Destroying the Gingerbread House

It has become a tradition for Conall to make a Gingerbread House with Na Na and then destroy it on New Year's Day. Na Na gives him a hammer and he gets the first few hits. The other kids are also given a turn with the hammer.
Conall has been looking forward to this all through the Christmas season.

He even drew a "train track" with chalk on the patio to give everyone a path to follow.

He looks so intense!

He's ready to eat it now!

Cousin Kate had just woken up from her nap, so she didn't want to hit the Gingerbread House.

Caitlin used the hammer with great gusto and gleefully smashed it to smithereens!

She almost looks proud, doesn't she? Our little girly tomboy ...

The End of an Era ...

Stu and I have spent the last few weeks moving a bigger bed into Conall's room, rearranging his room, and cleaning it. We decided that we needed a larger bed for him since he tends to sleep horizontally across his bed. It would also give us a larger bed for when family came to stay (hint, hint Pop Pop Leo).

The sad part is that Conall has decided that he is now too old for Thomas the Tank Engine. Conall became enamored with Thomas the winter before his second birthday. It seems like ever since Conall has played with everything Thomas. Conall has informed us that he still likes trains "just the real freight engine type of trains" not the ones with faces on them, and that Thomas isn't real and is for babies.

We spent this week packing up all of his wooden, plastic, and metal Thomas train toys. It is a good thing because it gives him much more room and makes it easier to organize and clean up his toys and room. But, part of me couldn't help but be sad at the end of this era of Conall. My son is now on his way to being a bigger boy.

Christmas Model Trains

For the past few years, we've tried to visit the Conway Christmas model train and light display with Na Na and Po Po. The display usually runs sometime before Thanksgiving through sometime before New Year's.

Conall LOVES it because it has "real model trains" as he calls them. They even have a model Thomas the Tank Engine. They also have an outside light display that you drive through, photos with Santa, and refreshments.

The people who run the model trains really seem to enjoy putting on the display. They have step stools set up for the little kids to be able to see the trains better and they explain how things work and how it relates to real trains. This time, one of the operators let Conall hold the remote and push buttons in a certain order to make things work. He was in awe!

Here are the photos from our trip this year.

Quick Update

I have a bunch of photos from the last week or two, including the kids decorating the Christmas tree, that I haven't posted yet. Caitlin started getting sick Friday night with puking and a high fever. We got her in to the after hours clinic and tested for strep. Luckily, the strep test was negative, but she still had a rough night Friday night and again Saturday night.

The good news is that her fever has broken and seems to be gone. The other good news is that she weighed 23lbs (and some ounces) which is a gain of about 3lbs. from her last check-up. It doesn't sound like a lot -- but for her it is!

We rented movies for Caitlin to watch Saturday to help keep her calm and try to keep her fever down. She has discovered a new Disney character that she loves -- Tinkerbell! She loves the Tinkerbell movie. I think we've watched it probably 10 times each day since we've had it. She is so cute saying "Tinkerbell, Tinkerbell" and she even kinda looks like Tinkerbell when her hair is pulled up into a ponytail.

We took the kids this evening to get their ornaments for this year (we let them each pick out one new ornament each year as a family tradition) and Caitlin picked out the Tinkerbell ornament. Caitlin started crying when the sales lady put it in the box because Caitlin wanted it and thought the lady was taking it away! Conall had wanted the Wall-E ornament, but they were out, so he picked out a Lionel train engine instead.

So far, Conall has only had a low grade fever, if that. We are REALLY hoping he doesn't get this virus. The doctor called it a "flu-like virus." I've had a low grade fever myself, but I'm hoping that is just from running on little sleep.

Choo Choo

We met my mom (Granny Gill) at Creekmore Park for a picnic and visit with the kids. While we were there, the park was getting the train ready to run. Both kids were fascinated and wanted to ride the train.

Conall has been on it before, but was really interested because it is a steam train (they use diesel instead of coal to fire the engine). Caitlin has never been on it, but was really excited about it. As we waited in line (and it was a long line) to ride the train, Caitlin kept saying "choo choo" and pointing at it like she couldn't believe it was big enough for her to ride.

Caitlin loved the ride and giggled through most of it. She rode the first time around with daddy because there were limited seats. The second time around, she rode it with my mom and I. She let mom hold her through the ride.

For the next day or so, we heard about the "choo choo" and had multiple requests from Caitlin to ride it again (at least that seemed like what she was asking for).

Bath Markers

Na Na got Conall some bath markers. The first night we used them he had played at Kanton's until dinnertime. When he came home that night, he wanted to "stay up late". He didn't want to take his bath and whined and whined and whined, etc. I started drawing the bath water and I brought the markers into the living room to show him. He ran to the bathroom and stripped as quickly as he could! He didn't want to get out and kept wanting me to make a movie of him drawing with them.

He drew on the shower wall, on the tub, on his bath toys and on himself. He also made a train track for his train bath toys. Here's a photo of the track.

Edward art

Conall used his drawing table non-stop this morning. He even ate breakfast on it!
He drew picture after picture after picture. He wanted me to put all of them on the refrigerator door! Here's the one I liked best -- Edward the train. The scan really doesn't do it justice.

Thomas Shirt

Grandma got Conall a new Thomas t-shirt that makes train noises when you press the button on the shirt. Of course, Conall pushes the button over and over and over again. He couldn't understand why Stu and I wouldn't let him wear it to school the other day!


Doesn't he look so big in this picture? He had just gotten a haircut, which always seems to make him look older.

Creativity and Train Tracks

Conall is still wanting to make "movies". He made a really creative train track, tunnel and wall out of oversize Lego's after he cleaned his room last night. A photo wouldn't have done it justice. I also wanted to encourage him to use his imagination and creativity with things he's supposed to have -- toys -- not things like the bathroom sink, the toilet, his sister's crib, etc. So when he asked if we could make a movie of his train track, I said yes.