DIY Hairbands

I'm a mom of boys...and for anyone who knows me, I've always wanted a little girl. With that said, sometimes my boys, mainly Hunter, thinks he a little girl. He LOVES wearing my "pretties" which include my necklaces, bracelets and hair accessories, like hairbands. Heck, today at the store, I went to buy some chicken noodle soup with the fun shapes in it. I asked Hunter if he wanted the ones with Cars on it. "No mom, I want the Barbie one!" We ended up getting SpongeBob for JP, and the Princess one for Hunter...ugh. Anyways.

Here's what I did during nap time today. I bought a few hairbands at the store today ( 5 pack for $2.97) and then created a few felt flowers. Free style cut some leaves and glued it all together. Took me about 30 minutes total.

Clearly theses wouldn't go well with my boys' outfits so I'm sending them to Britta, who has two girls about the same ages as my boys. Some day I might be able to keep them for a little girl of my own. Until then....

Enjoy!

Felt Flowers

I created a yarn wreath a few weeks ago (http://sadies-story.blogspot.com/2011/12/yarn-wreath.html) and a few people asked me how I made the flowers. It only takes a few minutes, if your kids aren't hanging on you : )

1. Cut your felt into a square. The bigger the square, the larger the flower. If you use a whole piece, your flower would be about the size of your palm. Give or take. I used square that measured approximate 4"x4".

2. Either draw a circle on your felt if your not good at freestyle cutting, or simply cut it into a circle.

3. Cut around the edges of your circle in a wavy motion. No pattern necessary.

4. Start at any point on the circle and start cutting in a circular pattern. Don't cut all the way to the end. Leave a little round circle at the end. (A bigger circle if your flower is bigger.) This will be the base.

5. Roll the end starting from where you began cutting. Roll it until you can hold it without unraveling.

6. Using your hot glue gun, put a little squirt of glue on the bottom edge and continue rolling. Periodically glue as you roll to hold the whole thing together.

7. One its all rolled and glued, glue the base on it. If the base is too big, you can trim it off so it isn't seen. Don't worry if it doesn't cover the entire bottom either. As long as it has a flat bottom, you'll be able to glue or safety pin it to anything.

AND TA-DAH!! You have yourself a felt flower : )

Reserve Street Wreck

I feel a little guilty "sight-seeing" today. How could I not though? I have to little boys that LOVE to see fire trucks and police cars. On top of that they could see a crane too! And only about 3 blocks from our house.

This morning at about 5am, a car and a semi-truck had a head on collision on Reserve Street. Of course it wasn't just any semi-truck, it was one carrying propane. Lucky for us, one of our good friends called Perry, but  since he didn't answer (I wish I was a sound sleeper!) he immediately called me at about 6:15a. Because the truck was carrying propane, they had to be extra cautious about the situation and call in our local gas company to check for leaks. In the meantime, our friend Matt, called to let us know that they might be evacuating our little lane because of the incident. Called to give us a heads up since we have to little kids that we'd have to get ready.

Immediately I went into panic mood. I've never been in an evacuation before! Perry was calm as ever though...got out of bed and took a shower. As for me, I kinda just paced around the living room thinking about where we go if we had to leave, and what we'd bring.

I think if I could only bring one thing from my house (other than my kids) I would bring my Hitachi external hard drive. It has all the videos and pictures of the boys on it - I couldn't imagine parting with all those memories. I'm still upset about our video camera being stolen from Perry's car last July. That makes me sick to my stomach to think that someone out there has it, with all the videos of my kids on it. Granted I had uploaded most of them, but the last couple months hadn't been...Anyways. I would leave my purse behind because, knowing Perry, he'd have his wallet in his pocket, so we'd be okay money wise until I could get replacements.

Needless to say though, Perry walked down to the end of the block and chatted with a police officer that was blocking the road. It was then confirmed that we could stay. Thank goodness! I don't know how I did it, but I somehow managed to go back to bed for a little while...

The boys and I took a short little wagon ride to the end of the block so they could see all the fire trucks and police cars. Here's what we could see from the end of our street.

On the far right you can see the crane - this was used to help put the semi back on it's wheels.
This main street has been closed now for about 12 hours, backing up traffic through out the town! It took Perry  45 minutes to get to work, a mile and a half away!

