Christmas Eve

A day of cleaning (my parents are coming tomorrow), last minute grocery shopping (because I always forget something and we're having Christmas dinner at our house), cookie making and evening mass.

The best part of the day was of course, the cookie making.  (Church was beautiful and special, but who am I kidding, an hour in an enclosed pew trying to keep a 3 yr old busy boy quiet is not my favorite activity).  We pulled out the Cookie Book and looked for yummy cookies.  I already knew we had to make Doug's Santa's favorite peanut butter cookies.  Mary picked out cool colorful sugar cookies.  We used the paste food coloring and made great colors and then had fun being creative.  It was very similar to our playdoh sessions only we could eat the finished product.  Score!

Doug even got in on the action and made a couple cute cookies.  He made a Lightning McQueen pit crew snowman for Adam and a Princess (who resembles a severely sunburned hula girl) for Mary.  Did I mention this was so much fun?

And of course, the best part is always the taste test.  Yum!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Girl's Weekend 2012

Yesterday, we took Doug and Adam to the airport for their early trip to Kansas City for Thanksgiving.  Mary and I will join them on Wednesday, since she has school.  We decided that we needed to have a fun girl's weekend to celebrate our time together (and keep us from missing the boys too much).

We headed out to the mall for some Christmas shopping.  We then realized we needed something special for Mary.  We thought about this...

        Or this...

But fell in love with this.  So pretty.

Mary had a short lived virus Thursday and Friday and I could tell she was still a bit puny, so I chose not to head to Norfolk for the pre-Illumination Parade festivities (face painting, carnival rides, arts and crafts, etc, but all outside in the cold and wind).  However, after a good dinner, I made a spur of the moment decision to go to the parade that started at 7pm.  We ran into some serious traffic.  Thank goodness we left early enough, thank goodness I have such an easy going little girl who didn't make a single complaint.  What should have been a 15 min. drive took us just over an hour.  We parked and high tailed it to the parade that had already been going on for 40 minutes.   We found a teeny tiny spot to wedge ourselves into and watched the festivities through a 5 inch gap of heads.  Seeing the smile on this girl's face was 100% worth it.  She was so happy.

We even saw Santa.  Mary said he looked at her, waved and blew her a kiss.  She must be on the "nice" list this year.  :)

The very second Santa disappeared around the corner, the massive crowd threatened to stampede us on their rush to get to their cars.  Mary and I decided to head to the mall (2 blocks away) to get a treat.  I'll be honest, I wasn't too anxious to get back in the traffic jams.  We meandered to the food court and found a cute bakery stuffed with delicious, mouth watering, diet blowing desserts.  There were red velvet cupcakes, chocolate ones, sprinkled ones, and cookies galore.  I told Mary she could pick anything she wanted.  She looked around and chose...a pear.  Yep, she saw a basket of fruit and wanted a pear.  OK.  I then asked her if she wanted a juice and she chose a bottle of water.  Where did I go wrong?  (insert head shaking)  Just kidding.  Needless to say, I chose an apple.  (reinsert head shaking)

And the only way to end our "girl only" special day?  A carnival ride of course.  Thank goodness it was already waaaay past bedtime or she would have been begging me to try the man made ice skating rink they had outside the mall.  That was one full day.

Today, we weren't quite as busy, but we were certainly productive.  I've been wanting to paint Adam's room for quite awhile now and thought this would be the perfect opportunity, since it will now have a whole week to air out before he gets back.  Plus, painting with a 2 yr old isn't as easy as it sounds.  Amazing, huh?  Mary really wanted to paint, so of course I let her because 1) 6 yr olds are great painters, 2) I enjoy testing my patience and doing jobs twice and 3) it's her brother's room.  He won't be looking at it with a critical eye.  There was only 1 accident...Adam's comforter got a mysterious blop of blue paint on it.  Mary said it wasn't her, I know it wasn't me, so we have agreed to disagree.  Doug would tell me I should have thrown a tarp over the bedding.  Yeah, hindsight's 20/20.  Oh well, at least it isn't a huge blop.

