Decorating Adventure

On Friday the boys helped me decorate Rice Krispie treats. I have never done this before, but saw it done somewhere and thought it might be fun. I had them is a star, tree, and snowman shapes. Andy thought it was going to be a disaster (of course because he is mister negative), but they did so good. Carter kept wanting to eat the Reece's Pieces that we used, but he finally started saying, "Wait, don't eat now, eat later." Cale took his decorating very seriously. He didn't eat any until he was done and it was ok to start eating. My mom was here to help me around the house, so she helped the boys too. I was a lot of fun and I think the boys had lots of fun too!

School Christmas Party

The boys and I had our last day of school last Wednesday. They had a little Christmas party in their class, which they enjoyed. They love to eat! They are always the last ones at the table. In fact at their party Carter didn't even want to participate in the book exchange because he didn't want to leave his food. Cale seemed a little confused at first, like hey why are mom and dad at tea party? Later he warmed up and ate his food and participated in the book exchange.

Cale with his, "What is going on?" look.

The boys' class, minus the 3 kids that were sick. That's the worst part about preschool. Although the kids haven't been as sick as I would have thought. The best thing though is definitely all the cute crafts they bring home. The made such cute ornaments and magnets!

Cale waiting his turn to choose a wrapped book.

Christmas Pictures

Here are some more pictures that I took while trying to get a good Christmas card picture. I ended up deciding on the first one, because Andy said it was funny that Cale looks so sweet and innocent in that picture and he has been quite a handful lately. Cale really knows how to smile pretty in pictures. I think they look a lot alike in the last picture. I never think they look identical at the time, but when I look back at pictures of them younger I think they look alike. I have always been able to tell them apart and so it is so hard when people ask how we tell them apart, because to me they look totally different. Andy told me to stop saying that answer because it makes me sound crazy, but I really do think they look totally different (except for first thing in the morning before I have fully woken up and haven't had my coffee). This morning for some reason I kept getting them mixed up and I never do that! I think it was the Tylenol PM I took at 10 last night and the fact that Carter was up with a croupy sounding cough at 12. I was a zombie all morning even at MOPS after I had had my coffee!

Interesting Week

We have had a very interesting past week. We started really potty training last Thursday. I mean we went full force into underwear and I am not quiting this time! It got to the point where I just thought wow we go through up to 18 diapers a day! That is on average $50 a week in diapers! I never added up how many they went through as newborns, but it was a lot. We are talking about for just the first month feeding every 2 hours and they were changed before and after a feeding, wow! It has not been what I would call a successful event. Carter has peed in the potty twice and Cale once. Hopefully they will catch on in a couple of weeks. I would much rather do the laundry than buy diapers. Cale held his pee all day at school yesterday, until he got into the car. Luckily we have lap pads down and it absorbed all the pee. Sometimes I think that maybe they aren't ready, but then I think they will catch on if we stay consistent which is so hard!

Here are the some pics from the boys' teacher.

Last weekend the boys went to my parents because Andy and I had his work's Christmas dinner. We also got a lot of Christmas shopping done. I only have one more person to buy for! Andy was also able to finish putting up the Christmas lights, even though our house still doesn't look like the Griswolds it will have to do for this year. I was able to have a couple meals out with friends and it is always nice to have girl time.

I have been pretty busy with my business. The other week I had 7 orders in one week! Luckily they were all needed at different times, but I love doing it so it wouldn't matter if they were all needed the same day! I also sold my first two things out of my ETSY shop! Andy and I went Saturday to look at an embroidery machine and I am hoping soon that I can get into doing monograms and names on the burp cloths and blankets.

Nothing else really exciting has been going on around here. The boys are loving the Christmas lights and the tree. They have surprisingly not even touched the presents under the tree. I guess they aren't as mischievous as I thought they were. Carter goes up to everything and says,"No touch mommy, just look." I can't wait until Christmas morning! We are praying this year that no one will be sick, the boys or Andy or me have been sick the past two Christmas'. They have also been teething the past two Christmas' but that will not be the case this year, because they have all their teeth! I am so thankful that stage is over! They don't understand that Santa brings presents, which is fine with us, and they don't really seem to care. I'm sure after Christmas it will all click.

More Christmas Decorations

We put up a few more things this weekend. My goal is to have a Christmas tree or something Christmasy in every room. You only get to enjoy it once a year, so I really want to enjoy it.
There are definitely more outside lights to come. What we have now looks kinda skimpy, but that is all we had time for on Saturday afternoon.


Here is a tree I put up in the basement just outside the playroom. I was going to put it in the playroom, but the boys can be a a little wild down there. Next I am looking for a nativity scene that the boys can touch and learn about. I have a couple ceramic ones around the house and they are really interested in them. That after all is the TRUE meaning of Christmas, all this other stuff is just for fun.

Riding Bikes

The boys love "riding" their bikes. They refuse to use the pedals or even let us help them use the pedals so they just Flintstone it on their bikes. Our driveway has a very slight hill to it. just enough for them to lift their feet and rdie down the hill. So that is pretty much all they do. "Pedal" to the top of the driveway then Carter turns around and lifts his feet, but Cale on the other hand just gets to the top and then lifts his feet and goes down backwards.

Here is Carter doing it the safe way.

Cale falling over because it isn't really safe to ride down backwards.

As you can tell he thinks it is funny, probably because Mommy is laughing too and Daddy is yelling that it isn't funny and the people that were walking down our street were probably thinking, "those dumb, young parents" (because Andy and I look all of 20 years old).

Helping Daddy Rake Leaves

On Saturday Andy finally got around to raking the massive amounts of leaves in the backyard, but this year he had two terrific helpers. Cale and Carter loved helping rake the backyard with Andy. They were both willing to wear their gloves and the hats they have on have lasted us three winters! Yes, they are size 12-18 months and they wore them their first winter. Talk about getting your money's worth or either they had really big heads as infants.

Cale with his rake

Carter working hard.