. He helped us pick out the presents and even helped Joe wrap them. The hostility went away and Brad decided it was ok to share with a girl he didn't know. He even picked out a present for Lucy - something she would like instead of something he wanted. I think he's getting the Spirit of Christmas after all.