Trimming the tree

When we first moved into our house, Scott and I were so excited at the prospect of having a huge, tall Christmas tree.  The first year we got one that we estimated was probably close to 18 feet tall.  With the topper on, it nearly brushed the ceiling.  Gradually, every year it got shorter.  This year we are down to a 7 footer--short enough to put in the front room, which is what we did so it doesn't look so dwarfed by the tall ceilings in the Great room.  I miss our tall trees, but I tell ya what, it was nice to wrap up the lighting/decorating in a few hours.

In our house, our tradition is to collect an ornament every new place we visit.  I started this when I was still in high school, and we continued it as a couple after I got married, picking up ornaments from our honeymoon, and other pre-kids trips.  I'm not sure how many we have now, maybe 25?  It's fun to pull them out every year and see a visual reminder of the places we've been, and the conversations it sparks about them.  Savannah seems to love it most.  Of all my children, she's shaping up to be my most sentimental.  She loves to hang the ones commemorating her birth, and the star she got from Make-a-Wish foundation the year they sent us to DisneyWorld.  One day I will have a tree worthy of the Festival of Trees, but while my kids are still at home, I love this tradition.

The shortness of the tree also allowed me to turn over the decorating to my kids this year, after I wrapped the lights on, which I loved doing, so I could take photos. 

No, Brighton is not singing the Halelujah chorus.  After the Dinky photos, he was camera-shy.  This is the only photo I managed to get of his face.   See the "oh no" expression?  He fled behind the chair after he caught me.

Dinky Little lives here

While the girls decorated the tree and I was taking photos, Brighton was hard at work.  Building something with his "safety goggles" on.  Scott and I thought he looked like Dinky Little.  Remember the crazy airplane pilot/uncle from the kids' books, The Littles?  Betcha haven't thought of him in years.

Heard around the house

Some of our recent conversations around the house:

Brighton: "Mom, quick!  I need a piece of paper!"
Mom: "What do you need a piece of paper for, Brighton?"
B: "I need to write a construction song!"

Brighton again,"Mom, we had our special hats on, so now all our dreams will come true."
Brighton, a few days later," Mom, blow the fingernail {that I pulled off} off my finger and all your dreams will come true.  Do missionaries dreams all come true?"

Irelynd "What do you think Santa wants for a Christmas present?  He probably has all the pencils he needs."

The {regrettably} true story of a princess and her hair

Once upon a time, there lived a beautiful little princess with longish golden hair.  The Queen, her mother, loved to put it in piggy-tails and other such hairdos befitting a little Princess.  After styling copper-colored hair for so long, the Queen loved having a golden-haired little girl too.

One day while the Queen was busy with affairs related to the upkeep of the castle, the evil Prince (really an ogre in disguise), caught a hold of a tool of mass destruction.

With a quick glance behind him, and an evil laugh, I am sure, the evil Prince sheared off the Princess's golden locks.

The Queen, upon re-entering the room where the crime had been committed, found handfuls of the golden tresses upon all the royal sitting places.  With a cry of rage, the Queen banished the Evil Prince to solitary

confinement until sufficient remorse could be shown. 

Alas, the golden tresses are no more to be put into piggy-tails.  There is no happily ever after in this story, as the little princess will be sporting a mullet for the foresee-able future. 

It's Christmas again!

This is what Christmas looks like at our house:

(I found something to do with all the extra cut-off branches from the Christmas tree)

And, of course, a wall peppered with advent calendars. 

Outfitted

After the last snowstorm, the twins prepared themselves to venture outside.  Keaton looked like a lobster with Scott's big gloves on.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Savannah was finally admitted to the Harry Potter club.  In the past it's just been my sister-in-law Sallie and I that went to opening night, but we both promised our girls that if they finished the series by the release of the last movie, they could come, too.  Savannah finished it about 4 months ago.  We invited our other sister-in-law Lara, and son Baker to come along too.  It was a really fun night!  We were so excited to finally see the book come to life! 

I made some Honeydukes treat bags for the occasion.  Unfortunately, our printer was running out of ink, so the lables were really crappy, but you get the idea.  The labels are courtesy of Hostess with the Mostess.

We had licorice wands, chocolate wands, acid pops, jelly slugs, chocolate frogs, peppermint toads, fizzing whizbees, treacle fudge, and cockroach clusters.

Each chocolate frog had a picture of a wizard, of course.  This is mine and I got Ron Weasley.  The Muggle version, of course.  Bad print job, though.

