Well, over the last seventeen days these activities have become less and less organized. But, for our first year at it, and considering our kids are only 2 1/2 and 10 months and don't really understand what's going on anyway, I think we've done a great job!
For day four, at the end of the night after the kids were asleep, Chris and I were talking and I mentioned that we didn't do any activity for the day. Chris said that he and Alex had watched The Polar Express together and that should count. I then remembered that I had gotten out a Hymnal I have borrowed from a friend and went through all the Christmas songs andsang them to the kids...so they did have a couple of celebrations...just not with both mom and dad at the same time.
Yesterday the three of us baked and baked and baked and baked and didn't quit until we were ALL DONE!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009
6 and 5 Days 'Till Christmas!
On Saturday we had no special Christmas celebration. But it seems like this year we are watching a lot of Christmas shows, singing lots of Christmas songs, talking lots about Santa, and cooking tons of fun treats! So, Christmas was not entirely lost on us Saturday...I just wasn't organized enough to get together an activity.
Tonight, though, was a pretty fun one! We celebrated the gift of giving by visiting all of our neighbors and dropping off some Christmas treats. It was a lot of fun, almost everyone was home (3 out of 4), and one set of our neighbors had just moved in a couple of days ago so it was nice to get to know them a little bit.
The weather tonight must be in the 40's, so it wasn't too cold and I think all of us enjoyed spending some time outside walking around and getting some fresh air. We also were able to spend a few minutes enjoying the lights on the outside of our house. It was a lot of fun!
I should have taken a picture of us before we left, but I didn't think of it (Grace sure was cute in her hat and matching mittens!). Oops!
Tonight, though, was a pretty fun one! We celebrated the gift of giving by visiting all of our neighbors and dropping off some Christmas treats. It was a lot of fun, almost everyone was home (3 out of 4), and one set of our neighbors had just moved in a couple of days ago so it was nice to get to know them a little bit.
The weather tonight must be in the 40's, so it wasn't too cold and I think all of us enjoyed spending some time outside walking around and getting some fresh air. We also were able to spend a few minutes enjoying the lights on the outside of our house. It was a lot of fun!
I should have taken a picture of us before we left, but I didn't think of it (Grace sure was cute in her hat and matching mittens!). Oops!
Saturday, December 19, 2009
7 Days 'Till Christmas!
Our day today was crazy! Luckily, our fantastic babysitter Marcia was here...for twelve hours! We didn't have much family time today, but we did take a few moments to open up and hang our stockings which were gifts from Grandma.
Aren't they cute?Thursday, December 17, 2009
I Stole Popcorn Chicken and a Donut from Walmart: Part II
As we were finally checking out, the lady came around to get the items from under the cart: a 12 pack of Bud Light for my neighboors (a payment for a favor), a 12 pack of Bud Light Lime for Chris and I (because sometimes you just have to try something different), and one of those delicious whole still hot chickens (our dinner tonight).
The nice checkout lady said, "You want me to put this in a bag, right?" (referring to the chicken). I said no. She looked up at me and said, "You have got to be kidding?" I was thinking, "What the heck is this lady talking about? Did I just hear her right? Did she really just say 'you have got to be kidding', or did I hear her wrong?" So I said, "No, it's fine thanks."
At this point I was disheveled, didn't know what was going on, wanted to go home, wanted to pay for my freaking groceries. I paid, loaded up the kids in the car, loaded up the groceries in the car, drove home, unpacked the kids, unpacked the groceries...and all of a sudden I understood. I think I have bought one of these pre-cooked chickens once maybe twice before in my life. I did not understand that there was a bunch of sitting oil/grease/disgustingness in the bottom of the container. Ew!
As I am sure you have guessed, that disgustingness had transferred itself onto the carpet of the trunk of my car. Yep. It sure did. All of it.