We finished the room and by 6:00pm, little girl was yawning and saying it was time for bed.  I guess girl weekends are pretty exhausting.  I have to say this has been a wonderful experience.  I truly miss my little man, but it's rare to get this much one on one time with Mary.  She is growing into such a fantastic, smart, fun, and easy going girl.  We are so lucky.

Is it Friday yet?

This week has been crazy busy.  We started off with Hurricane Sandy blowing through on Sunday and Monday.  We were so lucky to not have any damage or flooding.  We didn't even lose power.  Doug got a day off from work and Mary's school was canceled.  My heart goes out to all the people who weren't so lucky.

Tuesday, I was busy making cupcakes and pumpkin cupcake toppers for Mary's class.  I love crafts, any crafts.  That's probably why I give myself extra work making things versus buying things...or even going simpler.  Cause really, are a bunch of 5 yr olds really going to be impressed that I made homemade marshmallow fondant, shaped them into pumpkins, hand cut out sugar paper for the faces and even made the cupcakes layered chocolate and white cake (dyed orange)?  It was practically an all day event, but I loved it.  Yes, the kids would have been happy with regular icing and sprinkles.  Maybe next time.  Maybe not.

Wednesday was a flurry of activity from delivering goodies to Mary's class and of course, trick or treating.  This was the first year that I couldn't coordinate the kids costumes, since they both had a clear idea of what they wanted to be.  I was kinda disappointed, but I knew it would happen sooner or later.  I absolutely LOVE that Adam let me put a mustache on him.  It helps that in all the Thomas books we read, his train driver has a mustache.  Mary got to wear some of my lipstick and powder, so she truly felt like a princess.

Funny story, last year when we trick or treated, some of the neighbors would let the kids pick out what candy they wanted and Adam would always grab handfuls.  This year, they put the candy in the kids bags.  Adam didn't seem to realize this was his signal to say "Thank you!" and walk away.  Instead he continued to stand there and would shake his bag.  Yes, they always gave him more.  Then they gave Mary more since they apparently had "candy guilt" and didn't want her to feel left out.  Oh boy.  It was hard not to laugh.  Needless to say, we have tons of candy.  It will probably last us the whole year.

And today is Thursday and it's All Saint's Day.  The kids were encouraged to dress up as a Saint.  Mary had her heart set on St. Rose of Lima.  I cut up an tablecloth, tied a rope around her waist, made a cross necklace out of cardboard and hand made 41 tissue paper roses.  Yes, I'm nuts.

I cut out hearts, rolled the tops, taped them to wire and covered the wire with floral tape.  It really wasn't hard, but it was time consuming.  

I think it was worth it.  She was (and is) beautiful.

That is one "saintly" class.

Now, whew, I'm tired and looking forward to a relaxing weekend.  Goodnight!!!

Pumpkins!

It's pumpkin time!  Unfortunately, we ran out of time (weather related and activity related) and couldn't do a pumpkin patch and hayride this year.  Thank goodness the kids are so laid back and haven't even mentioned it.  We had to send in a small pumpkin to school and the kids did a great project weighing, measuring, estimating the seed count, hypothesizing if the pumpkins would float or sink, tasting and even filling them with potting soil and seeing if the would grow any new pumpkins.  School is so cool.  A few days later, they brought them home and Mary promptly painted a face on hers and named her Rose.  I'm proud to announce that Rose is a mommy and has about 4 seedlings popping up!

Girl Scouts netted us another pumpkin and this one they wrapped in gauze and decorated as mummies.  Super cute!

Another pumpkin project at school involved the kindergartners pairing up with the second graders to pick out a pumpkin then cut out face pieces from magazines and glue them on.  Mary's looked a bit creepy...like Suzanne Somers and Weird Al Yankovic had a kid.  Good thing the glue didn't hold and the nose fell off...quickly followed by the eyes and the scary grin.

So long story short, we now had a pumpkin to carve. 

Mary was so excited.  Adam decided it was too slimy and gooey and he wanted no part in the action...except to make crazy faces.  (What is it with their tongues today?)

Mary had a fun time naming the new family members.  From left to right - Toot (because apparently he has a flatulence problem), Rummy Dummy the Mummy (I mentioned that Dummy was kinda mean and I literally saw her roll her eyes as she said, "Mom, it's a pumpkin.  It doesn't have feelings."  So Dummy it is.), Mellow Yellow and of course, Rose.

