Jammies, Cupcakes, Reindeer and Bokeh...huh?

Jack turns four years-old in three days.

I'm not ready to talk about it.

I just cannot believe that my little boy is going to be 4!

But, like I said, I'm not ready to talk about it.

Instead, I just want to share what we did the morning of his last day of preschool before Christmas break and before his birthday. Poor bugger's birthday will always be clumped in with Christmas. Not if I have anything to say about it! I will always do my best to unclump it and make it special.

So, here goes....

We stayed in our jammies all morning...we played, we baked cupcakes and we made Reindeer food.

Jammies.

A little insight into these pictures... Jack asked me to take a picture of him with Owen.

Jack snuggled up real close to his baby brother and then Owen snuggled up real close to his big brother.

And then he gave him a kiss (unprompted, even).

Awww....love these moments.

Cupcakes.

 I wanted to make treats for Jack to bring to his preschool class in celebration of his birthday. To honor Jack's request of cupcakes, I went on an internet search for an idea and I came across these colorburst cupcakes. Perfect... they are fun, colorful, easy for Jack and I to make together, and contain lots of sugar and color additives (just what a bunch of 3 year-olds need...I totally kid). No, but seriously,  they reminded of the rainbow cake and the fruit and veggie rainbow pancakes I also came across awhile ago, something I always have wanted to try. 

The boys and I whipped up the colorburst cupcakes together.

Jack mixed the colors into the separate batters, I layered them into the liners and O tried to stir up some trouble by flinging his batter-dipped spoon everywhere.

Okay, so this cupcake talk is getting pretty lengthy. Sorry...moving on.

I'm pretty sure they watched them bake the entire 20 minutes.

And voila...rainbow cupcakes with vanilla frosting and Christmas sprinkles (it's all I had)!

I guess they enjoyed them because Jack came home with an empty pan and a frosting-covered face.

Actually, Owen and I shared one while Jack was at school and I have to say these were super yum!

Reindeer Food.

We made packets of Reindeer food for each of his friends at school.

This little project truly took like 15 minutes (at the most) and Jack loved it! Reindeer talk is very magical!

I printed off the labels at home, we mixed the food together (oatmeal, sugar and red/green sprinkles and sugar crystals) and then stapled them onto little plastic baggies. And there you have it, Reindeer food you can sprinkle on your lawn or deck on Christmas Eve.  

See...Magical.

And a couple nights later, I tried Bokeh with my camera, my Christmas tree and my little dudes.

My first try at it and it kinda worked, but with a snotty nosed O-bubs sucking on a random stick. My attempts after this failed as my camera kept focusing on the tree instead of my patient and willing subject, Jack. Hmm?

Real life this picture is, but I need to give it a try again. Pictures like these and/or these would be nice.

Three Favorites.

My O-Bubs has three favorite things (besides his big brother, Gaw).

They are Nookie, Naanie and B-Boo...aka pacifier, blanket and monkey.

They are his loveys and he can't have one without the others. If he asks us for his Nookie, then you know he will be asking for his Naanie and B-Boo as well. They help him relax, they help him cuddle, they comfort him and they help him sleep (thank goodness!). 

When Owen was a baby, he was a horrible sleeper. I'm pretty sure he did not sleep through the night consistently until he was about 12 months old. And that was after a few heart-wrenching tries of the cry-it-out method. At the time, he did not want anything to do with these three loveys and he would push them away. But, this Momma needed sleep (real bad!) so I kept giving them to him all.the.time. I just kept thinking, he needs something consistent in his crib to comfort and sooth him back to sleep. He needs something besides his Momma and a bottle. Miraculously (and to me it was a miracle after all those months of little sleep) and after a lot of crying and lovey pushing, it worked and he is now just the absolute best sleeper! 

At night, while I am rocking him, he asks to be put in his crib (he points to his crib and says, "creeeb") where he cuddles up with his three loveys and falls fast asleep. Funny thing is, now that he has gotten to this place, I don't want to let him go.