Here's the picture of the semi truck from the news station:

Here's the link for the whole story: http://www.kpax.com/full-coverage/missoula-propane-tanker-accident/#!prettyPhoto[gallery]/9/

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day 2011

Not sure who the little boy is in the back....

Christmas Eve was spent in Fairmont Hot Springs with my mom & dad and sisters, along with Perry and the boys. As soon as we arrived, everyone headed down to the pools for a nice swim. My mom had water wings and a swimsuit with built in floaties for Hunter. Hunter took to swimming a lot quicker than JP did.




As soon as we walked through the door, JP turned around and headed the other way. By the end of the swimming trip, JP was done crying and had laughed and smiled a few times. He even sat on the stairs by himself. Hunter had enough confidence to walk around the shallow end a few times. By the time we got back to the room, JP was too exhausted to even speak. He just laid on the bed and mouthed his answers.

After cleaning up from the pool, we gathered in one room to have sandwiches that Kim made, along with ham & cheese rollups and puppy chow. Not a typical Christmas dinner, but it sure was yummy! This is when I started the present giving and gave out my gifts of wine. Of course the boys wanted to open gifts so one by one they started. Out of no where, someone yelled that they saw Santa out the window and urged Hunter & JP to go check it out, and of course by the time they got to the window, Santa was gone. About twenty minutes later, Papa Craig saw Santa out the window so the boys went running to the window again, only to miss him again.

We continued to open gifts and laugh together. Suddenly Hunter shreaked, "I saw Santa! He was out the window!" He got off his chair and ran to the window. Everyone else missed him that time. We had planned for Santa, a.k.a. Papa Craig, to dropped their presents by the door, but not until morning. Once again about ten minutes later, Hunter said he saw Santa out the window. This time Papa Craig ran into the hall and let out his HoHoHo as the boys eagerly ran to the door. By the time they got there, Santa was gone, but had left his hat and their presents. Aunt Bobby took Hunter running down the hall to see if they could find him. JP wandered down the hall after them, clueless. They had so much fun opening presents when they finally got back to the room!

Once the boys had all their presents opened, it was off to bed for them. They were so tired! Not having naps and then swimming and eating candy should have wore them out sooner than it did! They were exhausted little boys, but they didn't go to bed right away. It took a few trips into the next room to quiet them down. Meanwhile the adults played Papa Craig's dice game called Craigslist. : ) Winner (myself!) received the gift Kile brought, consisting of a little Santa, some chocolate, and a bottle of wine from Poulsbo, Washington. The rest of the evening we spent opening our Santa presents and then a few of us took at late night swim.

My family + Nanny & Papa & the Aunts

The next morning we all went to church in Anaconda and then returned to the hotel for a quick bite to eat and to get photos by the tree. In Fairmont, that's almost a "have-to" thing. Then off the four of us went back home to see what Santa had left for us there. (Before we departed the day before, we set up all of Santa's gifts and stockings so they would be ready when we arrived.) After long naps in the car, the boys were ready to open presents as soon as we got home.

JP says "go way"    

Hunter says he got 5 cars

Santa gave Hunter and JP a "really cool" tool bench!

The gift Hunter had been waiting for....

We went Christmas shopping in November with the boy in tow. JP was going to get a keyboard of some sort, and since Hunter was in the right place at the right time, he scored himself a guitar. Silly mommy wrapped it without turning it to off. So every now and again (which was pretty often) this gift was bumped so Elmo would start talking. Pretty sure this is one of Hunter's favorite gifts. And on my list of "I can only hear it so much." See video below.  : )

Looks like we have a rock star on our hands! He repetitively asked Perry and I last night "Are you ready to dance?!"

Wine Bottles

This year my sisters and I agreed not to get each other presents, which is rather untypical of us. Sometimes its a free for all, other times we draw names and get a gift for one person. And then sometimes we'll draw names and a get a gift for that person, and everyone else still. Regardless, we settled on no gifting this year.

