Recap in pictures.

Sarah and Dan made gingerbread dough on Saturday afternoon - just after I placed all of the completed Christmas cards in the mailbox.  It is so good to be in the home stretch.  Now that the shopping is done and the cards are mailed, I feel like I can really relax and enjoy things!

Well, there is the minor task of packing, the two day drive to Massachusetts and wrapping every single item I bought when I get there.  But other than that, things are done!

Here are a couple of pictures of Sarah and Dan making the dough.  Peter helped them roll out the dough and cut out the cookies on Saturday evening but I was at an Ugly Christmas Sweater party and wasn't able to get any pictures of that fun.

Here is a picture of Sarah doing a cartwheel.  I'm very proud of her.  She had to teach herself because unfortunately, I never learned how to do one.

We went to Tanglewood to see the light display on Sunday night. We typically go on Friday night but it was raining so we decided to do it last night. Big mistake.

I guess everyone decided to go last night because we waited in line ONE HOUR AND THIRTY MINUTES just to make it inside the park gates.

The kids were great though. They played, laughed and joked around in the car together and had a grand old time. Dan and I were the ones that had to keep our attitudes and our impatience in check.

We saw all the displays and stopped for hot cocoa and marshmallow roasting and even though we did not get home until 10:30 (on a school night!, yikes!) we still had a good time.

And now it's off to bake something for a class Christmas party and start the pre-trip laundry and cleaning. 

Christmas is coming, y'all!  Whether we are ready or not!

Sparkle finally gets his mischief on!

When Peter was in first grade, he learned about the Elf on the Shelf from his teacher.  They had one that visited the classroom to keep an eye on the kids and report back to Santa.  Apparently the elf moved around every night when the kids were gone and no one was allowed to touch him or he would loose his magic.

We were over visiting my grandmother that December and the kids noticed that she had an elf out as part of her Christmas decorations.  The elf was old - she had it for years and years she said.  (She had it before the whole Elf on the Shelf became a huge industry thanks to a book and kids that love Christmas magic!) Her elf started as a Chrsitmas tree ornament but because it was pretty large, she kept in sitting out on a little shelf at Christmas.

Anyway, when the kids saw it at her house they went crazy! She being the good great-grandmother that she is, told them that they could have it.  And so, her elf was named Sparkle and taken to our house.

Sparkle, being an older elf, moves around at night to keep an eye on the kids but doesn't get into mischief like all the other elves our there apparently do.  Thanks to the internet and friends, Peter and Sarah have learned that other elves get into trouble at night and some bring gifts.  I told that kids that due to our elf's age, he probably didn't feel like getting into much mischief.

But yesterday right before bed, Sarah pleaded with Sparkle to please do something mischievous while we were all sleeping.  And look what we woke up to:

Sparkles toilet papered the mantle while hanging out of a stocking!

Look at the mischievous sparkle in Sparkle's eyes!

When I asked Sarah who got to clean up the mess, she replied, "You do!"  I think I'm going to ask Sparkle to do it!

Ugly sweatshirts and a cute gingerbread house.

Now that all of my Christmas shopping is done, I can relax and enjoy the holidays. (Well, at least until we get to Massachusetts where I will have exactly one day to get everything wrapped. But I'll worry about that next week!)

On Friday night, while Dan and the kids were baking Gingerbread cookies...

...I attended an Ugly Christmas Sweater party.  At first I was reluctant to attend, but once I found an ugly Christmas sweatshirt to wear, I was ready to go!

My grandmother made the sweatshirts that Jennifer and I area wearing in the picture below, in the late 80's. She was very proud of her handiwork. I think I only wore mine once or twice...I was in college at the time and it wasn't really cool for a 20-year-old to wear a sweater with a teddy bear on it.

There were quite a few ugly sweatshirts at the party. And the winner of the Ugliest Sweater award was in fact wearing an ugly sweatshirt dress.  There were gold glitter embellishments on the sleves and the hem of the dress.  And to think, someone wore that holiday sweatshirt dress with pride in the late 80's! 

Gives me cold chills.

Here we are with the winner of the Ugly Sweater Award.

But I would have to say that the best part of the evening was Dirty Santa.  There were some horrible gifts in the mix but that made the game even funnier.  I had tears running down my face I was laughing so hard. 

After Sarah's basketball game on Saturday, we headed to our church to make a gingerbread house.  The kids insisted that they do all of the decorating  themselves this year, so Dan and I happily sat back and relaxed as they did all of the work.  I think they did a great job!

The finished product!

Our visit with Santa - and luckily it didn't involve a trip to the mall.

Technically it isn't Christmas day yet so I'm going to squeeze in one last post pre-Christmas activity post.


Sarah is a Daisy Scout this year.  The very first field trip they took together was to ride the Santa Train at the NC Transportation Museum. 

Family members were invited so Dan, Peter and I went as well.  And it worked out great because Santa was on the train.  Both kids got their picture taken with Santa and we didn't even have to go to the mall! 

 

 

The 2009 Gingerbread House!

Every year our church hosts a gingerbread house workshop and this was our third year attending.  It has become a sweet little tradition for our family and I hope we continue participating for years to come.

