its beginning to look...

The manger is up and ready for this year's Christmas production (she has been planning since last year's performance).  There are more kids this year, so that helps, but she is worried we are one wise man short.
Over the Thanksgiving holiday, all of the grandkids kicked in and helped PawPaw put up the manger.  The play is written, now just need Christmas to hurry up and get here.
On a side note, I apparently enjoy taking and posting pictures (as if you did not know that).  I have reached my maximum storage space in picasa and on my blog.  I now have to pay a monthly fee to use blogspot.  I think it is worth it, but was a little stressed trying to figure out how to clean up the thousands of unneeded photos (mostly old photo sessions, all family pics were saved.)  All is good now.  More storage is good.

handmade ornaments '12

This year the plan is to go as homemade for Christmas presents as possible.  I found a fun ornament on pinterest and we were able to adapt it to make it our own.  We discovered the girls each had their own special talent to add to the project.  Boo is an expert crayon unwrapper and crayon smasher; LE is an exceptional bow-tier.  I am pretty good at getting my fingers burned by a hair dryer.  

We started by peeling off the wrappers from Crayola crayons, then Bella had fun breaking the crayons into fourths and then both girls enjoyed smashing them into tiny pieces with my meat cleaver.  I think this was key for the look of the ornament. Next choose 3-4 colors to put inside your clear glass ornament.  Remove the metal hangar from the ornament and drop several pieces of crayon bits into your glass ornament.  Turn your hair dryer onto high and begin melting your crayon pieces, another important key to the look of your ornament.  Get the crayons nice and melty and THEN begin swirling the pieces around as you slowly work the crayon pieces to the open hole.  Some of the pieces will eventually work their way out of the opening, but if your crayon pieces are small, they can remain in the ornament without being visible.  

Red, white and blue: the snacks

I had so much fun looking for patriotic snacks for Boo's red, white and blue party theme.  I wish I had searched earlier and experimented with flavors b/c there were tons of ideas to choose from.  The kids decorated their own red, white and blue marshmallows as part of a creative activity.  I made these cheesecake parfaits for the grown ups and these fun jello cups for the kids.  This patriotic punch looked really fun, but was not sure how it would serve up.  We opted for good ole fashioned Country Time lemonade and sweet tea for our drinks.

Wordless Wednesday: not a Cowboys Fan

American Girl Party

Boo planned the majority of her party this year.  I found an American Girl Party book at HPB, which is where we came up with the idea.  She found a chocolate cake decorated with flags and fireworks, so from there she decided she wanted everything red, white and blue.  Boo and I made a special Mommy/Daughter date to the party store for supplies.  She wanted pompom-tissue flowers and that was pretty much the extent for her requests.  Two days before the party she informed the girls were supposed to bring their dolls for the tea party; OK, but what tea party?  I finally brought her back to reality and we were able to keep things simple.  We planned to play croquet and a couple of games from the post WWII era (Molly, her doll is from that time period), but the girls were having fun just playing and Moms socializing I didn't bring them out.

Kid's Business Fair

I love our hometown, I mean really love living in this city.  There are so many opportunities for kids and I am still amazed at the things we can find to do if we just do a little investigating.  The girls and I recently had a Mommy/Daughter Date to a local mansion for the Austin Kid's Business Fair.  It is hosted by college students and completely free for the kids to participate.  The students provide tents and the kids bring their wares.  There was so many great ideas.  We saw purses made from duct tape, food, lemonade stands, lego creations, scarves, sewn projects to a tic-tac-toe board and you had to pick which square a chicken would poop in.  My favorite idea was by a sister and brother who sewed chickens out of scrap materials.  For $10, you could purchase a  stuffed chicken lovie and they would donate money to a third world country to purchase chickens for a family in need.  Boo purchased a new cuddle bunny and LE purchased Boo's birthday present.

Meet Molly

Meet Molly, Bella's newest addition to her bed time cuddle buddies.  Mimi scored a beautiful American Girl doll and books via Craigslist.  It was supposed to be a C-mas present, but when Bella decided she wanted a AG doll birthday, Mimi decided to give it to her early.
I am not sure, but I think she likes her.  Thank you, Mimi.

pancakes, nachos, and pizza

Boo's birth day plans...
I want pancakes for breakfast.
No school work.
Nachos for lunch.
Gattiland for dinner.
Chuck E. Cheese for family time.
Mommy to not work (she requested Daddy too, but could not swing it this time).

Done.

spider-girl

Carl Fredericksen

Wanna know how to get a 22-month old to smile and cooperate for Halloween pictures?  Smarties, but nothing could persuade him to put the glasses back on.

the girl who invented Halloween

Custom-made costume by Bella Boo Bunny, look for her new label on a local catwalk soon.

Boo Bunny

Happy Birthday to my beautiful, Bella Boo Bunny.  You are such a blessing to our family and I thank God for you daily.
This year, you have grown so much.  You learned to read, you lost your first tooth, you started taking dance and piano lessons.  You began first grade.  You are such a great helper with your little brother.  There is no wonder he calls for you so often.  I am so proud of you, but would you stop getting bigger.  I need you to always stay my Boo.

Halloweenie Night

Halloween did not go off as planned.  Ben's work load has literally doubled over the past week and it has effected the house a little more than I hoped.  Of course on Halloween, when I needed to get to the grocery store during naptime, he had an hour long conference call so I could not sneak out to get supplies.  Smiles didn't want to take a nap and the girls, well they were just normal, i.e giddy, excited, and loud.  Dinner did not get on the table till after 5:30, no one could get dressed till they finished eating.  I was still in sweats when everyone was finally ready; and we had a party to attend at 6:00.  We did make it to the party, fashionably late, but only after stopping at Smiles' babysitters for some showing off.  Every year we go to our friends, Bizzaro Ben Richards' birthday. His wife is an exceptional host and we trick or treat in their neighborhood where everyone sits in their driveways to pass out candy.  The kids did score a year's worth of candy and one lady said R2 had the best costume she had seen all night.  After the sugar high, everyone was in bed by 9 and I made the mistake of drinking a dr. pepper at the party, so was not ready to sleep till way too late for a Mama who has a 5 am feeding coming up.

"Smiley"

I think I have decided on a nickname for the little man.  My little guy loves to smile and even with my protests he has no qualms about sharing them with others.
This past week, he began to sleep through the night.  I have been waking him up at 11 p.m. to feed him as I am climbing in to bed.  On those nights, he seems to be able to make it through the night, usually waking for a feeding between 5 - 7 a.m.  Then he goes back to sleep until around 8 - 8:30 a.m.   He really is a very happy, content baby.  He does start to get fussy and inconsolable around 8 p.m. but once we make it past that time, he sleeps and wakes refreshed in the morning.