And then I found this really cute idea and could not say no! I was going to get them each a nice bottle of wine but...Nanny has how many cases left from my wedding? Kile is probably a wine connoisseur by now. Not sure if Kim and Robin are wine drinkers so I went the easy route and a purchased three Arbor Mists (all of different flavors of course!) and my mom my favorite wine - Barefoot's Pinot Grisio. Love this stuff and it goes great with pizza! Here's how they turned out!

Easiest thing to do! Get a pair of knee high sock and stick a bottle of wine in one. I tied the end in a knot and left the open end in the knot. With the other sock, I tied in into a make-shift bow. I found some inexpensive scrap booking paper and cut out name tags. I used a hemp like material to tie the tags to the bottle, but ribbon or yarn could easily be substituted. And then Ta-Da! You have a pretty little gift good for, in my case, Christmas. Also a nice hostess gift too! Why just bring a bottle of wine next time?

 Here's your cost break down:
Socks: $2.50 each at Target (Lot of fun ones there!)
            or $4.97 for a 3 pack at Wal-Mart
Wine: $3.57 for Arbor Mist (variable at your discretion)
Total: $6.07
Not bad at all!

Merry Christmas to all!

Water Turtle

We woke up today to a snowy wonderland! It was so pretty outside! At 9 degrees, a little chilly too! This is what I saw when I stepped out our front door...obviously prettier in person. And more so if it was the original pictures I took. These are pictures of pictures. They're stuck on the camera and I can't seem to upload them...along with all of our "setting up Christmas" pictures...ugh.

With that said, Christmas eve is tomorrow already! I can't wait! I am so tired of telling the boys to stop touching the tree and to stay out of the presents! Hunter has been using a present for Roxy, our dog, as a phone to call whomever he wants and opened one of JP's presents already. So frustrating. He nearly pulled the whole tree over today. I don't mean to be a Grinch, but honestly, Christmas is not one of my favorite holidays. If I had to pick one, it would probably be St. Patrick's Day. Anyways...

So tomorrow we are headed to Fairmont Hot Springs to spend Christmas eve, and part of Christmas with my family. Perry and I were a little hesitant on the idea, primarily because it's a place where people go to swim. I would go to soak in the hot tub, but I doubt that is going to happen, even once. Hunter and JP HATE water. Of all kinds, except their bath. No rivers or ponds or lakes or kiddie pools. Get too close and they scream. JP hangs on my leg for dear life. I've been able to get Hunter in the water, but only for short periods of time, ie a minute.

A few weeks back, some unfortunate guest at the hotel I work at left behind their turtle tube. Its been in the lost and found since, so I took it upon myself to retrieve it tonight. It is my hopes that they will learn to like the water...we'll see. Here's some photos of Hunter...excited already!

He wandered around the yard like this for a while....

He talks to his turtle tube like its person. He loves it and has only had it for a few hours. JP has taken to it as well...but doesn't care to wear it. Needless to say, I had to put the turtle away for the night because of too many "He's mine!".

And still on him inside while watching tv...

Also note the blanket. Neighbors Darrell and Judy gave both the boys matching blankets and Cars pjs. And a giant pop-up football tent. They enjoyed the tent for a little while, but both have been inseparable from their blankets. Kinda ridiculous. They are the exact same, but they know who's is who's.

Christmas Lights

With Christmas approaching soon, and people taking down their lights soon after, Perry and I decided we needed to take the boys out to see some Christmas lights tonight. Initially we were just going to drive around and see what we could see. However, we received a tip from some neighbors down the road that we HAD to go see the house off of Montana Street.

Boy were they ever right! We could see them from blocks away! This wasn't your typical drive by house though. It was a walk-through! The house was at the end of a dead end street so we, along with others, parked our vehicles and got out to see the display.

Hunter and Me outside of the entrance.

My boys and me checking out the Mickey Mouse display. See next picture.

Okay - So it wasn't just Mickey...Hunter loved it because Winnie was in it (of course!)

Countdown to Christmas display

This one was pretty cool! Santa was in front dancing and singing and his reindeer were dancing along with him! The snowmen were cute too! The sign the one is holding reads "Will work for freezer-space" Loved that one : ) At this display, the home owner, an older lady, came out of the garage to hand out candy canes to the young kids. The boys loved it! We were told she would wear her Mrs. Claus outfit, but didn't when we were there...ah well!

