Dinosaur Themed Birthday Party

Again, this was over a month ago......but let's just ignore that teensy fact, mkay?

Just wanted to make sure that it was recorded for all to see that our little brother (soon to be older brother!) DID in fact, turn three.

Easter 2015 in Pictures

Life Does Go On After Christmas

I set a goal for myself that I wanted to get another post up on this here blog by the end of January.  And here we are with just three hours to go and I am achieving said goal.

Clearly, I strive for greatness.

Most who know me in real life know that I call January "let down month."  It truly does stink.  If I had to rank the months from favorite to least favorite, January wouldn't even make the cut.  All the festivities are over, school is back in session, and while I once claimed I like love winter, I've come to realize I simply don't.  What I do love is the fall/winter season right up until real life resumes the day after Christmas break. And then?  Well, winter might as well be done.  Which is truly discouraging, since according to that thing we call an almanac, says that we have about another 10-11 weeks of winter left.

Hmph.  

Now, if we actually got a little snow, that could certainly change my perspective, but the weather here has been very, very mild and I don't see any snow in our near future.  Not that I am a meteorologist or anything.

So, here are just a few highlights from the last time I posted.....

As I mentioned awhile back, my awesome dad has been working on the top part of our "built-in" desk.  I'm getting SO excited.....it's getting so much closer to being done!

♥

At Peanut's school, we have to put in volunteer hours for each student enrolled.  Because I have a two year old and a hard working husband that works crazy hours, I didn't feel comfortable committing to things/activities at school with never knowing what the Hub's schedule would be and not knowing if I would have someone to watch the boy.  So.  I signed up to help with a fruit platter once a month for the weekly staff meetings.  It was something I could do completely from home and I could just drop off in the office.  (Side note:  I was totally hoping for the muffins portion {so much cheaper!}, but they only had need for the fruit platter, which I guess is how God wanted me to bless them, so there you have it!)

Well, despite all my ranting and raving about the month of January, ironically, out of the three fruit platters I did (September, October, and January--November and December aren't done because of the holidays), January ended up being both the prettiest and best tasting month!

♥

On New Year's Eve, I was reading the little brother's devotion to him before bed and it talked about being thankful for all the blessings from the past year.  I asked him what he was thankful for this year. I kid you not, he looked at me and whispered, "Money in my piggy bank."

ALEX P. KEATON.

I couldn't make this stuff up even if I tried.

 ♥

We've had quite a few nice days in these last few weeks and so the kids were actually able to play outside.  The Peanut was all into her chalk drawings and the little brother was semi-interested in the chalk.  What he really liked was the small piece of bubble wrap I gave him to play with that was from a package I received that afternoon.  Yes, I know you aren't supposed to give small children pieces of plastic to play with.  #momfail


Peanut also got to have fun at her school's Family Fun Night this past Friday night.  She got to eat pizza, an ice cream sandwich, popcorn, and I even threw caution to the wind and let her get an orange soda instead of water.  Plus, she got to play in three bounce houses, get a balloon flower from the balloon animal artist, play the Plinko booth, shoot in a basketball shot competition, and walk in a cupcake walk.


Obviously, she was miserable the whole time.

♥

Daddy converted the little brother's crib and now he has a "big boy" bed.  He was just a little bit excited. He shows everyone who will watch how he can climb in and out "all by my-sef."  It's pretty cute.

Except when the 6 am wake up call comes running into our room.  #thatsnotcute

♥

My aunt and uncle got the Peanut a Lego set for Christmas.  WOW.  Had I known how enthralled she would be by them, I would have got her the set myself.  We did get her a very small set as soon as she was old enough (2.5-3 years ago?) and all she did with it was use the many pieces to "cook" with in her kitchen.  You know, sauteed Lego with a wine reduction?  I was less than impressed, because I knew the pieces were all going to wind up missing.  Anyhow, fast forward several years later and she hasn't stopped playing with it since Christmas.  Plus, she had some leftover birthday money and we let her buy another set off of Amazon.  Hours upon hours of entertainment, people!

And last but not least, I was getting all stressed about getting her Valentines done.  I was thinking they had to be done this week, but I guess I could use a calendar, because I actually had about two weeks to get them done.  Peanut filled out all the Valentines and I made the little pencil arrows to go with.  Thank you, Pinterest.  Once again.  Because we all know a Valentine is just a Valentine....unless we Pinterest it, right?  Yes, I realize I am part of the problem.

Happenings Around Here

Thanksgiving has come and gone {explain to me exactly how that happened?} and we are already full swing into many Christmas festivities.  But before I forget, I wanted to share these little tidbits.

