This week in review. . .

Wow, what a week. It has been a whirlwind, for sure. The Friday before Christmas started our official family Christmas gatherings. We had my Dad, step-Mom, little sister Hannah, my niece & nephew, Sam & Mary, and Christine, Jesse and their new baby Anderson over for Christmas dinner and gift giving. It was a great time of fellowship. Christine became a part of our family her junior year of high school and is truly a sister to me. My step-Mom made wonderful food, all I had to do was rolls and dessert. One of their gifts to the boys was Webkinz. Finley is a little young for it, but they knew he would want what Avery was getting. We had fun playing with it this morning, but I'm going to need my little sister to come over and really show them how to do it! Christine made me some awesome biscotti that I have been enjoying with my coffee in the mornings. I didn't take many pictures, but my dad took a bunch with his new camera, so I'm hoping to be getting some good ones soon. AJ and I stayed up late that night packing and cleaning up. While we were gone my friend Jackie and her family stayed here. It was nice to know our house wasn't sitting empty for a week!
On Saturday morning we left for Kansas to AJ's parents. We crammed a 5 1/2 hour trip into 9 1/2 hours. It was rough. The boys were real troopers. But, it was hard to spend hours going 20 miles an hour through a snow storm. We spent about an hour sitting completely still on a bridge in Wichita. I was a little nervous about the weight limit of that bridge as I was looking at all the semi trucks we were stuck on the bridge with. You better believe I was planning an exit strategy in my head! When we finally made it to Inman (population 1000) and were 4 minutes from AJ's parents, we got stopped by a police officer. Our break light was out....apparently it had a short. To make matters worse, AJ's license was expired (which we did not realize). He was kind of a jerk and kept us there for 20 minutes. He mentioned arresting AJ 3 or 4 times, and said his DL picture didn't look like him. He kept acting very suspicious like we were up to something. He kept asking where we were going. I wanted to say, "We're actually going on a drug run, we just like to take our 2 kids and a back seat full of Christmas presents along for fun."
Anyhow, we finally got back on the snowy road, and made it to AJ's parents. We stayed almost a week. It was really fun. There were a few bumps with half the family getting stomach flu and other sicknesses, but all in all, it was a great week. I really love sitting at a huge table full of people. There were 12 of us all together. It really makes me want to have a big family. I want to look around my table one day and see it full of faces. Some highlights were, going wedding dress shopping with Jill, playing Settlers of Cataan and Hand and Foot, sitting in the hot tub while it was snowing, visiting Grandmas and Aunts and Uncles, and Cousins, and of course, celebrating our Savior's birth. AJ's family is so great, we always look forward to time there.
We came back on Friday and had a much smoother trip. Saturday night we celebrated Christmas with my Mom and David. My mom cooked a great meal and we sat around the fire place to open presents. My mom gave the boys some really thoughtful gifts, including a huge pop-up tunnel that they have had a blast playing with. David made us a new desk for Christmas. It is beautiful and I can't wait to get it here! He is an amazing craftsman and does excellent work. He made two really nice file drawers which I desperately needed. You don't even want to know how sad my filing "system" (and I use that term loosely) is right now.
We are now just trying to unwind from the craziness of the holidays and hopefully enjoy a relaxing New Years Day as a family.

Here are the 3 boys in Kansas: Cousin Drew, Finley & Avery ---They had a BLAST together. They played so hard from the moment they were awake until their head hit the pillow.
Here is our little family on Christmas morning...ignore our hair, we just woke up. ;)

I hope you all have a Happy New Year!

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Merry Christmas

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The Window is Filling Up . . .

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May Your Days Be Merry and Bright. . .

Sorry, I've been really bad about posting. We have been BUSY, BUSY, BUSY. I started Christmas shopping in August, you'd think I'd be done by now. Well, technically I'm done with the actual shopping part, except for a few more things for AJ's stocking. But there is just so much other stuff to be done. We (well, mostly me with some "help" from Avery & Finley) have been doing a lot of baking. I have been making tons of banana pecan bread and am now working on peppermint bark and will try to get to some candy making later today...we'll see how that works out. :)
Here's some Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Sticks and Banana Pecan Bread we've been working on:

On Friday night we got to take the boys to see the play Peter Pan at the Walton Arts Center. The tickets were a Christmas present from my mom. It was AMAZING. It was even better than we imagined. First we took the boys to a sandwich shop down on Dickson and then walked over (in the freezing rain) to the Arts Center. The play had 3 acts and the boys were glued to it the entire time. I think it helped that we had great seats. We were on the front row so we were close enough to see Captain Hook spit. I wasn't sure if Finley would get wiggly or antsy, but both boys sat perfectly still on our laps and were just mesmerized. The sets were very elaborate and Peter Pan and the kids were flying high over our heads. The orchestra was right in front of us so the boys would peer over and watch them during intermission. It was the most fun family event we've probably ever done. Thanks Grammy!! :)

Sunday was our 7th wedding anniversary. Jill & Chris were here so they watched the boys so we could go out. It was so great. We ate at Noodles and I had Lemon Chicken Scallopini. It was awesome . . .if you live around here, you need to try that. Then we went and saw I am Legend with Will Smith. Sooo Good. I keep thinking about it and I want to watch it again. I will say that it wasn't what I expected and was very scary....but still very good. I would like to watch it this time without my eyes covered. I covered my eyes for a good chunk of the movie. AJ said, "At one point, I looked over and you were gone." There was a really scary part and I had slid down in my seat...I guess I was trying to get away from it!