Ferris Wheel

Right next to this one was a mini version of Santa's house. You could see him laying in his bed with the fireplace going in the background. You could even SEE him sleeping. The speakers played him snoring/breathing and if you watched close enough, you could see his stomach moving up and down. Perry was in charge of pictures as I left all of my stuff at home, otherwise I'd have photo'd it. But this half of the driveway was almost like a little mini winter fair! Super cute displays!

Mommy and her boys before we left.

These pictures don't even come close to showing this display of lights! The house itself was covered in lights. There was an upstairs balcony that looked over the front lawn and had a large snowman, Santa and Mickey Mouse on display. Large like life-sized. And then from a tree hung a make-shift helicopter and the American flag hung in lights off a different tree. 

I have to wonder, where do they store all this stuff?! And how long does it take them to set it all up/ take it down! They did a wonderful job in creating a little Santa wonderland! Kudos to the people on Montana Street!

On to the less exciting but still cool.... we drove out past Big Sky HS and found the house with the yard FULL of lights that were programmed to Christmas music. Apparently you could tune into a particular radio station and see the light show with the music. We couldn't find the station. And we were parked on a downhill slope in the ditch, so Hunter kept telling dad that he needed to "not tip the car so he could see". Lots of flashy lights -would have been cool to see it with the music. They also had a massive ice sculpture in the front yard but we could see what it was. Basically, if you were to have taken a fireplace out and put it in your front yard, chimney attached, and then watered/iced it down, this is what it would have looked like. But it was also dark, so it could be cool in the day light?

After that we just drove around in the Pleasentview area to see the "regular" Christmas lights. JP really enjoyed that. He sat in the back saying nothing but "kiss-miss-ights", in a soft muted voice. (I can't decide if he could actually see them or not as it looks like he can barely see out of the window. I think he missed out on most of the houses!)

Yarn Wreath

Super excited about this! I found the idea on pinterest.com but changed it around a little bit. And let me just say, I bought a glue gun for this project and I have barely put it down. I can't believe I've gone so long without my gun!

Here's the cost breakdown:

$4.00 for the hay wreath

$3.99 for yarn (free for me though! Leftovers from a previous project!)

$.29 for each piece of felt

$1.00 for berries

Here's how to:

1. Loop your yarn around the wreath (keep the plastic on it! Less mess this way!) and tie it in a knot. Then start wrapping the yarn around the wreath. It doesn't have to be perfect! You can cover up any missed spots with flowers and such. You can also adjust the yarn when your done. This part is really time consuming but you'll eventually get into a groove. I, on the other hand, had two little boys, who will remain nameless, who found it to be lots of fun to jump in and out of "the tunnel". I made it work. 

2. I hot glued the end of yarn to the wreath once I was done. (You could also do this at the beginning if you want.)

3. Add your own touches with a hot glue gun. I made felt flowers and added some berries.

Going into this, I was planning to just make a nice looking, year-round wreath, but I was pressed for time at the store and could only find red and white felt. So a Christmas wreath it was. I'm currently in the process of knitting something to hang it with.

Fire Truck Cake

November 19, 2011

Long before Hunter turned 3 years old, he told us he wanted to be a fireman "and put out the fires!" As his birthday approached he decided (with my help of course!) that he wanted a fire truck cake for his birthday. I found the directions for this cake on bettycrocker.com as well, but changed a couple things around. He loved his cake! And yes, I already blogged about this cake on the other blog... But this was a monument cake for me, as I had never worked with fondant before. My sister Kile asked me to make a golf themed grooms cake for her wedding in May next year, so this was a good practice cake for using fondant.

Here's where I got the idea: http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/fire-engine-cake/a4c6b0d2-2347-45f2-8327-8ab7e3b328c4

Barnyard Cake

February 10, 2011

This was SO easy do! This is Jimmy's 1st birthday cake. I loved making this and love how it turned out! The only struggle I had with his cake was making the frosting red. I used a TON of cake dye. And a year later, my cutting board still has red on it... Note to self, use something different next time!  The pigs were my favorite to make! They were a little tricky, but well worth it!

