For Everyone who thinks that Barrett looks just like Cody...

I got a scanner (actually an all-in-one deal) for Christmas. So I was going through my mom's albums to get the photo for the previous post and found this picture of me. Now c'mon! It's like looking at Barrett in a dress! Right?!?

A tradition through the years

One of our many Christmas traditions is to read The Night Before Christmas as the bedtime story on Christmas Eve. I have been doing this since I was a kid with my cousins and now we read it with the boys.

What are your traditions? Post about it on your blog so we can all see! I love traditions and hearing about what other people do for Christmas.

above: my cuz, Kimberly, me, and my other cousin Laurie. My uncle is reading the story.

Barrett's First Christmas--he was still enough back then for me to get this shot.

This year: I love how, in this picture and in the one with my cousins and me, the kids all have their hands in their mouth.

Stuck!

I heard him whine with panic from the backseat, “Help, mommy, it’s stuck!
“What’s stuck where?” Whatever it was would be out of reach with my luck.
"My raisin! My raisin! I can’t reach it!! It’s stuck in there!"
I searched optimistically in his seat but in my gut, I knew where.
With Barrett, it was just a matter of time, I suppose…
Before he got a raisin stuck in his nose!
I looked way inside but I couldn’t see it.
He can’t blow his nose, so how was he to free it?
I wished aloud that he could sneeze on demand.
Just then he sneezed that snotty raisin out right into my hand!

We tried not to laugh as we went over why it’s not a good idea to put things up your nose. Mommyhood…isn’t it the best?

Hark! It's Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas! I have decided we don't say "hark" enough these days and I want to bring it back into today's vernacular. It will be like saying "Hey!" So who's with me?

Classic Case of PCS

In case you're not familiar with the three letter acronym, PCS stands for Photographer's Child Syndrome. Barrett has all the symptoms in this picture on the ornament. The ornament was a gift which he made at school and I am sure his teacher took the picture of him to put inside. When she did, she probably said something crazy like, "Smile!" This is a very foreign concept to my kids because I never discuss their smile with them while I am taking their picture. Poor guy was concentrating so hard on contorting his mouth into a smile.

When I opened the gift, I smiled (a natural smile) from ear to ear and gushed and oohed and ahhed and hung that baby in a prominent place on the tree because Barrett made it for me. I love it and will smile every year when we put it on the tree.

Beanie up, Scottie!

http://beaniesbystacie.blogspot.com/

'Tis the season for ornaments and screaming in Santa's lap

A few days ago, the boys and I made some pretty ornaments using clear glass ball ornaments, and leftover washable red and green paint from our homemade wrapping paper. I got the idea from this great blog that Stephanie told me about.

While the paint was drying, I made the boys some paper hats from the newspaper I had used to cover the table. It reminded me of when I was a kid! I wish I had a scanner so I could put up a picture of me as a little girl in a newspaper hat. For some reason, the boys called themselves pirates while wearing the hats. Their imaginations are much better than mine!

ETA: got a scanner for Christmas so I am adding this pic of me as a little girl with my newspaper hat!

Talking to Santa...or vigorously trying to escape his clutches...whatever!


The boys' friend, Christopher invited them over to his house for a visit with Santa. It was a great time (except for Kyle in that particular moment pictured above). I kept asking him on the way there if he wanted to talk to Santa and he said, "Nope." Then I said, "Santa is nice and he brings you presents, Don't you want to tell him what you want for Christmas?" He said without hesitation, "Nope."
So being the great mom I am, I stuck him on Santa's lap took pictures and laughed a little as he cried with those mommy-please-save-me eyes. I had to...it's tradition.

Barrett asked Santa for an ambulance. This is his third lap sitting with the man in red and every time he has asked for something different. The first time it was a crane, the second time it was a crane and a truck with a trailer, and now an ambulance. Santa sure wishes he would make up his mind!

A new favorite picture of Kyle

He loves his sock monkey appropriately named Sock Monkey.

out of the mouths of babes

I just overheard this conversation take place at the breakfast table between my 2 year old, Kyle and my 3 year old, Barrett.

