Christmas Time!!

I love Christmas time! I love the smell of the fresh tree, the lights and decorations. This year I was a little nervous at how the tree thing was going to go with boys. I have heard others who do not bother with trees, but that is so not an option, or only putting ornaments on the top of the tree. Last year we put the superyard, aka baby jail, around the tree and that is not pretty. Well this year I really did not want the tackiness of baby jail again, nor do I want any of my ornaments broken or rearranged.

(Baby Jail guarding the tree last year)

So we decided to go with no baby jail and just teach the kids not to touch. It has gone surprisingly well, but the tree has only been up for 48 hrs and decorated for 24 hrs. They have not touched the tree or tried to knock it down (which is what my worst fear has been). We have had a tree fall down before (Christmas Eve 2003) and it isn't as bad as it seems, but with kids I really don't want to go through that again.

We rearranged the living room. I like it this way. Last year it felt like the tree stuck out way to far into the living room, but then again we had a very fat tree last year. I love fat trees. The one this year is not fat enough.

I am a perfectionist, so the kids did not help me in any way, shape or form and neither did Andy. I decorated while the kids were napping and Andy was a work. I ened up having to put a bow at the top to cover the long piece that the star is on. I could have cut it, but I like it going to the ceiling. We haven't put out our outdoor lights yet. We really need to! My goal is to have a Griswold house. I don't think we will get there because Andy refuses to put lights on the roof! I don't know why we need a new roof anyways. I do have some light up trees that stay out year round and I got one of those battery powered wreaths, because seeing a cord hang would have really bothered me. Although they are not very bright.

This morning I took pictures for Christmas cards. I had to do lots of M&M bribing, but I got some really cute pictures. I had to hurry on the pictures so that I could get them at Winkflash for only .23 each!! I got way more cards than last year for half of what I paid!
These are not the pictures on the cards, but they were some of the cute ones from this mornings photo shoot.

Carter, his usual smiling self.

Cale, with a typical Cale like look on his face.

Here are some pictures from their first Christmas. This is one like our Christmas card pic that year. They are on the same pillow as above except with a blanket over it. I wanted to do santa hats like that again, but no way were they going to wear them.Their best picture with Santa. Last year they were screaming in the picture, so this year we are going to skip seeing Santa.Cale got so worn out seeing Santa. I think that this was the only time one of them fell asleep in a weird position.The screaming picture of 2006

Thanksgiving Road Trip

For Thanksgiving this year we decided to travel to Ohio to see Andy's family. I love going up there! I was really hoping for snow, but we only saw a few flurries. This is the second time we have drove up there with the boys. The first time they were 11 months old and the trip went great, but we drove over night and they slept the whole way. This time was a day trip and I was nervous about how this one would go since we have terrible vacation luck(Griswold vacations), but it went great!! We split the trip up and drove 6 hrs one day and then another 4-5 hrs the next day. The boys literally watched movies the entire way. Where was the DVD player when we were kids?! They did not sleep at all in the car, which was kinda nice because the first night at the hotel they were ready to go to bed at 7:30, so we all got a nice 12 hours of sleep.

When we got there we stayed with Andy's aunt and uncle and that was so great! For Thanksgiving the whole family ate in the church fellowship hall because there were 49 people there and that wasn't even everyone! I don't think I even have 49 people in my whole extended family. I absolutely love the big family thing. I always wanted to have 4 kids and then one day we would have huge family, but after having the twins I am seriously rethinking that one and Andy says no way! I really admire people with more than 2 kids because I don't know if I could do it. I always thought I could, but I am not so sure after actually having kids.

The boys did pretty good. They only fought over toys, which is pretty normal. They slept great and ate great. We really couldn't have asked for it to go any better. So far our best vacations have been up to Ohio, I am starting to feel like we should go more often and we would if it weren't a 12 hr drive.

On the way home we drove 9 hrs to Sparta and then stayed the night with Andy's brother and his family at the mountain house. We then all went Sunday morning to get Christmas trees. That was fun and the boys loved it! I must admit that the tree we got looked much better on the lot. I think we left it rolled up too long and hopefully the limbs will drop some more. I just decorated it yesterday and will have those pics up soon.

Weekend Update!

This past weekend Andy and I had a rarity, we had a kid free weekend! We had a party for a friend who turned the big 3-0 on Saturday and we didn't really want to take our wild children. I had asked my mom if she wanted to watch them and she took them for the whole weekend! We were so grateful!

After she said she would watch them we kept having all this good stuff happen. We got free tickets to the State/UNC Football game! I wish I had taken my camera to catch the Wolfpack's glorious victory! Then on Thursday we got free hockey tickets to see the Hurricanes! Not only was it the first hockey game we have been to in probably 9 years, but the seats were second row behind the glass and behind the penalty box! It was very cold at both events, but so much fun. I also forgot my camera for the hockey game too. I guess I was so excited about getting to do something fun without the kids for a change. The Hurricanes lost, but it was really fun and something I would love to do again. It really made we want basketball season to hurry up and start! There is a home game on Thursday against William and Mary and I am trying to talk Andy into going and taking the boys. Are we crazy?!

The boys had so much fun at Mawmaw and Papaw's that they did not even want to come home, but they didn't put up too much of a fuss. I am interested to see how tomorrow goes. Usually when they have been away from their toys for a few days they play quietly all day, but for some reason I don't think that is going to happen tomorrow.

I don't know if I have updated about my business in a while, so here it goes. I have recently started selling stuff on Etsy. It is like ebay except for handmade items and there is no bidding, just buying. You get a store with them for FREE, unlike ebay, and it is so much better. So, if anyone wants to make a purchase using paypal I can now except that through my Etsy store. Also, if there is something you want but you would rather have a different burp cloth or pacifier clip just let me know and I will switch it out for you with whatever you want! My store is http://www.ohsewcutedesigns.etsy.com/. Please check it out! I am working on some new products now. Some onesies that match the burp cloths, I am very close to perfecting those, and some super soft blankets. I am also starting to try and make the shopping cart covers, not sure how that is going to go, and some fleece stuff, like hats and scarves. I will update when and if I start to sell any of these new products on here and on my website http://www.ohsewcutedesigns.com/.

More October Pictures

I can't believe it is already November and only 2 weeks until Thanksgiving!!! Where did October go?! I am already getting excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas! Here are a few random pictures from the end of October that are cute.

This is the boys with their friend Ella at our church's fall festival.

The boys had school pictures a week and a half ago and their teacher took a picture of their class all dressed up. I am so looking forward to getting their pictures back! They are a lot more expensive than portrait innovations, but with me not being there they take excellent pictures. So now I save my money and only buy the school pictures that are made twice a year. The little girl with her arm on Cale calls both boys CaleCarter and today her grandma told me that she asked why there were two CaleCarters. So Cute!

Time is going way to fast! I put out the tent I bought for the beach when the boys were babies, we never used it at the beach so I decided to get my money's worth and let them play in it in the playroom. Within 30 minutes of having it out they managed to almost destroy it! The tent then went to time out for a few days and we have since not had any problems. The boys are drinking their "hot apple juice"(it is empty, they are only pretending). They have never had hot apple juice, but I think they were saying it because their cups are mugs like my hot coffee is in. I thought that was cute.
My dad is into old cars and the boys love them too, so my dad has two old pedal cars that the grandkids can play on. They boys love it although they don't understand the pedals.