Birth Verse

Got an e-mail with a link to birthverse.com. I really think Paul's is appropriate:

2 Corinthians 9:15 NIV Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!

Birthday Wish List

TJ's birthday is coming, so I'm in planning mode. One of my considerations is a gift for the birthday boy. If you ask Paul what he wants, he has a very specific list of things he's seen at the store or on TV or at a friend's house. TJ's list is a little different.

He requests:

• a ball "like this one (a bouncy ball)" but black
• a brown monkey with an orange face and blue eyes
• a ball "like this one (a basketball)" but black
• a brown bucket with motors and marbles and krispens (no, I don't know what a krispen is)
• a small rocking chair
• a little kitchen
• a new shield

He also has ideas for the cake. He wants a dinosaur cake with butterflies for the moms. Will do. I've ordered it from Tammi Luckey, who does amazing cakes like the one she did for his second birthday. I'll take pictures.

TJ's Song

TJ likes to make up and sing little songs. One of my favorites is "Are you a peanut?" He sang a new one for me today which may become my new favorite. "Moms are better than chocolate cake!" The tune is an ascending scale with a dramatic falsetto hold on the last note. Love it!

OK - Coker asked him where he heard this song. It's from The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot about That. It's still sweet.

Christmas 2010

Here's a present Paul wrapped for me.TJ opens his stocking
Paul gets the "big" Lego set
Paul made this plate for me in school
Amina opens a gift
Poppy opens one. We miss Poppy.
Papa's turn
Coker next
Paul is happy
TJ is a ham
Merry Christmas!

New York

Coker had to go to New Jersey for work, so he went to New York a couple of days early and took me along. We went to the Lego store in Paul's honor. We went to Tiffany's in mine!Central Park - no I didn't ice skate!
It was cold!
Rockefeller Center - still no ice skating. We'd probably still be waiting in line, or "on line" as those New Yorkers say.
We saw Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson on Broadway and walked around Time Square. We ate lunch at Grand Central Station and shopped along 5th. Fast, but fun!

One of the Best Things I Ever Ate

I don't want to forget how to make these. My neighbor, Sheila made them and brought them by with yummy fudge and nuts. But these lovelies are amazing. Take two Ritz crackers, make a PB sandwich and then encase the sandwich in melted semi-sweet chocolate chips. Sheila went one step further and added a drizzle of white chocolate. I don't think there will be any left for Coker when he makes it home on Wednesday. Too bad. I'll save him some of the nuts.

TJ: Paul's Prodigy Student

TJ made up a Christmas song this morning, then asked me to sing it. I tried, but it was really long and by the end, I really didn't remember how it had started. There was something about a guy wanting to put up his Christmas lights and bumping his head. He was disappointed with me, but when I asked him to teach it to me, he had to admit he couldn't remember it either.

He started on a new song and we decided to write it down this time. Part way through, TJ wanted me to write our names on it. I guess I was too slow, so he took the pencil and said he would do it. He wrote the following (I wrote the TJ above mom):

I asked him how he knew how to write my "name." He said he'd watched Paul write it.