2015 Christmas Recap

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind, and before I know it, the kids will be back in school. I meant to post about their concerts at school, but I just haven't had a free moment. To sum them up, they were adorable! 

This year Christmas was spent with Perry's family at a house just a few miles south of town. Gorgeous home! The preparations began in mid-October (long before I had a solid decision as to what the kids were going to be for Halloween!) with a lot of emailing as to who was bringing what, and what was on the menu, and ideas for gifts for the kids, and such. I'm not a planner, so Christmas prep tends to stress me out a bit. Most everything went off without a hitch once we arrived at the house. 

 With Christmas landing on a Friday this year, we packed what felt like all of our belonging and met up with the rest of the family Wednesday afternoon. It was so nice to see everyone again! Once the sleeping arrangements were hashed out, and everyone was in attendance, we gathered around the dinner table for spaghetti made with Great-Grandma Dustin's spaghetti sauce. Before the kids ran out of energy, which never seemed to happen, we frosted sugar cookies. I say we, but I should mention Grandma and I decorated the large majority. Hunter and JP decorated a couple, Charli barely got through one. The men weren't overly helpful but Perry did add sprinkles to my frosting-only cookies. I think after 2 hours, we finally had them all done?!

 The first night putting the kids to bed was a little rough. Charlotte fell asleep in our bed, and then later had to be moved, but JP fell asleep under the pool table because "Hunter is too loud to sleep by." They each had their own bed but sometime Hunter can't just be quiet! He must have moved to the couch in the middle of the night though...

 Christmas Eve morning, everyone but Perry (who was working) and Grandma, drove a mile across town to a sledding hill to have a bit of fun. Ain't she cute?!

 All I want is just one good picture you guys!

 The sledding hill was really steep but both the boys are fairly fearless. They hiked their sleds almost to the top of the hill before going down...

 Once she saw the boys go down, Charli wanted nothing to do with sledding. It didn't help that Uncle Cameron had to push her out of the way to save her from being ran over by one of the boys...Eventually she decided she would try to go down too, but she didn't believe in using a sled. You can make this stuff up - she hiked herself halfway up the hill, and then sat down to scooter herself back down. Occasionally she would shout things like, "Look at me go!" and "Watch out for me!" and "Here I come!" I can't get enough of her humorous ways! 

 After going our separate ways for church, we gathered at the house for Christmas Eve dinner. Grandma Betty made their traditional Clam Chowder Soup, and since I'm not into seafood, I opted to make the second soup and decided on Chicken Cordon Bleu Soup earlier that day. (Like I said, I'm not a planner!) With the arrival of Santa increasing by the minute, the twelve of us curled up on the couches and in the recliners to listen to Great-Grandpa Dustin's re-telling of their Christmas traditions via tape recording. Instead of reading the book this year, we instead watched, "A Child's Christmas in Wales." 

 Before we sent the kids off to bed, Uncle Cameron read, "The Night Before Christmas" and I for some reason volunteered to read, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas." I'm not entirely sure why I did that as I hate reading out loud. But I did it, and I "voiced" it well. 

 Look at all those cuties on the fireplace! Ahhh!

 On the second night in the house, Charlotte wanted to sleep with JP, and he obliged. He's such a good brother to her!

 When we put the kids to bed, we sternly instructed them NOT to go upstairs without mom or dad in the morning. At the usual 7:30a we heard them giggling in their beds so we rolled out of bed to distract them for a while. Perry played pool with them for a little while, and then later I played foosball with them. Charlotte somehow made it upstairs without Perry or me realizing...

 This is how they have to go upstairs - with pillowcases over their heads so they can't see what Santa left them...

 After a LOT of fighting about it, Perry and I came to an agreement as to what was going to happen with their Christmas presents. A few weeks prior, we had the boys write Santa a letter to tell him where they were going to be at for Christmas and what they wanted. JP has been on a roller skating kick for a few months so that's what he asked for in his letter. Hunter asked for "anything for kids" so he was brought a robot kit. Charlotte just wants "more kitchen" so she was brought more food. 

The original plan however was that Santa was going to bring the boys pedal cars, and Charlotte a Little Tikes cars. Perry and I went round and round and it wasn't pretty. In his family Santa can only bring one present and its always the biggest. While I had originally agreed on the cars, I really wanted JP to get the roller skates he asked SANTA for. I wanted the Christmas magic of it, but Perry was pretty set on no, the pedal cars can't be from us. Eventually I agreed that Santa could still bring the pedal cars, but I wanted them to go on a scavenger hunt for them instead of putting them under the tree. After more arguing about whether the other presents would be wrapped or not, we came to another agreement. (This is why Christmas is hard for me with him - breaking tradition is a huge no no to him!)

