a new year

a new year that will bring:
a new baby,
a "baby" turning 2,
our oldest "baby" turning 10..

after ringing in the new year with 2 couples we love love love and go "way back" with, we have now embraced the new year.

highlights for j in this new year include taking his first ever snowmobile ride, and h loved getting a chance to ride them again this year, too!

Santa Babies

Today as our advent activity, I took the kids with my sister and mom to see Santa in the mall. The line was ridiculously short-- just the way I like it! J hopped right up onto Santa's lap, and H claimed she was too big to sit down, so she just stood by him. I even had to convince her to do that by telling her that J wouldn't be scared that way.
This Christmas season has been so laid back.. I did have advent activities planned, but if we didn't get to it or it didn't happen, I didn't push to make it work. We probably did an activity every other day, and still have some winter ideas that we haven't done yet which will probably come in handy when we are going stir crazy in February.
Here are a few of the activities on our advent list for this year (pretty much the same as last year)
*made handprint wreaths
*pinecone/peanutbutter/birdseed birdfeeders
*set up and played with the nativity
*decorate Christmas cookies
*made a paper chain to hang in the doorway
*took kids to see santa
*set up the Christmas tree

Still to do: go sledding, make paper snowflakes, build a snowman, go snowmobiling (we actually need snow to do these things though!!)

jingle all the way

We set up our Christmas tree as the 4th advent activity.. only 3 broken ornaments later, it was done and we were loving the sight of our (fakey) pretty tree. The snowman ornament is H's. J's ornament is a tractor and I for some reason did not get a picture of it.

boxing day

You know how kids like playing with the boxes their toys come in better than the toy themselves at Christmas? I can do ya one better.
My kids like playing with a box their daddy's new gun cabinet came in.
(Well, at least after J got over his fear of the dark tunnel)

Scented Playdough

Tonight we needed something that would kill some of the time between dinner and bedtime. I decided that playdough would be a good choice-- I don't think I've ever made it with H, and J is just getting out of his "I put everything in my mouth" stage.

While blogger won't let me upload pictures right now, here is the recipe:

Scented Playdough
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup sald
1 package unsweetened drink mix
1 Tbsp. veg oil
1 cup boiling water

*Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in oil and water. Mix until the mixture forms a ball. Put onto wax paper and let cool slightly, then knead until desired consistency. Store in fridge in an airtight container.

I've never made this variation of playdough before, but I really like it so far. It isn't too oily like some are, and it smells so good. I don't know if it dries out fast thought since I just made it. The kids loved it, though, and it was a great 45 minute activity!

Of free diamonds and cold feet

When I heard that during a local parade, a jewelry store was handing out a gift certificate for a Free Diamond with the candy they were handing out, I knew what we were going to be doing this morning.

You think that with the promise of a Free Diamond and the fact that my hubs let me sleep in, I would have woken up a very happy girl. (Oh, and he went with the kids this morning to get us all bagels.) However, when I rolled out of bed at 8:40a, I still felt like it was the middle of the night.

Since getting pregnant with this current little one, I have been having awful shoulder pain. I don't think it is related, but I don't really know what is causing it. *Lifting my 30lb son many, many, many times a day? Sleeping funny?* During the night, I have been waking an average of 10 times. This is not very conducive to REM type sleep.

Anyways, I made my way to the bagels and juice, and then instructed everyone to, "Bundle up! Hats!, and Gloves!" I myself put on 2 pairs of pants, 2 pairs of socks, multiple shirts, my coat, gloves, and scarf. I own no hat, just my hood. Off to get myself a Free Diamond.

After weighing the options in my head about where exactly along the parade route they would hand out the Free Diamond, we made our way to a fairly open stretch along the road that I felt was probably meant to be.

30 minutes, a free cup of hot chocolate, and some cold feet later, and the parade started. 50 minutes, a lot of candy thrown at us, and some freezing feet later, we made our way home--- diamondless. Oh well, at least I have some pictures :)

a new idea..

I have a new idea..

no more picture a day. While I have taken pictures through late September, the thought of uploading them all and posting about them is enough to make me never want to blog again. so... New idea. No picture a day.

In other interesting news, as of today, we have a 9 year old living in our house. One year closer to teenager craziness (yea, not looking forward to that!). Along with the age 9 comes a lot of independence and it is wonderful at times. She can take her own shower, get herself mostly ready for school, "babysit" her brother for short periods of time.

We love her so much and can't believe how quickly the years have gone by. 3 years ago she was in a little magenta courderoy jumper and now she is in a puffy vest lined with fur trim. :) We love you sweet girl!






Here is what her baby brother or sister is looking like at 16 weeks-