♥  

My dad's employer is one of the very few left that still gifts a turkey to their employees for Thanksgiving.  My dad also likes to bless us, so he gave it to us.  We all went to my aunt's home and had a lovely Thanksgiving Day at her house, but I am in the camp that Thanksgiving just isn't the same if you don't have leftovers.  I cooked up the gifted turkey the Saturday after Thanksgiving (along with {from scratch} green bean casserole {FYI: once you go scratch, you never go back.  For reals.}, horseradish carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy and of course, fresh cranberry sauce) so we too, could have a weeks worth of meals.

Once all the trimmings leftovers were gone, of course we had lots of turkey still to be eaten.  So the family favorite White Enchiladas was on the menu. Can you say yum? 

And then. 

Ladies (and gentlemen as it may be), these are the new family fave for leftover turkey. 

Turkey Taquitos with a Spicy Cranberry Dipping Sauce

I was reading my favorite Food Network Magazine and Guy said these were his favorite to make with leftover turkey.  And funny enough, it isn't his recipe, but they are still oh so delicious!  I'll be honest, they are a pain to make if you don't have a deep fryer (we don't) but well worth it!!!  While casseroles that use up all the trimmings are great, they still taste like Thanksgiving dinner, and if you are like me, four or five days in you want. some. variety. of flavors!!!  Any Mexican inspired dishes are always a hit at our house, and these are a great option.

I also made these pretzel rolls and these schnitzle sandwiches recently.  Actually, it was about six weeks ago, but whatever.  The rolls tasted great (which I thought turned out looking pretty good too!) and the schnitzel sandwiches were divine. 

♥ 

We've all been passing around the sickies.  So that's fun.  But what's really the greatest is that I currently sound like (and have for about a week now) a fifty year old two-pack-a-day-smoker named Roxie.  I'm telling you, it's every bit as charming as it sounds. 

 ♥ 

About a month ago, our sweet boy was at the counter eating his lunch and he looked a little sad.  He was propping up his head on the counter with his crooked arm {I hope that word picture makes sense}.  I asked what was wrong and he said to me, "Me wish me had a truck like Daddy's" and sighed a sigh so big, you would have thought he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

 ♥

A few weeks ago, I overheard the Peanut telling her Daddy about her day at school.  They have chapel on Fridays and she was telling him all about it:

"Sometimes when we are singing, people hold up their hands and close their eyes......I don't know why they close their eyes. But they hold up their hands 'cause it's like they are giving a high five to God."

Oh my gosh, I just about died laughing.  This girl is something else.  I feel like I fail her on so many different levels each and every day and she is just still as sweet and innocent as can be. 

I can't believe God chose me (!!!) to be her and my son's mama. 

To say I am humbled would be an understatement. 

The Perfectly Imperfect Gingerbread House

I am learning and really, have been learning since the Peanut was about two, that these traditions I am trying to create with them don't have to be perfect. 

Why yes, I am a very slow work-in-progress.

Anyhow, our little Christmas schedule is quickly filling and between all my DIY projects, Peanut being in school, and just living life {otherwise known as cleaning, laundry, ironing, bath time, the revolving door of sickness, etc}, there were very few days where Operation: Decorate Gingerbread House could commence. So this weekend it was.

And thank you, Grandma, for picking this up for the kids and thank you, Wilton, for placing such high expectations (for myself) of how these should turnout. (Really, their little kit is great and such a time saver, but holy smokes, do these people have children?  I think not.)

By about the third candy placed on the house and in between the little brother placing the gumdrops IN his mouth before placing them ON the house {"Me didn't eat, me just tasted" was his explanation}, I realized the picture perfect gingerbread house would not happen. Why yes, I believe I've had the conversation in my head before.  The same happened this year as well. 

But once again, just like all the other times, in the end the kids had such fun, and could. not. wait. for Daddy to get home so they could show him their artistic prowess. 

It was a great day.


 

Tinkerbell and Her Duck

For this Halloween, I had planned on using the Peanut's duck costume from several years back for the little brother this year.  And I had high hopes of creating a swan costume for the Peanut.  So you know, they could have went as a swan and her duckling. 

(You know I am all about the theme costumes.  See 2013 here and see 2012 here.)

(In my defense though, my mom started the theme theme by suggesting Dorothy and the scarecrow for Halloween 2012.)

(That said though, I didn't object one single bit.) 

However Halloween was getting closer and closer and I was running out of time, and I kid myself into thinking I could sew something really cool (I can't) and plus we don't have a lot of extra money lying around these days.  Plus that Peanut of ours has a dress up trunk full of some pretty cool costumes--this Tinkerbell dress came from my cousin's little girl.  About a week ago, I suggested to the Peanut that she go as Tinkerbell and we could do glitter and she could wear her hair up in a bun like Tinkerbell.  "What do you think about that?" I asked her.

"Oh yeah!  I can go as Tinkerbell and he {the little brother} can be my duck!"

This girl.  She cracks. me. up!