Here's the link for the how-to: https://www.bettycrocker.com/videos/videolibrary/birthday-cakes/barn-cake

Bulldozer Cake

November 20, 2010

Here is Hunter's 2nd birthday cake. A bulldozer. I found the directions here: http://www.parenting.com/article/how-to-make-a-bulldozer-cake.

Looked simple enough, but before it was finished, I was yet again very frustrated. The scoop wouldn't stay on and unlike the year before, I used a chocolate bar for the windshield instead of frosting, as I thought it would be easier. Not the case. It was too heavy and wouldn't stay glued to the cake. You can see them, but there is side windows too. The graham cracker scoop got soggy from the frosting and broke in the middle. I made quite a few scoops. I should have done something like I did with the tractor cake to make it sit up higher. Ah well.

Tractor Cake

Okay, so technically this is the 1st cake I frosted....but I didn't have any of the cool cake decorating stuff : )

November 21, 2009

This was Hunter's 1st birthday cake. He was always fascinated by tractors so this was a no brainer for me. A tractor cake sounded easier on paper. As for the creation of it... not so much. This cake proved itself to be very frustrating. For whatever reason, I completely forgot about chocolate frosting and instead started mixing a bunch of colors together. This was also before I knew about the tons of different colors you could buy in the cake isle.

I didn't really have a plan when I made this, I just sort of winged it. I baked 2 cakes in loaf pans. One is the body, one I cut in half for the cab. I made the small tires out of mini pie pans, the individual servings kind. The larger tires are frosted Rice Krispy Treats. I connected the trailer to the cab with pretzels and added a Rice Krispy Treat for the hay. I wrap a couple small items in foil to place under the tractor and trailer so they would sit up higher.

My 1st Frosting Expedition

I had to start somewhere, so on April 16, 2010 I began...This was the 1st cake I've EVER frosted. I can't say I made the cake its self, as it was sitting in my co-worker's (Alicia) freezer for half a year waiting for me to frost it. She is quite the cake-maker herself, learning alot of her skills from her mom. I am fortunate to know her (and share an office with her!) because she taught me a lot of VERY handy techniques. Kudos to Alicia for being willing to teach me! Thanks for a late night of frosting!

The Sound of Silence...

It's a little after 6:00pm and I am one happy momma! Both my boys are sound asleep in their beds. JP was out as soon as he laid down (almost!) and Hunter and I fought a little bit, but was to be expected. Silly Aunt Kim didn't lay them down for naps today so now I have the night off : ) Nothing but relaxing now....I think I may open that bottle of wine on my fridge!

Christmas is nearly here already! 5 more days! The boys and I ran out to see Grandma today really quick. When backing out of the driveway, Hunter yelled "STOP THE CAR MOMMY! STOP IT NOW!" He's never said anything like this before, much less yelled it. So I stopped backing out and turned around and asked him what was wrong. In a calm, "I don't give a $%!#" voice, he responded "Jimmy forgot his blanket and he wants it." Did JP want his blanket? No. Did he know he didn't have his blanket? No. He was too busy playing with the wipe in his hand to care about anything else. Thanks for the alarm Hunter.

Anyways I digressed! Back to Christmas. On the way back from seeing Grandma, guess who pulls up and parks right next to us at a stop light? Could have been anyone in the world, and it had to be SANTA. Yup. Some old guy in his Santa suit was driving his other old posies around in a big white van, that according to Hunter, was full of presents, when clearly it was just full of old men. So now Santa is real. And he, also according to Hunter, was chasing us down the road and then went the wrong way. The actual story? He was in the other lane and then turned, because clearly he was not chasing us. Now poor Hunter thinks Santa got lost. Even more so because when we got home, our neighbor was putting his big red X on the roof of his house...so Santa could find where to land. As soon as I got him out of the car, Hunter asked me what he [Dan] was doing. I simply told him that he was putting an X on his roof so Santa knew where to land when he comes in a few days to give him presents. Confusing? For a 3-year old, yes. He just saw him driving a van, and now he's supposed to land it on the neighbors house? Hunter's response to all this? "No mom! I just saw him! He was chasing us with presents!" Needless to say, Dan looked at us a little stange...  Oh and I forgot the most important part. Santa waved to Hunter. Ugh. Thank you old man in your van! Now all Hunter wants to do is go find Santa at Wal-Mart... Not that he's seen him there or anything but because that where he lives....or something?

