Christmas 2008 - part four

So here is my last post about Christmas this year. Here are some of the nice things I crafted for friends and family. Maybe you'll get an idea or two for next year....

I made herbal hot/cold packs for my in laws and for Curtis' teachers. Basically I sewed a tube and filled it with herbs and rice. You can heat them in the microwave or cool them in the freezer and they make great sore muscle soothers. I made each one with fabric to suit the receiver. Here are photos of the ones for the teacher's at the Complete Soccer Academy.





Here are two lavender eye pillows I made for some friends. Basically these are the same as the hot/cold packs, only intended for eye stress or head aches.



Here is a shot of the reusable fabric gift bags I made.



And here is a shot of the fudge I made for Curtis' soccer coach and also one just like this for my father-in-law, who loves sweet treats.




Whooooweee, I think you are finally caught up!

Christmas 2008 - part three

We tried to do a homemade Christmas this year. First off there were the cookies, then I bought some Christmas fabric with a coupon at Joanne's and made sacks for us to use as reusable gift bags. I also made fudge and some other handmade gifts that will have to wait until the next post. This post is about homemade gifts here in my nuclear family.

First up we have the beautiful potholder my son made for me with his 'Ammaw's' help. I love that he's finally getting into being crafty.



Here are the fingerless gloves I made for Curt so he can paint in the garage. They were cheaters since they are basically a wrist warmer, and who knows if it'll ever get cold here again, but it's the thought that counts...right?



Here is the surprise gift I got for Curt. When Curtis had his school pictures taken I got the photog to take this photo of me and the boys to give to him as a gift. It actually turned out pretty good.



Curt put together this photo frame retrospective for me. It starts with a photo of us on our trip out west before we got married and ends with the photo of the boys on Santa's lap from this year. So cool!



Here is the best gift I got this year. Curt painted this for me. He said it started as a picture of me and I really like it.



Next I finish this Christmas barrage of posts with some of the things I made for friends and family.

Christmas 2008 - part two

Here is just a glimpse at what we did leading up to the big day.

We celebrated with my husband's family the saturday before Christmas and both boys got some cool cars from their Aunt and Uncle.



Here we are at church on Christmas Eve.



And here is Clark helping Daddy put up Christmas lights.



Seriously this boy is a daredevil like his Daddy and big brother. He wanted to climb this ladder all by himself. He can already climb up the ladder on the playyard in the backyard with just a spotter. It's enough to give a mom a heart attack.

Christmas 2008 - part one

Here are a few from Christmas morning. It was a little rough because both kids got sick 2 days before Christmas. Curtis woke up at about 2am with a good fever going, but we still had fun, as you can see.

Here is the before shot.



He really enjoyed opening the gifts this year.









And here is the after shot.

Cookie Press Christmas Cookies!

Today we made cookie press cookies!



You can see my Grandmother's cookie press in this next photo. I inherited this and find the pictures on the package pretty funny!



This is a tradition in my family and I'm so glad to pass it down to my kids. I have many fond memories of decorating while my Mom 'pressed' the cookies. Wonder how we'll do this next year when I'm off sugar?



I am giving some to my FIL and I already gave some to my girlfriend and her family up the street. So there is one can full for us and I have a feeling it might not even make it until Christmas!

T

Santa's Christmas Tree Farm

Can you tell I'm playing catch up? Sorry I've been a bad blogger lately. I'm sure you understand with the time of year and all...

So yesterday we met some good friends up at Santa's Christmas Tree Farm. It happened to touch 80 degrees here yesterday, so it certainly wasn't Christmasy weather, but we did have a blast!



Curtis and his friends loved playing in the hay and going on a hay ride through the Christmas Trees. It smelled sooooo good!



The kids found a gopher tortoise when running through the rows of trees waiting to be cut.





Clark enjoyed the petting zoo (don't worry I washed his hands a bunch).