 Before they could see what Santa left for them, we all gathered in the master bedroom to open our stockings, but only after eating our first breakfast of kringler and breads and fruits. 

 Hunter claimed the middle of the room as his spot to open gifts, where as JP hopped on the bed and opened his presents with his aunt, uncle, and baby cousin. 

 Charlotte, Perry and I hung out by the fireplace to see what we received. Charlotte was too cute! "Okay let's see what we got here!" 

 Finally a few hours after they woke, the kids were released from the bedroom to see what Santa left. They all knew exactly what was theirs and were very excited. That's when they found their first clue to the scavenger hunt. Their elf, Skippy, left a note saying he hid the other present from Santa as one last joke before he left. They were lead around the house and eventually outside where the cars were all parked. It was so fun to watch them cruise around the driveway!

 The rest of the morning was spent trying out new toys and unwrapping more from under tree.

 I love watching the excitement of little kids on Christmas! 

 JP loves to color and draw so one of the gifts he was given was this HUGE set of coloring supplies. I think there are 3 sets of markers, varying in sizes, variety of crayon, and paints and colored pencils too. He and Grandma hunkered down in the afternoon for a little bit of coloring. 

 The rest of the time spent together was fairly unstructured. We took another trip to the sledding hill on Saturday and spent the rest of the day working on a puzzle. On Sunday we managed to take Hunter and Charlotte ice skating. JP came but didn't want to skate. Later that evening Aunt Em gave little Stevie his first hair cut.

 And since JP was getting a little shaggy, she trimmed him up too. 

 Hunter on the other hand is growing his out. And he enjoys wearing it in a ponytail.

 

Before I missed my opportunity, I sweet talked these little ones into taking a picture with me, but only after we played Ring-Around-the-Rosey a dozen times! My how they've grown!

We said our goodbyes Monday morning and parted ways. I took *forever* to load and unload the car and then to put it all away... I think this next Christmas we're going to try to have it at our house. We have virtually no memories of Christams at home and with the arguing that ensued this year, we have come to the conclusion that we realy need to make our own traditions instead of trying to always have it like it used to be. The last and only time we had Christmas here was when Hunter just turned a year old. So while it's not official yet, I just might get another award for wrecking Christmas again. Time will tell...

A Christmas Tea

Last week my mom called me up to see if Charlotte and I would be up for a tea party at the end of the week. I was a little hesitant to say yes because I was still working on getting over a head cold, that has lasted a lot longer than it should have...

I couldn't say no because I knew how much Charlotte would love to go to a tea party. The first tea party I went to was for my 9th birthday. It was a special treat from my mom since my last birthday was deemed "the birthday party from hell." If I recall correctly, everyone who attended my party that year ended up crying, and there was a lot of fighting. Winter birthdays can be a drag because there's not much to do when it's freezing out, so instead of having the girls come over for a sleepover, my mom set up a Victorian tea party with with a cousin on my dad's side. 

The tea party was so much fun for my friends and me. She had a a selection of dresses and hats for us to dress up in and we were also given our own lipstick and blush to keep after we did our make-up. I know this because I, for whatever reason, still have it. It's been 20 years... The four of us sat around the table in our fancy dresses and hats and giggled while we were served tea and bit sized peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. She even taught us about the use of fans and where to place our spoons. While I knew this Christmas tea wouldn't be extravagant like my birthday party tea, I knew Charlotte would still enjoy it. 

The Christmas tea were were invited to was at the Old Flynn Ranch, which was established in 1872. Lots of history there and it made to be the perfect setting. 

I hadn't bought Charlotte a Christmas dress yet, so earlier this week the two of us went shopping for a fancy dress. She was just too cute! The entire week all she spoke about was her upcoming tea party.

Shortly after we arrived, we were seated and Charlotte was brought her own tea pot to use, which meant she was to put her pouring skills to work. She was given hot chocolate instead of tea, and to say that she loves hot chocolate would be an understatement. I poured her first cup for her because it was pretty warm and full. When she was done with her first cup, Aunt Kim attempted to minimally help her with the second cup and in turned had a little mishap. Bless her heart though the first thing Charlotte grabbed for was her napkin. She has such good manners!  