Kyle: So...how's school, Barrett?
Barrett: Good. How was Mom to Mom, Kyle?
Kyle: Yup.

Meanwhile, I am trying not to feel bitter about the icy road conditions leading to no preschool today for Bear. I am finally done proofing all my sessions for the year and I was really looking forward to getting a little Christmas shopping done today. Oh well, I guess I can catch up on blogging when the kids go down for a nap!

I Have done the things in Bold

I got this list of 100 things from my homegirl, Emma. Feel free to take it and bold the items you have done. I have done 46 of these things--I feel I need to get out there and put some spice in my life. There are many things on this list I really want to do...and some I could live my whole life and be just fine never experiencing--like being stung by a bee!

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept in an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked - (In Italy)
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse (solar)
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person-I think we saw everything in Italy except that!
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten cavier.
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a lawsuit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

Random Christmas Stuff

For years I have struggled to find a place to display the wonderful cards we receive at Christmas time. I just don't want to give up my counter space. This year, I hung up this piece of garland in our utility room - because we are always walking through there. I was telling some friends about it and I told them I'd post a picture. After Christmas this year I will have to buy a new strand or two of garland on sale--this one must be a hundred years old and is shedding like crazy! This would also look great going up a stair banister. (I took the pic a few days ago - in case you are wondering where your card is.)

Our gingerbread house: This was my first ever gingerbread house and the boys' too. I just got one of the kits from Target and hoped the boys didn't think to eat the decorations...they didn't for a while. We tried to make it look like the one on the box. Considering a 2 year old and 3 year old did the decorating and I didn't use frosting tips, I think it looks darn close...just don't look too closely at the chimney.

All I want for Christmas is to be able to sing to Mariah Carey's Christmas song in my car if I want to! The other day, I was driving with the boys in the car and we were listening to Christmas music. I thought I was sounding just like Mariah when Barrett says, "Mommy, please stop singing! you're hurting my ears! Please don't sing anymore!"
So today, it was just Kyle and me in the car and guess who comes on the radio? I picked up my deflated ego and decided to give another heartfelt performance for the cheap seats, I mean back seat. During an instrumental part I asked Kyle if he liked my singing and he said, "Yes, you sing pretty." Then I said, "Don't you think I sound exactly like Mariah Carey?" and he said, " Yes, you sound zackey wike My...uh Terry." Ahhh, the innocence of a child! May your Christmas be filled with it!!

our new header picture

I took this on the way to Granbury for Thanksgiving last week. I kept watching the sky get prettier and prettier and finally I couldn't stand it any more. I made Cody pull over on a side street. I got my settings figured out using just Cody, then we got the kids out of the car. I took the shot with a self timer, scooping up Barrett on my way from the camera to our position. We were all back in the car and on the road in less than 5 minutes.

Cookie Exchange

My Mom to Mom group had a cookie exchange yesterday. It was great. We all made 6 dozen home made cookies to display and trade for the yummies that others brought.

There were rules and prizes and my Snowballs won for Most Unique! The other winners were Kori's Sugar Cookies for Best Lookin' and Stephanie's Thumbprints for Neatest Presentation. She had her kids paint their thumbprints on the bags that held the cookies. The thumbprints were shaped to make wreaths and Christmas trees--so cute! There were so many great cookies and candies and now we're all set for the holidays! We MUST do this every year from now on! Oh, and we're going to make a book with all the recipes, too. love.it.




Here's the Snowball Recipe

Ingredients

1 box red velvet cake mix (I made some with a yellow cake mix, cook as directed on box for 13x9 cake)

1 can cream cheese frosting (16 oz.)

1 package White Chocolate bark

wax paper--Do not use cooling rack

flake shredded coconut

Directions

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl.

2. Mix thoroughly with 1 can cream cheese frosting. (It may be easier to use fingers to mix together, but be warned it will get messy.)

