Friday, December 28, 2007

His name is Fletcher

Wow. Christmas is over. It comes and goes entirely too fast I think. But we really had a wonderful day and enjoyed ourselves this year - much more so than ever in the past. Perhaps it's because the boys are growing up yet the magic of Santa is still ever present or that we have our own traditions we've established and enjoy. In any case, I think I can safely say this was one of our best Christmases ever. I know Hoyte and I both thought so...and the boys too. They were completely overjoyed with what Santa and family gave them for Christmas, and initially this was Turner's favorite gift. Ya gotta love Batman! I was a bit afraid it might be a little like shades of Christmas past, but we survived getting only ONE costume somehow...perhaps it was because not long after Batman made his appearance, so did this...

Meet Fletcher! He's a chocolate and white lab/pointer mix that Santa rescued from the pound. He's the softest thing I've ever felt and oh-so-sweet (uh, except when he tries to use our arms as a chew toy!) He's the newest addition to our family and so far a very good boy ;) I joked with Hoyte that Santa must have lowered his bar on his BB&G list this year for him to be so generous to our clan! ;)

Hope your holiday was just as merry!

Monday, December 24, 2007

We wish you a Merry Christmas

I don't know about you, but wow have we been crazy with the holiday prep around here. Now that the big day has just about arrived, we've been settling back a bit, baking some treats for Santa and eagerly anticipating Christmas morning. My parents are meeting us a little later this afternoon to take the boys to see "The Chipmunk Movie" and then we'll spend some time opening a few presents and ultimately I imagine doing a little game playing. I'm really looking forward to the relaxed I (am I crazy thinking it'll be relaxed??!) evening and celebrating the true meaning of Christmas.

Here's hoping that Santa brings you all you wish for, that your holiday is spent with those you love and that 2008 is your best year yet.
Much Love,
K.

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

The View

...along the farms as I drove Carson to school yesterday morning. It was his last day before school was out for holiday vacation.



Doesn't it seem that even the Heavens were showing their colors in preparation for Christ's birthday? :)

Sunday, December 16, 2007

The children were nestled..

OK, only one child here, but still, he was nestled! ;) This photo just melts me. I love this sweet boy, my oldest son, my big boy who will be a grown-up eight-year-old in just a few days. Yet this photo reminds me still just how little he is. Ah, this is the magic of Christmas... :)

Friday, December 14, 2007

On the twelfth day of Christmas...and the 13th...

or something like that!

On the *ahem* 14th? day of Christmas, Turner had Polar Express Day at school where they were even allowed to wear their pajamas to get in the spirit. In the first classroom, they had the story "Polar Express" read to them and they pretended to be on the train. Then they went to another classroom where they made several crafts (among which is the cutest beaded candy cane for our tree), then had cocoa and cookies in still another class. In the afternoon, all the kindy classes got together to watch the movie. Talk about magical! I'm so grateful that the school thinks it's just as important as I do to keep the magic alive for these children and will go to such lengths to do special things like this. Turner even came home with a reindeer sleigh bell. (Can you hear it?)

Last night was our time to write our letters to Santa. Being the crafty mama I am, I couldn't just let them write on a plain sheet of paper (oh no!), so I made up special "lists" for their letters and we spent some time under the Christmas tree jotting them down. It was so cool to see Turner join Ethan in actually being able to write a good portion of his list all on his own. They want everything from an XBox 360 to a dog apparently. I hope Santa is listening well! Only 10 more days to go!

Oh, and please let me share these few pictures of our gingerbread house...because, well...that house is no more. Apparently some teeny tiny raiders snagged all the candy off of it once it was built, and sadly, it now looks like more of a shack than a house! So here it is in all it's glory, before it had to be condemned. Now poor Santa can't go down that chimney. sigh. ;)

Have a wonderful weekend and may you get all your preparations done!

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Day 11

And what a day it was.

