Gingerbread House

Tonight Caleb, Lorelei and I made our very first gingerbread house together. Lorelei decorated one half of the rooftop while Caleb took the other. She put the wreath on the front door and he decorated the little tree out front I got the task of putting this baby together and putting down the path and snow. It was a MESSY little project, but the kids had a lot of fun with it, so we'll do it again next year.

We Saw Santa Claus!!

Caleb and Lorelei on Santa's lap! This is the first time the kids have ever been to the mall Santa and if you can believe it...Caleb was a bit apprehensive about it! After he saw that it wasn't scary he was perfectly happy to sit on Santa's lap and give him a gift suggestion or two.
Once we were done with Santa we strolled over towards Lorelei's favorite Christmas tree and once again, pictures in the little face cut-outs. Better ones because I specificially brought my camera along for these very pictures. The one above is Dad with the kids and the one below is me with the kids.

This is the coveted mall Christmas tree. As you can see I didn't even really get the whole thing in the picture. It's MASSIVE! Lorelei wants one at her house when she grows up.
Of course, the kids always need to throw a little pocket change into the wishing well...
And Lorelei had to show me which sized ornaments she likes best.
Dad got creative and tried to get her smiling face in the ornament. It kind of worked out alright!
After we were done with our Santa visiting and picture taking at the mall we went over to Old Country Buffet for dinner. It's a win-win because the kids can pick what they want and so can the adults. No one goes home hungry! After dinner the kids made up some ice cream treats. Don't they look scrumptious?
Caleb (above) and Lorelei (below) enjoying their ice cream creations.
The End. Hope you enjoyed the pictures!


Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

We're going to try something new this week and particpate in Photostory Friday.

The Eyes of a Six Year Old

Tonight I took Lorelei with me to the mall because I needed to visit Hallmark and pick up an exchange ornament. Going to the mall during the holidays has become a torture session as an adult. It's always busy. People are rude and pushy -- and the clerks are overworked and crabby. But, we had to go and I figured it would be good mom-daughter time for Lorelei and I and so I invited her along.

Well, it's been a long time since I was six and believe me when I say that tonight was an awesome trip to the mall. From the moment we walked in Lorelei couldn't believe the decorations. And SANTA!!!! {Taking both kids back tomorrow to see Santa!} And the HUGE tree with all the HUGE ornaments. And the wreaths! And just in general everything she saw was AMAZING and WONDERFUL and AWESOME.

We even took pictures {crappy ones with my phone} at the little snowman and reindeer thing they had set up precisely for that. Now is that a happy little reindeer or what?

Christmas Movie Surprise

Last night while I was working on my computer in my room I heard Caleb start singing. Now initially, I thought that perhaps he was still awake and was just singing to himself, which is nothing new. The boy loves to sing. But then, I stopped to listen and I could definitely tell that he was singing in his sleep...and he was singing the song from the Meiser Brothers' Christmas special that we'd watched on television earlier in the evening. It was ADORABLE!

He's really into Christmas specials this year and I've been recording as many of them as possible so the kids can watch them anytime they want. We've even figured out a way to get them on DVD discs to keep. And he still believes in Santa this year; which I'm sure is a fading thing. So I'm enjoying it all the more.

Cookie Decorating with Friends

Friends joined us for what would have been our Friday night family night this week. We decorated some gingerbread cookies, had pizza for dinner and then the kids played for a good two hours while the mom's had adult, uninterrupted conversation.

Christmas FART

A new Christmas song? Certainly not one that would be popular with most grown ups, but the kids think it's a hoot! They sang just one little part for me so that I could get it on video.

The lyrics:

"On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me... A penquin that made a loud squeak. FART!"

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Many, many moons ago when I too was a 3rd grader, my teacher, Mrs. B. read this book to us. The Best {Worst} Christmas Pageant Ever. I can still hear her voice in my head as I reread it now to my two. It's a little bit too Christian I guess at this point {for me anyway} and I'm surprised now that it was even allowed in school, but it is an entertaining story and the kids are enjoying listening about all the naughty things the Herdman children are doing.

