Creston Day 1

The kids woke up at 6:30, so that was pretty nice. Due to his night-time wake-ups, Jack was pretty tired. Jim took him for a walk around the house and he got to rake leaves. It was probably the highlight of his day! He also was fascinated by the windmill, and kept pointing to it and then showing us a little toy windmill he found in Grandma's box of toys.

Lily raked some leaves, too, but her favorite part was throwing them over Jack's head. They both had a great time riding on the little stone lambs in front of the house, and riding the tricycle around the driveway. Ironically, Jack took an immediate spill on the bike, just like Lily did the first time she rode it when she got it!

Lily roped Grandma into more Polly Pocket fun, and Jack took a nice long nap. I still had to wash the vomit-tainted clothing and bag, as well as run a few loads of laundry so I put Jack down for a nap in the Night Night Truck and sat on the bed to read my book until the dryer finished. Two hours later, Jim came to wake me up, so I guess I needed a little rest! By that time, Aunt Jill had arrived and could serve as a second Polly Pocket victim, so Lily had the time of her life.

We took the kids to Cambria in the afternoon to pick up a few last minute Christmas items. They had a lot of fun looking at the beautiful things made by local artisans, and we had hard work making sure that there was no touching. The kids loved looking out for cows, sheep and goats during the drive there and back. By the time we got home, Uncle Steve had arrived, so there was even more fun for the kids.

After dinner we had three desserts -- a custard pie made by Grandma, little cookies made by Aunt Jill and some cracker candy I made. Jack played his bus game and Lily worked on her top secret project for Papa's present. She also drew a wonderful picture of a princess and her two cats. This was the story:

The Princess and Her Cats

It was raining outside and the princess was sad because her cats didn't come home. But the cats really were home, and the princess couldn't see them because she was crying so much. One cat got green paint on his head, and when the princess tried to give him a bath he hopped out and his head stayed green. The orange cat was a rain cat, and he looks happy because he loves being the in puddles.

In other news, these are the things that Jack has broken so far:

1 helicopter
1 plane
2 trucks
1 plastic windmill

He was devastated about the windmill. He accidentally stepped on it. I was out folding laundry when it happened, but as soon as I came in the house, he said "Mama, Jackie BREAKing RAYMOO!" (his word for windmill). He was very troubled about it. He mentioned it a few times during the evening. Grandma tried to glue it back together, but when he played with it, he broke it again. More devastation.