Jingle Bells...

Merry Christmas everyone!!! We hope that the arrival of this holiday brings joy, peace, and lots of time with family and friends. We ourselves are still in the Big D...enjoying our first Christmas "at home" with Camden. We'll fly out later this evening and head to North Carolina to spend the next week and ring in the new year with family and friends there.

Before we get too engrossed in the present unwrapping and the breakfast casserole eating, I wanted to share a quick video of Camden's Christmas carol performing debut. I'll apologize in advance for my singing (and for the fact we're in our pajamas) - but if you can tolerate the singing, I promise it's worth the suffering. Personally I love watching him "snap" his fingers. :o)

We hope to cross paths with many of you who follow this blog from God's Country (better known as NC) while we're in town next week, and we wish all of you...from NC to NE to TX and beyond the merriest of Christmases and nothing but blessings for the new year!!!

Love - Mandy, Ryan, and Camden


Jingle Bells from Mandy Jo on Vimeo.

And laying his finger aside of his nose...

Camden loves to be read to. I think he could sit in my lap for hours and listen to "The Belly Button Book" or "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" 100 times and never lose interest. Every morning when I go into his room to get him up he picks up his blanket and Ciggy (the stuffed piggy) and promptly says, "book peas". We spend a good 30-45 minutes every day in the "rocking and reading chair" - usually starting our day with "Hey Wake Up" and ending most every night with "Pajama Time". Seriously, I have done more reading the past year or so than I did the entire time I was in college...but I don't know if that speaks more to my child's love of reading or my love of doing other things in college besides the actual school part.

In the past couple of weeks we've been reading all Christmas books, all the time. He especially loves the "What is Christmas?" book his Great Granny Wagoner got him last year. He's also a big fan of the ones that have places for his picture in them. But his absolute favorite is "Twas the Night Before Christmas". We read that one at least 10 times each day. I pretty much have it memorized at this point so if it's ever a "party game" to see who can write it from memory, watch out because I am ready to thrown down on that one.

Last night we were reading it - as usual - with much feeling and dramatization. I squeeze his cheeks when I read the line, "his cheeks were like roses" and I jiggle his belly when I read the line, "that shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly" - you get the picture. But last night brought a new "commentary" from Camden that I hadn't gotten before.

When I turned the page to read the lines, "And laying his finger aside of his nose, and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose" Camden pointed to the picture and said..."Ahhhhh a booger. Ho, ho, ho got booger" And you really can't argue with the kid...here's the picture he was referring to.

So...I did what any good, self respecting mother would do, I told Camden that yes, even Santa sometimes had boogers and that he should be using a tissue rather than sticking his finger up his nose. I finished the book as best I could and then went in the other room to laugh my head off. We've read the book a few times today and once he pointed to the picture and said, "no, tissue" - but I still can't look at the picture without laughing.

Best Santa Picture Ever

This past Friday night our neighborhood had it's annual tree lighting in the park. After bundling up and walking a block or so to the park, we were able to enjoy some hot cocoa, popcorn, cookies, the tree lighting and a chance to sit on Santa's lap. Here are a couple of pictures from our excursion...

Camden with his "girlfriend" Amanda - these two are inseparable and thick as thieves when they get together. :o)

Remind you of that scene in "A Christmas Story" or what? :o)

I am thankful...

There are so many things that I have to be thankful for. I thought about making this blog posting just a list of all the things I am thankful for...but it may take me forever and I am sure I'd still leave someone or something out. Like most of the posts I've read on Facebook lately, I would also list things like my health, the health of my family, my friends and God's provision of all our needs...and even most of our wants...at the top of my list. But I got to thinking, what are the things that I am thankful for that are often taken for granted?

So this week I started paying attention to all the things that I am grateful for that might otherwise go unnoticed...and made a "Thanksgiving Day Resolution" to start being more aware of them each and every day.

I am thankful for the ducks that live near our house. Camden and I have spent many sunny afternoons sitting on a bridge on the walking trail by the canals feeding those ducks. I love to watch his reaction when they all swim up and start quacking like crazy.

I am thankful for the cabinet full of Tupperware and other assorted plastic items that Camden can play with while I attempt to make dinner around him. I am thankful for the fact that he is content to sit at my feet and play with a bowl so that he can be near me rather than in his room or in the family room playing with one of the 4,972 toys he has. I'll try to remember these days when he's in junior high and thinks that his mom is totally lame.

I am thankful for my mommy friends who have been so transparent with me that I have learned I am not the only one who has my days where I feel like I am climbing "Mount Guiltmore" - at least if I am climbing it, I am not alone in my adventure. I love having other women that I can call when I feel like all I have done all day is give time-outs and say "no, stop, give that to mommy, don't throw that, put that down, that doesn't go in your mouth"...and so on, and so on, and so on...

I am thankful for hand-me-downs...yes, I do realize this cuts into my shopping opportunities...but I figure while they're little and could care less, I can save money for when they think it's only a totally lame mom that would think they would want to wear something someone else has already worn...and heaven forbid, was last year's fashion. (And I am especially thankful for all of my "mommies of girls" that have offered their adorable "preowned" clothes for our expected bundle of joy. I could really get carried away shopping for a girl - and I'm pretty sure Dave Ramsey would not approve...at least that's what Ryan tells me.)

Today I learned that I am thankful for silly Thanksgiving songs that make my child laugh. I had to sing "Hello Mr. Turkey How Are You?" about 900 times tonight. I sing and Camden, Ryan and I all do the motions together. As soon as we finish he says, "more, more, more" and we do it again...and again...and again. I will also try to remember this one when he thinks that my music is totally lame - and trust me, it's not...there is nothing lame, nor will there ever be, about Led Zeppelin and The Allman Brothers Band.