The Day After Turkey

I put up the tree today. I know, I know, I should probably let the kids help, but I'm a bit obsessive about where the ornaments go. They are used to this and honestly, after an ornament or two are sick of helping with it anyway, so they let me be. The tree is 7.5 feet tall and prelit (same tree we had last year) and that's every ornament minus about 5 that we lost due to poor repackaging on my part and the two that fell off the tree today. Of those two at least one was salvageable. Thank goodness because it was one of Lorelei's ornaments that she's very fond of. Oh, the wonders of super glue! I also put up the stockings and we found that Caleb's stocking has been lost somewhere in the shuffle. Thankfully he was okay with using one of the other stockings we had (there were a few extras) and so it all worked out quite well.

Christmas Cards for Wounded and Recovering Soldiers

It’s early. Not even Thanksgiving and possibly you are one of those people who doesn’t “do” Christmas until at least Black Friday. Regardless, I wanted to pass this information on to make sure there was ample time for people to pass it on as well.

If you’d like to send a Christmas card, or even just a cheerful winter/holiday greeting, to an American soldier currently receiving medical treatment you can send one to the following address:

Holiday Mail for Heroes

P.O. Box 5456

Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

This is a verified address through Snopes.com and is sponsored by the American Red Cross. ALL CARDS MUST BE POSTMARKED BY DECEMBER 7TH, 2009 OR THEY WILL BE RETURNED.

If everyone sent just one card to show their appreciation think how many wonderful and cheerful greetings these brave men and women would receive.

Christmas Shopping Begins!

I went and did the "expensive" portion of my shopping for the kids Christmas gifts this year. Expensive being a relative term compared to say...last year?

I decided that this year, gifts would be limited and that I would try to keep from spending more than $100 per kid. I'm going to end up a bit over for each, but I did very well limiting what I would get them to a select number of gifts.

Each one of them gets one "toy" type gift, one Wii game, one/two pairs of jeans, a package of socks, a package of underwear and then a stocking and two Christmas firecrackers (I'll have to post pictures when I get them made!). I figure since they'll also get gifts from other people, there is no need to go overboard with a lot of toys they won't wind up playing with very often.

I had a very hard time with Caleb's "toy" gift this year. He doesn't play a lot with toys. He likes to play pretend here and there with a select few, or he plays video games or he likes cartoons and that's just him. I'm hoping that what I did find for him will not disappoint and will instead provide some more imaginative play and at the same time teach him some responsibility for when he finally is old enough to have his own cell phone. I guess we'll see!

Lorelei, on the other hand, was very easy to shop for! I already know she'll be excited by her gifts and I can't wait to watch her open them on Christmas morning.

I Already Said Happy Valentine's Day...

This is the card that Lorelei made for mommy and daddy for Valentine's Day at school. Isn't it sweet?

And this is a picture of what should not still be in our dining room on Valentine's Day!

I can't even believe it myself that our Christmas tree is still up! Am I slacking off in the holiday department or what? I mean I adore Christmas and all, but I think I've pushed it this year. Maybe I should just leave it up all year so I don't have to do it all again next year? No. I shouldn't. You're absolutely right. Hopefully, it will come down tomorrow, but no guarantees. Our neighbors must literally think we are insane. And in fact, we only just recently turned off the Christmas lights.

Lorelei's performance is tonight and I am very excited. Hopefully I'll have some super cute video to share tomorrow. She's very excited as well! Heck, if I was in Kindergarten and I got to dance with the high school pom/dance team -- I'd probably be pretty excited too!

Our Christmas in Pictures

Just Two More Sleeps

Just two more sleeps til Santa comes.
Just two more sleeps.

I'm so glad that both Caleb and Lorelei still believe in the magic of Santa. It gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside to see that magic in their eyes. It just makes me feel good and it keeps the magic of Christmas in my heart too.

