Ho Ho Ho Highlights!

 

We were SO excited about the Wii from Poppie and Grammie. He even did a little celebration dance! Drew played with everything he opened. It was summed up at the end by Drew picking his nose...we struck gold this year!

All Done!

 

Ok! No more pictures, Drew! I think he was mad that we wouldn't play with his new play-do set right at that moment as well. We hadn't had breakfast, all the presents were opened and they were very tired. But it was all better after cinnamon rolls.

Jolly Elves at Christmas

 

 

We struggled to get this photo so no, not everyone seems too happy, not everyone has a great smile, but at least everyone is in the picture. That's the best we could do. In fact, I'll post what followed after this photo shoot!

Thanks for a Wonderful Christmas!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Merry Christmas!

Make a Smilebox greeting

Gingerbread Boys

Last night, we enjoyed creating an edible masterpiece. The boys made sure the frosting and candies tasted good enough to be on their creation. If you click on the collage to make it bigger, you'll see Drew and Ethan have white frosting remnants on their faces and I caught them a few times with fingers in their mouths. What's the fun in making a candy house if you're not going to eat the materials?

We're Thankful for....

The dogs; Maddie, Mogli and Emmy too...
Our kids; Ethan Michael and Drewby Doo...

Fun memories; snuggling and playing Wii,
Smoked turkey and a Christmas tree.

We made a "chain of thanks" for these,
and celebrated with our family.

What a Treat!

Our neighborhood is one of the most popular neighborhoods in Missoula for Trick or Treating. The roads are flat, the neighbors are either retired or young families and the houses are fairly close together which is nice for little ones (and big ones too really ;o) After the first few houses, Drew figured out that if he said "Trick or Treat", he'd get something in his bag. We worked on our manners with our "thank you's" and did well 90% of the time. The other 10%, Drew was distracted by clowns, puppies, or the other costumed kiddos standing at the door with him. They were pretty proud of their stash when we came home and dumped them on the floor. It brought back memories of the good ol' days for Eric and I. This didn't end our night! We answered the door for a few trick or treat visitors and then went to another neighbor's party where the kids watched the "Cars" movie and we visited as parents. Around 10pm, we called it a night. Good thing it was Friday! The kids had a great time (and so did the parents.)

Our Superheroes were Super Ready

We finished up our photo shoot on the front steps before we went to one of our neighbors party. We ate and the kids played before heading out on our Trick or Treat adventure.

Eye See You!

This pumpkin carving was inspired by the kids' book "Mr. Pompo's Nose". The boys are doing their best impressions of our new friend.

Halloween at Ethan's School

Drew decided he wanted to be a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle to attend Ethan's school party. We brought goodie bags for Ethan to hand out to his costumed friends (including his Ironman twin in the bottom right corner.) Drew got to share in the snacks and goodies with the big kids. This was our pre-function warm-up for the rest of our Halloween night.

Beesons at Bensons

The Beeson family took a trip to Benson's farm where we picked out our pumpkins. The kids had fun picking out their pumpkins as well as checking out the farm surroundings.

Brotherly Love

After a little teamwork, they felt a little brotherly love. They were posing like crazy so we continued our photo shoot.

Salt Dough Pumpkins

This was the boys' first time to co-chef in making a creation. It's become a tradition, just like making a gingerbread house, to make these salt dough pumpkins each year. It's as simple as 2 cups of flour, 1 cup of salt, and a 1/2 cup of water mixed with a little food coloring. You mold your creation, put it on a paper plate and heat them in the microwave at 30 second intervals until they harden. When they cool, we drew faces on our pumpkins. Ethan helped to twist paper sacks to make gnarly, leaveless trees for our scene. They were pretty proud of what they made.

