It's a long one...

Christmas is over, but here's what we did...

Post Grey's birthday celebrations (and Adam's only day off for the week) we decided to check out Snowflake Lane at Bellevue Square. Everyone was excited to see the bubble snowflakes and hear the marching band. We made our way through the crowds and found our spot., right by the fountain, under the Macy's sign.

Isn't it pretty? We were all set, but we didn't have time to eat so we planned to watch the show and then eat. Our kids are flexible, right?

WRONG!!! Guess who saw Red Robbin and then decided that he was hungrier than ever before. We got this beautiful face for most of the time we waited.

This one too. We weren't even going to eat at Red Robin, the line was out the door.

I tried to please him, and let him sit on MY shoulders to see the action, but as you can see, he didn't like that either. So just after the show began, we pushed our way through the wall-to-wall people (with a stroller & 3 kids) and headed back into the mall.

Not before the boys got a candy cane Tootsie Pop though, and found Taco Del Mar.

Then we made our way through the mall to check out some stores. Adam wanted to go to the new Window's store, so I took the boys to the Build-A-Bear store. I stopped to look at one thing and when I found my boys again, this is what I found...

Nice Boys!

On Christmas Eve, Adam worked, so the boys and I made an evening of it by ourselves. First we went to our Church's service (which I missed most of it chasing Grey around... no nap that day) and then home to open an early Christmas present. I made the boy's pj bottoms to wear that night. As you can see, Grey didn't waste any time getting undressed  when we got home.

Adam made it home from work shortly after the boys went to bed, so he got to say good night and then we had some time to prepare. Santa came to our house first this year since Adam had to be at work at 6am. 

So, just after midnight we woke up the boys to see what the Big Guy brought! They were just a little excited! It's so much fun to see them and the wonder in their eyes. I absolutely love it.

The boys got exactly what they wanted. I love it when it can be so simple sometimes.

 YES! THAT IS A DRESS!

According to Jude, he even got the things he thought were a secret. Santa is just that good!

Adam helped from the couch, while I took all the pictures. I guess I should have handed over the camera once or twice, but it was the middle of the night! I forgot.

 AND A PRINCESS!

This is what our floor looked like for the next couple of day, since we were busy with celebrating.

In the morning, the boys and I headed over to Adam's parents' house, and had another hay day opening gifts there.

I made tee-pee tents for all the kids, and Madison was the first to open hers... she LOVED it!

I got a good picture with the boys, but we were really missing Papa for this shot (and the rest of the morning).

Brooklyn loved her tent too!

I got a call from Adam in the middle of the days, and he let me know that he was getting off early and he was on his way! I was SOOOO HAPPY!

Grey managed to get this shot of us. Grandpa was in it too, but sorry, I had to edit him out for a couples shot (we don't get many on these).

We left their house and headed over to Betsy, Bob & Charlie's for a delicious Christmas dinner with my Dad and Kathy and Bob's mom, Mary. Unfortunately I forgot to get any pictures while we were there. (Well except for Charlie's birthday cake eating, but I'm doing a Birthday post later when I get some pictures from Bob.)

So, there is our Christmas, with my honey too boot! I hope it was a good one for all of you as well.

New Month, New Look

With today being a "no school" day, I was worried that it was going to be filled with arguing and me not getting much done. Instead Jude had a friend over and all was well with everyone... mostly. I got some more sewing done, a little grocery shopping and, look, I got a new LOOK for December. Isn't it fun and girlie, and aqua!

I've been sewing up a storm getting ready for the holidays. I've got the big portion of all the nieces' and nephew's gifts done, commissioned pieces done and have started on gifts for the boys. I'm making them PJ pants for Christmas Eve. Too bad I can't show any pictures of these things because the recipients may see them. But... come Christmas I hope to have pictures of everyone enjoying them.

Today, I made myself a cute flower that I can use in my hair, on a belt or as a pin. I got the idea from this great site. I love their clothes and their use of the flower pin. Since I'm not put together today, I didn't get a picture wearing the flower. So I'll leave you with this...

Isn't it cute?

Happy December everyone! Advent day 1 almost done, on to day 2.

Training...

We're in training here on the home front. Grey is finally potty training and doing great at it! His first day out, he had no accidents. Now we're almost a week into it and he's only had a few accidents. Yeah, Grey! He's so excited about picking out just the right unders each time; he has so many to choose from. My favorite part is that when he goes pee or poo, he exclaims, "I so proud you!" Just like I say to him, and he gives ME the hug! It's perfect timing too, since it's candy season. I have no problems giving a treat for doing a good job.





Ethan is training too. We've been working on riding the bike for sooo long. First we did the training wheels, and then Adam thought he would learn faster without them. So we took them off. Adam would take him out and hold on. Sometimes he'd let go, but Ethan wouldn't go very far. One time he just put his feet out to the side and went into the grass. Fine you think, but he managed to do one of the best endos I've ever seen. Straight up and over like a rag doll. To say the least it scared him from learning all together.