I spent the next fifteen minutes looking like a barrel racing horse: Grab towels, soak one with hot water and half of it with dishwashing soap, pull the kids back in side and away from the door, run to the car and scrub scrub scrub, run back to the door, push the kids back inside, close the door and run back to the car to scrub scrub scrub. By this point it was dark outside, so I was scared to death Alex would escape and somehow get hit by a car.
By the time Chris came home Grace and I were on the floor of the kitchen surrounded by all of the bags of groceried. We had been there a while. Long enough for everyone to have a piece of cinnamon bread, long enough for Alex to have some grape juice before dumping it on the floor, long enough for each of us to throw a couple of tantrums before Alex finally called it quits and put himself down for a nap. Neither Grace nor I bothered to move during any of this, and when Chris walked in I was happily drinking one of my Bud Light Lime's and Grace was looking pretty interested in the still spilled grape juice on the floor. What my husband must think of me.
I wish I could have called this story 'I Stole a Six Pack from Walmart'...
The nice checkout lady said, "You want me to put this in a bag, right?" (referring to the chicken). I said no. She looked up at me and said, "You have got to be kidding?" I was thinking, "What the heck is this lady talking about? Did I just hear her right? Did she really just say 'you have got to be kidding', or did I hear her wrong?" So I said, "No, it's fine thanks."
At this point I was disheveled, didn't know what was going on, wanted to go home, wanted to pay for my freaking groceries. I paid, loaded up the kids in the car, loaded up the groceries in the car, drove home, unpacked the kids, unpacked the groceries...and all of a sudden I understood. I think I have bought one of these pre-cooked chickens once maybe twice before in my life. I did not understand that there was a bunch of sitting oil/grease/disgustingness in the bottom of the container. Ew!
As I am sure you have guessed, that disgustingness had transferred itself onto the carpet of the trunk of my car. Yep. It sure did. All of it.
I spent the next fifteen minutes looking like a barrel racing horse: Grab towels, soak one with hot water and half of it with dishwashing soap, pull the kids back in side and away from the door, run to the car and scrub scrub scrub, run back to the door, push the kids back inside, close the door and run back to the car to scrub scrub scrub. By this point it was dark outside, so I was scared to death Alex would escape and somehow get hit by a car.
By the time Chris came home Grace and I were on the floor of the kitchen surrounded by all of the bags of groceried. We had been there a while. Long enough for everyone to have a piece of cinnamon bread, long enough for Alex to have some grape juice before dumping it on the floor, long enough for each of us to throw a couple of tantrums before Alex finally called it quits and put himself down for a nap. Neither Grace nor I bothered to move during any of this, and when Chris walked in I was happily drinking one of my Bud Light Lime's and Grace was looking pretty interested in the still spilled grape juice on the floor. What my husband must think of me.
I wish I could have called this story 'I Stole a Six Pack from Walmart'...
I Stole Popcorn Chicken and a Donut from Walmart: Part I
Yep. It's true. Okay...technically, it was more like we stole it, then returned it, then bought it. Intrigued???
Today we went grocery shopping at Walmart. We loaded up the cart with items from all around the store and then got in line to check out. I almost always have a panick attack when I get to the checkout line thinking that I forgot my wallet, or my card, or somehow don't have a way to pay for the groceries, and today was no different...
Except, when I zipped opened my wallet, one side was completely empty. I had no cash, no credit cards (that weren't expired at least), no bank card, nothing. A vague memory of Alex going through my wallet and then zipping it up and putting it back in my purse yesterday came into my mind. I sat down on the 'courtesy' bench and dialed every number I knew. No one answered. I swallowed several times trying to get the huge lump out of my throat and stared up at the ceiling hoping away the tears that were welling up.
How can I explain this? Not to complain, but it is an effort to grocery shop with my lovely children. And most of the time I really don't mind the effort. But doing something once is one thing. Doing something once, and then immediately turning around and doing the whole thing all over again...that's something quite different. That turns my 'something pretty handleable' into something NOT handleable. I found myself in my unhandleable situation...and I had to deal with it.
