18 months and Going to Nusery

Today was AJ's official first day of nursery. One Sunday he was sick and the other we had family in town and didn't stay for all three meetings. When I went to drop him off, he saw the balls in the closet and that's all it took! He was off to play with the balls!

Speaking of balls... today was a missionary farewell and it was PACKED! We ended up sitting in the gym. Not a great choice considering AJ knows what a basketball hoop is and how it should be used. He constantly yelled out, "Mom ball!" and pointed up to the hoop. It was torture for the poor kid!

When I went to pick him up I was told he did great for his first day. I now understand the angst mothers feel when they drop off their child on their first day of kindergarten! We sure love our boy! I can't believe he is already in nusery!

Saved $214.09

I Love Deals to Meals! I know I have mentioned this site before, but I LOVE it! I love knowing I am getting great deals! It is SO worth the 5bucks a month! AJ eats oatmeal for breakfast every morning, he loves the stuff. He will eat 2 packages at one sitting. Harmon's has Quaker oatmeal on sale for 5 for $8, not bad, but they also have an in store coupon for $3.00 off of any 5 Quaker products so that makes them $1.00 a box! YEAH! We stocked up! I also went through our food storage and we purchased items that are red (really good deals) to top off our shelves. Altogether we spent $143.08, saved $178.09 on "great price savings" and $36.00 using coupons for a grand total of $214.09! It is fun when you can go to the store and do that!

Victoria and AJ

We had the privilege of having the Malmstrom family come down and spend some time with us. Victoria and AJ sure hit it off! She loved playing with AJ and AJ loved playing with her! Cousins are GREAT!

Gibson Traditions

I have learned two new traditions that Kurt did while he was growing up that we will now incorporate into our family... Kris Kringle Day and Advent Calendars. Kris Kringle Day is December 5th. It is a German tradition... all of the children set out their shoes and then in the morning, they get to see if they have been naughty or nice. If they have been nice they will find a piece of candy or a surprise, if they have been naughty there will be coal or nothing at all. Bianca and her family continue it every night until Christmas. I'm not sure how long it will go for us, but it will start on Dec. 5th next year!
This year MacKenzie,our babysitters daughter, was selling advent calendars for a fundraiser so I bought two. When I brought them home Kurt said, "My Mom would get one of these for us every year." When John saw them he commented on how Gisela would make sure each of her children had an advent calendar for Christmas. He thought it was great we were carrying on the tradition. AJ definitely has caught on. One of the first things he does when he comes home is go over to the china hutch where the calendar is kept and starts pointing and yelling until his Dad opens it up and they eat a piece of chocolate.

Baby Boy

We have been notified by our adoption agency we have been chosen as parents again!!! We are thrilled beyond words!!! We have met with the birth mother and all went well. We are hoping and praying when the baby is born in March she will have the strength and courage to sign the relinquishment papers and our family will be blessed with another boy! AJ will have a playmate! Kurt will have 2 boys and Jill will quit work and stay at home with her boys, although rumor has it she may open a preschool in our home next fall. Time will tell. We will keep our fingers crossed until he is officially ours...he's due March 14th!!

Our little helper

Kurt, AJ and I went to the store. Kurt was able to see first hand what a helper AJ can be in the store. He can turn around in the cart and anything within his reach is fair game. As you can see he helped himself to the hot dogs. :)

Tradition

I am a traditionalist, I admit it. I like family traditions. I don't particularly like it when holiday traditions are changed. A few years ago my parents decided to stop holding the Hislop Family Christmas Party on Christmas Eve. It is now the Saturday before Christmas Eve. I enjoy the party and seeing Santa and exchanging presents, but something is amiss...it is NOT the traditional party I grew up with. Our tradition was changed. It is now a NEW tradition and it has been a few years and I admit it is starting to grow on me, it really helps to have Kurt and AJ in my life; this is the only Hislop Christmas Party they have ever experienced so the Saturday before Christmas Eve is our new tradition...and nobody better mess with it! :)

I have been thinking about this because our Thanksgiving tradition was changed this year. This year we went out to eat. It was a nice meal, and it was nice to be with family, but it didn't FEEL like Thanksgiving. We didn't have a prayer, we didn't have yams or cranberry salad or rolls. The Stoffers weren't there. We didn't look through the ads or visit as some watched football, we didn't play any games. We didn't have leftovers to nibble on later in the day. It just wasn't the same.

Kurt and I talked it over and we decided from now on we will have Thanksgiving dinner at our house. That is the only way I can think of to preserve a family tradition I hold dear. We talked it over with my parents and they were actually happy one of their children wanted to take it over. Anyone will be welcome at our home for Thanksgiving. If it is the "off" year for my siblings and thier in-laws I hope they come to our home, but if they choose not to, I will still have my traditional Thanksgiving. I know traditions can be stressful for some and for others they just are not important, but they are to me and I would like to establish a few for our family so I guess I will start with cooking Thanksgiving dinner.