It was so much fun to watch her with her tea pot. She has a tea pot and tea cups for the tub, and every bath session I'm offered a cup of tea or coffee, so she's had lot of practice. 

It was a nice morning with the girls and we were so sad we were short one sister. Maybe next year?

By the end of the party Charlotte's spot was looking a little rough, but the sweet ladies there assured us it was okay and they expected her to spill so they had extra table linens ready. We were served a selection of savories, sandwiches, and sweets, but Charlotte only had a few bites here and there. Luckily I brought a box of raisins along just in case. 

I also cashed in on my opportunity to get a couple mommy-daughter photos :) Thanks for the fun morning mom!

A Star Wars Birthday For Hunter

We have a 7 year old! I've been calling Hunter a 7 year old for at least a month prior to his birthday, but now it's legit. As of late he's really been into Star Wars, even though he knows nothing about it. All he knows is they fight with light sabers and Darth Vader is pretty cool. 

At his request, despite my disapproval of the color black, I made him a Darth Vader cake. He sat with me on the couch (as he was recovering from an evening of throwing up all over me...no, I was recovering from that) and we scrolled through Pinterest looking at all the different Star Wars and Darth Vader cakes. He chose the simplest design in the worst color to work with. 

I must have rolled out the black fondant ten times, and I may or may not have uttered the words, "You should be very glad that I love you right now or you wouldn't be getting a cake..." The more dye you add to the fondant, the more the fondant begins to breakdown... Why didn't I just use black frosting? Because I didn't want all the kids to have purple mouths... Gah. But Hunter loved his cakes, even with a couple cracks in it. He especially loved that I was able to make Darth Vader hold his birthday candle as a make shift light saber. Mom for the win! 

 He really really really wanted his party at the hotel again and I couldn't say no, even though his party was scheduled to start the same time the Cat/Griz game started... Every stinking year his birthday coincides with that football game weekend... But since he didn't get to celebrate with his kindergarten friends last year, I said what the heck this year. I can't begin to tell you how much fun Charli had with the neighbor twins! To say she loves the water is a bit of an understatement...

 He had a handful of his classmates show up, which was plenty for me! From what I could tell, it looked like everyone had a bunch of fun! I made just enough goodie bags for his guests too. That never happens with me...

Even though he gives Perry and I a run for our money parenting-wise, I love this kid to pieces and can't wait to see what this year brings! Hopefully more snuggles for mom? We're not too old for that yet, right?

Birch Tree Cake

A couple months ago I was asked to make a cake for a baby shower for a dear friend of mine. The theme was to be "outdoors in Montana."

 Her mom sent me a picture of what she was thinking, and I ran with it.

 The theme that seemed to play out this past week was delay. The entire timeline for this cake was delay after delay, with a few other non-cake related delays mixed in there. Charlotte didn't help much in the delay category either. She's used to playing by herself so while I started on my forest critter for the cake, she had fun with her play-doh and pony. 

 After a couple hours of messing making and remaking animals, I finished my deer and set of bears. 

 Then I left the kitchen to get ready to serve at a catering event for my sister, and noticed Charlotte chewing on something in the hallway. I returned to the kitchen, surveyed the area, and realized she had eaten the mama bears' head...and then some. (Charlotte looks at this headless bear picture and says, "I ate her head!" She's pretty proud...) I had a little pit in my stomach trying to figure out where to squeeze re-building the bears on my timeline... I finished up at the event around 11 and was in bed by 11;30, with my alarm set to wake up fairly early to work on the cake some more.

 3 am rolled around and I couldn't go back to sleep knowing that I had a lot to do, with not a lot of time to do it, so I pulled myself out of bed and stumbled to kitchen in my footie pajamas and got back to work. By 5:30 I had the outside of the cake done and the bears remade, so I went back to bed for a little while. 

Kimberli and I have been going to the Vintage Fair in the spring and fall for the last couple years and this was their first Christmas themed fair. She won "early-bird" tickets and of course picked me to be her guest, and then we invited our mom to join us too. We spent the morning strolling through the market and then chatting over coffee. I felt so much more relaxed knowing the cake was nearly done. I made the moose while the cupcakes were baking, and I love how it turned out!

 The shower was put together so nicely, with stuffed moose and teddy bears around the room to compliment all the wood decor. It was a perfect afternoon!

Nah Nah Nah Nah Batman!! Happy Halloween!