I want to hold him and cuddle him. I want to rock my baby and sing softly to him while we are holding hands. I want to hold on tight to him and to this precious time. This precious time when his three loveys are his favorites and he looks up at me with his big blue eyes like I am the best Momma in the whole world.

I hope he looks at me like that forever.

Ten on Tuesday.

1. The plastic bag monster terrifies me.

 

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I have visions of this 'monster' growing bigger and bigger with every year my babies get older and older! Ahhhh...I don't want this thing taking over! I have made a promise to myself to try my best to only use my reusable bags for all types of shopping. No plastic...I need to do my part in stopping this monster. So, related this, I have a great Christmas present for the green/trying to be green shopper in your life.

Esse Resuable Carryall Tote

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The tote includes three grocery bags, one produce bag and one everyday bag.

The tote clips right onto your grocery cart handle and voila, you're ready to go get some shopping done!

(without plastic.) I bought myself one last spring and it's great!

2. There are so many (and I mean so many) holiday candy and cookie recipes that I want to try, but there is so little time and so few mouths in this house to eat them all. What's a girl to do? Here are few that have my mouth watering...

Cherry Cheesecake Cookies

Peppermint Fudge Cupcake Jars

Glass Block Holiday Jello (for the boys)

Apple Cider Caramels

Butter Toffee

I guess a girl better get baking!

3. Every morning, when I am getting ready for the day, O-bubs pulls on my pants leg and says, "Momma, up...Momma, uppy".

He wants to sit on the bathroom counter right next to me. He loves to play with my make-up and suck on the tube of toothpaste. I've grown very fond of this time we spend together each morning. It completes my day!

4. Speaking of my almost 2 year-old Owen (what...how can this be?), the daycare providers at our gym daycare call him 'Tornado'. And I agree, he is a little tornado right now.

(sorry about the wonky cell-phone picture)

He recently learned to use these rings we hung in our basement.Which by the way, are a.w.e.s.o.m.e. for little kids. Lots of energy can be released on them and what kiddo doesn't like to hang like a monkey!

5. I made Greek-Style Stuffed Chicken (do I capitalize that?) last night for dinner. It was so delicious. I just wanted to share for all my Greek loving/bored with your current chicken recipe peeps!

6. On a whim the other night, I decided to whip up some gingerbread houses (minus the actual gingerbread and add graham crackers) with the boys. Sometimes my whims work and sometimes they flop. 

Flop.

They were much more interested in eating the candy and could have cared less about making a cute house with windows, doors, and shutters made out of the candy.

I don't even think I have the energy to try it again this year.

7.  But, the next day Jackers made it all better for his Momma when he told me he was building me a house.

and 

when told me he was packing up his toys to give to "lots of other children who don't have any".

(so, he has been listening to my endless talk about what Christmas really means....)

Maybe we can give gingerbread houses(with actual gingerbread) another try.

8. This is an absolute must if you have small children who still believe.

9.And this is an absolute must, if you just want a really good laugh. Make sure to read the blogger's captions under each picture, very funny!

10.  Today, this made me smile...big.

Santa's Helper.

George, the elf is back in town.

Well, he's been back for a few weeks and he is showing to be one busy little elf. He just appeared one morning hanging from the star at the top of our Christmas tree. Oh my, is he ever magical in the eyes of the boys (especially Jack, who's totally into it) this year. By day, he sits, hangs or stands somewhere in our house and by night, he travels back to the North Pole with reports on the boys for Mr. Claus. As he makes his way back into our home each morning, he seems to pick a new spot to hang out for the day. Finding him each morning is super fun for the boys and it makes them erupt into giggles and wonder as to how he got there. It's unbelievably precious. Truly, the look (of pure amazement) in their eyes is something I wish I could bottle up and save forever and ever.

George must be an adventure seeker, look at him trying to get a ride from Spike.

I wonder where he will be in the morning.....

A Family Dog...

puts up with and secretly enjoys this.

Jack: Momma, look at me, I'm dancing with Beasley!

Beasley: Seriously? Are you going to help a dog out?

What we've been up to...version 3.

What we've been up to this past week....

