Traffic Jam

I love this picture. It was a couple of weeks ago and I had just dropped Wesley off at school and was heading home. The neighbors down the road have a flock of geese that wander. This particular morning they were wandering across the dirt road....very slowly. In fact I had to stop the car and put it in park because they just wouldn't move. I was in no hurry and there wasn't another car in sight so I got my phone out and snapped a shot of this lovely winter morning. I enjoy my morning commute, traffic jams and all.

Merry Christmas!

We had a lovely Christmas at home this year. My folks came over early in the morning to help us celebrate it and my sister and her family arrived later in the day. The kids made out like bandits. Wesley was very much into Minecraft this year so he got fun gifts relating to the game. His favorite thing were the books! He got a Minecraft set of books and they haven't left his side. He's always sitting and reading about fun new things he didn't even know he could make. Here he is with my cute mom and his stuffed Minecraft pig.

Greta is into girly toys and loves her dolls and dress up items. She's still very much into stuffed animals and was super excited to open her Granny Randi's present. Randi made her and Wesley stuffed animals this year. Greta got an adorable bunny (she named Rose) and Wesley got an awesome dragon. I can't even imagine how long these took. Truly a gift a love. Thank you Granny Randi!

It was a very relaxing day full of good company and delicious food (which I'm so thankful my mom cooked, being sick leading up to Christmas did not leave me with much energy for meal planning). Thank you mom and dad for a wonderful Christmas!

Holiday Prep

Oh did we have a fun week leading up to Christmas! I always have a checklist of things I want to do with the kids and I'm pretty happy if we get through most of them. This year I was rather sick in the week leading up to Christmas. The basic sore throat and cough that wouldn't leave but I mustered up the energy to get some memorable things done with the kids. We rolled out sugar cookies and decorated them, which is super fun.

I had really good intentions regarding Christmas cards this year. I found a cute idea consisting of fingerprints of all family members that get transformed into reindeer. I went to the craft store and purchased blank cards, googly eyes, puffy paint, craft glue, a Merry Christmas stamp and ink. We all contributed our fingerprints and the cards were made. They turned out cute! I loaded them into their addressed envelopes and ran into a problem. As I was sliding the card into the envelope the googly eyes would catch and pop off. I wondered if they would all just come off during shipping so I sent an experimental card to myself. Sure enough all but two eyes had dislodged. I was bummed out! That was a lot of work to just scrap the idea. Oh well. I thought I'd take a picture so you all could see what your Christmas card would have looked like. :)

I thought since I'm sharing craft ideas I'd show the cute little snow men I made for Wesley's Christmas party.  There really are some cute ideas out there on the internet.

Sanity Regained

I must apologize for my dreary Christmas poem. It was just one of those days. I'm happy to say a lot has changed in the last forty eight hours! The kids are healthy again! I've completed and shipped all custom Christmas sculptures! Presents to family shipped off! Both kids Christmas parties are finished and I can officially let my hair down. It feels good to have so many projects crossed off. There is just one more day of school and then the kids, Sean and I are home for 19 days with absolutely nothing to do but relax and enjoy each others company. So looking forward to that.

Greta has been accompanying me on my various trips into town for all the last minute Christmas things. You know, like tape. I went to wrap something and all I had was industrial strength packaging tape. This is because whenever I have normal tape in the house it is immediately grabbed by a child and poof, tape everywhere. I kid you not. So I just stopped buying it. I took Greta into Wal-Mart this week to buy tape and wrapping paper. I walked out with $60 dollars worth of stuff I didn't need. This is why I don't even go into Wal-Mart anymore. Greta, of course, persuaded me into taking her out to lunch (it doesn't take much to persuade me). There in the pastry window at Panera was the most heavenly cupcake I've ever seen. It was delicious.

While I'm talking about Miss Greta I should mention she had her Christmas program last week. She's been very clingy and anxious about anything preschool related. So needless to say I was a bit worried about how she was going to handle being up on stage. Turns out I had noting to worry about, she did awesome. I'm so proud of her!

One of our Holiday traditions is making gingerbread houses as a family. They make a gingerbread village with four small houses which works out great for us. The kids had a blast as did Sean and I. The most fun part? Eating them when we are done. Gingerbread houses don't last long in our house as decorations.....not with three dogs with great sniffers.

A Christmas Poem

 

My blogging has been dreadful.

The Holiday season is taking its toll.

The list of things to do is endless.

I dream of a deserted island full of pure bliss.

Cards and packages to wrap and mail.

All of this while the children hover over a pail.

Ah yes, tis the season of throw up in our house.

I wish I could scurry into a hole, like a mouse.

The house looks like a bomb went off.

Dog hair, mud....oh and Wesley has a nasty cough.

The FluMist he and his sister received is what I blame.

Last years endless coughing spell was the same.

No more FluMist for us.

I'm sure next years needle will cause much fuss.

The Holiday sculptures are nearly done.

If I don't wait until the very last minute it's no fun.

Once everything is done and the kids are healthy, I promise I'll cheer up. 

As long as I can keep myself from throwing up.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Visit with Santa

I don't think the sun has shone in at least three days. It's drizzling, foggy and all around kind of depressing. We decided to try and bring some cheer by going to the library Santa event. This is the third year we've gone and I'm so thankful that they do this event each year. The kids and I look forward to it. I think the word has gotten around because it's pretty packed. This year it took 2.5 hours to see Santa. Luckily we didn't have to stand in line, rather they hand you a little card with a picture on it when you enter the library and then they call each picture over the intercom. This keep the line small and allows you to go to the other events such at ornament making, letters to Santa and story time. No child, regardless of age, is going to stand in line for 2 hours!

I know why it's so popular, they get a spectacular Santa and Mrs. Claus. I'm always impressed by the amount of time they spend with each child asking questions and talking. It's very special and my children love it. It's was sunny point on a rather dreary day.

Thanksgiving

Hard to believe Thanksgiving was a week ago. The weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas run together into one hectic time. At least for me. I always tell myself to start Holiday shopping early and, for the most part, I do ok. This year I planned to purchase nearly everything on Amazon and I'm sticking to it pretty good. It's sure nice ordering presents and having it delivered to your front door. Have I mentioned how much I love Prime? I did venture out on Black Friday just because I needed to vacate the house and have some alone time. It wasn't too bad, got some cute clothes.

Thanksgiving was a quiet little event this year. Just the four of us and a giant pot of Snow Crab. I dare say it was too much crab. That could be because I make a turkey breast and shrimp scampi too. It was a massive amount of food. Oh and the pie! I took a vote with the family, I told them I could make an caramel apple pie or a key lime or a peppermint pie. Everyone voted for the peppermint pie. It was delicious and super easy. It's called a Peppermint Snow Pie. Here is the recipe.

Wesley had his 2nd grade music program a few weeks ago. Lots of cute little kids singing and acting out parts. Good times.