Christmas Re-Cap...

I realize that we are well on our way into 2010, but since I was so far behind on my blogging and missed out on all the Christmas fun, I thought I would do a bit of a Christmas Re-Cap.  Atleast this way when next Christmas rolls around I'll be able to remember what I did this past Christmas.  Right now I can barely remember yesterday.  My memory is like swiss cheese, full of holes!  Anyway, here are some of my favorite things from this Christmas.

I scaled back this year in all areas.  We bought less.  We did more hand made.  I even decorated less.  I had a hard time getting into the decorating and it felt a little forced, so I spent less time decking the halls and a lot more time enjoying the season with my boys.  Looking back, those changes were all for the best.  With that said, I didn't put up all of my trees.  We did the boys' tree in the family room:

This tree has all of the ornaments they have made or picked out in their short little lives. They are all about the colored lights, so I just go with it.
This is the mantle in the family room.  Walker helped me put it up and he was so proud.  It is in the same room as the boys' tree so it also has colored lights.

Walker got a new tree for his room this year.  It was a tacky little tree, but he LOVED it, and that is what matters.

Connor's tree is white and he enjoys having one in his room so much.

I put the 30 year old tree from Lon's childhood in my kitchen window. It holds ornaments the boys have made in church and school.  Those are the most special ornaments to me.

I hung this wreath that I "beefed up" on the front door.

I put this tall wooden snowman on the front porch.

I put all of our Christmas cards on a simple ribbon.

We made a lot of people birdhouses:

We made the boys teachers ornaments and some baked goods.  This is one of Walker's ornaments.

And here is Connor's ornament for his teacher.

But more than anything else, we spent time together.  We crafted, baked, watched Christmas movies, and drank more hot calorie laden drinks than it should be legal to consume in a month's time.  Guess that explains why I will be starting Weight Watchers Wednesday back up on Wednesday!  I hope your Christmas was a great one, full of special times with family and friends too!

Best of the Week...

I figured you might be wondering where I am. I've been so scarce around here lately that you might need a magnifying glass (like Connor) to spot me.

It was Con's 3rd birthday last week, and we did 2 small parties instead of one big one. It was so much easier this way. He had his party at school with his friends.

And then he had his party at home with family. We had pizza and birthday cake and the little man did it all in his underwear. Oh the beauty of a party with family! Walker was convinced it was his birthday too. Every.Single.Person. that got Connor a gift got Walker one too. When we sang Happy Birthday Walker even added his own name to the end of the song and helped blow out the candles on the cake.

I have also been spending a lot of time working on Christmas presents. Not really great ones, but more of the little tedious kind. I made 4o little Santa treats for the boys' friends at school. I'll post about those this week.

"Santa" did all of his/her shopping this week. We had 2 kids in tow. We drove 2 cars and used a tag team method. The boys went into stores and showed us everything they liked, then Dad stayed behind to show Santa while we went on to the next store.

We got the annual Santa pic at the mall the same night.

Saturday it was cold and wet out, so we spent the entire day at home, in our jammies!! Lon was off work (from all of his jobs) which is a rarity these days, so we had a family day. It was wonderful. The boys and I made Christmas ornaments for their teachers, and did some baking. Then we had movie night and popcorn before bedtime. Walker has still been working on some dance moves. I thought I would offer some assistance and teach him to move his hips. He obviously doesn't need my help. I hope he never loses the confidence to dance like no one is watching!

Oh, and Walker and I snuggled in our Snuggies. Ridiculous? Absolutely, but Walker and I both got one and we love them. (Most of these pics are from Thanksgiving in TN at my parents' house).

The boys and I have been making a lot of handmade Christmas ornaments this year, so I will try to get all those posted this week so you can make them if you want to. I let my Sunday School class (4 and 5 year olds) make angels yesterday at church, and they loved them. That is one you will definitely want to do with the kids.

I hope you had a wonderful week and I hope to catch up with you all soon!

Best of the Week...

It has been a really busy week full of field trips, parties, and candy. Here are the highlights.

Sunday was Trunk or Treat at our church. Walker doesn't dress up. He hates costumes, so he sported his Halloween t-shirt. Con was Thomas the Train.

Walker's trip to the pumpkin patch was Monday, and Walker rode on a school bus for the first time. Oh the joys of childhood. I don't remember it being quite so bumpy. Walker was thrilled to be out of a booster seat. He rode a horse and picked a pumpkin, but he loved the mop races.

Walker's Halloween party was on Wednesday, and I made lots of goodies for his class. The witch's hands were a big hit!

Friday was Connor's class party and Trunk or Treat. He loves his teacher and all of his little friends he is making, but he has ANOTHER ear infection right now, so he wasn't in the best mood.