Well, we've seen these balance bikes around and even tried them at stores, but couldn't think of spending $100 for a training bike! So, I decided to ask Uncle Kurt how to take the pedals off his bike. We did on Friday, and now he's off. The best part is that he can do it by himself and doesn't have to worry about us letting go. Ethan loves trying out his bike this way, and is already getting the confidence to "balance" on his own. Perhaps for his next birthday we'll get him a new bike (since this was a hand-me-down anyways).

I love all these new life challenges the boys are taking on, and can't wait to see who they will be when they are bigger. Now if I could only get them to fight a little less often. Ahh, the dreams of a mom!

Fall = Baking = Mmmmm!

Mmm, smells of cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves... these are the smells of fall. How can you resist any of these delicious flavors? I love to bake in the fall, who doesn't? For Thanksgiving, I love to make sweet potato pie, apple pie and one heck of a turkey (with a whole bottle of Riesling).

Cookies are an easy treat to make for the fam. One of my all time favorite cookies is the Molasses cookie. (Eight little moles in a hole and the last one say, "I smell some Mol-Asses!" Sorry a little ditty that I learned from my GG) Whenever we go to Cafe Ladro, I pick one up instead of a coffee. Ethan and Grey love them too, but they add a hot chocolate to the Ladro bill. I finally decided to get a good recipe and make some for us to eat at home, maybe lessen that Ladro bill. I google searched it, and went from there. Of course I found many, but Martha had a good one that I had all the ingredients for. Click here to find it. I thought I would add a little cloves and allspice to "spice it up" some more, a quarter teaspoon for each. Can I just say THESE are my new FAVORITE cookies. I wanted to eat the whole batter before the cookies were done, but I resisted the urge. I rolled them all into little balls, dipped them in sugar and froze most of them. More than half are gone already, but originally most were frozen. Freezing the rolled balls makes it easy to preheat the oven and bake a couple at a time. (Bake for exactly 13 minutes btw.)

I had the great idea to get a picture of these yummies, but then remembered they were GONE... again. So, here you go for what's left.

First Day of School for My TWO Boys!

Can you believe it? That time of year has come again, and just in the nick of time! It has been a really fun summer, with unplanned trips and time away with the Gramma's for the boys. But now we're back into a brand new school year full of exciting new things.

Jude started the 2nd grade and has a lot of friends from kinder. and 1st grades in his class. This is great since last year he didn't have one person he knew in his class (a drawback of having almost 1000 kids in your ELEMENTARY SCHOOL!) He also gets to walk this year to and from school with his best friends, Drew & Jaden. He's getting so BIG!

So, here Jude is ready to head out!

In the rain, of course!

Ethan's started kindergarten this afternoon (two days after Jude) for PM kinder. I like how our school does it; they start the kindergartner's 1 or 2 days after everyone else so they don't get caught up in the "first day of school" hubbub. I say 1 or 2 days after because full and morning half day-ers started 1 day later, but the afternoon half day-ers started 2 days later because they don't go to school on Wednesdays.. and the 2nd day of school was a Wednesday. So if you're not confused then there you go, and if you are... oh well!

Here Ethan is, ready to go!

He set up this shot saying, "Mommy, I want to take the picture over here with the camera set up on the light post." Nice shot, Sweeetie!

Greyson wanted in on the shots too! He told me he's going to school on Saturday.

Waiting for everyone to arrive.

He was really excited when his teacher, Mrs. Perry, came out. He got in line first to go to his classroom.

And of course, it wouldn't be true Ethan style if he didn't prance off to class!

Way to go my TWO Grand Ridge Grizzlies!

Sewing recently...

've been stiching up some new presents recently... birthday season, and I have all the supplies. First a ballerina/princess doll for Brooklyn. She cuddled her first off when she opened it... that's a good sign.

fter I finished this doll, I decided that it wasn't that hard, so I made Greyson a new baby. He has two of these cute, cuddley babies from Under the Nile. He loves them so much that he chews them to DEATH every night to get to sleep. Needless to say, after so much chewing, his favorite baby has lost both feet and hands. I tried my hat at making a new one, and he is thrilled by it. When I was done making it, he took it and cuddled it and said, "New Baby!"

hen these projects were done, Ethan asked if I could make him a new crown to go with the new cape he recieved for his birthday from Auntie Jacqui & Uncle Phil. I found the same fabric and made him a basic king's knight crown. This was added to his Birthday crown... he loves crowns BTW! I don't have a picture of the crown yet, but you can get the idea from Aria's crown below and from his fabulous cape here.

e thought his birthday crown was so special, that his friend Aria would enjoy one for her birthday also, so that was made too. A Disco Diva crown on one side and a Jeweled Princess crown on the other. Guess which side she choose for her birthday?

h, and can you tell I found something fun for blog posts? I know I went a little over board this time, but it was to show you how fun you can make your own posts. Go here to find out how.