Christmas Traditions

I was really excited to start our Jesse Tree this year.  We made a couple modifications.  For one, I am no longer using a "tree".  My need for symmetry was being severely threatened last year!  So this year, I covered a cork board with left over fabric, printed some cute advent numbers I found on etsy, and stuck them to the board with some furniture tacks.  Instead of using last years ornaments, we are using Ann Voskamp's free advent devotional and printable ornaments.  I have loved following her devotional this year.  I have been doing the devotional during my quiet time in the morning, and then Justin usually reads the children's bible version with the boys in the evening after dinner. I wondered how interested the boys would be about the Jesse Tree this year, and it has been so fun to see how excited they get.  I'm sure it has very little to do with the small chocolate kiss they also get every night when we read their bible story (my third modification to this year's Jesse Tree)! Either way they don't let me forget that is is time for our Jesse Tree.  I will love to see how this tradition evolves as our family matures and grows!

One of the boys favorite books is The Gingerbread Man.  Asher even repeats the phrase "Run, Run, Fast as you can..." whenever he runs from me!  So they were very excited to make gingerbread cookies this year.

They had so much fun cutting and decorating that I decided to whip up some gingerbread play-dough for the next day!  It smelled so wonderful, I could have eaten it, and I was a little surprised that they didn't try to.  We decorated their play-dough cookies with "candy" beads and stuck them in the oven (or a box). 

I will admit, I have not always been a believer in making play-dough.  After all, play-dough is so inexpensive, why spend the time making it.  But I am now a believer.  The last batch I made, lasted almost a year and was about as soft as when I first made it.  This gingerbread recipe was great!

Train Tradition

One of my favorite Christmas traditions with my boys is our annual trek to Dallas to meet my mom and take them to the Trains at Northpark.  I was especially excited this year since Asher is going through such a big train craze!  David liked trains, but quite as much as Asher does right now.  The first thing he tells me when I walk in his room in the morning is that he wants to play with his trains.  And he proceeds to play with his trains for about an hour before he ever asks for breakfast!  So needless to say, I knew he would love it!

They were not disappointed.  As usual, the display was great and the boys were in awe.

Yummy popcorn treat while they watched the scrooge puppet show.

Watching the turtles and ducks in the fountain.

Such a fun Christmas memory with my boys!

Projects and Finds

 I have been working on getting our house organized, getting rid of things we don't need, and coming up with some fun projects.  First up...a Roman shade for my laundry room.

I saw this tutorial on how to make a roman shade out of mini blind on the Little Green Notebook Blog several weeks back and since it wouldn't cost me an arm and a leg, I finally became inspired to do a little updating to our boring laundry room. So, I had my hubby pick up a mini blind from Lowe's for $2.96 and I picked up some fun Amy Butler fabric and $13 later, I had a custom working roman shade.  No sewing.  Not too bad!

I finally put up some rain gutter book shelves in the boys room.  Lot's more dreams for their room, but one step at a time.

A kid-accessible drawer just for kids dishes.  Since they can get their own snacks and water now and David can get things for his brother, they have also been excited to have a new responsibility of helping me set the table and put their own dishes away. 

My good thrift store find this week, a children's table ($12).  We have a children's table and chair set (that I received on my first Christmas) in our living room that the boys use all the time, but I wanted one for their room.

It looks remarkably similar to this $279 version from The Land of Nod.  I am not sure what is going on with the duck tape on the leg, but it is nothing that a husband with a nail gun can't fix.  I am excited for a new project.

Organizing all those loose mittens and hats in our coat closet.

And my other favorite find this month, a jenny lind children's rocking chair in perfect condition for one our many reading corners.  I have a special affinity for children's furniture (and children's books).  $10 thrift store find!

Where is their mother?

Under my close supervision, my house often looks like this...

well behaved children, learning, playing, creating.

But the majority of the time, it more often looks like this....

hiding in cabinets,

little boys eating markers,

hiding in the pantry with a box of cereal,

in the paint,

dragging picnic tables across the yard and flinging their bodies on top of their brother's swing.

Lots of crazy laughing.

Eating sugar.  Yep, sugar right out of the sugar bowl.

You can tell who wins the award for being the most mischievous in the house!

He still wears his Little Stinker title well, and he is still just as cute!

As exhausting as the reality of these messy moments are, looking at these pictures makes me laugh out loud.  Hope your messes make you laugh too!

Fair Day

Nothing like celebrating a perfect Fall day with a trip to the State Fair.  This was the boys first time to visit the fair and they are huge fans!

Their first Fletcher's Corny Dog.

We tried to exercise some self-control with our food intake.  We have been known to make ourselves a little sick on sampling all the food and then trying every spinning ride we could get on.  Having the boys with us obviously took care of our ride options.

As far as food, we ended up getting a couple corny dogs, a fried pineapple upside down cake (Yum!), a funnel cake, and of course some cotton candy...also a first for the boys!