Ok, so I've even been bad at keeping up with my photo a day for December, but I'm really trying. Darn those holidays for getting in the way of me preparing for the holidays! ;) Today's picture is the boys with Santa. I absolutely ADORE this Santa and we make a point to visit him every year at a local mall. He's very good with kids, the boys never are afraid of him (a big accomplishment for any Santa around my boys) and he looks so darn authentic.

Our visit was a bit of a spur of the moment trip as Turner had had a really rough day visiting the allergist and getting his scratch tests done. Bless him, he was such a trooper but it was so hard....so hard that I was crying too I felt so badly for him. Thankfully I think we've got a good, clear course of action to keep those allergins at bay and keep him healthier year-round. What a blessing! Since we had to make a trip into town anyway, I thought a Santa visit might be just what would cheer him up, and judging by his smile, I think it worked :) I only hope Santa can fit all they want on his sleigh. It might be a tight fit this year!

Hmmm. Only 13 more shopping days til Christmas (we celebrate mostly on Christmas Eve). Are you all ready or scurrying to get it done like me??!

P.S. The adorable vintage frame on the Santa picture is by Rhonna Farrer and is available here. So cute!

Sunday, December 09, 2007

The Magic lives on :)

It's that magical time of year again. I think the boys look forward to the Christmas Squirrel almost as much as a visit TO Santa (note I didn't say FROM Santa!) This is a little tradition started by my husband the year my youngest son was born and it's quickly become a family favorite. My sister-in-laws do this for their kids, my best friend has said she's going to do it for her newborn daughter and the word is spreading! ;) For those of you not familiar with our own little strange tradition, here's a brief re-telling of the Squirrel's story:

"As it goes, this legend tells of a little squirrel that lives in the Christmas trees of all the good little boys and girls. This squirrel is a magical squirrel, of course, and his tail is red and white striped like a candy cane. Every morning from the time the tree is up and decorated in the house until Christmas morning, the Christmas Squirrel will leave a candy cane somewhere in the tree for the children to find."

Have a magical day :)

Monday, December 03, 2007

December already??

Sigh. I can't believe it's already here. I know it comes the same time every year, but darn it, the years seem shorter the older I get. So. That once again leaves me in a rush for Christmas and holiday preparations (made even more rushed by sick kiddos and a tummy-bugged husband). I had the best of intentions to do a little scrappy journal of December with Ali (tried to do one with Shimelle last year and have an 8-page album for my efforts!) and apparently I'm not going to have much luck once again. Dang that time for getting away from me! So I decided to compromise and at least do a December in pictures. Then if I ever catch up I can get an album done in no time (at least that's what I keep telling myself!).

In an attempt to at least get the pictures up to speed so I don't feel behind even there, here we go with a quick recap:
December 1st we put up our Christmas tree (by we, I totally mean me while the boys ran around behind me and Hoyte tried to regain his strength from said tummy bug), put the wreaths on the doors and windows and generally tried to get into the spirit. For the first time in a long time we got an artificial tree (trying to help alleviate some allergic situations in the house) and it really is beautiful! I love that it's prelit and don't have to string lights! YAY! Even better is that for the first year, ALL the boys understand that the tree is to look at so miraculously, ornaments have finally migrated to the BOTTOM of the tree. Ahem.

On December 2nd, Hoyte brought the boys home a little $10 tree from Target (love it) and Ethan and Carson (mainly Ethan) worked on an old-fashioned paper chain made from some of my left-over scrappy holiday papers. It turned out so cute and Ethan is very proud of it. It now resides on the tree in it's new home in our Game room (aka the old nursery!).

And finally today, Turner, Carson and I made some Gingersnap cookies. They were both really excited about it until they tasted them. Turner made a face, said "YUCK!" and the cookie immediately ended up in the trash. I don't think Carson was a fan but he at lesat finished his. Oh well, can't please them all! Tomorrow might just be Gingerbread House creating. I think that might go over a bit better. I'll let you know!