Joshua's List and more

I've asked Joshua what he wants for Christmas and he has been very specific:
1. A laser, but not a calculator (This is for his Buzz Lightyear costume and apparently accuracy isn't important.)
2. A shrink-ray gun "you know, to pick up big things" (from Despicable Me)
3. And ALL the Buzz Lightyears

Santa better get crackin' if he's going to supply these items to a good little boy. It has been fun preparing for Christmas. Joshua is really getting into everything. We have an advent calendar that forms a nativity scene to count down to Christmas and Joshua is so excited to every morning to see what we are going to add to the scene. He likes to pull out 25, which is Baby Jesus and inform us that this is for Jesus' birthday.

We also got an Elf on the Shelf this year. Joshua named him Zoopy (sounds like Snoopy, but with a Z). We've read the book to him a couple times but I'm not sure that he's grasped all the concepts yet though he's surprised every morning to see what kind of mischief Zoopy's gotten into. And there was a 30 minute cartoon on tv that we recorded that told the story of an Elf on the Shelf and I think watching that has helped as well.

Joshua and Noah still enjoy moving the ornaments around the tree and the room in general. Matt hung lights on the house and when Joshua went outside to look at it, his mouth was open and he almost fell down because he was so excited. "I like it!" he told us. Another decoration he likes is at an establishment we pass on our way to and from school. It's called "Mugs-n-Jugs" and they have decorated with an inflatable Santa and Snowmen on their roof. On Friday we passed it and he said "Oh Mommy, it's so nice. Can we go there?" My response, "Um, no." Speaking of Fridays, it has become known as "Funday Friday" in our house because it motivates Joshua to get up and get dressed so we can go to Chick-Fil-A and get chicken minis for breakfast. We were driving there yesterday and Joshua was so excited that he started singing the following song to the tune of The Muffin Man, "Do you know the chicken momma, the chicken momma...." Matt and I thought that was too funny and have considered making that my handle.