Next, our only ride of the day, the big Texas ferris wheel.

I anticipated that they would be a little fearful of the ride, but they had a blast. 

I was little more fearful to let go of them.

And finally a token photo with Big Tex.  I didn't actually realize that Asher was trying to wiggle out of his daddy's arms in this picture until I got home.  It captures real life so well! 

Homecoming Weekend, Day 2

So we woke up bright in early Saturday to make the Homecoming parade.  I actually should have woken up earlier to make my club breakfast, but I just couldn't manage to set my clock for 5am.  I know, I know.  I am a terrible alumni!!

The boys were supposed to be able to ride with me, but when I saw the car they had selected for me to ride in, I called a quick change to our plan.  I had this in my back pocket, just in case it was necessary.  Since people throw candy from the parade floats, I asked the boys if they wanted to "watch" the parade and catch candy instead.  They agreed and crisis was averted.  And good thing.  This car was this man's pride and joy, and I would have been devastated if anything was bumped or finger-printed. As well, the emergency break was on my side of the car, so it could have been easily kicked by a restless little boy. 

The boys loved the parade, and catching candy.  They got to see fun floats like their dad's old fraternity, Sub-T, and their traditoinal gob-mobile. 

David in the Gob-mobile.

After the parade, the 2001 and 2011 homecoming courts were presented in chapel.  Much like 10 years ago,

when all else fails, pretend that you know the school song and do the motions. 

Finally, we were free for lunch, and we headed back to Buffalo Gap for an amazing greasy enchilada plate at Lola's...famous for great food and providing no service.  I mean it.  You get your own drinks, utensils, chip refills, and it is worth it!

My boys were so tired by lunch time...

This pretty much sums up Asher's weekend...grumpy!  Unless ofcourse, he was doing exactly what he wanted to do which usually included not holding anyone's hand or running away!

Finally, our last stop...the football game.  It was pretty exciting game!  ACU has come a long way since my college days. David had been talking for weeks about going to the football game!  He loved it.

And finally, the coming home court's final presentation on the field with the 2011 homecoming court where the new queen was announced.

It is hard to believe 10 years can go by so fast!   Maybe it should be harder to believe that I still feel so young! It was so much fun to be back on campus, see old friends, and see how much campus has changed in just 10 years.  Mostly, it was fun to share this expereince with my family and Justin's mom and dad.  Justin and I wouldn't start dating until a couple months after homecoming my senior year, so it was special for me to get to do all of this with him. 

Homecoming Weekend

This weekend we were in Abilene for my 10 year college reunion.  How in the world has 10 years gone by?  I still feel like I was just there in school, but yet so much has changed.  Our weekend was jam packed with activities, so we were very excited when Grammy and Pops could come with us to help us with the boys.  I wish we would have had more time to just relax, but it was still a great weekend.  And let's be honest, not too much relaxing takes place when there is a three and two year old in the house!

We decided to rent out one of the guest houses at Perini Ranch in Buffalo Gap so we would have room to spread out and the boys could run around.  It was worth the extra drive.  I was so pretty and perfect for a cool weekend in West Texas.

Justin and Asher lounging on the hammock Friday afternoon.

While the boys played, Michelle and I drove up to the ACU campus for a homecoming tea.

While I was there, I was able to drop by and see one of my favorite professors, Dr. McCaleb. Dr. McCaleb was the vice president of the university and I worked for him for most of my college career.  He is such a great man and he and his wife Silvia had such a big impact on me while I was at ACU.

After the tea, we headed back to Buffalo Gap for the dinner we had been long anticipating at Perini Ranch.

I don't think that a better meal exists on earth.  I LOVE this restaurant.

 

Our boys were exhausted by the time dinner came around.  They were going on about two days with very little sleep.  We knew we would have to be ready to pull the rip cord if necessary, but they hung in pretty well.

After dinner, we drove back to our house on the ranch and put the boys in the sink (because there were no bath tubs), and started getting these tired boys ready for bed.

Wishful thinking I guess...

While David was waiting for his bath, he went to use the restroom.  He is into his privacy these days, so he decided to close and lock the door.  My blood went cold as soon as I heard him jiggle the door and slide the lock.  The locks on the doors aren't the standard door-knob lock.  Instead each door had a throw-bolt, the kind that slide from the door into the door trim. 

David started trying to unlock the door and when he realized he couldn't, he became hysterical.  Grammy and I tried to calm him down enough to listen to our instructions on how to open the door, but he only became more panicked.  So Justin and Pops to the rescue.  They started digging out tools from their truck, took the door off the hinges, pulled and tugged, and finally the door came down, and my poor, terrified boy came out. 

What a way to end the night!  After all the drama, we got the boys to bed and they passed out within a few minutes. The adults took their place on the porch with coffee and a Perini Ranch dessert and enjoyed the cool evening. Another busy day to come.

An update on the rest of the weekend to follow.