Hopefully, Hurricane Sandy will give us a break and it won't be raining on Halloween night.  Have a Spooktacular Weekend!

Kill Devil Hills, NC

Let me start off by telling you about the school's auction.  Last spring, Doug and I attended Mary's school auction.  We bid and "won" on a few of the silent auction items.  The main auction items went for some serious dough and we were just happy to watch and be amazed.  One of the items was a day trip with 2 of the school's teachers to a beach house in the Outer Banks.  It's a fun filled day of arts and crafts, lunch, and of course, the beach.  The lady that "won" just happens to be the grandmother to one of Mary's classmates.  That little girl could invite 2 friends, and Mary was chosen as one of them.  Her older sister also invited 2 friends, so there was a total of 6 kids.  Due to the Diocese of Richmond rules, the teachers are unable to drive the kids in their personal vehicles, so this past Sunday, we had a nice caravan of cars driving to Kill Devil Hills, NC.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect.  The teachers had everything arranged and the parents were more than welcome to stay and play or escape for some quiet alone time.  I chose to hang out on the beach for a while with the kids, then I left to get a bite to eat and explore the Wright Brother's museum.  Mary had an amazing time.

Mary and her friend, Isobella.

Running around during the scavenger hunt.

I loved the game "Who can dig to China?"  They weren't allowed to use shovels.  I think a better title would be "Who can wear out the kids the most?"

Now, everyone sit in your hole!

Bubbles!

What an awesome day.  I love this pic.  She looks so much older than 5.

One of a kind set of coasters

Last year I bought us some cute cardboard coasters for the living room, but after normal (or abnormal) wear and tear from the kids, they are in need of replacements.   Hello, craft project!

I found these great wooden pieces at the dollar store.  There was also a pack of 16 sheets of felt for yep, $1.  Fantastic!

I painted each coaster black then printed, cut and glued on some of my favorite pictures.  Mary helped me glue on the felt pieces.  I think it's fun that each one has a different colored "bottom".  I then sprayed  them with an acrylic sealer to help protect them.

 Ta-da!  A super fast project.  I think they look pretty cool.  And you can't beat a new set of unique coasters for $4.25!

A busy, busy few days

Mary's class has a "Mystery Reader" every Friday who comes to read a favorite story.  2 Weeks ago, Mrs. Paul (the principal) was the mystery reader.  This past Friday, it was me.  Mary had NO idea and it was a complete surprise.  What a great moment to walk around the corner into her classroom and see her face light up.  I read one of our favorite books, Stinky, Smelly Feet by Margie Palatini.  I had an idea to tie in a quick art project with the book, so I checked with Ms. Ryan first and thankfully, she was on board.  She was truly a good sport considering I wanted the kids to make a clay mold of their foot and it was messy, a tad bit stressful (since we had to hurry and get the kids to music class), but overall, a lot of fun.  We used the air dry clay from Crayola and so we just left them in the classroom all weekend to dry and they got to bring them home today.  But more on that later...

Saturday the kids and I used up the remaining clay.  Thank goodness we did it on the back deck.  Did you know that if you continuously add water to air dry clay, it dissolves into a white milky liquid that splashes everywhere?  Well you do now.  I was able to make a small bowl and a chunky heart shaped paperweight.  The rest was lost in an ooey, gooey mess.

Later, we got clean with a little slip n' slide (er, crawl n' scoot) action (thankfully, they're unaffected by the lack of hills in our yard) and some good 'ole cherry lemonade always brings smiles.
































You know it's a good day when Adam curls up and falls asleep while we're having our evening story time.  And no, I don't think I'm that boring.  :)  Mary accused him of falling asleep so he could avoid brushing his teeth.















And today, Mary came home with her footprint, so we had a late afternoon painting session.  Mary decorated her stinky, smelly foot, Adam decorated my bowl and I supervised so there would be minimal decorating of the table, or chairs, or bodies...

We also had a big surprise involving rotting wood around our door frames.  That involves a post of it's own, but I'll wait until we have our new door...