Dan takes the role of lead designer and decorator and the kids offer lots of advice.  However; this year, once the kids stopped eating all of the decor, they decided they should take a bigger role in determining placement of the candies and actual gluing of the candies.

Lots of frosting and candy later we had a really cute house. 

I thought I loaded the pictures of the side views of the house but apparently failed to do that before our trip...so just imagine lots of cross mosaics made out of chicklets.  (Think stained glass windows gingerbread house style!)   Stunning, I tell you!  Stunning! 

 

Gingerbread men and cupcake frosting!

My husband loves gingerbread cookies.  Well, mostly he loves frosting so he makes gingerbread cookies as a delivery mechanism for the frosting. 

I do not like gingerbread cookies and I do not like to make any cookie that has to be rolled out so my husband and Sarah have been making them together for the last couple of years.

My husband has the patience of Job and doesn't seem to mind flour, sugar and spices flying around the kitchen.  And Sarah loves to measure, mix and roll so it's the perfect combination.

I hope the memories of baking cookies with Daddy will be as sweet for her when she is all grown up as the cupcake frosting that they make for the cookies.

Ding dong, the strep is gone!

I survived the weekend.

After a three hour fever-induced nap on Saturday and a big dose of Amoxicillin, I felt well enough to prepare dinner on Saturday evening.

And well enough for church on Sunday morning. But since I technically had not been on the antibiotics for 24 hours yet, I did not shake hands during the Sign of Peace.

For those of you who aren't Catholic, the Sign of Peace is the point in the Mass after the priest wishes the people the peace of Christ. Then we are supposed to shake hands and say to those around us, "Peace be with you."

I knew going in to Mass that I wasn't going to shake hands but I'm not sure whether it was too much Tylenol or not enough Amoxicillin but when the lady in front of me turned and said, "Peace be with you," I smiled and said, "Hey!" and gave a little wave.

Perhaps I should have stayed home.

Later that afternoon, we took the kids to see A Night At The Museum. Dan, Peter and I enjoyed it but after the 15 minutes of previews were finally over, Sarah leaned over to me and said, "Is the movie almost over?"

She was out of popcorn and ready to go home and the movie hadn't even started. She was a trooper though. And for the next 108 minutes, she barely whined.

Barely.

After the movie and the whining we headed to Jennifer's house for a cookout. Guess what? She had strep throat this weekend too.

People often confuse us. I'm not sure why...

Hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend. Even with the strep throat and all the rain, we had a nice time.

And last night, between bites of steak, Pioneer Woman's crashed hot potatoes and my mom's awesome baked beans, I even remembered to thank my husband and my father for their time spent serving this great country. Thanks, guys!

More of our exciting Memorial Day weekend to come later. And no, it really isn't that exciting and no, this isn't a cliff hanger. I'm just running out of time before Sarah gets out of preschool.

It wouldn't be Easter without a few dinosaur eggs!

It wouldn't feel like Easter if we didn't dye eggs.

So yesterday I boiled up two dozen eggs, covered the table with newspaper, set out twelve tea cups, put three tablespoons of vinegar into each cup and called the kids into the kitchen.

The Paas set contains twelve dye tablets so Peter and Sarah got to choose six each. They put the tablets into the cups and started "oohing" and "ahhing" as the tablets fizzed.

After the fizzing stopped (or at least until the kids couldn't wait any longer) we added the water and then the eggs.

I tried to convince the kids to leave the eggs in for a while to insure deep dark brightly colored eggs. But kids being kids, they couldn't wait. So after the first round of eggs turned pale shades of pink and blue and purple, they put in the second round of eggs. Unfortunately I didn't divide the eggs and Sarah was blowing through the eggs more quickly than Peter.

So our picture perfect egg dyeing session ended up with lots of bickering and whining and complaining.

"Mommmmm! She's getting too many eggs!"

"Mommmmm! He's got all the dark colors!"

"She's got all the light colors."

"Well why don't you both trade colors?"

"NO!"

"Mom look! I'm making an egg with more than one color on it!"

"Mommy! Peter's eggs with more than one color look prettier than my eggs. I want my eggs to look like his."

And the whining and complaining and bickering continued until all of the eggs were dyed. And thanks to the fact that the kids decided to dip each egg into multiple colors, most of our eggs look like a shade of faded blah. "Faded blah" - be looking for that on an orangish, brownish, greenish Crayola crayon in a 64-pack coming to a store near you!

Next year, I think I'm going to do three dozen eggs so I'll have a dozen to do my way! Momma wants some bright bold eggs that don't look like dinosaur eggs!

Happy Easter!!

Of gingerbread and men.

My husband loves, loves, loves gingerbread. Gingerbread men, ginger snaps, loaves. You name it. He loves.

But I could take it or leave it. Although he tells me if I had gingerbread the way his mom used to make it I would be a convert. I'm not so sure.

Since he loves it and I don't, he makes a big batch of gingerbread men every year with the kids.

Everybody together now - "Awwwwwwwwwww! What a wonderful man!"

Back off, people! He's mine!

Anyway, last Sunday Dan and the kids made gingerbread men while I worked on the Christmas cards.