 1. Despite our daily intake of all of the following, we were hit (and hit hard) with 'the gross, icky stomach flu bug'. I'll spare you the details, but it got to all four of us at relatively the same time and we were down for two whole days. It even interrupted my birthday weekend in Chicago with my girls! As soon as I got there, I turned around and had to come back home. I was so sad, so very sad!

But, the good thing (if there is one?) about the whole situation is now hopefully, 'the icky, gross stomach flu bug' of 2010 has now cleared our systems just in time for the holidays! We definitely don't want a repeat of last year!

2.  Jack officially learned to roll his tongue recently and he simply cannot stop doing it. It's now rubbing off on O-man and he thinks he's perfected the skill as well! It makes me giggle and reminds of the time when I was about 5 years-old and my older brother (9 or 10 years-old at the time) learned to make farting noises under his arm...that was an all night-no sleep event for him and his friends. I however, did not partake...gross!

 3. When I received my Christmas Ballard catalog in the mail, I was very excited! I opened it to this page and I knew immediately I had to recreate this ornament tree for my home!

 

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So I did, the other day and here it is...

It's not exact, it's not as full, but I still love it.

I love all the bright colors! It just makes me smile!

4. We have been playing outside and shoveling the driveway a lot!

My two little snow-playing boys, so cute in their puffy get-ups. Seriously, it cracks me up!

When I saw this post, I thought "how could I not have noticed (especially after watching this movie 2000 times) the similarity in my own boys?"!

Too funny! 

After we play in the snow and our bodies are chilly, we warm up with....

Their new fav!

5. The boys are all about Play-doh! They are wanting/willing to play with this stuff all.the.time and sometimes will play with it for over an hour. This is perfect for when dinner needs to me prepared or a blog wants to be written.

Today, we made Christmas shapes or as Jack told me, "No momma, they are not called Christmas shapes, they are called Christmas things". Okay?

6. We also have been playing in our cardboard box-playhouse/farm/ship/space shuttle. 

 The boys are pretending to be farmers feeding corn (Honey-Nut Cheerios) to their chickens (the dogs).

Have your ever read Little Boy by Allison Mcghee? 

This sweet-sweet book about a little boy is a must-have that you will treasure forever, especially for all you mommas who have your own sweet little boys. 

In this book, the little boy's daily routine, "depends on his big cardboard box".

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I'm off to get my Christmas shopping completed and solve my front door holiday wreath dilemma.

Happy Friday!

Dear Santa...

here are a few things that I have been dreaming of!

(I am a kid at heart....wink-wink!).

1.

CHI hair straightener

To put it simply, this is basically one of the best inventions for my hair that has ever been created! It gets so hot (300 degrees +) that I only have to swipe it through sections of my horse hair once to get it to look just right.

It can do

and

Who knew?!?

The whole, 'you can curl your hair with a hair straightener' was completely new to me! I had no idea this was possible...thank goodness I have one very girlie/wanna-be hair stylest SIL who teaches me about all this stuff!  Here is a super quick video showing you just how, in case this is new to you as well!

2.  One of these, er actually both of these would be nice. I can't believe I still don't have either!?! I have entered about 152 of Pioneer Woman's giveaways with no luck and the the kitchen fairy never answered my wishes...seriously, what gives?

food processor

mixer

3.  A new lens for my camera, like this one:

Canon 50mm f1.2

It just happens to be a wee bit expensive, so I was thinking this next lens might be more fiscally responsible due to my limited photography abilities.

Canon 50mm f1.4

4. Power tools!

Dremel Multi-Max

jigsaw

5. Two tickets to someplace like this!

6. This super cute scarf/wrap/neckwarmer....I'm in love.

 Vital Temptation

8. And a rosette necklace, similar to these. These, however, are currently all sold out. Gah!

Allora Handmade

9.   At least a few times a week, I say to Pat, "we really need to get better at taking videos of the boys". Well, here's my solution, the flip video camcorder. It's small, lightweight, super easy to use and I can just throw it into my purse!

Flip Video Camcorder

I know Christmas is not all about presents, candy and Santa, but a girl can dream, right?