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.

How it is at our house

This is what Ethan said to Jason regarding why Micah was crying:

"I tried to give him a piggy back ride but I didn't know I couldn't do it"

Muffled laughter coming from the mother in the other room.

Learning

We knew Ethan was learning "popcorn words" at school over the last few weeks. These are words that "pop up" all the time...the, and, I, is, or (among others). This evening he told us about school and that he wrote about what he likes to eat. Jason asked him how to spell eat (because, quite frankly, we didn't think he could spell). He replies "e-a-t". While this is awesome, I think my days of spelling things so my kids don't understand are g-o-n-e. So, we asked Ethan to write his sentence for us so we could see how he writes. Check it out!


Translation: I like to eat pumpkin pie and turkey. Those vowels will get you every time! :) But, he sounded it all out and wrote what he heard. He also make the "e" on the word "like" dotted...because it's a silent "e". Of course. I'm not sure who's learning more in school, him or us.

Halloween '08

I know Halloween seems like it was a while ago already, but when I look at the candy still left in the boys' buckets...it seems like we just went trick-or-treating yesterday! The weather was absolutely perfect this year, so it was fun to wander the neighborhood. Ethan quickly caught on to the fact that we got to more houses if he moved faster. Micah loved choosing candy out of the huge bowls that were offered to him. They had a great time, and this mom is eating way too much candy lately!

Ethan decided that he wanted to be a baseball player, so his costume was easy since we could put him in the Tigers jersey that he loves to wear! Micah loves Mickey Mouse, so when I was given the opportunity to borrow this costume, I jumped right on it!

My kiddos got sillier as the night went on. Hmmm...I wonder why that was?

This was one of the few pictures where he actually smiled instead of giving me serious baseball player faces. A photo happy mom apparently cramps the style of this baseball player.

Our nephew, Colin, stopped by to get in on the fun. His monkey costume was so cute!

I remember sorting through my "loot" after I finished trick-or-treating. Tons of fun to do the same with my kids!

I don't think Micah has ever seen this much candy. He couldn't even carry his bucket by the end of the night! We had to hand it to him at the door when he said "trick-or-treat". We decided when the bucket is too heavy to carry then it's time to head home!

October 2008

For some reason, when I haven't blogged for a while, I feel like I have to justify my absence. I don't know why that is, but I am who I am. I'm still here, I still regularly check other blogs. I just haven't paid attention to mine! I have pictures I want to post, but honestly, all of my pictures from the month of October are still on my camera. I've been too lazy to upload them. Someday soon, I'll do a picture montage post.

Also, I've made a conscious effort to simply use my computer less during the day. You see, I was getting distracted by the computer and not focusing on my kids when I should have been. I'm working on a balance...a little "me" time on the computer mixed in with the time I spend with my kiddos. I haven't reached a balance yet, but frankly am OK with the scales tipping toward tons of time with my family and not as much time on the computer.

Things were busy in the month of October in our household. Jason spent a lot of time getting settled into the routine of his new job. He did an overnight out of town, a little mini color tour if you will. He didn't have much time for relaxing in his hotel, or a solid night's sleep without kiddos, since the building alarms went off at 6 am. But, he didn't need the wake-up call that he scheduled! His highlight for the month was finally receiving his company car. He has a pretty snazzy set of wheels, but I'm a little biased. I'm going to try and convince him to take a picture by it, but since he's not one for posing, we'll see how successful I am in that!

I spent a lot of time preparing for an Amazing Race fundraiser for the GEMS group at church. Basically, it was an event where teams competed against each other to complete tasks and solve clues. The first team done with everything won! One great example would be that each team had to purchase a container of ice cream...and then we made them eat it...but we didn't really give them spoons...at least not enough for the whole team. Some teams had small containers, but others didn't think they would have to eat it so the got 1/2 gallons. We had a riot that night, but it was a lot of work! I'm already brainstorming clues for next year. The problem with a fun and successful fundraiser is that you set a standard to live up to for the next year! I have to put my thinking cap on!

The boys had a riot on Halloween (OK, mom and dad did too). Micah quickly caught on to what happened when you said "trick or treat" at the front door of all the houses. Both of their faces were funny when the were allowed to choose whatever they wanted from the candy dish. I found that it can be a "problem" to have cute kids...people put extra candy in their buckets. I love candy. I'm like a child. I've been regularly raiding their buckets. I totally lack self-control when it comes to candy. One of these days I'm going to eat it until I'm sick (like I kind of did on Halloween after the kids went to bed!). I'm ready for the candy to be gone...but then I'll miss it!

Since I don't have any pictures for this post (like I said, too lazy to upload), I'll leave you with this link...proof that my family is around and still smiling! Scroll down the link for family pictures, extended family pictures, and pictures of my two sons!