We had a wonderful anniversary. I love spending time with my husband!

Here we are 7 years ago:

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Livin' the Good Life

First of all, I want to say "I'm sorry" to Chris Tomlin for my annoyance at him in a previous post. AJ informed me that it was part of a compilation cd of U2 covers for aid to Africa. I take it back....worthy cause indeed.

Now on to my exciting life in a house with 2 preschoolers.....
I made the boys Christmas aprons this year. I had made several to sell at our open house. There weren't any left, so I decided to make the boys each their own that they could wear every year when we do Christmas baking. They L-O-V-E helping in the kitchen. They even more love their new Christmas aprons...especially Avery. He runs and puts it on every time I'm in the kitchen. I want to take a really cute picture of the boys in their aprons making Christmas cookies, but that hasn't happened yet. Here we are...me and my two little helpers, making biscuits. Yes, Finley is stuffing a whole banana into his mouth.

On Friday night we got to go on another date night. AJ got tickets for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. We went out with some friends of ours to dinner at Outback (Yum) and then to the play and then to get coffee. It was so fun. Before we left Avery got to try to take a picture of us again. Here we are from a 4 year old's view:

Even though I really like Avery being able to get some pictures that we wouldn't otherwise have...it's starting to be a bad thing. He thinks it's his camera now. He also took a picture of the cat, the wall, a couple pictures of the floor and a few pictures of the table. Oh well! :)

By the way, does anyone know how to keep a cat out of a Christmas tree?? Spraying him with water only sparks his need for a challenge. I'm asking for all kinds of help lately.....

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Please Help

I need some stain removal advice. Finley found a black sharpie right before we were leaving for church the other day. He decided to decorate his shirt and brand new courds. Just a note, it was the first time he'd worn those pants. Yep. Thanks buddy.

Things I have tried:
*hair spray
*nail polish remover
*alcohol
*oxi-clean
*shout spray

So if any one out there has any other ideas, please let me know!!! Pin It

I'm Famous

Yesterday I was in the mall with the boys. We went to what the boys call the "thomas store"...... b/c there's a train table to play with. The local news was there and wanted to ask me a few questions. I resisted at first, but as many of you know, I'm very bad at saying "no." Before I knew it I had a microphone on and a camera in my face. He just wanted to ask me a few questions about the toy recalls. Luckily neither of the boys ran away while this was taking place, which was my main fear. Anyway, the boys and I were on the morning news. I'm pretty sure they twisted my words around. And by the way, I hadn't taken a shower yesterday and my hair is in a pony tail and I'm holding 3 coats, 2 books, and a chic-fil-a cup. But, whatever, I'm famous.

Click here and go down to "local video news" and click on "buying safe toys for Christmas." Pin It

Singin' With Santa

We had a fun & full weekend. About once a week, usually on the weekend, we have a "picnic" in the living room. We put a blanket out on the floor & eat dinner & watch some sort of kid friendly movie or show. Polar Express came on Friday night (ABC comes in just fine w/ no cable!) so we got Marlo's Taco Shack and had a picnic. The boys LOVE having a picnic. It's really fun family time. By the way, Marlo's Taco Shack is bueno. You can get 6 tacos, a large cheese dip & chips for $10. That's my kind of fun. :) The boys hadn't seen Polar Express since last winter so it was really fun. I don't think Finley even remembered it.

This year I wanted to start a tradition of doing an Advent Calendar. I really want to put our boys' focus on the real meaning of Christmas. I realized that I am going to have to work to make that happen. So I bought a simple Advent Calendar. Eventually I want to get a really pretty wooden one w/ the little doors, but this one will do for now. It has a window to open for each day until Christmas Eve. On the inside of the window is a verse and a picture showing part of the Christmas story. I really like it because it gives the boys a visual of how far away Christmas is and focuses us each morning on the Christmas story. Saturday was Dec. 1st so the boys got to open the first window. I just love this picture of them looking at the Advent Calendar.

On Saturday morning I went to Rachel's baby shower. It was a great time. It was so good to see some of my "siloam girls" and my best friend from college, Jackie. Then I met AJ & the boys at the train station. We got tickets for the Christmas train ride. The boys loved it. Santa & Mrs. Claus were on the train as well. They had the inside of the train all decorated for Christmas. They gave out jingle bells and snacks. We got to sing Christmas carols w/ Santa. Then afterwards the boys got their faces painted and got treat bags. This was really fun after just watching Polar Express the night before.

Sat. night was AJ's work Christmas party. It was fun to get all dressed up & go on a date w/ my husband. There was a silent auction, a very nice sit down dinner and dancing. They took our picture there, but before we left, Avery wanted to take a picture of us. Okay, so AJ's head is cut off, but it's pretty good for a 4 year old! I think he was just being artistic.

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