'Gingerbread' discussion

'Gingerbread' house

On a recent Sunday it was so cold outside that we kept the boys in the house all day. While Jana was at church and her RCIA program, Will suggested that we build a gingerbread house. Great idea! Jana deemed that graham crackers would work just as well as gingerbread cookies, and she was right.

John and I built a frame for the house, and he and Will adhered the graham cracker cladding with frosting. The frosting, that is, that didn't go directly into Will's mouth. Will ran out of steam, leaving John to do the majority of the decorating. It's going to be tough to re-sell that house, but if you're looking at comparables this one stacks up pretty darn well. Nice job guys!

Merry Christmas

It's been quite a morning at the Tappa household. Will had a great night's sleep -- he didn't wake up until 7! -- then came downstairs to discover all the Christmas goodies. We took more videos than photos, and unfortunately Blogger isn't cooperating with uploading those videos right now, but here's a few shots from the action.

And yes, since I know you were wondering, that's a SpongeBob SquarePants pinata.

Merry Christmas!

We want cake!

A few weeks ago my folks came over to watch the boys and celebrate my 33rd birthday. Also, Will's friend Mason came over for a few hours (his brother was having his eighth birthday party at the nearby bowling alley; when his mom asked him what he wanted for his birthday, he said "for Mason to not be at my party.") It was nice to have to extra pairs of lungs to help me blow out the candle.

Lazy Saturday

We didn't do a ton on Saturday. Will, John and I went to Waupaca in the morning for recycling, pastries, and Christmas shopping. Later John and Jana went shopping in Stevens Point and I played with the boys at home. Especially fun was popping the wrapping bubbles from Amazon-shipped packages.

Not a creature was stirring ... except Will Tappa

A few weeks ago, after a particularly trying morning of frantically trying to get everyone fed and dressed for sub-zero weather, I came into work and slumped into my chair, head in my hands.

A co-worker came by with a request and said, "So, what do you want for Christmas this year?"

I had a one-word answer: PEACE

Then this morning, I woke up to the alarm on my watch. Usually I've been awake for at least an hour by the time it goes off.

Everything was still in our house. Scott opened one eye and gave me a blissful smile as he remembered that he didn't have to go into the office this morning.

It was just so quiet. And then ... Will came into the bathroom.

"I'm telling you this because I don't know if you noticed, but I got up early and I already had my breakfast."

Wow. I started to respond but he cut me off.

"I did scrape my leg a little at the table, but it was just a scratch, see, and it already looks like it's healing."

Amazing... Again, I was cut off.

"So, I didn't eat that much for my breakfast and I will be wanting lunch today before my nap."

That's fine. Just tell Daddy ... Once again, he stopped me.

"OK. So, I'll be downstairs. If you need anything, just ask."

Oh. Wow. Thank you, Santa.

Erin and Tyler

My cousin Erin and her boyfriend Tyler stopped by Friday on their way back from Eau Claire, where they had just finished their first semester finals. What a nice treat!

They played with the boys, brought nice Christmas gifts, then watched as Will and I had a 30-minute Battle Royale in the living room. They leave with the rest of the Flanagans on Christmas Day for a tour of Italy, should be great for them!

Oh Christmas tree

Here's a shot of us putting up our Christmas tree a few weeks ago. Yes, it was December, even though Will is shirtless.

For years, Jana pushed me to get a fake tree with lights already on it -- cleaner, easier, etc. As usual, she was right!

Twin tweaks

I told Will a story the other night about twin brothers named Harrison and Garrison (no comments about the lack of creativity, please).

Harrison was an "opposite" ... every time you asked him to do something, he did something different:

If you asked him to brush his teeth, he ate piece of candy!

If you asked him to go to bed, he jumped on the couch!

If you asked him to sit down and eat dinner, he got up and went to the bathroom (based on the true life story of Will Tappa).

And so on ... Will and I came up with quite a few.

Then, in a really scattered attempt to bring the brother into this and find a moral to the story, Garrison started figuring out Harrison's pattern: When he wanted him to brush his teeth, he just asked him to eat a piece of candy etc ...

"That was a GOOD story, Mommy."

This is the highest honor Will bestows upon bedtme stories, so it was a pretty proud moment for me.

The story even inspired Will to tell his own story about "twins who were also brothers."

Here's Will's story:

"One brother was the world's best racer on horses, his name was 'Cowboy.'

Cowboy won every race he was ever in, no one else ever won.

Then one day his twin started racing. His twin, who was also his brother, was also the best at racing. His name was, uh, uh, his name was, uh. Silence. Uh. (I started to offer up options like "Indian" but they were quickly dismissed.) His name was, I know! His name was 'Horse Rider.'

Whenever Cowboy and Horse Rider raced together, they finished at EXACTLY the same time. Every single race. Every single time.

THE END

Grandpa John

My Dad arrived on Tuesday night safe and sound despite several delays and a snowstorm.

We had both boys with us ... we just couldn't resist. My dad hadn't seen Charlie yet and Will can't resist that airport.

Believe it or not, we had several false alarms as passengers arrived into the terminal. Apparently, cowboy hats were all the rage on that plane.

When he finally appeared, Will was all smiles and he says, "Hi Papa John! Wow, I didn't even recognize you!"

Charlie gave Dad some great smiles before getting him caught up on 7 months of crying in the van on the way home (yes, it was still storming.)

Anyway, we've had a great start to our visit. Will is trying to convince Papa John that he can build a tree house, he just needs to build the tree first. We've added two awesome paper airplanes to the hangar and Charlie has discovered the joys of belly surfing on my dad's knees.

Here are a few shots from the airport...