Friday night we went to the fair. Connor rode lots of things this year, but Walker was only interested in riding animals. Somehow I got roped into riding the camel with Walker. Oh the things we do for our kids. That poor camel earned his money that night!

Saturday my parents came to town, and Lonnie and Walker carved some pumpkins. Since Walker and Connor are the only grands on both sides, we had a lot of grandparents here to watch them trick or treat. We rode the golf cart around the neighborhood and they got gobs of candy. (Mom took all of the pictures on Halloween, so I will have to see about getting some for your viewing pleasure.)

I also can't do Best of the Week without mentioning a gift my boys got in the mail. We were totally surprised on Thursday when the mail man had a package for Walker and Connor. Imagine my surprise when it was from a fellow blogger!! Staci at Park Avenue and I have become fast friends via our blogs. (We even plan to attend Blissdom together this year!) She was so sweet to send the boys this little treat. They loved it all, but the bubble wrap paper was a HUGE hit. Thanks again Staci! Well that about wraps up my week. I hope you had a wonderful Halloween weekend. I am gonna go brew some coffee and start on a new book. A little down time will be a welcome change!

Busy Bee...

I'm still here. I know, it's been a while! Last week when I posted Weight Watchers Wednesday on Saturday I felt terrible for being so behind. Well, this week is over and I have not posted since Tuesday. I will do better. I promise! So, just in case you are curious about what we have been so busy doing, here is a quick update.

Weight Watchers Wednesday... I lost .5 lb. for a running total of 35.2 lbs. Very happy with the progress and at this rate I should be able to hit 52 lbs. by the end of the year (1 lb. a week).

Lonnie got inducted into his high school's Football Hall of Fame on Friday night, and we had company for the weekend. Here are a couple pics from Friday.

Here we are below his plaque.

I was just as proud as a peacock of my hubby. He is a very humble person, but this honor is saved for a select few and he was so honored they chose him.

I went Saturday morning to a huge community yard sale in Bluffton (right outside Hilton Head) with my mother in law and a couple friends. We had a great time and scored some great deals. I'll share those on Tuesday!

I somehow managed to talk Lonnie into helping me with one of my projects this afternoon. While Connor LOVES tools and helping Mom with her projects...
He looks like such a little monkey with his goggles on pushing down his ears!
Lon is not such a fan. He was a good sport about it though, and we managed to get started on my old door transformation. We are trying to turn it into a corner shelf, but when we started cutting it it started falling apart. I guess there is a reason it was free. We are making some progress and I am not one to give up, so I will post about it later this week when I finish it.

I hope you have had a wonderful week and I hope to be catching up with all my blogging soon, so much to share with you!

It's the Simple Things...

We have been in TN visiting with Nonnie and Pop ( my parents) since Wednesday night, and it has been so relaxing. We have done a lot of fun stuff, but it's always the simple things that the boys enjoy the most. Here they are visiting with my great grandparents (their great-great grandparents, that's 5 generations!). We are super blessed that Mamaw and Papaw are still so healthy. They still live in the house that my Papaw built and they still drive and keep up thier own yard, etc. The boys love to go over there because they have a lot of land and lots of cats and dogs.

Here they are having a grass fight where Papaw mowed...

And playing in the tall field that he hasn't mowed yet.

And of course they have to try on Papaw's hat. Here it is on Papaw...

and Walker...

and finally on Connor...
As you can see, I have been taking pictures like crazy with Mom's camera. I have lots more of some of our other adventures, but I was just thinking this evening about how it really is the simple things that build the lasting memories I treasure with my children. I hope you are having a wonderful Labor Day weekend and enjoying lots of family time!

Birthday Re-cap...

We had Walker's 4th birthday party on Saturday evening, and it was a great time. Here are some of the highlights...

Nonnie got here with Connor and 2 cousins, Hannah and Rebekah, right before the party, and Walker was thrilled to see them.

We didn't really have a theme this time, it was just a backyard birthday party. Walker just said he wanted his friends to come over and eat pizza. Simple enough. We got pizza...
Had a water balloon fight with 200+ balloons...

Busted open a pinata...

and played in the backyard.
The kids loved the rollercoaster and the trampoline the most.

The official highlight of the party was when Walker got his big surprise, a Basset Hound puppy he named Daisy.
We are so blessed to have so many wonderful friends and family and the party was a blast. Walker got lots of great gifts, and I hope to share one of the homemade ones with you later this week when I get permission from the giver. I hope you had a wonderful weekend too. We still have a house full of company so we have been busy everyday, but I hope to catch up on my blogging this weekend. Have a great week!