3. Roll mixture into ping pong size balls and lay on cookie sheet. (Should make 45-50. )

4. Chill for several hours. (You can speed this up by putting in the freezer.--note:I found that the frozen balls did much better for dipping)

5. Melt chocolate in microwave per directions on package in small amounts.

6. Roll balls in chocolate and lay on wax paper until firm. (Use a spoon to dip and roll in chocolate and then tap off extra.)

7. Quickly top with coconut before the chocolate cools and hardens

Santa Claus is coming to town

Well, my friend Meredith challenged me and other moms to come up with gift ideas for other moms and grandmoms who read my blog. Gifts for the boys, husbands, grandparents, etc. I think it's a great idea so we can bounce ideas off each other and find great new products that we never knew existed and now must have :)! (Cody just groaned and had $$ flash in his eyes as he read that, I'm sure)

Gift Ideas For Little Boys:
Western Chief Fireman Raincoat and boots and umbrella-my boys are starting to love to pretend and they do this usually by putting on a hat (because that's all we have). Their cousin got this for his birthday and they got to play with it at the party. It was a hit! They would love pretending to be a fireman in this and it will keep them dry when it rains too! Added bonus: boots! They LOVE boots! I have not bought this for my boys, so it's still up for grabs. It can be found in the store at Nordstrom as well as online.

Everyone's Hero Movie- Barrett rarely watches TV and even more rarely watches a movies. For some reason, Cody rented this movie for Barrett at the video store and he not only watched it from start to finish, but he watched it at least 2 more times before we returned it. I snagged it online (ebay/amazon) for super cheap!

Spend Save Give Invest Piggy Bank If you have taken the Crown Financial study or want to teach your kids about being financially responsible, this is a great bank! We are currently using 3 jars and the kids keep getting into them and taking money OUT-ugh. I have not bought this either.

ETA: Kyle just got this for Barrett for the family gift exchange--I went ahead and got 2, I'll save the other for Kyle's b-day.

Other Stuff: we love classic wooden toys, and educational toys. They love anything truck, and trailer hitches are highly sought after! They love doing whatever we (grown-ups) are doing so anything that lets them pretend to be cooking, doctoring, firefighting, etc--they will enjoy. There's also an online kids t-shirt store I really like called Sandbox Threads.
Kyle is getting an Einstein shirt and you may remember seeing Mr. T on Barrett. ETA: you can get 25% off at Sandbox Threads thru Dec. 15 with code: mistletoe

For (our kids') Grandparents:

My mom is really digging my Vera Bradley. She has picked out a couple colors/patterns that she likes and a purse style. I don't know if she's getting this or not. There is a Vera Bradley store at Watter's Creek.

For Husbands:
Cody wants an X Box 360. He has asked for Best Buy gift cards so no one has to buy the whole thing.

If you know someone with a Nintendo DS that cooking personal trainer looks sooo cool--have you seen the commercial with Phoebe? (She'll always be Phoebe to me) My mom has a DS if anyone needs another idea for her.

NOW OTHER MOMS, I have a question for you. What are you asking for? I always know what I want and can give a list, but I haven't had time to see what's out there! Help!

Christmas Projects...keepin' it simple

We've been doing all the normal Christmas preparations like putting up the tree and lights and all that good stuff. We've also made our own very special one-of-a-kind wrapping paper and we strung popcorn for a garland. We did the wrapping paper on a warm Texas November morning (early in the month).

The boys LOVED popcorn from start to finish. I popped it in the air popper so they could watch it pop and so they could eat it (no butter, etc). They jumped around shouting "POP" as if they were little kernels. Kyle picked out pieces to string and even more to eat. Barrett helped slide the popcorn to make a long popcorn "choo choo train."

Tagged!

I got tagged by my friend Emma a while back to write 7 random things about myself that no one knows! I am just now getting around to it! I have been wanting to be tagged and now that I have been, there is no way I can come up with things that nobody knows! After playing 2 truths and a lie so many times, and I've known Emma so long... oh well, I'll give it a shot!

