The Aftermath

Need I say more???

Do you see the toddler in this picture?

Christmas Card Attempts

Sarah at Real Life is hosting a Christmas Photo Bloopers Carnival. So I thought I would join in.

We have lots of extended family that we only see once or twice a year. This Thanksgiving and Christmas we decided not to leave town (it's RSV Season and germs are a plenty), so we weren't going to see any of the extended family. So for the first time I decided I was going to send picture cards of the M's for Christmas Cards!!

Why is it so difficult to take a good picture of two little boys? It should not be that difficult right?

M1, leave your brothers head alone.

M1, quit playing with your reindeer and look at Mommy.

M2, don't crawl to Daddy, yes he's funny, he is supposed to be making you smile.

M1, stop playing with the truck ornaments and sit down.

M2, stop crawling away!

Finally, after about 50 (seriously, not kidding, 50!!) takes and 3 evenings, we finally got a usable picture!! 45 mins at Walmart and we had Christmas Cards!!

Why was this so difficult??

Decorating

No, not for Christmas (I'm ready to take that down!) just normal house decorating. We've lived in this house for about 10 months, but we've had a tough year and are doing things a little at a time.

So here is my kitchen table 'nook' before...

And here it is after...

Front Door before...

And after...

And then I really decided to start taking down Christmas decorations and started with the Christmas Wreath.

Here's the 'January' Wreath. I made it, isn't it GREAT!?!?!? I LOVE IT!!

I had to add my Michael's 70% off find.. I love my Blue Bird.

Oh it's just PERFECT, I JUST CAN'T STAND HOW GREAT THIS LOOKS!!


And since it was 55 degrees out Hubby and M1 went ahead and took down the outside Christmas Lights.

Peppermint Bark

Ok, this is the EASIEST thing to make, EVER.

Take these.

Put them in this.

Take this
(I use Meijer brand b/c is comes in it's own tray)

Put it in this
(I turn the stove off after dinner and pop the chocolate in while it is cooling, about 10 mins to melt stir frequently)

Add the chopped candy canes to the chocolate:

And you get this

Then pour and smooth over a wax paper covered cookie sheet, I try to make as thin as possible.

Pop in here for about 10-15 mins.

Then break into chunks.

You can use white chocolate or chocolate.

See told you it was the EASIEST thing to make!!

The Twilight Cake

The Twilight Cake is done, hope the Birthday Girl LOVES IT!! I think it turned out pretty good!



Some of her other birthday cakes can be found here.

Advent Calendar

This is the M's Advent Calendar. Cute right? I made it out of scrap book supplies. The decorations that can be used are endless!! I searched the internet forever trying to find a cute idea. This took sometime to make, but the M's (really just M1, M2 is too little) love it.

It's a muffin tin, there are all kinds of cute things that can be tucked into the little cups. Hersey's Miniatures, York Peppermint Patties, Reindeer Corn, Christmas Peeps- just to name a few. On days when the 'gift' is too big to fit in the cup I just write a little note that says 'See Mommy'. M1 is really into it, every morning when he wakes up he tells me he is 'Ready to open his door now'.

This morning when he got up he asked me if his 'door had something to eat or make'? He is going to be so disappointed on Dec 26 when there are no more doors!

It's Christmas at our House!!

Hi!! Welcome!! Take you coat off and stay awhile. Get comfy, look around. Have some peppermint bark and hot chocolate. (Peppermint Bark Recipe to come- it's SUPER easy!)

Oh, you don't like peppermint, that's fine there are cupcakes right here.

What's that? They are dry and hard?

Well that's b/c they are made from styrofoam, caulking and beads. You silly thing, I didn't say to eat them, I was just showing you where they were!! (My Dad made them!! Aren't they great??)

My Longaberger snowman, my Dad made his face for me. I love him. I meant the snowman but I LOVE MY DAD TOO!

My Boyd's Bear Santa, we got him at Boyds Bear Country in TN. Isn't he cute? I have a lot of Boyds Bears. There are some all over the house. That's the train there in front of Santa.

And here is Tree #1 (of 3.5). This is the 'present' tree. The others are not for presents. Anything and everything goes on this tree. Although she is cut off the tree topper is an Angel Boyds Bear.

Really, is any tree complete without a little leopard print?



Here is our Advent Calendar, (more on this later). Can you tell what it's made from? It's new this year. I didn't have it finished in this picture but you get the idea.

Tree #2 is ONLY Red, Green and White Ornaments. It's a new addition this year. I really LOVE IT!! Our village sits under this tree, but as Hubby put it - Hurricane Emily and Killer (our cats, they were BOGO Free!!) are trashing the Village. This tree is in our dining room.

This is my Jim Shore Snowman, I love him!! My parents bought him for me last year. Oh, and that's M2 in the picture behind the snowman. Nothin' cuter is there?

Tree #3 - This is MY FAVORITE TREE EVER!! It's ONLY SNOWMEN!! Yep, nothing but SNOWMEN!! In fact this whole room is NOTHING BUT SNOWMEN! See everything sitting under the tree? ALL SNOWMEN!!

