Keepin' it real

I didn't send out Christmas cards this year (again). I may do it again someday, but for now I'm taking a break from that ritual. However, I still took pictures of the boys by the Christmas tree. It's a great opportunity to get the two of them sitting by each other. So, if I had gotten Christmas photo cards with the boys on it, I would have probably used this picture:

Or, maybe even this one, with a little cropping:

Or, if I decided to use a picture of the four of us, I would maybe have used this one:


(OK, maybe I wouldn't have used that one...I probably would have tried for a few more options, but I still like the picture) Anyway, if you're like me, you send out the best looking picture. As I scrolled through what I had, I decided that while my boys are adorable in the previous pictures, it doesn't necessarily show their true personalities. At our house, it's more like this:

And this:

Or this:

I have to say that this next one is one of my favorites, simply because it shows just how much Micah loves his big brother.

Now this one's pretty good:

But this one's a little scary:

And all I can say about this is that Ethan, well, he's 5.

"Cheese" can only be said with a goofy look:

And, quite frankly, this one just looks too posed:

However, I think my little guys are pretty cute, whether they are sitting calmly or trying to be silly for mom. Which one would be your Christmas card pick?

Chicago

Jason and I took off the Friday after Thanksgiving for a weekend away. His parents generously took care of the kids so we could have a chance to go away...something that we haven't done together in about 5 years!

We spent Friday wandering around downtown Chicago. Our main mission was to go to the Lego Store for a Christmas present for Ethan (shhh...don't tell!). Since it was "black Friday", there were TONS of people on the Magnificent Mile. I haven't seen that many people, well, ever. It was just the two of us, so it was relatively easy to manuever through the crowds (plus it was a great excuse to hold my husband's hand!). We enjoyed sightseeing, people watching, and just plain wandering around without having to worry about naps and meal times. It was great to dine out and stay in the wondeful hotel room that our brother-in-law got us a niftly little deal on (you know I love my deals!).

Saturday morning we went to a wonderful bagel place. Let me tell you, fresh bagels, toasted, with a little honey butter and a cup of hot chocolate was a lovely way to start the day. I could get used to that part of city life! We then spent a few hours just wandering and enjoying being together. We walked the streets, the parks, Navy Pier, and more streets until we finally had to go back to the hotel room to warm up.

After we thawed, we hopped in the car again and headed to the next city so we could get ready for Suzanne's wedding (the real reason for the weekend away!). We enjoyed the lovely ceremony and had fun hanging out at the reception. We finally took pictures there, so you get to see us all dressed up instead of bundled up!

It was a wonderful trip...full of lots of fun, rest, and time away with my awesome husband!

Gingerbread Houses

Jason was out of town last week, and the days fell on my two days off from work, so I was the sole entertainer in the household for the whole day. No aunts or grandparents to step in while I went off to work! No daddy in the evening as a fresh playmate!

One of the fun parts of my job is the programs that I get to participate in. But, even better than that is when there are leftovers from the programs that I can snag and take home for my boys. This time Jason's days away fell a few days after a Gingerbread program. I grabbed extra supplies and saved them in a container for a fun task that would fill a few hours...OK, I was optimistically hoping for a 1/2 hour. The boys were excited when I showed them all the supplies--really, what kid wouldn't be excited when their mother sets a bag of candy and a pile of frosting in front of them! So, they went to work...

The "Gingerbread" houses were milk cartons (from a school...thoroughly rinsed and sprayed with air freshener) that had graham crackers stuck to them. We used frosting from a container and it was plenty thick for making the candy stick.

I sat back and took pictures (though I helped with the spreading of frosting). The boys happily covered the house with candy, candy canes, mints, Smarties, M&M's, gumdrops, colorful marshmallows, and gingerbread men cookies. They used Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal for the roof.

I was really surprised that they didn't even eat that much of the candy! They were so happy sticking the candy on the house that I think they forgot how much they like to eat it.

Ethan loves to use the camera, so I gave it to him to take pictures of the finished houses while I cleaned up Micah. He takes a lot of...shall I say "artistic" shots!

This was really fun and I think it would be easy to do on my 0wn without grabbing supplies from work. Really, I would gladly buy numerous bags of candy...just for the houses.