Homestead Gardens

OK so before it gets to late I wanted to write about our visit to Homestead Gardens this season. They really do an amazing job to get you in the Christmas Spirit. With over 100's of different tree's decorated, some very traditional and others a bit more unique it has a little something for everyone. I seemed to be drawn to the more unique ones. Cole loved walking around looking and of course touching everything.











And of course the main attraction the enormous holiday train display that any train lover would drool over. Heck I kinda drooled over it. There is such amazing detail and love put into the display it's hard not to be in awe.











I plan on taking Cole back over the next week to see the trains again. And of course hear him say "Choo Choo" like 523 times.

He has Moves

First I have to say my son doesn’t always run around in just his diaper. But for some reason every time I video tape him he’s seriouly lacking some clothes. Ha. In this case we had just finished dinner and most of Cole’s dinner was on him rather than in his belly. So we stripped him down. He loves music and dances on a regular occasion. He now says “moic” which means music. He says it and points to the radio for when he wants to hear something.

Last Night’s song of choice was a Cuban version of Coldplay’s Clocks. Nice little gem if I don’t say so myself.

Wordless Wednesday

My son is in LOVE with Trains or as he likes to call them Choo-Choo's. So like any good Mama, I took him to see possibly the largest train display ever seen. If your looking to get into the Holiday Season and live anywhere near Annapolis, MD run don't walk to Homestead Gardens.



More on this Fantastic Place Later.

Christmas Cards

All my Christmas Cards have been stamped & mailed out as of early last week! I love getting the mail this time of year. Everyday there seems to be a lovely new card waiting for me. Here is the Shinaberry Family Christmas Card we sent this year. Happy Holidays!

Christmas Ornament

This is another Christmas Craft found via Pinterst that I just had to try. It was super simple and makes a great gift for the grandparents!

First you need large plastic clear ornaments. I picked mine up from Michaels for $1.75 each. Second, some decorative berry’s or beads. I used some leftover green berry’s I had sitting around and some red berry’s that I got from the Dollar store.



Third, you need to scale down a picture so it will fit in your ornament. I decided to use the Christmas card picture of Cole to help mark the year. I suppose you could add the year on the photo but really I just don't have the skills for that. When placing your picture in the ornament, gently fold the picture but make sure not to make a crease in the photo. Once the picture is in grab a pair of tweezers to move the picture around to the desired place.





And lastly you will need some pretty ribbon to hang your new beautiful ornament on your Christmas tree!



This is a one tradition we will be doing every year. I just love the idea of looking back years from now at these ornaments. It’s just what my sappy sentimental Christmas spirit loves!

Wordless Wednesday

The perfect size tree for our family room. Just love it. And so does the toddler who won't leave it alone!

Tantrum

Cole had his first tantrum yesterday. I mean the kid has had a few out bursts of course. Like not wanting to be strapped down in his car seat, having to walk at all times no matter where we are or wanting to go outside when it’s time for dinner but all in all distraction has worked wonders and these out bursts last less than a minute. And we both move on. I like to think we have been pretty lucky considering he is 17 months old to have made it this long before experiencing a tantrum. I account this to Cole being very verbal and able to express himself with words. However yesterday no amount of words said from him or me was stopping his emotional tantrum over a cookie. Yep a damn cookie.

Cole was in the kitchen trying to get into the pantry and whining. I walk over to see what the issue could be.

Me: “Cole are you hungry do you want some gold fish?”
Cole: “No“ then more whining
Me: “What do you want Cole” as I sit down at his level on the ground.
Cole: “ Cookie”
Me: “ Ok” I proceed to get him a cookie and close the pantry door.

All is fine in the world again and he starts running around devouring his cookie. Then he’s all done. And were back to square one, he’s at the pantry door but this time crying and saying cookie. I explain to him there will be no more cookies. This my friends is the worst thing Cole could have heard. He is now flailing his arms on the pantry door saying “no cookie” over and over.
I try to distract him but it seems my kids sweet tooth has kicked in and no amount of distraction is going to stop this tantrum. He is emotionally invested now. He wants this cookie more than anything else in his life. But I’m not giving in on this one.

So hubs and me retreat to the family room trying to ignore the crying toddler. But it just gets worse. He’s walking around the house now crying so load it’s hard to think. Hubs asks me “what is going on with him?” I tell him “I believe we are experiencing his first tantrum”. After what feels like an hour but actually 10minutes I have reached my threshold of “ignoring” and take Cole up to his crib. It’s time to calm down I tell him.

And thank goodness that’s exactly what he did. He sat there in this crib silent. After five minutes I went back into get him and I was greeted by a huge smiling 17month old who had forgotten the whole ordeal.

I’m fairly certain this is not the last time we will be experiencing this, it’s around this age they start to emotional mature and understand they have likes and dislikes. For me I try to remind myself to stay calm. The last thing we need is two screaming people. Picking your battles is also important. Sure giving him the cookie would have been easy but most likely we would have been revisiting this cookie issue if not that day but the next.

So I guess we have entered the big bad world of discipline in toddler hood. I’m scared someone hold me.