Make-up and Such

Nothing terribly new at our residence. But we've been staying busy like always. 

The boys and I did arts and crafts last week. (Pictures to come soon under the My Creations tab) Where we made 3 yarn wreaths and 2 hand print wreaths. Hunter really enjoyed me tracing his fingers : )

Whatever we were doing the other day was clearly not entertaining enough for Hunter as he disappeared for a short time. He ran up to me looking like this and said "Mommy I'm pretty now!" Jimmy was obviously feeling left out so he did the same thing the next day. I have handsome boys!

This past week, Hunter was moved into a twin sized bed. Not because he out grew his toddler bed (he's only 34'' tall!) but because we're thinking about moving Jim out of his crib! I think Jimmy will take the move a lot easier than Hunter did. Hunter left his crib at 15 months. Kinda too early. We're still fighting with him to stay in his bed at night. But Jimmy overall has just been a good kid, other than his crying fits when he was 0-4months old. He's also showed much more interest in potty training. He's gone potty on the little potty a couple times (and on me once). We're still working on getting Hunter consistent. He has really good days, and days where he doesn't even try. Frustrating!


In other news, Hunter can sing his ABC's with out mistakes. We are very proud! At the end of the song, he sometimes changes the words from "and next time won't you sing with me?" to "and next time Jim can't sing with me." He's a little stinker! Jim can sing ABC before he gets distracted but has been doing very well singing his version of Twinkle Little Star. 


Right now they are at the cabin with Grandma and Grandpa Dustin. They have been anxiously awaiting their trip to the cabin and were excited to hear that Grandpa John would be there. All week they spoke on their make-shift phones (apples, blocks, crayons...) to Grandpa John. It always made me giggle a bit, especially with Jimmy it sounds more like "Papa Don". We'll be headed out that way soon to pick them up and have a mini Christmas with Gma & Gpa Dustin.

Elf on the Shelf

The past few years the holidays have been somewhat stressful for me. I've never had to worry about family traditions until I met Perry. For the past three Christmas's we have been trying to merge his family tradition and my family traditions together. Open presents on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day? My family or your family this year? Anyways, in trying to merge the two, I've been trying to find things that we can start in our family to create OUR traditions.

I've been seeing this Elf on the Shelf business fairly frequently. Its rather a cute idea. Here's the story behind the Elf on the Shelf:


   "Have you ever wondered how Santa knows who is naughty and who is nice? The Elf on the Shelf – A Christmas Tradition is the very special tool that helps Santa knows who to put on the Naughty and Nice list. This interactive holiday hide-and-seek tradition is perfect for children and families of all ages.
   "The tradition begins when Santa sends his scout elves out to Elf Adoption Centers. Waiting for their families to bring them home, these patient elves hibernate until their family reads The Elf on the Shelf, gives their elf a very special name, and registers their adoption online. Once named, each scout elf will receive its Christmas magic and become a part of the family’s Christmas each and every year.
   "Excellent listeners and even better observers, these scout elves are the eyes and ears of Santa Claus. Although they cannot be touched, or else they may lose their magic, the elf will always listen and relay messages back to Santa. Taking in all the day-to-day activities around the house, no good deed goes unnoticed; these scout elves take their job seriously.
   "Each night, after the family goes to bed, the scout elf uses his magical Christmas powers to fly back to the North Pole. Once there, the elf will make his or her daily report to Santa and visit with elf friends where they will tell stories about their beloved families, play with the reindeer, and of course, sneak some of Mrs. Claus’ cookies!
   "Before the family awakes each morning, their special scout elf will fly back to their home from the North Pole. However, since these elves like to play games, don’t expect to find them in the same spot! While some like to hide in the freezer (probably because it reminds them of the North Pole) and others prefer to sit on the fireplace mantle or hang from the chandelier, these elves love to play hide-and-seek with their families.
   "On Christmas Eve, the scout elf will listen for Santa’s bell and then fly back to the North Pole until the next season, wishing every girl and each boy a Christmas of peace and a year full of joy."