I had been thinking about Halloween since August and had no idea what I wanted the kids to be this year up until about two weeks ago. Last year I themed them Wreck-It Ralph, and the year before when Charlotte was only 5 1/2 months old, we did Peter Pan. The boys wanted to do Ninja Turtles this year, but I wasn't feeling it for Charlotte. Next year we just might all be Ninjas...

Because of JP's color obsession, finding a character who wears green can be quite the challenge. I also went with the Hulk for JP and another superhero for Hunter, but when I remembered Batman's sidekick, Robin, wore green I was sold on having a Batman theme. I did toss around the idea of him being the joker though...I recall Aunt Bobbi being the joker and wearing all green when she was little. Am I right family? I also thought about making their costumes and then quickly gave up on the idea when a pair of green leggings for JP was going to cost $15. For a little bit more, I could have the whole costume, with absolutely no stressing. Sign me up for that! It's also worth noting nearly every time we'd ask Charlotte what she was going to be for Halloween, she'd respond with, "I be Perry Halloween." No dear, you're going to be Catwoman...

Perry and I were at a concert in Bozeman the night before so I had gathered up their costumes for Nanny to send with them to school. She also went to the school Halloween parade with Charlotte dressed up in her Catwoman outfit to get some pictures for me. I thought we'd be back in time, but we spent a good 45 minutes walking downtown in the morning to retrieve the car...

 She must have gotten to the school early enough to sit in the front row. She was able to fine JP in the parade, but he was the only Robin there. Hunter was lost in the Batman's. It probably would have helped if she knew what kind of Batman costume she was looking for, but she stopped into his classroom after the party to take a few pictures of him. 

 Nanny had a problem getting into JP's classroom though because she wasn't on the "approved people" list, and even though the school has called me multiple times, they apparently didn't have my number to call me and ask, so they called Grandma Betty. Weird...? JP's classroom is in a separate building and has a doorbell on it, where as Hunter's is in the main building. But she eventually made it in and he and Charlotte had some snacks together before playing games. 

 I don't understand why JP looks like he hates taking pictures with his friends...

 One of the games they played entailed wrapping their teacher, and another adult in toilet paper to make them look like mummies. I think JP probably enjoyed this too much! 

 Here's the crew before we headed out for Trick-or-Treating. Batman, Robin, and Catwoman. I had to bribe Charlotte to keep her mask on. Our first stop was neighbor Dan's house. You see those white pieces of paper JP is holding? He made pictures to give to them. He loves drawing pictures for people!

We stopped by a couple more house on our lane before heading to Aunt Kim and King Julian's house, I mean, Barney and Betty Rubble's house! Aren't they all so cute! Kudos to Kim for making Julian wear a dress! ;) Next up we stopped at Nanny's house before trick-or-treating around the block. Last year the kids were ready to be done after only going to a couple houses but were ready to go this year! Charlotte was all about it too! I think on our second house someone said, "Happy Halloween," and that's all Charlotte would say after that. It was adorable! 

She did turn down going up to one door because they had big spiders hanging on the porch. "Spiders so scary!" She was so excited to run down the sidewalk to the next house. "Let's go this one! Gonna be fun!"

Even though it was a little rainy, it's safe to say everyone had a lot of fun!

My First Rock Concert Rocked: Breaking Benjamin

I was browsing through Facebook one evening when I noticed a friend shared an event titled "Breaking Benjamin with Shinedown in Bozeman." I was so excited at first and then I saw the date. October 29th. A Thursday night in a town 3 hours away. It was a school night and the kid's would have Halloween festivities at school the next day. Not going to happen, but I mentioned it to Perry anyways. A week before our anniversary he surprised me with tickets to go see them.

For those who haven't heard of Breaking Benjamin, they are a considered a hard rock band, though I would reclassify their latest album closer to Christian rock than anything else. I've loved them since high school. Perry was surprised by the fact I didn't own any of their cd's, but I still knew most of their songs. I had literally been playing nothing but Breaking Benjamin, with a little Shinedown mixed in for the last month. Charlotte even sings along now and it's adorable. "This is my song! Dance with me!"

After a month of counting down the days, Perry and I finally packed our things and headed to Bozeman Thurday morning. Perry conned my mom into watching all the kids for the night and getting them to school the next day. Life saver! All the kids were so excited to stay with Nanny (probably because she spoils them!) She was surprised I'd even want to go to a concert, since I do dislike loud noise, bu this was my favorite band!