We all had such a great time. It was so nice to see our friends, whom we hardly ever see even though they are only about 45 mins drive north. I also just love places like this. It was so mom and pop and they didn't charge for the petting zoo or hay play area. The hayride was a $1 per person and they didn't charge for Clark since he's still a baby. It was so beautiful out in the country and the smell was so fresh and crisp. The animals were very cute and even the little baby Christmas trees had me oooooing and aaaaaaing. I am already looking forward to next month when we will get to go back up into the country and go strawberry picking!

T

Florida Winter

Here are a few photos from the other day when it was unseasonably warm. The weather here keeps going back and forth from warm to cool.



First a cute photo of me and my boys cuddling outside, one of my favorite things to do.






These are photos I took of Curtis demonstrating tree pose. At his preschool they do yoga in addition to the soccer and he is so cute doing the poses. My girlfriend says he looks like the trainer guy from the biggest loser show. I just think he looks so funny. I just love this school so much!

If you get a Christmas card from us this year

This is what the photo was supposed to look like. The drugstore screwed up and I didn't notice until I got home. After all the b'day and holiday stress and planning I decided to just send the one that was cut off a little. I'm trying hard not to obsess over this, but I've obviously not been very successful, hence this blog post.

T

4 Years Ago Today

I became a Mother!



Yesterday we celebrated with a Blue's Clues themed party with friends and family. It was lots of fun. I made a cupcake cake in the shape of a paw print and we played a Blue's Clues game. The party was at a local park so the kids spent most of the time playing on the playground.

Curtis got lots of great gifts. We are now officially getting overrun with gifts. He had so much fun though and I plan to just pack some of the b'day gifts away for a little after the Christmas gifts arrive.

T

Radishes!

I'm so excited since this is the first thing I've grown from a seed! Curtis helped at every step along the way...oh except, I wonder if he'll eat any. You can see my little suburban radish patch in the background of these pictures. I also just harvested several cherry tomatoes so I guess we'll be having salad with dinner tonight! Unfortunately my arugula was a big flop this year...but hey you can't win them all.

The Day After

Nothing like leftovers in front of a video. We got Kung Fu Panda from netflix and really enjoyed it, although I thought it was a little violent for a 3 year old.

Happy Thanksgiving

My little 'head dressed' son wants to wish you all a 'Happy Turkey Day'.



It's been cold here in Florida recently.




I guess we're just like the rest of the country and we'll have to bundle up this Thanksgiving.

Everyday Stuff

Clark decided to help me do the laundry the other day.



Unfortunately he was distracted by his reflection in the oven and wasn't much help. I can't say I blame him....he is very good looking.

T

Can Cake Cure the Grouchies?

I have a case of the grouchies today. So I came here to post pictures of the cake I made for Clark's birthday. It is this recipe and it turned out really well. Everyone commented on how good it was and, well you've seen how Clark dealt with it.

So maybe this post will remind me of the wonderful cake I made and the rest of my day will be less grouchie and more filled with joy. Fingers crossed.

Target retote offer

Check out this offer to recycle your plastic Target bags and get a tote in return.

http://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/page.jsp?title=retote_offer


T

ETA - It was brought to my attention that this link doesn't work. For some reason I can't get it to just click from here but if you copy and paste it into a window it works....sorry to make you go the extra mile but our earth is worth it...no?

Clark's party part two

I helped Clark open his presents.



He got a neat horsey ride on toy from his cousins that he seems to really enjoy.



All the big kids enjoyed the pizza and cupcakes.




And one more shot of the boy an his cake.

Clark's party

Today we had a party to celebrate Clark's first b'day which is on Tuesday.



Clark really liked the carrot cake I made.




He also seemed to enjoy watching the big kids in the bounce house.



He was dressed to impress in some cool birthday clothes.



I made a carrot cake for us, an individual carrot cake for Clark to smash into, and chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for those picky eaters who don't like carrot cake.



Everybody said it all tasted great. I'll have to add more photos in a new post....