Tomorrow we go to Grampy & Grammy's house to spend Christmas Eve with Daddy's family. And then, at some undetermined (as of yet) point we'll trek north to spend a few days with Mommy's family.

Just two more sleeps.

Snow Day!

We got our wish and school was closed today. We actually got more ice than snow, so I'm sure the roads just weren't good enough to haul all the kids in. We had another warning out too apparently, but it's been canceled now.

The kids are enjoying the fact that they get an extra day off, but I'm wondering now what we'll do for the next two weeks? I've got to come up with something to keep them from driving each other, and me, absolutely crazy.
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So, it's time for a puppy update.

Max is assimilating well. He and Duke are still working things out which can be funny and annoying all at the same time. I believe for the most part Max is willing to give Duke all leadership roles, but he still occasionally gets feisty and fired up.

We've had some accidents in the house. The only plausible explanation we can come up with is that Max finally started eating regularly (as he adjusted to his new environment he didn't eat much) and so his former ability to go 4 or 5 hours inbetween potty breaks just isn't cutting it now. He does tend to go and sit by the door if he has to go, so we just have to make sure we are diligent in watching for his signs.

He's figured out how to jump on and off the couch now. He's also figured out the evil stairs. He has not figured out, or gotten brave enough, to jump off our bed yet. It's pretty high and intimidating for a puppy. He's not having accidents overnight while sleeping with us, so that's also very good cause I don't think anyone wants to wake up to puppy poo or pee in the middle of the night.

Making Cookies

Right, so the pictures are backwards. Because for whatever reason, that's what blogger does. Oh well.

Anyway...

Lorelei asked me after school if we could bake some cookies for her holiday party at school tomorrow. I don't have the cooking gene that my brothers got and I'm not feeling the greatest today, but I relented to her sweet little face -- and we baked about two dozen cookies.

They are currently cooling, but look totally edible, are nicely browned and I think she'll be a happy little Bee when she brings them in to school tomorrow. Hopefully real baked goods are allowed. Schools are so picky about that now.

A Christmas Card Request

This afternoon after picking up Caleb from school I decided to do a little scrapbooking. Lorelei was overly interested in what I was doing. She kept picking through all my papers and bits. Her creative side intrigued with all the wonderful colors and patterns and shapes.

So, I let her have a few pieces and she stole a few more pieces, to glue them together and make, well...something. After I had finished the card I was working on which was part of a theme challenge, she was in awe over it. She kept asking to look at it, which in Lorelei speak means touch it. Which can lead to trouble, but she was very gentle with it.

As I cleaned up my stuff of the table so that it would be ready for us to sit down and eat she asked me in her sweetest little Luli voice:

"Mommy, will you make me a card?"

So I asked her what kind of card she wanted and she said she wanted a Christmas card.

I just finished up making it for her about 30 minutes ago. Wrote her a little Christmas note and plan to put it in her stocking for Christmas morning.

Of course, this means I have to make Caleb one. Due to a shortness of Christmas-type papers I'm going to have to go to Hobby Lobby tomorrow and get some additional supplies. But that's okay. I can't leave out my Bug.

Puppy: Day Two

Max is still sweet and scrumptious and all that you could want in a lap dog. He'll cuddle up next to anyone sitting. He and Caleb had some major cuddle time after school.

Last night, I let him sleep in bed with me. Not a single accident. Much like having a newborn though, he was up a couple of times licking my face or nibbling at my ear to get attention. I'm almost certain I mumbled incoherently, "Lay down Max.", about a hundred times. As soon as my alarm went off this morning he was at it again.

Duke has decided to get a bit feisty. He's been attempting to hide "his" bones in the tree skirt and in the crevices of the couch. Neither are excellent hiding spaces, but of course, Duke is new at hiding his possessions. Before we brought this new thing into our house he could leave his toys where he wanted. Darn rents!