Tree # .5 is a little tree in M1's room. I don't have a picture of it but he thinks 'It's bootful'!!

There are so many other decorations I would love to show you but this post has taken me FOREVER to do! Is there no easy way to add pictures into a post? Stop back for more on my Peppermint Bark and Advent Calendar.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Kimba is hosting an Open House, if you haven't aleady stop by her blog.... http://asoftplacetoland-kimba.blogspot.com/

First Born

This one is different, kinda fun!!! Here you go Moms - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about you and your first baby.

1. Were you married at the time? Yes

2. What was your reaction when you found out you were pregnant? EXCITED!!!

3. How old were you? 27

4. How did you find out you were pregnant? The little stick had a +

5. Who did you tell first? Hubby

6. Did you want to find out the sex? Yes

7. Due date? 9/7

8. Did you deliver early or late? one week late

9. Did you have morning sickness? Morning sickness? You mean people are only sick in the morning? I puked CONSTANTLY for NINE MONTHS!!

10. What did you crave? Nothing

11. Who irritated you the most? EVERYONE

12. What was your first child's sex? Boy

13. How many pounds did you gain throughout the pregnancy? 14pds

14. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy? I had Hyperemesis Gravidarum, and severe dehydration.

15. Where did you give birth? St Ann's Hospital, OH

16. How many hours were you in labor? 18

17. Who drove you to the hospital? Hubby

18. Did you take medicine to ease the pain? About 16 hours into it, but it was more b/c I was worn out than b/c of the pain.

19. How much did your child weigh? 8lbs 7oz

20. Did your child have any complications? Nope

21. What did you name him/her? M1

22. How old is your first born today? 3 yrs old

23. Who does your child look like? Everyone says he looks like his dad, but I don't think he does.

7 Random Facts

I have been tagged by Melissa @ My little World: Choo-choos, cars, and lip gloss to list 7 random facts about myself. Here goes...

1. I love Diet Coke Fountain Pop. If I could just get an IV of it that would be great! I couldn't tell you the last time I left the house to go somewhere and not stopped to get a LARGE Diet Coke Fountain Pop. My hubby is seriously considering have a Fountain Pop Machine installed into our house. When at home and work I probably drink 3-4 cans of diet coke a day, in addition to the Fountain Pop that I buy when I'm away from the house.

2. I have a Fork Lift Drivers License. I think my Dad was more proud of me the day I got my license than the day I graduated from college.

3. I'm ADDICTED to chapstick, but not any kind of chapstick, Bonnie Bell chapstick. My favorite flavor is Dr. Pepper. At any given moment I am near several tubes of chapstick. I have a tube on my desk at work, my desk and my craft table at home. A tube in my purse (usually 2, just in case), the diaper bag and all of my coat pockets. A tube in the kitchen junk drawer and all of our bathrooms. In the winter I keep a tube in my car, and I never leave home with out slipping a tube in my pants pocket. It's a pretty bad addiction.

4. I love Mexican food, it doesn't matter if it is homemade or eaten out, I could eat it everyday. Chipotle, Don Pablos, On the Border, Baja Fresh, Fiesta Mariachi, Case Fiesta, Las Margaritas it doesn't matter! But I never order fajitas, they look good, but they also look like too much work.


5.I won't eat left overs. The texture gets all weird and gross once something is reheated. I just. can't. eat. leftovers. Yuck!


6. I love snowmen. I have a Christmas tree with nothing but snowman ornaments on it. We have 4 trees in our house, and the Snowman tree is my favorite.


7. I'm an only child, and I vowed I would never only have one child.

I still have to figure out who to tag.....

Snoppy Snow Cone Machine

Whoever designed this should be shot. Seriously.

M1 like ice, A LOT. My company has a crushed ice machine so I bring him home a cup of ice from work a couple nights a week. He sits at the table and eats it, it's actually pretty entertaining.

Dude, it's just ICE.

So I bought the Snoopy Snow Cone Machine for him for his 3rd Bday. He was pretty overwhelmed with the party and all the presents so I put this in the pantry and thought we would pull it out when there was nothing else to do. Well, he went Number 2 in the big potty for the first time the other day so we pulled this out to make snow cones as a reward. (After of course several hugs, kisses, high 5's and happy dances).

The snow cone machine sucks. I didn't make the kool aid/coloring b/c I'm kinda a neat freak, and I don't really like messes and that stuff stains. But my goodness it took FOREVER to grind up ONE ice cube. I mean I don't work out or anything but my arms aren't that weak!! We made the stupid things 3 days ago and my arms still ache. My left hurts from pushing the stupid Snoppy down, and my right hurts from turning the stupid knob. Whoever designed this should be shot. Seriously.

And more importantly, why did my parents not worn me about this stupid thing? I had this exact toy when I was little, surely they remember the pain they felt in their arms from making snow cones..

I have decided that all future snow cones will be made with this:

Yes, it is an ELECTRIC chopper.