Christmas Gifts & Hair

P.S. About the scissor picture: It looks more wild and scary than what was actually happening... which is probably why I thought it endearing... I did teach Jo to use scissors only under supervision. She tried to get me to allow her to cut her own hair, but I said no...

a) A big hit: New umbrellas. They play with them at Mama's house constantly. This morning, Sam put Jo under his umbrella and Jo said, "Oh, he loves me!"
b) Sam's big pompodour - when you brush his hair out, it is WILD
c) Finally trimmed Jo's very long hair - it was getting knotted all the time - it looks so cute! She also got lots of stockings and fancy socks for Christmas, and boy is she ever putting together some stunning outfits!
d) When Jo started playing with the tinker toys she and Sam recieved from Santa at Daddy's house, she started to work right away, "Look, I'm a FAMOUS ARTIST!" she declared.
e) Fifth picture down: Jo on the phone to Grandma Helen
f) Sam's new dog toy - which actually Jo has claimed for her own
g) Third picture up - Jo in her dressing gown (I found it at the thrift store)

- This morning Jo woke up in excitement: "I had a good, a lovely dream! I found my slippers and I got to be on STAGE and I made NEW ballet friends and I wore stockings and she wore them, too!!"

- Last night at around 11pm (yes) Jo the chatterbug was telling me, "I stay up very late and watch the stars and count every one of them"

- She got a papercut on one of her new Ella the Elephant books, and cracked me up when she said, "I need to tell Sam how I got my cut" and proceeded to very seriously tell him - as if the kid is listening - funny how she takes him SO seriously -

Jo said her favorite gift this year was the dress-up she got that is now at Daddy's house ("finally!" she exclaimed).

They turned my fridge off the other day - went to get them milk in the morning and it was WARM. Noticed the dial had been turned to Off. These two, when they get together on something, are quite the impish force...

Thanks to everyone for such lovely gifts!

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2009 will soon fade into memory, and hopefully both Josephine and Sam will remember it fondly. They began with Mommy taking them to church, and then were dropped off at my house. We left cookies and Mommy's bourbon balls for Santa, and then were off to a very late bedtime. And then, magically there were presents under the tree when they woke up!


We waited for Mommy to come over before opening the major presents, but went ahead and opened the stockings first.


While we waited, Sam and Jo eyed the presents with glee.

Daddy's version of Santa got each child a box of Legos.

Sam's favorite present for the first part of Christmas was this dragon.

After opening presents at Forest Hills, we drove in the rain to Lynchburg to see Grandma Phyllis and Granddad. They were happy to see us.

Then we opened up more presents after Auntie Sandra, Uncle Scott, Ryan and Allison arrived.

They enjoyed this present that Allison got from Grandma and Granddad, with Jo pointing out the Mona Lisa.


Of course, it would not be a Christmas without something mermaid related. This year, something for daddy's bathroom.


This is one of my favorite pictures of the day.

And, of course, there's always Jo White.


Finally, the day ended the same way it began - with stockings being unwrapped. Sam was absolutely exhausted, as you could imagine and as you can clearly see here. This was his first real Christmas, and I'm so blessed to have been able to spend it with him.


Yet, seconds later, look how his face lights up at the prospect of yet another truck!

Merry Christmas, Happy Boxing Day, and a happy and peaceful 2010 to all!

Big Snow

The photo just above is what the FIRST snow looked like, a couple weeks ago... and the ones above show what happened this last weekend - a couple feet at least buried everything... as you can see in our picture of the snow girl, my car behind it... the snow just about reached the top of my thighs... Sam was more content to play the harmonica on the doorstep than go forth into the cold...
Also pictured: Jo making a garland at the McGuffey Museum open house craft day...

The Holiday Time and Wishes

A few pics from our day at the Richmond Children's Museum over Thanksgiving weekend...

Apparently, from Santa Claus and Fairy WinterSnow, Josephine wants:
- a nutcracker
- a nutcracker doll
- a nutcracker dress
- a wig
- a pinata
- a ball for Sam
- a nutcracker for Sam
- a donkey for Sam
and, for me, Mama - a sleigh (does this translate to a new car?!)

We sat down and wrote a letter to Santa today and that was the gist... too funny...

We were also talking about what to do for Daddy for Christmas: Jo wanted me to KNIT him a bathing suit. Oh, if I only could!

We Have Poo!

Whomever thought a frog posing as a potty was a good idea was CORRECT. Sam loves sitting on his frog, and without any diapers eventually something got in the frog... pretty exciting.

Today, Jo said a prayer before breakfast:
God is Grayson
God is good
Let us think him for our food
OH MAN!

We've also been playing with the bean bag creche a great deal, and I was telling the story of Christ's birth. Jo wanted to know, "Is Jesus still a baby?"
"Uh... no..."
"Well, where IS he, then?"
"Um... some people say he lives in everyone's heart."
"Oh! He lives in MY heart!"

Thanksgiving with the Tubbs family

I took Sam and Jo down to my parent's house at Smith Mountain Lake on Thanksgiving Day. We were there with Aunt Helen from Scotland and my sister and her family arrived just after dinner. They hadn't seen the kids since the summer of 2008. And, of course, there was singing.

Since my parents built this house in 2000, there has been a large cardboard box that has been used as a boat. Ryan and Allison, my sister's kids, have played in it, as have Tristan, Trevor, and Jordan. Josephine has also played in this boat with her older brother Henry. This was the first time Sam and Jo got to play in it together. Sam is sitting in the cabin while Jo is dancing (what else?)



Of course, you can't be on a boat without pretending for at least some of the time to be a pirate.


Sam had a good time.

And Jo got to dance.

Finally, here's one last picture of Jo with her granddad.

Conversation with a Four-Year-Old

Pics above: She has - finally! - started dressing herself, complete with stockings and fancy dresses, and washing her face and hands, before I even wake up in the morning. I love FOUR!
And: We went to the downtown mall tree lighting - it was hard to get good pictures - they had some fake snow falling and free glow sticks that the kids found entrancing -

And tonight was just one of those priceless interactions that seem to happen all the time now. Josephine knows big words - today it was "cornucopia."

Jo opens up one of my blank books, sees that there's a page covered in heart stickers.
"What's all this about?" she asks.
"That's about a little girl named Josephine," I say.
"I'm the real Josephine," she notes.
"You sure are," I agree.
"But why did I do this?" she asks.
"I don't know; why don't you ask yourself?"
"Okay. Self?"
Jo- in stage whisper - "Yes?"
Jo - regular voice - "Why did I put these stickers on here?"
Jo stage whisper - "Because you wanted to."
"Oh, okay. " She turns to me. "I asked my Self and I said that I just did it!"
"I see," I say.
"Look," says Jo. "One of the hearts is broken." She shows me a thing she does with her fingers to form the shape of a heart. "When I make my finger heart and then take it apart and break it, my REAL heart breaks AT THE SAME TIME."
"Oh my," I say, "What can we do to make it not break? Can we put the finger heart back together?"
"No," she says, "My real heart stays broken."
"Oh dear, how can we put it back together again?"
"Oh," she shrugs nonchalantly, "We can just tape it."

In the kitchen the other day, Jo was helping me make french toast. She's a great stirrer. I was putting butter in the frying pan, and she asked me why.
"Well," I said, "a) to keep the bread from burning, and b) because it makes the food taste better. You always put butter or oil in a pan when you're cooking for those two things."
Jo thought a second and said, "AND c) you put it in there to keep the bread from STICKING to the pan."
"Um - yes, you're totally right," I said. Gulp.