I stood up, went to the cart lady, explained what happened and said I would be back in the next 45 minutes. I neglected to tell her we had all eaten a cup of popcorn chicken (Grace included)...and I neglected to tell her Alex had eaten half of a donut...and that the other half was in my purse. We all walked out of Walmart, drove home screaming and crying, snatched up my ID and credit card from the kitchen floor, and were back off to Walmart.
So, really, we really only stole these items for about an hour. By the way, the rest of the donut is still in my purse somewhere...
Today we went grocery shopping at Walmart. We loaded up the cart with items from all around the store and then got in line to check out. I almost always have a panick attack when I get to the checkout line thinking that I forgot my wallet, or my card, or somehow don't have a way to pay for the groceries, and today was no different...
Except, when I zipped opened my wallet, one side was completely empty. I had no cash, no credit cards (that weren't expired at least), no bank card, nothing. A vague memory of Alex going through my wallet and then zipping it up and putting it back in my purse yesterday came into my mind. I sat down on the 'courtesy' bench and dialed every number I knew. No one answered. I swallowed several times trying to get the huge lump out of my throat and stared up at the ceiling hoping away the tears that were welling up.
How can I explain this? Not to complain, but it is an effort to grocery shop with my lovely children. And most of the time I really don't mind the effort. But doing something once is one thing. Doing something once, and then immediately turning around and doing the whole thing all over again...that's something quite different. That turns my 'something pretty handleable' into something NOT handleable. I found myself in my unhandleable situation...and I had to deal with it.
I stood up, went to the cart lady, explained what happened and said I would be back in the next 45 minutes. I neglected to tell her we had all eaten a cup of popcorn chicken (Grace included)...and I neglected to tell her Alex had eaten half of a donut...and that the other half was in my purse. We all walked out of Walmart, drove home screaming and crying, snatched up my ID and credit card from the kitchen floor, and were back off to Walmart.
So, really, we really only stole these items for about an hour. By the way, the rest of the donut is still in my purse somewhere...
8 Days 'Till Christmas!
Eight days until Christmas?! Did I really just type that? This is crazy. How is it even possible for time to be going by this quickly? At this rate, my kids really ARE going to grow up in the blink of an eye.
Today the kids had a Christmas party playgroup at the POA Activity Center. While there was a little bit of drama at the beginning, we all had a great time smashed into a teeny tiny room. It's a good thing everyone in the room got along!...and of course, now we are bonded by our 'incident' with the Activities Director. It was a great time with fun people and delicious sugar cookies. Grace ate an entire one all by herself! (It took her about an hour and a half to do it, but sure enough, she ate the entire thing!)
Pictures from this event would have been a lot of fun, but unfortunately, I forgot my camera. Sorry!
Today the kids had a Christmas party playgroup at the POA Activity Center. While there was a little bit of drama at the beginning, we all had a great time smashed into a teeny tiny room. It's a good thing everyone in the room got along!...and of course, now we are bonded by our 'incident' with the Activities Director. It was a great time with fun people and delicious sugar cookies. Grace ate an entire one all by herself! (It took her about an hour and a half to do it, but sure enough, she ate the entire thing!)
Pictures from this event would have been a lot of fun, but unfortunately, I forgot my camera. Sorry!
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
9 Days 'Till Christmas!
Poor Grace is missing out on a lot of these! But, tonight, it was all about the boys! It was a father and son bonding night tonight as Daddy read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas to Alex. I love this book, it was a gift from Grandpa and Grandma and this version is illustrated by Mary Engelbreit...it is really gorgeous!
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
10 Days 'Till Christmas!
It looks like the cute little packages that I was originally so diligent about, have fallen away.
Now, we're lucky if we get to do anything!
Today it was fun to live through the eyes and the decisions of a 2 1/2 year old. It was Alex's idea to make cake. I had the great idea to make cupcakes and decorate them together as a family when Dad got home from work. I decided to let Alex make all of the decisions.