1. I went a over a year without eating one of my favorite foods, CHOCOLATE! I just had some at the end of September while in Durango, Co because we were celebrating our anniversary (a month late) and the waiter brought out this gorgeous amazing dessert that happened to have chocolate on it (on the house). I ate some. I wish I had a picture of that dessert to show you. You wouldn't blame me for eating it if you could see it. Besides, what better way to celebrate 8 years of wedded bliss than with chocolate bliss?

2. I used to want to be Daisy Duke when I grew up. I did the whole shirt-tie thing in the front to show my belly and accentuate my (non) chest.

3. I love to watch Tori and Dean.

4. I have a very strong internal alarm clock. I can tell myself I want to wake up at a certain time and I will. I don't have an alarm clock on my side of the bed- don't need one.

5. I have moments of brilliance between the hours of 2 am and 5 am. Any other time I am fairly useless. If I happen to wake up during these hours, I get my best ideas, I know the words to songs I've heard only once or twice, I can remember forgotten names, etc.

6. I wore braces twice! The first time I had them I was in the second grade and it was only on the front 4 top teeth. I think it was to correct a seriously sideways tooth that probably turned as a result of a fall I took as a toddler. The second set of braces was on almost all my teeth. I got them off my freshman year I think. You would think such a momentous occasion, I would remember!

7. I sometimes get on spanish kicks where I become a little fixated on spanish. I will have to look up words all the time to find out the spanish translation and I'll try to make up spanish sentences. I even sometimes talk to myself en espanol, but I'm seriously not good at speaking spanish.

Wow, that was really hard! I have to tag somebody now. I tag Heather, Leslie, and Meredith Liner

City Slickers

We went downtown for a couple quick snaps and a little puddle jumpin' . I happen to have the rain boots in the back of the car and they just love jumping in puddles. Kyle seems to always find MUD puddles. Here's a shot I got after he was finished with his boots.

Brothers

I took the boys to "the tractor park" the other day as a bribe for allowing me to take some pictures of them. They call it the tractor park because there is an old, as in antique, tractor there for kids to pretend to drive. My boys L.O.V.E. it. Some strong winds were blowing in and it looked like it might rain so I used all my best mommy/parenting techniques to get them to leave the beloved park smoothly. I asked them if they wanted to leave now or in two minutes and they of course said in two minutes. When two minutes were up, I told them to slide down one last time. Barrett did, but Kyle refused. (He seems to be going through a rebellious stage right now which is giving me nightmares--I'll save that for another post.) So I used my Love and Logic and pretended like we were going to leave him if he didn't come down. I said, "Okay, see you later, Kyle!" Barrett started freaking out and saying "No, I want my Kyle. I need my bwudder! Don't leave him Mommy!" I felt like a horrible mom now because Barrett thought I would actually leave Kyle at the park all by himself! But I did think it was so sweet how Barrett stood up for his "bwudder".


I think this picture is so representative of this story and so many like it that happen all the time!

Warmth for your heart

Did you see this news story about an Aledo High School girl who has Down's Syndrome getting elected homecoming queen? I have a soft spot for kids with Down's but I think everyone would enjoy this story.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/101208dnmetqueen.39be68a.html

Here's a few quotes from the article:
By MICHAEL E. YOUNG / The Dallas Morning News myoung@dallasnews.com

Never has the selection of a homecoming queen sent so many tears falling so freely.
Kristin Pass, an 18-year-old senior with Down syndrome, became Aledo High School's homecoming queen Friday to a joyous standing ovation and the flutter of a thousand tissues on a remarkable night for an amazing young woman.

"Kristin has a lot of friends – she likes everyone. It doesn't matter if you're tall or short, pretty, not pretty, smart, not smart – she likes everybody. She has great friends. And Aledo is a great community."

"She's just the neatest kid in the whole wide world," added her aunt, Chari Hust of Houston, "and everybody sees that."

She was so thrilled, her mother said, that she took her crown to bed with her.

"She's real proud of it," her friend Meaghan added.Kristin and her family, including sister Kendall, now a freshman, moved to Aledo when Kristin was in the third grade. She was embraced by the people in town through good times and bad, including the death of her dad, J.T., two years ago.

