Save The Toys!!

As you may know, I'm a huge fan of all things handmade.  I've also, since the lead scares of Chinese made products, become more vigilant about what toys I buy for the kiddos.  Which brings me to the reason for this post.  I can't type eloquently right now with both kids at my knee, so I'll send you to this link, but to sum it all up, congress is passing legislation that would make it almost impossible for small handmade toy makers (including, possibly, my talented lil' sis) from selling their toys (by forcing them to go through very expensive testing).  There is a huge community of people who make their living this way (check out etsy.com if you haven't already), making awesome toys that are personal, handmade, well crafted and unique.  Coming from a long line of craftsmen, and being a small business "crafter" myself, I'm asking you today to take a tiny bit of your time to help.  Because I want to be able to buy this and this and this for my babes!

Dance, Dance and more dance.

Just wanted to get this video up for everyone.

Sweetie Pie SugarBunch

Sweet is a word used a lot when people talk about Fin.  He's a "sweetie pie" a "sweetheart" he has the "sweetest voice" and the "sweetest eyes."  People just can't help but turn into gooey doe-eyed puddles of goodness when they are around him.  Not to say that he is just an angel sent from heaven who only says and does amazingly sweet things.  But there is something special about him, that touches even the most jaded of adults.  

Last week when I picked him up from school, he had a sticker on his shirt.  Everytime I pick him up he has a sticker.  And every time I ask him why he got a sticker, I get the same response I get when I ask him what he did at school.  "I don't remember."  This is a boy who remembers exactly what he wore one year ago to his Christmas pageant, a boy who remembers exactly who went with us to pick out a tree two years ago, and a boy who recognizes the hospital he was born in, though we've driven by it maybe twice.  But he "can't" for the life of him remember what letter he learned about or what book he read that day.  *grrr*  So I've kind of given up on the sticker thing.  I figure he got it because he washes his hands or something.  So as I'm signing him out, his teacher comes over and says, "I have to tell you why Griffin got a sticker today, it was so sweet."  Apparently they had more kids than usual stay for nap time, and were short a few mats to sleep on.  So some kids got mats, and some had blankets.  Well of course all the kids wanted the mats.  Griffin got a mat, but saw that his friend Blake did not get a mat and was upset.  He turned to Blake, handed him his mat, and said, 

"Here, you can hab my mat Bwake."  

His teacher continued and said, "Its stuff like that that really makes my job great, its so nice to hear a kid who doesn't always just say MINE!"  I got all teary and ruffled his hair, and said, "yeah, he's a sweet boy."

Two days later we're at his Christmas pageant and Griffin stands next to Blake on stage.  The entire time, Blake is teary and looks just miserable.  Afterwards, we were watching the video at home, and I said, "Hey Fin, what was going on with Blake?  He looks upset."  

"Yeah, I don't know.  Maybe he's just annoying."

Ahhh my sweetie pie.

Its Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!

We started our Thanksgiving weekend by making some felt ornaments with Auntie Jessie.  Although she said she wanted to make them since she didn't have any for her tree, she left every single one here, and will probably not remember to take them till Easter.  The kids loved the glue, and cracked themselves up by putting noses where mouths should have been, boots where eyes should have been, you get the idea.  And I mean, they were laughing so hard they couldn't breathe.  Thats how funny it was to them.  The next morning (Thanksgiving Day) we had some cheerios and watched the parade, though Daddy couldn't sit through more than two floats before he rolled over into the fetal position and started crying.  What kind of perverse childhood he had to have had to not at least have some fond memories of parades I don't know, but the man can't stand to watch them.  Then we headed over to Nannie and Poppies new house for our annual Thanksgiving brunch.  Parker walked half way up the walkway before she realized, what a tic, I have not been to this house before and stopped dead in her tracks.  She wouldn't move till she saw Nanny in the doorway.  We hung out, watched football (my eyes promptly glazed over) and I marveled at my husband as he talked football with his family.  Later in the day I would do the same as he talked with my family about football.  Its just still bizarre to me that he likes/cares/knows anything about football.  He doesn't watch at home (I'm sure because he can't stand me groaning and flopping around on the floor, not unlike what he does during parades.)  After nap time at home, we headed over to my aunt's house in Huntington Beach, where my mom's side of the family was all gathered.  Sadly my Nana was taken to the emergency room earlier that day for some chest pain.  She's okay now, but she missed Thanksgiving, and we all missed her greatly.  My great aunt and uncle (Nana's sister and brother-in-law) also joined us for the first time.  They live in Montecito, and unfortunately their house was destroyed in the recent fires.  Though the circumstances were sad, it was fun to have them there, my mom's cousin also came and brought her little pug with her, to the delight of the kidlets.  With the addition of the pug, that brought the dog count up to four.  So with four dogs, two kids, and like twenty adults, it was a loud, raucous Thanksgiving, just how I like it.  

Friday and Saturday I had to work, but Sunday we FINALLY got out the Christmas decorations and started decorating the house.  I say FINALLY because Fin has been OUTRAGED that we had not done so earlier.  "THEY hab dere Srissmiss decorations up!  Why don't we?!  We MEED our Srissmiss decorations up!"  he would proclaim at the mall.  The first words out of his mouth upon waking were, "Are we going to put up our Srissmiss decorations today?!?"  So we decorated.  We started with the kids room, and they ended up with about 75% of all our decorations, since Fin kept saying, "Yeah, that wooks good.  But what else can we put in here?"  His appetite for decorating has been sated sufficiently, though he's still a little peeved that we don't have a tree yet.  I let him decorate his little tree in his room, and its so cute to look at it, there are twenty ornaments on it, all on the right hand side, since thats the side that was closest to him.  I put up some decorations downstairs too, and when I asked him what he thought, he took a step back, pondered a bit, then nodded sagely, "Yeah. That wooks good."  Watch out Martha.  There's a new kid in town.