He chose Strawberry cake.
He chose Blue colored icing.
And that, my friends, is how we arrived with our 'Christmas' cupcakes. The sprinkles were Christmas colored and in a last ditch effort to make them even more Christmasyish, we made them into the shape of a Christmas tree. Sigh. Shrug. What are you going to do? Crush a kids imagination! No way!
By the way, has anyone seen my boots?!?
11 Days 'Till Christmas and No Celebration
Well, it happened! We missed having a Christmas celebration on Monday. Both kids had fevers, Chris worked a long day, and after dinner we were all ready for bed. We were originally going to try taking Christmas pictures, but there was just no way it was going to happen! Hopefully we will get them done tomorrow, yeah, tomorrow, that's it...definitely we will do them tomorrow...
12 Days 'Till Christmas
We woke up Sunday morning and Alex had a fever. We spent all day inside, but decided to go to Panera's for a bowl of soup for dinner, and then go see the lights display in Osage Beach. They were awesome!
After we got into the park, we pulled over and brought the kids up front with us. (Alex loves to drive!)
Grace couldn't get enough of the lights! She had a great time!
This was one of mom's favorite displays!
This was the favorite of the night though...very fitting considering our location!
The lights were awesome, the family was awesome, it was a lot of fun!
13 Days 'Till Christmas
In my head:
I have been looking forward to this Saturday for a long time. Wake up, get dressed up in fun Christmas clothes, go eat a delicious breakfast at the Activities Center where we get to meet Santa, have pictures taken, make fun things, do fun things, be with fun people...and did I say see Santa!!! Then, off to the Lake Ozark parade! Come home, look at pictures and choose some to make Christmas cards with.
In reality:
Wake up, Grace has a fever, no delicious breakfast, no Santa, no activities, no parade.
Today was definitely more of an upset for me than it was for the kids. We again didn't have a present, and spent the entire day and most of the night watching Christmas movies on TV. So sad that the kids are sick, but loved all the snuggling on the couch.
I have been looking forward to this Saturday for a long time. Wake up, get dressed up in fun Christmas clothes, go eat a delicious breakfast at the Activities Center where we get to meet Santa, have pictures taken, make fun things, do fun things, be with fun people...and did I say see Santa!!! Then, off to the Lake Ozark parade! Come home, look at pictures and choose some to make Christmas cards with.
In reality:
Wake up, Grace has a fever, no delicious breakfast, no Santa, no activities, no parade.
Today was definitely more of an upset for me than it was for the kids. We again didn't have a present, and spent the entire day and most of the night watching Christmas movies on TV. So sad that the kids are sick, but loved all the snuggling on the couch.
14 Days 'Till Christmas!
Finally! On Friday night, we celebrated by getting our big tree up. Things were kind of crazy that day, so no riddle, but the tree is up, it is awesome, and the kids love it and are being very very gentle with it.
Alex was a wonderful helper. He helped Dad string the lights.
He was also pretty good at hanging ornaments...okay, he needs some work, but next year for sure he'll have it down!
The final product. And, if it looks like our ornaments are only on the top half of the tree...it's because they are!
Thursday, December 10, 2009
15 Days 'Till Christmas!
"Christmas Playgroup!
Let's welcome our friends into our home,
so we don't have to celebrate alone!"
This morning we had playgroup at our house...we had some great activities planned.
We made snowflake ornaments....
White chocolate covered pretzels:
And topped it off with some hot chocolate and good old-fashioned playing!
Here is Jill with her sweet baby Kambrie...
and Alex, Clara, and Tanner
We also had Betsy and her daughter (whose name I don't know how to spell), and of course last but not least Nancy and Benson!
I can't speak for Alex, Grace, or anyone else who came, but I had a great time.