Another year older and wiser too.

Before Thanksgiving I turned another year older. Scott so lovingly reminded me that day that I was "officially middle-aged".  He looked it up.  I am no longer mid-thirties, but have graduated to late-thirties.  How depressing.  However, I was very excited to receive some fun birthday gifts from my sister and friends!  Obviously, my love of cupcakes is no secret to anybody.  They all were thinking the same thing.  My sister Moana got me some cupcake-scented germ gel.  It does smell really good!

And this adorable jewellery box.  I loved it so much, it now has a place on my cupcake stand on the china hutch in the kitchen. 

See, and here she is all decked out in red for the holidays.  I think she looks fabulous, don't you?

and these cute little mints, which my kids love! 

and these cute earrings, to go in my jewellery box. 

and Moana wouldn't be Moana if there wasn't a conversation gift too:)  I have yet to try these bacon and cheddar crickets, but if anyone is interested, come on by!  Savannah insisted they were candy, so we checked the ingredient list.  First one on there is crickets.  I think I'll leave those to the seagulls. 

Then my friend Jen came by and gave me these darling cupcake ornaments, which I have hanging on my tree. 

Aren't they adorable?  I love them!  Thanks, Jen! 

My sister-in-law Sallie presented me with my own cupcake dyes, since I keep borrowing hers.  I'm giddy!  Makes me want to make rainbow cupcakes all over again, just to use them. 

Thanks everybody!  You made my day great!  Maybe I'll survive the advent of "middle-age" after all.

Turkey Day 2010

This year Thanksgiving was spent at my mom's house with my sister Julie and family, and brother Kevin and family.  I love Thanksgiving; it used to be because it meant my birthday was near.  Now it's for more grown-up reasons.  (plus the addition of pumpkin pie doesn't hurt either!)  Here's a few pictures of our Thanksgiving day this year.

Scott carving up the turkey with Waverly sampling.  "like turkey" was the decision.

My mom always sets a nice table. 

This child hates long sleeves; she always pushes them up.  It used to be because she sucked her arm when she was upset or tired.  She still does that occasionally, but the habit stuck. 

My mom the head Chef 

This was one of my contributions this year.  Normally I shy away from cheesecakes, even though I love making desserts.  But my sister-in-law Sallie gave me the confidence that I could do one, so I made pumpkin spice cheese cake.  I made chocolate leaves to go on top of the spiced whipped cream dollops.  It was pretty, I have to admit.  That's until the twins got to it.  This is the before picture. 

I just love Keaton's expressions.  They vary so greatly. 

Nice bum shot of my mom.  Sorry, Mom!  As we sat down to dinner, everyone read a fill-in-the-blank grateful statement.  Such as, "I am grateful for my friend ___."  Sallie, you'll be very glad to know you were my blank.  Everyone needs a great sister-in-law to commiserate the ups and downs of being married to brothers:)  Anyway, it was funny to hear what people filled in their blanks with.  My sister Julie was grateful for the movie The Sound of Music, because it inspired her to become a nanny and resulted in a great experience in Hawaii for her when she was a teenager.  See, I didn't know that before. 

I love the expression on my neice Aislynn's face (in the pink).  She's an adorable, precocious, 5-yr-old that had Brighton playing house with her all weekend.  I'm not sure that's been done before.  She had him whooped.  It was good for him.

After dinner, we have a tradition of doing crafts.  It started when I was a teenager, and we've been doing it ever since.  The kids made Christmas countdown calendars and trains with Grandma, 

while the moms made washer and tile necklaces with Julie.  

See what I mean about expressions?  I wonder if that tongue was directed at me. 

I mistakenly gave Scott the camera and he turned it on me.  DOn't look to close or you'll see the patch of gray that's grown up.  These little suckers took a lot of time and concentration to match up.  But the end result was beautiful!  Of which, I'm realizing I did not get a picture. 

Food and trains.  Brighton's in his element. 

While doing crafts, someone forgot to check the twins.  Inevitably, something perished.  It was my cheesecake.  Ok, maybe it didn't perish, but it sure got maimed. 

See me on the far left?  Speaks volumes, doesn't it? 

Keaton's face shows a mixture of "oh crap, I've been caught" and "who said cheesecake isn't good for my hair and complexion?"

I'm thinking they probably helped rub it in each other's hair.  We also found it on the wall, cupboards, and inside the cupboards on the flashlights.   

Luckily, with a little extra whipped cream I was able to hide some of the damage.