I thought this would be a fun and new tradition to start with the boys. I think I might go get one this year and introduce them to the idea, and they're still too young to fully understand anyways. And then we'll be ready to go next year!

Christmas is near!

I can't believe Christmas is almost here! Seems like we just celebrated... We took our "annual" trip to Spokane beginning of November where we shopped at Toys R Us for Christmas gifts. With the boys in tow. Also with the hopes that Hunter would forget what we purchased. He hasn't. He is quick to remind us that his guitar is in the garage. 

Yesterday I successfully raked and mowed our front and backyards (in December!?). In the meantime, Hunter snuck into the garage. By the time I retrieved him, he was standing in front of the BIG Home Depot tool bench box, nearly shaking with excitement. "Its gonna be really pretty fun mom!" This prompted me to take all the gifts inside during naptime to get them wrapped. However it didn't happen until after they went to bed. Of course, I color coded all the gifts. Hunter has the red paper with the HO HO HO all over it, simply because he'll most likely go for those ones anyways as they have large "H's" all over them. Jimmy has the green "No Peeking" wrapping. Typical because he's the most likely to peek. 

We set up our Christmas tree the other day. So far we've only had one broken ornament. I think we're doing pretty good, especially since Hunter played his version of bumper cars with the tree last night. Last year the boys received a teddy bear that reads the whole story of The Night Before Christmas. I think I've heard it about 15 times in the last 3 days. UGH. Hunter took him off the shelf the other and put him down for his nap in his room the other day. Tucked him in and everything - also instructed me to stay out cuz he was sleeping. 

This year for Christmas we are meeting up with my family at the Fairmont Hot Springs Resort for Christmas Eve. Perry and I both have to work on the 26th, so we'll be headed back on Christmas day to celebrate a few traditions on Perry's side. And to open the presents Santa left at home for the boys. They are getting the tool bench, primarily a Hunter gift, and an art easel, mostly a Jimmy gift, knowing that they will both use each. Jimmy loves to color. I think he would color all day if you let him. I actually found the tip of a crayon when he sneezed it out of his nose the other day... Hunter is also getting a twin sized bed. I bought bed on craigslist the other day. Now we just need to get a mattress for it. 

Santa made an appearance in our house 2 years ago, right after Hunter turned one. He was terrified. Luckily, I think he's gotten over his fear as he really wants to go see Santa. We're hoping to make a trip to Walmart on Saturday when Santa is there. Hopefully it goes well. Jimmy might not enjoy it so much...

Potty Time

We had lots of excitement in the bathroom today, by both boys. We're not potty training Jimmy yet, but we'll let him sit and "go potty" whenever Hunter does. This evening though he actually went! He got up and ran over to me and yelled WENT! I checked it out and it didn't look like he did so I sat him back down and proceeded to tend to Hunter. He promptly got right back in my face yelled NO! WENT! And sure enough he did....like 6 drops. It counts though, right? He was super excited! 


As for Hunter, he's pretty much mastered going potty. He occasionally still has accidents every now and again, but mostly when he's busy doing something. Otherwise he's been good about excusing himself to go to the bathroom, and staying dry at nap time. 


The first time Hunter pooped in his potty, we had Grandma over for her birthday dinner. Hunter excused himself to go potty and then came back to dinner. 10 minutes later he excused himself again to go potty. Once he's done he's sure to yell "I just went potty!" And this time was no different. Perry went to help him clean up. As soon as Perry open the door, Hunter announced again that he went potty. However, Perry was quick to correct him when he stood up, so he then VERY proudly announced, with very big eyes, "I went poop!" 


The second time was fairly similar, as was the 3rd except he went on the big potty. Today however he told me he had to go poop so he let himself in the bathroom and shooed me out. I went back in to check on him a little while later, and he announced to Jim and me that "I just went poop!" He stood up to show me and then with a huge smile and big eyes looked at the potty and then looked at me and said "a really big one!! Now I get oreos!" Jimmy meanwhile was in the hall yelling "High-five, high-five! Knuckles! Knuckles!" So as soon as we left the bathroom Jimmy was handing out high-fives and knuckles (the exploding kind!) to Hunter. They were both super excited about the dump Hunter had. : )