A Pumpkin Mouse House

It's pumpkin carving time and I thought it'd be fun for us to make a pumpkin mouse house as a family. I sent Ethan and Drew on a mouse hunt (looking for rocks that look like mice) as I set up the table for the pumpkin innards. When they returned with handfuls of mice (seen in the bottom pumpkin picture on the right) we were ready to hollow out the house. You can see that Drew was very hesitant to touch the pulp and Ethan had quite the face as he touched it. Not what I expected for two boys. Eric dug in and helped separate the seeds for roasting (which I did later.) After the pumpkin was hollowed, Drew lost interest so that left Ethan and I to carve the house while Eric entertained Drew. Then Ethan and I went and trimmed some limbs off of our front tree to make sticks for the windows, door and stairs to the house. Once it was complete, we turned off the lights and lit up the house. Ethan invited Drew and Eric back to check out the creation. We didn't finish making the mice, but we'll add a tail and a few eyes in the next few days. We plan on making 1 or 2 more carved pumpkins. Maybe on Saturday. I was abandoned to clean up the mess myself. The boys were put to bed as the pumpkin seeds were roasting in the oven. Later, when I was finishing up cleaning the kitchen, I looked out onto the couch and it was down to one; Eric was asleep. So, I finished my evening with trying out my roasted pumpkin seeds as a snack.

Snug as a Bug in a Rug (and Time Flies)

Time seems to move slowly on some days and then there are days like today when I wonder how when it moves slowly it could leave so quickly? I can't believe I have a 1st grader and a little toddler in a big boy bed. Yesterday, I declared it our 1st Weekly Family Day. I thought we would designate a time each week (even for an hour) when we'd just spend time together, on purpose, doing something that each of us liked. We'll take turns being the decider on food and activities. Yesterday was our first time and it was Ethan's turn. He had me make "Caramel French Toast Bake." It's one of those recipes you only make at Christmas or Easter or birthdays or something because it terribly good and terribly bad for you all at the same time! That was Ethan's pick, so we made it, ate it and loved it! Then, he wanted to play a game. We put Drew in bed early (he missed a nap) and then we played Blokus (thanks Grandma Judi.) We had a great time. Ethan and I finished our night by coloring our new September calendar. If you have spent any length of time with Ethan, he can talk your ears off about Ben 10 or superheroes or a movie he's watched. So, last night, as he and I were side by side, coloring our calendar, Ethan talked up a storm. He literally talked for an hour straight about Ben 10 toys, the new aliens, the new toys, the Wii game.....I told myself several times "LISTEN, Jamie...." I tried my best and I'm sure glad I did. At the end of our coloring, (I did most of it because someone else was really busy talking) Ethan said, "Mom, that was really fun; talking and coloring and stuff. I love you, Mom." It's that simple. I just needed to listen to my son to make him feel loved. I know it wasn't the coloring that was fun for him. He's not too into coloring. It truly was the talking (and me listening) that was fun for him! (Sounds like his mom, huh?) Now I know how Eric feels! Anyway, lesson learned for this mom. Even when hours seem to pass slowly when kids are fighting and fussing, the days pass SO fast. It's simple to sit and listen and if that's all it takes to make my son feel loved, accepted and appreciated, then I'm in. I want these moments to look back on (for both of us) knowing I did my best to show him he's loved, and I want him to say he knew he was loved.

"Daddy Yook!"

"Yook!" That's Drew's version of "Look!" Yook at beeg boy in beeg bed!

"SUPER" big boy!

This was our next big milestone this week! September 1st, the beginning of a new season (I always jump the gun a bit for fall. It feels fall today; rain, cold, breeze, I'm in sweats...) Why not transition to a big boy bed! So, away went the teddy bears and plaid and in came the Superheroes! I think someone thought it was a "super" idea! We'll see what Mom and Dad think of it after we learn whether or not Superboy stays in bed!

The Lochness Monster Surfaces

Sudsy Buddy

Cool Cat 1st Grader

1st Grade Picture Taking

1st Day of 1st Grade 2008

Milestone Month

We've enjoyed a few new milestones in the lives of our boys this week. Ethan started his first day of 1st Grade this week. He has a male teacher, Mr. Byers, and all in all, the attitude is similar to most 1st grade boys, "I like recess best." These pictures were taken on Ethan's first day. (Drew wanted to be a part of the photo shoot as well.)

Peek-at-you,
Peek-at-me,
I see you in that tree!