C's First Hot Chocolate

I bet you can tell if he liked it by his reaction!

Thanksgiving Round 3

Well, I didn't make it out for the crazy shopping this morning. I just couldn't make myself get up! We did head out to Kohl's this afternoon as a family, but we drove in the parking lot and drove right back out after we saw how crowded it still was. You couldn't even find a parking spot. We came home and added a few more of our Christmas decorations. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.

We had a belated Thanksgiving dinner tonight at our house with Boompa and Baba. I tried Paula Deen's pumpkin gingerbread trifle recipe. It was goood and worth the time it takes to put it together.

Ingredients
2 (14-ounce) packages gingerbread mix
1 (5.1-ounce) box cook-and-serve vanilla pudding mix
1 (30-ounce) can pumpkin pie filling
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
1 (12-ounce) container frozen whipped topping
1/2 cup gingersnaps, optional

Directions
Bake the gingerbread according to the package directions; cool completely. Meanwhile, prepare the pudding and set aside to cool. Stir the pumpkin pie filling, sugar, and cardamom into the pudding. Crumble 1 batch of gingerbread into the bottom of a large, pretty bowl. Pour 1/2 of the pudding mixture over the gingerbread, then add a layer of whipped topping. Repeat with the remaining gingerbread, pudding, and whipped topping. Sprinkle of the top with crushed gingersnaps, if desired. Refrigerate overnight. Trifle can be layered in a punch bowl.

Enjoy!

Thankful For All These Blessings

I'm thankful today that I have so many things to be thankful for that I couldn't even begin to list them all. We spent the first part of our day at Uncle and Aunt K's house. We had a Thanksgiving lunch that made us all a few pounds heavier. Then we came home and ate it all over again! We burned off some of the extra calories by putting the finishing touches on our two Christmas trees.

Tree # 1

Tree # 2

We had fun hanging all the ornaments. For the last few years, I have baked cookies to snack on while we decorate, but we were so stuffed that the thought of cookies made Hubs and I a little sick. So no cookies this year, but the kiddos didn't even miss them.

I am contemplating getting up with the masses bright and early. (Seriously, Kohl's, 4 am?) I have gone for at least the last 4 or 5 years, but this year I haven't seen any "doorbusters" that are worth how tired I would feel later in the day. But, I do like the chaos of it all. We'll see how I feel at 3:30 :)

It's A Workout Day!

That's what C said when he got dressed this morning. He recently got some Under Armour type workout shirts. I think they are Nike, but I bought them because I think they are so cute on little boys. C thinks that you have to exercise non-stop if you have on exercise clothes. He has been showing me his exercise moves all morning. Just watching him makes me tired!

Also, you may have noticed the new icon on my sidebar. It's for my new t-shirt store! No, I am not a business person at all by nature, but so many people have encouraged me to attempt this idea, so here it is. Feel free to look if you'd like!

Weekend Recap or 36 Hours in PJs

I loved my time away with the girls. I missed the kiddos, but they had a great time with daddy. One unexpected thing that ended up being a blessing in disguise was that there was absolutely no cell service in our cabin, so we couldn't call and check in even if we wanted to. All of our husbands knew how to get us if they needed to, but thankfully they never needed to! So to sum it up, we did a lot of this...

a lot of this...

some of this...

so we could see this...

a little of this and this...

a lot of this...

some of this...

and then we said goodbye to our little cabin in the woods, but not without making plans to visit it again someday!

Leaving Superman and Cinderella

It is a momentous occasion! For the first time ever, I am leaving my kiddos and my husband for a GIRLS WEEKEND!!!!! My four best friends from high school and I are headed to Fall Creek Falls for a weekend of absolutely nothing. We leave tomorrow afternoon and I am ready! All I am taking is a good book, good food, and comfy clothes. Doesn't that sound fantastic? I'm sure I will miss the kiddos (and Hubs too), but it will be good for them to have some alone time with daddy. I did help him out a little by organizing their clothes for the weekend in separate bags for each day :)

Another One Bites The Dust

C lost another tooth today at school! And guess what, being the mother of the year that I am, I never even knew it was loose! He never said anything about it. I have been a diligent tooth brushing mama, too, since our last dentist appt and I never noticed a single wiggle. He's now missing his two front bottom teeth. Here he is getting his tooth out of his school bag and making sure it is in the right place under his pillow. Of course, little sister wanted her teeth to get some camera time, too :)

Party, Turkey, then Party Some More!

Yesterday we went to my niece's bounce party in the early afternoon. Their bounce place is a little bigger than ours and has more to do. The kiddos (and adults) had a lot of fun. C got to joust his daddy off the mountain and do some rock wall climbing. AP was her usual little dare devil self and was corrected by the staff (more than once) for going head first down the slides!

After the party and a quick nap we had an early Thanksgiving dinner at Nanna's house. We all ate way too much food, but it was gooooood.

After dinner we celebrated another birthday! My sister's b-day is on Tuesday, so we had more cake and more presents!

Aren't they so cute? It looks like they are telling secrets. I'm so happy that they are close in age and get to grow up together (even though they are 2 states away from each other).

We made it home safely this afternoon and I am doing everything BUT unpack and start laundry :)

Celebrating

The kiddos and I headed to Ohio Thursday after school. We came to celebrate my niece's first birthday! It's hard to believe it's been a year since she made her grand entrance. Yesterday was her actual birthday. We spent the day going to the park, shopping, and celebrating with cake and presents at her house. Today is her big bounce party. Fun, fun, and more fun. Here are a few pics from her birthday yesterday.

I Take It Back

I take back everything I said about AP making a successful transition to the toddler bed. Apparently there is a honeymoon phase. The first few weeks she slept in it like a champ. Then she started getting up once or twice to come in our room every night. Most nights we just walked her back to her little bed and she went right back to sleep. Then came the "I want nothing to do with that bed" phase. This is where we currently are. We put her in her bed last night. She came out once and I walked her back to her room. We didn't hear anything from her after that. Hubs and I were busy folding a million loads of laundry that had backed up in our laundry room and when we finally finished... this is what we found sleeping in the hallway right outside her room.