I am having doubts about my baking abilities...but the story of my baking is one that definitely deserves a blog entry of its own, so I will wait until later (mostly when I'm fully calmed down and out of time out from the kitchen) to write about it! :)
My baking aside, it was a great playdate!
And, unfortunately Chris wasn't able to participate because of work, but we kept him in our minds. Tonight is our first night together in a long time with no plans, so hopefully we will get to do something nice and relaxing and Christmasy...maybe we'll put up the tree!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
16 Days 'Till Christmas!
"FAMILY DATE NIGHT
MOVIE: 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
TREATS: Caramel, Cheddar, and Butter Popcorn
TIME: 7:30 p.m."
This 'Twas the Night Before Christmas is circa 1974. It was actually pretty good, and Alex thought so too.
Poor Grace didn't make it since we didn't end up starting the movie until more like 8:30 p.m. And, the popcorn was awesome, it practically melts in your mouth!...(courtesy of our super cool neighbors who sadly, are moving away this week) :(
We all snuggled up together in this awesome red soft blanket and watched the 1/2 hour movie together. And yes, that is hot chocolate Alex is drinking. I tried it (neither Chris nor I like hot chocolate), and I thought it was delicious. It seems like everything I thought was disgusting, now tastes great post-Grace. HHmmmm. Maybe one of these days I should give pie a second chance. Nah.
Grace's First Snow!
She is so cute! I just love this jumpsuit too!
She kept crawling back to the window all morning!
She definitely loves looking at the snow...
...and wants to eat it...
...MMmmmm!
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
17 Days 'Till Christmas!
"With love in our hearts for our FAMILY,
Let's gather together and decorate our TREE!"
These activities are a lot more fun now that Alex is really starting to understand what is going on. He loves Christmas trees so it was fun watching him watching Dad string the lights on the tree. Alex was also a great help hanging the bulbs.
FYI – he LOVES the green ones! Every time we hung a bulb and he was ready to hang another I would say, “What color would you like to hang, green or blue?” And every time he would say, “Green!”
This is one family project that will probably repeat itself in the near future…we still have our big tree to decorate. But, in the interest of time today, this was the best we could do. It isn’t finished quite yet, there are still more ornaments to hang, but all in all, I think we did a great job!
How I know I'm a Mom
This morning our local MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) group met and had a cookie exchange. Yep, a cookie exchange! I have always always ALWAYS wanted to participate in one. I know it seems cheesy and weird, but this is a strange desire that I have been longing for. Finally, today was the day!
I made my peppermint bark early yesterday, but then wound up having to buy ribbon early this morning and tying bows in the Walmart parking lot minutes before the group was supposed to meet. Both kids were screaming, and Alex had a chocolate Christmas sprinkled donut for breakfast.
Anyway, we made it on time, and all was well in the world after I dropped off the kids in their respective rooms, sat down to a hot pancake and bacon breakfast, participated in my first cookie exchange, AND got to do a cool craft project. If it wasn’t for my kids, I wouldn’t have gotten to have had such a great morning!
And this is how I know I’m a Mom…a cookie exchange has made my day!
This is a picture of some of the cookies I received…but keep in mind it was a long car ride home, and after a chocolate donut breakfast for Alex, and a five star hot breakfast for me, well, we were both famished. Some of the cookies didn’t make it.
As you can see, the tile we put the vinyl lettering on, matches my kitchen countertops perfectly!
Monday, December 7, 2009
18 Days 'till Christmas!
"Let's celebrate the season with friends that are near,
And decorate Gingerbreadmen with holiday cheer!"
Tonight's fun was filled mostly with Alex running around the gym with some other boys screaming at the top of their lungs, repeatedly jumping over some mat toys. He was fast asleep at 8:00 p.m., which begs the question, "Are these Parents as Teachers get togethers for the kids or for the parents?" (Smile, smile, wink, wink)
Anyway, there were lots of activities. Alex could hardly be bothered, but he did stop long enough for me to be able to make a reindeer for him. These were made by tracing the kids' feet and hands...a super cute idea.