We still haven't had a single potty accident. Leash walking is getting better. And he's starting to recognize a bit that he, is in fact, Max.
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The kids are getting very excited about having a nice long Christmas break. Friday is their last day at school until about January 5th! Hard to believe. It always seemed Christmas break was so much shorter when I was a kid.

We bought them each a small desk today at Ikea. The price was right! We chose not to install the keyboard tray simply because they don't have keyboards and we wanted the design to be as simple as possible. Caleb tried his out tonight while doing homework. After George put Lorelei's together (not inside-out as I did to Caleb's) she sat down and did some coloring while Caleb finished up his shower. Oh, and we got chairs that are either very similar, or the same, as this one here. Thankfully -- those were already together when we bought them.
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That's it for tonight. I'm either off to wrap some more Christmas presents, clean the kitchen, or sit on my butt and watch George play Call of Duty. If he was feeling better I'd challenge him a round or two of bowling. But, headache, so no go.

Another Lazy Saturday

This has been a pretty lazy Saturday.

The kids let mom and dad sleep in this morning, so by the time they had breakfast it was already after 10AM. I got the kitchen cleaned up a bit and started some dishes while they ate.

I finally decided that I needed to cut all the tags off the clothes we bought the kids a couple of weeks ago. When I got that done I decided to see if the kids would be up for an impromptu Christmas photo session. They were!

Got them dressed in clothes that at least at the same color and said screw brushing the hair or trying to get Caleb's from standing up in the back. Put them in front of the tree and turned on the camera. Two pictures in and the batteries died.

We didn't have any more batteries and the kids wanted to take the clothes back off. So, that was the end of that. But, as you'll notice in the header, the two pictures I did get were worth it.

I went on Scrapblog.com and whipped up that header image to email out to our friends and family for Christmas. Decided I liked it so much I'd also feature it here on our blog. And uploaded it to our Flickr account.

The rest of today the kids have just been playing like they usually do on weekends. About an hour ago I turned on ABC Family and called them down to watch some Christmas movies with me. They're having popsicles as a snack and we're having chili mac for dinner before they get showers.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Playland 2 Kids 0

This evening the school put on a Secret Santa Shop. They've actually had it two other school days this week, but this one was in the evening so that parents could bring their kids in instead of sending money to school. So, we took Caleb and Lorelei so they could each pick out presents for mom and dad. Which was a tad difficult since we were all in the same room and neither of the kids is good at keeping a secret.

After we were done, the car sort of had a mind of it's own and we ended up taking a sort of aimless drive even though we hadn't had dinner yet. As we were meandering to nowhere I spotted a burger king with a playland. BINGO!

Took the kids in and let them play for a good 45 minutes while we ate. Caleb, for whatever reason, was NOT hungry tonight. Lorelei on the other hand ate really good. Perhaps it's her turn for a growth spurt? While the kids played George and I decided we'd take a drive around afterwards in some of the fancy neighborhoods and look at Christmas lights.

After a bit of a detour down the wrong set of streets to get somewhere residential we found a nice big subdivision with lots of houses in the holiday spirit. The kids enjoyed it for about 15 minutes and then it was pretty much, "can we go home now?".

On our way home -- they both fell asleep.

Playland 2 Kids 0

O' Christmas Tree

Don't you just love our topsy-turvy star? It just won't stay standing up straight.

Mommy did all the decorating because, well, it's just easier that way. I get a little OCD about the way the tree looks. But the kids put up their new ornaments that we bought for them this year. They enjoyed that enough not to care that they didn't get to do anything else.

And I'm totally late getting these pictures taken and up here on the blog because the tree has been up since the weekend before Thanksgiving. Thanks to George running out at night to get a pre-lit that would satisfy my picky tree taste and our need for a slimmer than average version to fit in the space we had available.

The next house I live in will be specifically chosen based on it's ability to properly showcase a larger than average, fresh cut tree.