Kristin doesn't care what's on the outside, Meaghan said. She's friends with everyone, and everyone admires that.

"She's the person we all want to be," Meaghan said

For the past 8 years something has been missing from my life until now.

Really. Great. Mexican. Food. There are very few things I miss about living in Houston, but I do miss the Mexican food. There was a humble little restaurant in the town of Katy where we lived that had salsa you could drink and yummy green sauce too. And the food…yum. After you ate, you would waddle to counter with your ticket and pay—that kind of place, but the food was sooo good you couldn’t believe it. This restaurant was called Los Cucos. Sound familiar? Well, we just ate at the one that just opened in Plano. All I can say is Halleluiah! My Mexican food prayers have been answered! Cody and I were making noises that are normally reserved for the privacy of the bedroom. Okay, it was mostly me, I could not control myself. I will be better next week and the week after and the week after that…

Now I just need to get my other favorite Mexican restaurant from Houston up here and maybe a little closer to me. It’s called Lupe Tortillas. I’m off to start my letter writing campaign!

Happy Birthday, Cody!

These photos are from our trip we took to Durango, Colorado in September. I am just now getting a chance to look a them!

This is a silly little poem to wish you a very happy birthday,
And to tell you that you are the best in every possible way.
Some women think they’d be fine without their man,
But I’m no fool; you’re needed and wanted as a part of this clan.
You’re a great role model, better than a sports figure or rock star.
You teach the boys about manners, family, and to work hard.
“It will make you strong like Daddy” I say when there’s a food that’s getting the snub,
And before I know it, they will have joined the Clean Plate Club.
They watch and pick up on every little detail of what you do,
And in a battle against Superman, their money would be on you.
You never complain when sometimes you have to listen to the game rather than watch,
And your groans aren’t deafening when one of the boys accidentally elbows your crotch.
You’re a man who does dishes and laundry and looks good in jeans.
Who in the world ever heard of such a thing?
You get OJ when I’m sick and change diapers even when I’m not.
You vacuum the floors--In my book, that makes you hot!
You fix the stupid computer and kill big ugly bugs,
And you’re always there with open arms when I need hugs.

I am the luckiest girl the world. I love you.

One more cheesy line I forgot to put in the poem (to go with this picture): You fill my heart with the sound of music!

Trunk or Treat

It's always so much fun to go trunk or treating with our friends from Mom to Mom and this year was no diffrent! I hope I can get a chance to come back and write more about it later...Barrett hugged the box of walkie talkies that he won for best boy costume the whole way home.

Here's the crazy bunch:

Jack-in-the-box

Lightning Bug-his backside actually flashed but it was too light outside to see it.

Princess Peanut-her in the womb name!

Peter Pan--baby sister was tinkerbell

Emma as a Puppy

who needs toys?

Long time no post-super busy with photography stuff. Woke up at 5:00am and couldn't sleep-HAD to blog.

As we begin our ritual of yearly Christmas shopping during this difficult financial time for many, I am reminded of the beautiful, boundless imaginations children have and the unforeseen entertainment that can come from the simplest things.

These so-called raisin boxes were matchbox cars, choo-choo trains, and 5 minutes of quality giggle time with Gigi sliding them across the table.

Below: The boys played for at least 45 Oh-thank-you-Jesus minutes without fighting or getting into anything they weren't supposed to. There were no flashing light-up, noise-making toys. Just dirt (Kyle's personal favorite) and some spoons and one bucket which they shared beautifully (even though it looks as if Kyle is hogging in these 2 particular snaps).

Puntins!

Barrett and Kyle's first hayride

a very rare photo of me and my two boys. Okay, so it's a photo of my head and my two boys but I'll take it--Like I said these shots are rare!

Took the lil punkins to the pumpkin patch today. The weather was great for picking out pumpkins and going on a hayride! The weather was so great it didn't make for the best photos, but I suppose that's not why we go. We all had a great time! When we asked the boys afterward "What was your favorite part of the pumpkin patch?" Barrett said the hayride and Kyle said the pumpkin patch! I guess Kyle liked the whole thing.