Chris and Alex made this Gingerbread Man together...and for the record, there was one other red Gingerbread Man in the group. (Red Rum! Red Rum! {just kidding})
The Christmas Tree activity wasn't really a possibility for either of the kids, so they get one from mom...you can see the creativity it took for me to get through these!
Finally, after a chili dinner with corn bread, Rice Krispy treats, and chocolate milk (Grace ate some of the corn bread), Alex decorated his Gingerbread Man. We talked about teamwork as I put on the icing, and he decorated the cookie using a cupfull of goodies. He really did do a great job, three in the mouth, one on the cookie, three in the mouth, one on the cookie (this must be genetic...on both sides). Unfortunately, by the time the little man got home, there wasn't much decoration left. That's part of the fun, right???
And we can't forget the singing. Each kid got to hold some jingly bells and we sang some songs. It was a lot of fun!
Sunday, December 6, 2009
19 Days 'Till Christmas!
Today's advent calendar gift was quite the adventure. This morning Chris and I picked out some super duper LED lights for the house and a fun snowflake to hang above our garage. Then, Daddy got to spend some time with the kiddos while I started hangin' lights!
I can tell that Alex just loves it when he gets to spend some time with Daddy alone. I think sometimes he gets 'SOM' (sick of mom).
So, I got to work early this afternoon with clear skies and awesome weather that was around 55 degrees. Perfect for hanging lights.
Well, my job working solo lasted approximately half an hour until our neighbors across the street came home and after some friendly negotiation, decided to help, and not once did they mention that they thought I was going to kill myself! Kudos to them.
I'd like to say for the record, that our roof seemed a lot more steep than it appears in these pictures. So, it goes without saying, I welcomed their help.
They were really amazing and even continued to work while I ran back to the store to buy a few more packages of lights.
When we were all done, the project had lasted several hours and the temperatures had dipped down into the low thirties...brrr! The lights looked awesome and we were ready for it to get dark outside to present this fun festive Christmasiness to Alex and Grace.
Chris ran to work for a few moments, and by the time he returned, Alex and Grace had both fallen asleep. With Grace there was no hope, but I was able to keep Alex awake with bribes of ice cream.
Then Dad came home, we ate dinner, opened up today's little riddle, and went outside to bask in the glory of a decorated house over a cup full of tiny marshmallows.
The riddle:
"Go outside for a sweet delight and sparkling lights that are out of sight!"
It really was a lot of fun! We probably looked at the lights for around eight seconds, just enough time to snap a photo and cram some marshmallows back in my mouth, and then we were back inside happy to be warm again.
But Alex loved the lights, he kept saying, "Christmas Tree, Christmas Tree", (referring to the lights), and smiled and smiled...which makes me smile and feel like a good mom.
I think we can call this day a success...and I think I am going to sleep well tonight!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Advent Calendar Part I
I have wanted to start some new family traditions and this year I thought it would be fun to try having an Advent Calendar. I am hoping that because my kids are 2 ½ and 10 months, they won’t notice that I am off to a late start.
I’ve never had an Advent Calendar before, so I have no idea how to do one. We are still trying to find things for all of the days and get everything organized, but today I finally decided that we had better have our ‘kick off’ or else it will be Christmas before we know it! It seems like time is just flying by this year!
Chris and I have decided to do a ‘countdown’ to Christmas. So, tonight we started with “20 more days until Christmas!”
We gathered together on the kitchen floor and presented Alex and Grace with their first gift…matching pajamas! Selfishly, as a mom, I am delighting in the glory that my kids now have matching pajamas! (This, by the way, will hopefully be another tradition of getting new Christmas/winter PJ’s every year…and they will match for as long as I am able to get away with it!)
Alex opened up his package and exclaimed, “Jamas!” He wanted to put them on right away, and we were able to snap a couple of shots of them together…
Cute, right?!
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