When we arrived in Bozeman, we checked into our hotel and headed downtown to meet up with a friend Perry went to high school with. I don't know if I've meet him before; if I had it was a long time ago. We had a nice dinner with him and his wife at the Copper. Highly recommended if you're in Bozeman!

I was a little lost on Perry's parking plan. He thought we could park near the campus, where the concert was, and walk downtown for dinner and then walk back. We could leave our car there and walk back to the hotel after. There was so much walking involved in his plan that I had to step in an secure another arrangement. Luckily my sister Robin moved to Bozeman for a few months and was able to take us to the concert AND pick us up so we left the car downtown. I can't tell you how much Robin's shuttle services helped us out!

Robin dropped us off and we walked into the fieldhouse just as the first band, Nothing More, started to play their first song. Neither Perry nor I had heard of them so we instead went to grab a drink. I'm sure I would probably like them, but at the concert all I could hear were drums and guitar. The lead singer, who was RIPPED, was rocking out but I could hardly hear him. He was enjoyable to watch though... At the end of their performance they did a really cool instrument solo where they strapped a guitar on a stand and three of them played it at the same time. Later the leader singer came over and used drumsticks on it while the others played. Super cool.

During the stage re-set, Perry went out to grab us a drink. He was gone for all two minutes before I looked to my left and found our neighbors, Dan and Chrysanthie practically standing next me. We knew they were going also but what are the chances we'd actually see them there?! The four of us spent the rest of the concert together-ish.

We were surprised when Breaking Benjamin took the stage next as we all were expecting Shinedown up second. I loved every minute of it! About halfway through the first song, I had a girl next to me elbow her way in front of me to stand. I was not having any of that, so I'll admit I got a little feisty and elbowed and shoved her back and shouted that she was standing on me. She apologized and moved back next to me. Then I felt bad so I moved over so she could stand closer to me to see around the tall guy she was behind. Turns out she was hammered and could hardly stand on her own, and they ended up going elsewhere. Phew...

When Breaking Benjamin was finishing up on stage, they decided they would bring a few people up to help them with their last song. Obvisously I was screaming "ME ME ME ME!!!!" But I was in the middle and they couldn't see me. They brought quite a few people up before they said they were going to pick one more. At that point Perry and Dan hoisted me up onto their shoulders and I was above the crowd screaming and flailing my arms like a crazy person. Seriously. I did that. I could swear to you, up and down, that Benjamin pointed RIGHT AT ME and said, "The girl up on the shoulders!" I jumped off their shoulders and ran like a bat out of hell to the front pushing and shoving people out of my way. When I got to the front some other concert attendee said something to the effect of, "They didn't pick you, you idiot." I looked up to the stage to see the little 9 year old girl being hoisted onto the stage, who ironically was right behind me up on her dad's shoulders. I'm still mad about it...

In the video above, Perry filmed the stage because he thought I was going to be on it. You can hear him ask Dan, "Where is she?" Then you can hear me come back saying I saw someone I knew. 

I was SO disappointed by not getting picked, though I did consider hoping up there anyways. I should have. As I turned to go back to find Perry, I heard someone shouting my name. I turn around to see my best friend's cousin, who is more like a younger brother to her, and I shout, "KADEN!" Turns out Kaden and Tanner look the same. Whatever. I took a picture with Tanner just to prove I saw someone I knew. I made it back to Perry and told him the "danger zone," as he called the front area near the stage, wasn't as dangerous as he made it out to be...

During the next stage re-set, the four of us went back out to grab a drink and made it back in to see Shinedown start up. They were awesome to see in concert too. Because they were last on the roster, they had more special effects than Breaking Benjamin. Fireworks and Fire. It would have been awesome to have those with Breaking Benjamin, but still very cool with Shinedown. I think I screamed and started jumping every time they the lit off a firework. I was jacked. I might have had enough to drink too. It's hard to say.

Robin picked us up across the street and dropped us off downtown, where we met up with Dan and Chrysanthie and again, along with their son Steven. We had to have been there for at least an hour before Steven connected the dots and said, "Wait, they're our neighbors?" Yeah, the coolest neighbors on the block for the last SIX years! I was very grateful that Dan offered to drive us back to the hotel, instead of Perry's plan of walking the 1.8 miles back to the hotel. It was a lengthy walk back in the morning... I had so much fun!! I'm already thinking of who I might want to see next!