Most of all, I am thankful for laughter. One of my favorite quotes is from Nicolas de Chamfort and it's "the most wasted day of all is that in which we have not laughed." I try to remember this every single day. Whether I am laughing at something hysterical my child has done or said or just laughing at the overwhelming circumstances I find myself in, I have found it best to just laugh. I am a worrier by nature and I cling to the verse "Can worrying add a single moment to your life?" (Matthew 6:27 NLT).

So my Thanksgiving Day Resolution is really a two-part deal - in focusing more on what I have to be thankful for...which is SOOOOO much, I concentrate less on what worries me. I know that all the good things I have to be thankful for come from God - and if He's in control, what do I really have to worry about anyway? So on this Thanksgiving Day I want you to know that I am thankful for all of life's "little things"...and for craft time with my kiddo. I think his Picasso-esque turkey is a true work of art.

To share...or "snot" to share...

So I debated on sharing this story...but the more I think about it, the funnier it is so why not?

We were coming home from having lunch with our Sunday Bible Fellowship class this past Sunday when I noticed that Camden had gotten really quiet in the backseat. Fearing that he may have gone to sleep and the 15 minutes in the car was going to undo any chance of a decent nap at home, I turned around to make sure I didn't need to blast the radio or roll down a window.

What transpired over the next 30 seconds put us in stitches...

My sweet child had his index finger two knuckles deep into his nose...when he pulled out his finger he had a "surprise" on the end of it. He looked at me like, "what am I supposed to do with this?". I asked him what he had and, speaking of surprise, he plainly replied...a boo-gah - and with a tone that said, "I just pulled my finger out of my nose, what else would I have on it?" Honestly, I have no idea where he learned this term and I am not so sure I want to count this word when the pediatrician asks me how many words he's up to at his next appointment.

We tried our best not to laugh, knowing that a response like that would only encourage such behavior, but we failed miserably. So, now, whenever Camden wants to get a laugh out of you, he just points to his nose, says "boo-gah" and laughs hysterically.

Oh, the joys of parenthood...

Sugar and Spice...and Everything Nice

For those of you that haven't heard the news, we learned on Friday that the gender count will even out in the Foster house come April. That's right...it's a GIRL!

I must admit, as a former middle school teacher, my mind immediately fast forwarded to all the drama that comes with female adolescence and I was not initially as thrilled as one might have suspected. As he could see my apprehension building, Ryan quickly reminded me that adolescence is a long way off and there are lots of days for playing dress up and having tea parties between now and then.

And speaking of Ryan, I think he's pretty excited. I know that he really wanted to have at least one boy and since our first child got that task checked off the "to do" list, he was thinking that it might also be nice to go to father/daughter dinners and to have someone to walk down the aisle on her wedding day...albeit it'll probably be after he's had to sell all of his non-essential organs on the black market to pay for said wedding day. I think at this point, he's really just hoping for a head full of curly red-hair when she's born. :o)

Once I stopped fixating on adolescence, I started to get more excited about having a "mini-me" running around...although I don't know that I could survive trying to raise a "mini-me" so I'm hoping that if she does have that red hair that Ryan so desperately wants, that she'll get his temperament and not mine.

What I do know is that I treasure the relationship that I have with my mom and I am already praying that my daughter and I will share that same kind of bond someday...even if it does take stopping just short of strangling her during her teenage years to let her live long enough for both of us to see it come to fruition. On a side note - thanks, Mom for not strangling me even though looking back I deserved it on many, many, many...many occasions - your "revenge" will come in watching me go through it now. :o)

So bring on the pink, the ruffles and the bows...we've got a girl on the way!

Fun at the Foster House

So for those of you that aren't on Facebook, you may not have heard about our exciting ordeal this week. Camden now has a bright, NC State red cast on his left arm courtesy of the spiral slide at the park.

On Monday we were at the park with some other moms and kiddos when Camden decided to try to put his feet down and stop himself while coming down the slide. This resulted in him toppling rather than stopping and he must've thought the best place to land was on his elbow.

After a couple of hours of "watching it" and seeing that he had the use of his arm (both for picking up objects and rotating his hand around) we figured it was just bruised and that it would be fine. By Tuesday night, I was starting to have my doubts that it was okay because every time I tried to change Camden's shirt I was met with ear piercing, blood curdling screams. After deciding to err on the side of being overly cautious, I took him in to see his pediatrician on Wednesday morning. She promptly sent me on to Plano Pediatric Imaging for x-rays which confirmed that there were no broken bones and that the joint itself was still intact.

There was still much concern over the pain that he was experiencing (and that Ryan and I were experiencing as a result) so today we went to Pediatric Sports and Spine in Grapevine where the Pediatric Orthopedist said that there were some "wrinkles" in the cartilage of his elbow. The fear is that if the elbow wasn't stabilized and he fell again (which is a real possibility since he doesn't know how to slow down and has no fear of heights...) that he could do some real damage and need surgery. The other fear is that with a kid his age, most of that cartilage will eventually calcify and become bone and if there's something wrong with it and it "grows that way" he may not be able to straighten his arm later...and if he's going to be a major league pitcher, he's going to need that arm. :o)

Here are a couple of pics from our evening. He seems to be doing okay with it so far...he's only asked a couple of times for help getting it off. It's going to be a loooooong four weeks. :o)













Is it wrong to say that the tiny sling is "cute"?













Nothing can come between my boy and his "bites"!!!













Check out the cool glove I made (out of a sock) to help keep his cast clean while he eats.