Saturday, December 17, 2011

Breakfast with Santa

Our gym put on a Breakfast with Santa this morning. We haven't taken Kaleb to see Santa yet so we thought this would be great. They also had a train to ride on and a great breakfast spread. It was really nice. As soon as we got there, Kaleb wanted to ride the train and nothing to do with Santa! So we rode the train twice and then made him go inside to try and get a picture with Santa. Here's as close as we got:
The Santa was really nice and tried to get him to sit next to him but Kaleb wasn't having any of it and I don't want to be that mom that puts a screaming kid in Santa's lap
just so I can get a picture. So I took what I could and am happy with it. As I said earlier, Kaleb was obsessed with the train so we rode it about 15 times. The guy even let Kaleb drive it a few times! After we left there, we headed over to Dick's Sporting Goods. We made our way over to the workout equipment area and had some fun with the punching bags! All in all, it was a great morning!

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Look Mommy!

Saturday, Paul and I ran by a store to buy my dad his Christmas present. When we got home, Paul went to town to get supper while I put dad's shirt into a box to be wrapped. When I tried to removed the price from the tag, I couldn't, so I decided to just Sharpie over it. Well, Kaleb came in while I was doing it and DEMANDED that I give him the Sharpie. Of course, I explained that he could not have my Sharpie but he could play with his markers in his room. So I took him to his room, got out his markers and a coloring book, and he was satisfied. I returned to my work with dad's gift. A few minutes later, I hear Kaleb yelling "Momma... Oh, Momma". I come into his room, and there he is, looking so proud of himself!

All I could do was laugh and hope to God that I got a picture before he touched anything! I was amazed that he hadn't gotten it all over the room too. But apparently, he was content with just changing his ethnicity status! So, I got my picture, sent it to a few people I thought would get a kick out of it, and then put him in the bath! As soon as he got in the water, it turned a pretty shade of blue from all the black ink. HILARIOUS! He was so proud of himself. I showed Paul after he got home and we both got a good laugh out of it. Oh, two year old boys! If you can't laugh at them, you will drive yourself crazy!

The gym we are members of down here are having a Breakfast with Santa this Saturday so Paul and I have decided to try and take Kaleb to get his picture made. I have been trying to explain Santa to him and he does recognize him in all the decorations everywhere we go, but I don't think he knows he is a 'real' person and he might have to sit in his lap. Wish us luck!

Another thing happened Sunday: typical Rasmussen style! Paul and I have lived in Mississippi for over a year and a half now, but have yet to really put ourselves out there to meet new people. I have really been pushing this since we were so social back home. I get to talk to people all day with my job, but Paul gets to work from home so his only interaction with people is at the gym, and he really hates it when people come to the gym to socialize! Well, a lady from our neighborhood stopped by while we were playing outside to introduce herself and let us know that they were UT fans also (we have stuff on both vehicles and on the house to make sure people know who we root for!). We talked for a while and she said that they were going to do Christmas cookies with the kids at her house at 5 pm on Sunday then go look at Christmas lights at the Canton Square (a lot like Christmas City from back home) and asked if we wanted to come. I said we would love to! So, Sunday comes and Paul and I decide to go riding around, just killing time, hoping to get Kaleb to take a relatively early nap. We get home around 2 and Kaleb is still wide awake! So, we decide to just let him skip his nap so we can go to this woman's house and meet new people. Well, of course, Kaleb decides to fall asleep at 3:30 pm! Really Kaleb?! So, I text her and let her know we might be a little late! She texts at 5:30 saying they were just sitting down to dinner and asked if we could come... Nope, toodle pot is still snoozin! I ask her to let me know when they start the cookies so if he is up, we could head down. At 6:15, I get a text, but still a no-go! He is snoozing HARD! And you do not DARE wake my child from his nap unless you have a sick sense of humor and want to pay for it the rest of the night!  (I was so paranoid about her thinking I was lying that I text her two different pics of him sleeping everytime she text!)  So, I apologized for not being able to come, and sat on the couch like a child that just got told she couldn't go to a birthday party that she had been looking forward to for a week! =) Kaleb decided to finally wake up aroun 7:00!!!!!!! Needless to say, we didn't get to be till aroun 11:30 that night, but he did sleep well after, so all in all, it wasn't too bad a night!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

It's Christmas time... in the country

Christmas had officially arrived at the Rasmussen household. I have this funny rule that I don't put our Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving. I feel that Thanksgiving is a very special day that should not be overlooked because Christmas is so close. When we were younger, we used to make my mom wait till after our birthday (Dec 7), because our birthday WAS NOT Christmas. (And we did not appreciate people giving birthday/Christmas presents! I mean what kid wants one present instead of two?) Ha! So, as the years went by and birthdays were no longer something to look forward to, the tree has been moved up to the Sunday after Thanksgiving.
If you have been following along, you know that I am a recent addict to Pinterest. It has really gotten my creative juices flowing, especially for the holiday season. Paul is one of those men that does not appreciate a lot of clutter around the house. He doesn't mind decorations, but every single wall/corner/table does not need something on/in it. But when Christmas comes, the more the merrier. He LOVES Christmas, so I like to take advantage. And with all my new found ideas, via Pinterest, I have added a few more decorations to the house. Take a look...





The centerpiece for our kitchen island

Our Tree

My DIY wreath! Inspiration was a $125 wreath from Etsy that I saw on Pinterest. (Only $30 in material and some concentration)


Kaleb still doesn't really get the whole Santa thing yet, and I'm pretty sure it's because I haven't taken the time to really explain it. I am going to get a book from the library this week to try and  help him really grasp that some man in a red suit is going to come to our house with reindeer and presents on Christmas Eve. Hopefully he will be excited, not freaked out. =) I am also going to work on him with the Baby Jesus story this year. We will see how it all goes! We went to Brooks' birthday party (our neighbor's kid and also Kaleb's classmate in daycare) yesterday at a local gameroom type place called Gattitown. It was lots of fun, but we had to work real hard to keep Kaleb out of the cake before they cut it. It was a monster truck cake and he REALLY wanted the trucks and icing! =) But when Brooks was opening his presents, Kaleb sat next to him and attempted to help. He was really excited to open them but was really disappointed when I kept reminding him that they weren't his! Brooks is into big trucks and tractors also, so that's pretty much all he got. And Kaleb REALLY wanted to take them out of the packages and open them! (which we ended up doing later that night at their house! Thanks Karen and Greg for having us over! He LOVED it!) It makes me really excited to see him at Christmas opening his presents. He has never really been that interested in unwrapping things. Even at his second birthday party, it was Paul and I that had to do all the unwrapping. So to see his face when he realizes all these presents are for him is going to be so great!
Here are some pics from the party on Saturday!
Of course he had to ride the 'Tractor'. 

Being silly on the Johnny Rocket game!

He really loves the Whack-a-Mole games! This one was half broken but he still liked it.
Riding Nemo. I bet he rode this thing 10 times! By then end, I was saying 'Cheese' and he was saying 'No Cheese'!

Lazy, Clumsy, Greedy, Vanity, Brainy, Hefty...

Does any of this ring a bell to anybody?! No, I'm not describing anything or anyone we know. How about this: Smurfette, Papa Smurf? That's right. It's the names of Smurfs. Thanks to my mom, Kaleb has moved on from 'Toys' (which is funny seeing I got him BOTH the first and second Toy Story for Christmas), and has moved on to The Smurfs! Not the new, digitally animated one either. We're talking old school, 30 minute episode Smurfs. I forgot how cute and funny these cartoons were. So, it looks like we will be headed to Walmart to buy him the new Smurfs for Christmas too!