.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

while visions of sugar plums, danced in thier heads

every christmas, since cole was little, we have made gingerbread houses. we make it easy by buying gingerbread kits, and then adding a bunch of additional candy to them. the boys love it. this year, luke got to do one as well. i made him a little graham cracker one, and he thought he was hot stuff the rest of the day. we listen to christmas music, try to keep the candy hogging to a minimum, and create 4 amazing masterpieces. rhett had a little mishap with the frosting, which caused him to say 'this is the worst christmas ever!', (he later retracted that statement), cade made a pond with a cute little duck in it, and cole is showing signs of growing up with how perfectly he worked on his patterns. they are on display in the entry way, where proud owners walk by daily to admire...

Saturday, December 13, 2008

gingerbread homies

hard at work

(we all get a little serious about our masterpieces)

laurie's cute finished house (i stole her roof idea)

me, gina, jen, traci, and suzette (laurie just left dangit!)

my finished product

as a christmas gift, my friend traci bakes gingerbread houses and had a few of her friends over to decorate. last year, we started around 8 pm, and didn't finish until 3 am! this year, we tried doing it during the day, which was great, although we all had different schedules with kids and things, so i only spent about 4 hours on mine. it flew by! there was still so much i wanted to do, but i was grateful to get the bulk of it done. we listen to christmas music, chat, have moments of silence while we are trying to invision our precious homes, and then share our homes with great pride to our children who are in awe. thanks so much traci...i loved it!

yo dawg!

you are a w e s o m e cole!

Friday, December 12, 2008

a christmas story

friday, december 5th, cade and rhett didn't have school. i thought i would take advantage of everyone else being in school, by taking my kids to see santa and the movie 'bolt'. we arrived all groomed to the mall at 10:20 am. santa doesn't come until 11. our movie started at 11:15. so we walked around a minute, then left to the movies. i was going to take my chances of my kids not ending up with slimy skittles all over their faces, and buttery oil drips all over thier clothes. so, after the movie, we go back to the mall at 1. the sign says santa is gone to lunch and will be back at 2. meanwhile, i am trying very hard to stay happy, holiday mom, although it's becoming a struggle. so once again, we browse the mall, which anyone with small kids and one in a stroller who has learned to get out of the stroller knows, it ain't to fun - and thats when its 'not' crowded. anyhoo, we finally go back, 15 minutes early, and a MASSIVE family is in line. we are talking grandparents, grandkids, siblings, inlaws, outlaws, who knows- but its big. they take full advantage of the moment, and break all the pics off into 5 different family settings, then individual pics-both professionally and personally, and then individual kids sitting on santas lap. i totally get it. i'm not a scrooge. i do have the christmas spirit, however, 35 minutes later (i timed it), my kids were at the point of almost crying, and people behind me are becoming a little disgruntled and grumpy. finally, it's our turn. we go up, are courteous and take just a moment with each kid, and then a couple of shots are taken. this is the 'good' picture, with not one kid looking at the camara. i have to say however, that i love it. it's such a classic santa pic. i was just grateful that there were no arching backs and sweat pouring down my forehead. (well there was a little, because of the line and luke freaking out) i guess as parents we all just want one thing, for our kids and ourselves to just believe....

Thursday, December 11, 2008

2nd annual run of the tutus....

karen's 2 friends, karen wynn, me, kathy johnson, traci magleby, lori mcbride, gretchen knell and miss jen legas

i'm obviously the principal dancer in our little academy,

but jen gets points for style :)

julie lewis, amy knight, jen, leanne lovell, kathy, me, gretch, and traci

this year we added some friends to the group of last years debuting ballerina's; me, jen and traci. we missed the silliness of all the snow we had last year, but seeing young and old, male and female all trotting around in tutu's, tiaras, and in my case legwarmers (thanks fashionista jen) is quite a smiley sight. here's to hoping every year it gets bigger and better! had a great time gals!

Cade's pinewood redemption

after last years disastrous pinewood derby, where cade's car came in dead last I believe every single heat, cade redeemed himself this year with a 1st place trophy! woo hoo! congrats cade! this is his first ever trophy, which was so fun to witness. and much like last years sad drive to artic circle for pick-me-up shakes, this year we happily drove to artic circle for celebration shakes (and fries, and hamburgers, and $38 later.....)

way to go cade!