it has been a while...

hoping to start the new year off right by getting back into posting.

happy new year from my three little monkeys!

hope everyone had a merry christmas.  ours was busy and crazy, but perfect.

christmas eve dinner.

merry christmas eve.

the kids and i ended 2011 with our last picture of our 52 weeks of photos project.  i really enjoyed doing these pictures even though some of the weeks we had to rush to get it in and quite a few of the pictures were similar.  it was okay though, when i looked through them all at once it is so neat to see the progression of our family.  you forget how much the kids change in one year...it is too hard to see it when you are looking at it every day but looking back there have been so many changes!  i am in the midst of doing a blurb book and hopefully will have it done soon.  i am so excited to see how it turns out.  i am definitely doing the 52 weeks project again, it is easy enough for me to undertake and it gets done...i'm trying to figure out how to document it this year.  i love the idea of an instagram book just because i think square pictures are fun, but not sure if i'll go that way or not.  either way, get ready to see 52 more pictures of us over the next year :)

52 weeks of photos: final week * december 30, 2011

christmas traditions...old & new

i'm big on christmas traditions! i love doing the same things i did growing up every christmas and want to create that for our kids. with the craziness of 3 kids under 4 and general holiday busy-ness i didn't get to do all the things i wanted to this year. but we kept some of our old traditions and added a few new ones.

real christmas tree * as much as i'd love a fake tree, just so i could start putting it up earlier and leaving it out longer! i do enjoy the smell and magic of a real tree. and i am not sure there is any way i could talk lance into a fake tree...

polar express * this book was a gift from my parents to me on christmas day 1985. though a few years passed without me reading it on christmas eve, the past two we have been able to revive that tradition. my mom was always the one who read it to us and i got teary-eyed again this year reading it, thinking back to all of our christmases that she read this book and rang the christmas bell. i do hope that next year we don't include the large pile of unfolded laundry in our reading of the polar express...

handmade christmas cards * not entirely new, but new for this year. i love putting together something more than just a basic card. most of the time they end up being new year's cards, even though i tell myself i will start earlier next year. i haven't "made" a christmas card in a few years and decided i'd give it a try again this year.

new things for this year:

cinnamon rolls * i've been dying to try the pioneer woman's cinnamon rolls, but they look like soooo much work. they were, especially since i messed up batch #1 and had to make a second one. they turned out so good though and most definitely worth the effort.

christmas stockings * we hang stockings each year, but i haven't actually filled them since having kids. and before that it was just every now and then. we decided to fill the stockings at about 11:30PM on christmas eve. we scrounged around the house and found some little items to put in there. ethan was especially excited to see the filled stockings on christmas morning. favorite item: hands down, the candy cane.

if i had had more time this year, i wanted to add a christmas countdown calendar just like this one. my mom always had a countdown calendar for us that she filled with candy and other little christmas treats. it was a big highlight of december and i definitely want to start something like that for our family. i've made 2 stockings so far and will most likely need until next december to make 22 more...

what are some of your favorite traditions?

merry christmas!

santa visit

our first official santa visit can be called a success (no tears!)...other than i forgot to make sure my camera had a card in it...i know i missed the best picture because of that! but thank goodness for the camera on my phone.

ethan was completely excited. mollie too since it meant someone was going to hold her. miles was a bit leary, but he got up there and even waved and said goodbye to santa when we left.

christmas 2009

what a wonderful day! the only thing that would have made it better was if my family had been out here!

we woke up to a beautiful white christmas and lots of fun gifts under the tree. the boys slept in later than normal, thanks to a late night christmas eve, but were definitely excited to get to the tree in the morning.

ethan's favorite gift was by far the cranky the crane for his train set. he has been asking for it for a long time, so i knew it would be a hit. miles started off with the rody horse, but moved onto the train signal gate since it made noise when you hit a button. ethan was eager to help miles open his gifts and miles didn't seem to mind, so e went to town.

after we opened all of our gifts, we headed to the grandparents house for a yummy waffle breakfast and more gifts.

the boys really enjoyed the new ford truck from aunt laura and uncle jeff and ethan was soon filling up the truck bed with all sort of gear from the playroom. hilarious! after breakfast we opened the rest of the gifts and the shake and go race track from the aunt dawn and family was quite popular. ethan was getting so excited (and so was lance!) i will have to get a video soon! he jumps up and down and gets so loud, ethan that is!

sweet new niece, lucy jane

we finished off the day with a wonderful dinner prepared by my mother-in-law and some family pics in front of the christmas tree.

i put up the good family pic in my last post...here is our silly one...

it was so wonderful to see ethan enjoying christmas this year, not that he hadn't in the past, this was just different. he knew what was going on and could get excited for everything.

week 4 activities

our last week of events leading up to the big day. here is a recap:

1. visit festival of lights (local drive-thru christmas light display)

2. family picture in front of the christmas tree (this should be fun and interesting!)