 

Just Like Daddy

The Hubs was getting ready the other day on his day off and the little boy was making all sorts of commotion.  I had a know idea WHAT for.  Turns out the Hubs had promised him to put hair stuff (I think it's a pomade?) in the boy's hair just like he does.  So of course I ran and got the good camera.

It's sort of a mutual admiration society between these two.  

 

Dress Up for the Little Brother

When the Peanut turned two, my mom made a very impressive dress up box for the Peanut's birthday present. So this past June (ahem), when the little brother turned two, my mom required herself to follow suit in making him his very own dress box. Never mind the fact that the Peanut didn't really start using her dress up box (aside from the gaudy jewelry!) until about 18 months later--when she was about 3 1/2.

I told my mom as much when she was frantically trying to get his dress up box done just before his birthday, "Mom, Peanut didn't use the dress up stuff until she was nearly 4.  You've got some time...."  Her response should have been expected.  "Peanut got hers when she turned two.  He will get his when he turns two."

Well, okay then.  

Just as Peanut's dress up box was fit for a girl, his is just as masculine as her's is girly.  My mom stained his in a nice dark finish, very much like the finish on his furniture she refinished for him when I was pregnant with him.  She was going for a treasure chest look--which worked out well for this mama.  We ended up using the chest for the treasure hunt at the Peanut's pirate party in September!

And in the end, I guess the surprise is on me. I didn't account for the older sibling factor.  Peanut is there to show him the ropes in the art of all things dress up and make-believe.  She takes her role as teacher very seriously.  And he takes his role as apprentice even more seriously.  He can "fight a fire" like nobody's business.  He hammers away on things with the force of a grown man and he can give a patient "a shot" without a thought to their pain.

Yes, he definitely needs to work on his bedside manner, but he is all boy.  Indeed.


 

Jog-A-Thon

The Peanut had a Jog-A-Thon at her school a few weeks back to help raise money for her school. I was so proud of her, as she called several of her relatives (with Mommy's help) and asked them (all by herself!) to sponsor her.  If that wasn't enough, she also made a goal to run 10 laps (she ran 8 last year) and she ended up running eleven!!!

For the record, the little brother had a personal best as well.  He did three laps.  In rubber boots.

Guess these kiddos take after their daddy in being actual athletes and not just athletic supporters like their mama!!!


 
 

Caught This on Camera

And he was giggling.....and he didn't want to stop.  "Do 'gin" {do it again} he would request demand. 

Made this mama smile. 

A New Chapter

Her lunch is all packed, and her uniform is laid out for tomorrow and she is FINALLY asleep.  She usually doesn't go down at night without a fight and tonight was no exception.



The first day of school butterflies, to be sure.  But whether or not they are jitters or if it's just all around excitement, I don't quite know.  When I was her age, it was jitters all the way (even through my first days of new classes in college!), but thankfully not much seems to make this girl scared.  I certainly don't want to plant those ideas of nervousness in her head, so I don't ask if she's nervous.  I ask if she's excited, and I get all sorts of yeses combined with jumping up and down.

She starts school Friday and yesterday, we fit in a last minute trip to the coast.  We've been talking about it for awhile and the days and weeks just seemed to be getting away from us, so it hadn't happened yet.   My mom encouraged us to make it happen, so we did.  And I am so glad we did.

Because they had SO much fun.  My one regret is not packing their swimsuits.  I am sure you are thinking you went to the beach and you didn't pack swimsuits?  But hear me out.  This is the Pacific NW.  The high for the day was supposed to be 65*.  And our ocean water?  NOT warm. At all. (It hovers around the high 50's this time of year, which to me sounds absolutely miserable!)

But I forget my kids are not my kids when it comes to water activities.  They are their father's children through and through, loving any and all water related recreational activities.  Like I said, that is so not me.  My idea of good recreation is a Netflix marathon.

You think I'm kidding. 

It ended up being such a nice day and the kids were taking off their overprotective mom gear (rubber boots, socks, sweatshirts....) and rolling up their pants within minutes of getting out on the sand.

To put it simply, they played for hours.  And thankfully they have a daddy who loves it just as much as they do.

This mama was content to take pictures and try and record as many memories as possible.  In other related news, I was also the pack mule, carrying my purse (never leave it in the car anymore, not after having my car broken into and my purse stolen from said car) and their shoes and sweatshirts and camera bag.

Thankfully I had a decent excuse for not taking off my boots while on the beach.  Not really--I tripped the other day and ripped off half my big toenail.  Ouch!!! It's still very much in the early healing stages, so I was not about to get all kinds of sand in it.  So for me, the boots stayed on.

I wanted to get a fun jumping up and down picture of all of them.  They gave it their best effort to be sure, but the timing was never quite right.  However, lots of laughs were gained in the process--and that was priceless!!

It was a great bookend to our summer.

As for tomorrow, it's a new beginning......