We had the fire going, Christmas music playing in the background and the tree lights shining.

I know that sounds idyllic but don't get me wrong.

The kids bickered, flour flew everywhere, Dan got frustrated with the dough and I lamented that the stamps cost more than the cards.

But to me, it was a perfect afternoon.

Just perfect.

Lights, Hot Chocolate, Marshmallows!

Last Friday evening we heading out to Tanglewood to enjoy the Festival of Lights.

I was hoping Dan would get home by 5:30 so we could be there right at 6:00 when they started letting people in. Unfortunately he didn't get home until after 7:00.

"Don't be upset that I'm late. 30 people got laid off at work today. It's better that I'm home late with a job than home early without one." Those were the words that he greeted me with when he walked in the door.

I said a silent prayer thanking God for Dan's job and we headed out the door.

The lights were as beautiful this year as they were last year and the kids enjoyed all the displays.

There was a lot of traffic and it took a while to get through everything but that didn't matter to the kids because they had one thing on their minds - the red barn!

The red barn is located about three quarters of the way through the lights and serves hot chocolate and has a giant roaster for marshmallows. We didn't stop last year but this year we did.

The hot chocolate was delicious. I don't think it was the Swiss Miss that I normally serve. Note to self - must look into actually making real hot chocolate sometime this winter.

Then we got two skewers of marshmallows and found a place around the roaster.

I think the hot chocolate and the marshmallows will be part of our Tanglewood tradition from now on!

Our Gingerbread House.

Last Saturday we spent the afternoon making a gingerbread house.

Every year the Hispanic community at our church does this as a fundraiser.

And every year the same gingerbread loving lady bakes and assembles gingerbread houses, all the candy you could possible need to decorate them AND makes all the icing as well.

We purchased a small house again this year and picked out the six bags of candy we would use to decorate our tiny home.

The kids each decorated gingerbread people (a gingerbread man for Peter and a gingerbread angel for Sarah) while Dan got started on the house.

My sweet husband spent lots of time deciding what to put where while I drank cinnamon coffee and watched.

After the kids decorated their people they decided they wanted to help with the house.

It took a little convincing but my husband finally decided to give in and let the kids "help".

I think when the kids get a little older, we will let them each decorate their own house and Dan will have one of his very own to decorate.

And I'll still probably be sitting around sipping my complimentary coffee.

Three sides of our little masterpiece!

So which looks better, this year's house or last year's house? My husband wants to know.

The Christmas Lists and Dear Old Santa

A local MOPS group had Breakfast with Santa this weekend. We enjoyed a nice pancake breakfast and the kids got to talk to a very realistic looking Santa.

And best of all - there were no lines!

In preparation for our visit with Santa (and to give good old Mom some ideas for gifts) I had the kids write out their Christmas lists.

For Peter that basically meant sitting down with the Lego catalog and looking at Lego.com to try to figure out what he wanted.

(Droid Carrier, Fireboat, Mission 3:Goldhunt, Troll Warrior, Police Car, Clone Battle Pack. And for good measure he threw in a Hess Truck and a set of Dominoes.)

And for Sarah that meant looking around the room and listing off things that she spotted.

(Bracelet, Bell, Globe,Clock and Doll House.)

And if you will remember, she included Clock on her list of things she was thankful for at Thanksgiving. Obviously the clock is in clear view of the kitchen table where both lists were created.

Whenever I ask Sarah what she wants for Christmas she just shrugs and says she doesn't know. So hopefully she will be happy with what Santa decides to bring her.

Peter on the other hand might be a little disappointed because one of the items on his list was sold out at Lego.com, Toys R Us, and Amazon and another one of the Lego sets on his list isn't even being made any longer.

I was able to find a USED one on Amazon for over $100. I was not about to pay that much for a used toy and I wasn't even sure how I was going to to explain to Peter that it was in a used previously opened box.

The item on his list that he added in black is easily available and at a bargain price of $29.00 but he added it AFTER all of his gifts had been ordered. So I hope he likes the things that Santa picked out for him.

Luckily for me, Santa took the lists from the kids after they sat on his lap and put them in his candy cane basket. There will be no evidence of asked for and not received toys!

Maybe Sarah won't remember that she asked for a clock and maybe Peter won't remember that he asked for a Droid Carrier.

Christmas miracles do happen, don't they?

Our Thankful Turkeys

Last year we made Thankful Trees and it was a tradition that I wanted to carry on every year while the kids were young.

This year we decided to do Thankful Turkeys.

Peter was being a grump and after writing out three things he was thankful for, he gave up and had me write them down for him.

Sarah wanted to write everyone of hers which is why none of them are legible. I do commend her for the effort though.

Peter's list included the following things:

God
Toys
The Doctor
Telephone
Mom and Dad
Max and Ruby
Himself
Friends
Grandma and Grandpa
The Computer

Sarah's list included the following things:

Family
God
Food
Flowers
Ball
Pumpkins
The World
Clocks
And a couple of other things that I can't remember and can't decipher.

My hope for my children is that they remember to be thankful to God for all that he provides for them. Because really, it's all his anyway.

Happy Thanksgiving!