3. make ricotta cookies

4. make creme brulee

5. read the polar express

6. christmas jammies!

visit festival of lights: it has been several years since i've driven through and it seems that it has gotten even longer. after our drive, we determined that 3 (or almost 3) is definitely the minimum age for the festival of lights (unless under 1 and you can fall asleep in the car :) ) miles actually did well for the first 20 minutes, but after that i think it was just too much. he isn't a huge fan of car rides these days. the candy canes at the end of the trip did wonders to make both boys happy though!

family picture in front of the christmas tree: well, this didn't get done in front of our christmas tree, but it did get done! we took it christmas night at lance's family's house and i love that we have a family photo for christmas day, we never did get one last year that i recall.

make ricotta cookies: this has long been a favorite cookie recipe of mine. we always made it growing up and it is very easy and so good. it makes so many cookies you have to freeze at least half of them, but they are even better right out of the freezer.

make creme brulee: i LOVE creme brulee. if it wasn't so bad for you, i would eat it every week! yum! but i try to limit it to special occasions. my sister gave me a creme brulee set and recipe book a few years ago and i tried out a recipe from it and it was perfect! i've enjoyed it guilt-free this year too, thanks to the baby in my belly :)

read the polar express: i had wanted this to get done on christmas eve, but that didn't happen. we did it one day before naps and ethan loved it. he had actually seen the book a few weeks earlier and was very interested in it thanks to the beautiful pictures of the train. my parents gave me my copy of this book christmas 1988 (i was 10 years old) and we've read it at least once a christmas season almost every year since. we always read it on christmas eve. i hope that we can continue this tradition with the boys.

christmas jammies: i love the boys' jammies, i think they are just perfect! last year they only wore them on christmas eve and christmas day and i decided that wasn't enough. so we broke them out a bit early this year (for our christmas card pics too) and ethan has been very excited about them so i bet we'll keep them up until spring at least.

SNOW!!!

and a lot of it! it started snowing around lunchtime on christmas eve and didn't stop until late that night. it did make travel kind of crazy for some family getting down here, but thankfully all arrived safely.

a white christmas, miles' first time playing in the snow (and hating it) and 2 days worth of fun for the other kids. ethan loved it. he wanted to go outside on christmas eve even though it was windy and cold and wanted to go first thing christmas morning. we did sledding on christmas and a snowman this morning.

here is a collection of pictures from the past 3 days in the snow:

christmas eve:


christmas day:

today:

merry christmas!

wishing everyone a merry christmas!!

25 days of christmas: week 4

hard to believe this is our last week of events leading up to christmas. i am glad that i did this (i know part of it was for me and part for the boys). i know as they get older they'll be able to participate more and i hope they enjoy all the traditions we'll have for christmas.


1. visit festival of lights (local drive-thru christmas light display)
2. family picture in front of the christmas tree (this should be fun and interesting!)
3. make ricotta cookies
4. make creme brulee
5. read the polar express
6. christmas jammies!

week 3 activities

we did well this week! only missed one activity. here is a recap:

1. pick out and decorate christmas tree!

2. drink eggnog

3. make gingerbread cookies

4. visit festival of lights (local drive-thru christmas light display)
5. make a christmas ornament

and if we can fit it in...as you can see i like the option of more events without actually committing to them :)

6. christmas movie night

pick out and decorate christmas tree: we broke the tradition this year due to a shortage of acceptable frasier firs available at lowe's, but it turned out well! growing up we pretty much always got a frasier fir because of the smell and i just continued that, but this year we had to pick something new. turns out the noble fir is a perfect substitute. fluffy and full (i always LOVE short, full trees) and soft needles so it is much more comfortable to decorate. i put lights on the tree while the boys napped so they woke up to a lighted tree and then they helped decorate at night. miles really just wanted to throw the plastic balls around (though he tried putting an ornament on the little tree we have in the foyer), but ethan helped hang a few of the ornaments. i really had a great time decorating the tree this year with the boys and loved seeing how excited they were to see it.

drink eggnog: well apparently i am the only one that thought this was fun. ethan took one sip and declared he had had enough and i don't think miles even finished his first sip. guess we'll have to stick to hot chocolate for the boys.

make gingerbread cookies: at lance's request i attempted gingerbread cookies for the first time. i don't know why i have been scared of them since i love to do sugar cookies. for some reason gingerbread cookies always scared me. i found a recipe to try from good things catered and it turned out delicious. while i made some that were gingerbread man shaped, i ended up doing more that were snowflakes with sanding sugar on top - no extra decorating - and they look really pretty! i think these will end up being a cookie i make every year.

drive through festival of lights: didn't happen this week, so we are going to try this out on sunday.

make a christmas ornament: i found this adorable martha stewart felt christmas ornament kit that i thought would be fun to try, especially since there was a train ornament. well, it was even more perfect than i thought! no glueing, no cutting, perfect for a toddler! all of the pieces came with adhesive on them and you just had to peel and stick. ethan loved the train one and also the stocking since he thought it came with a candy cane in it just like in the picture on the kit. after he made his two ornaments, he put them on the tree.

watch a christmas movie: thanks to a new thomas dvd, we spent friday night snuggling on the couch watching the trains of sodor get ready for the holidays.