Christmas Eve 2011

мεℓℓiε — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 06:19:59 +0000

This year for Christmas Eve we were invited to dinner with my Dad’s side of the family. We had a delicious dinner (thanks Tanya!), a few rounds of card games, and the kids of course had a blast running around and playing. We got home later that night and the kids were pooped. It made for an interesting Christmas Eve experience, ha!

Here’s hoping you enjoyed your Christmas Eve with loved ones or at home.

(Click here to see the entire set of photos!)

Merry Christmas!

мεℓℓiε — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 14:53:11 +0000

Hope you enjoy your Christmas Day!

(No, I’m not on today – ha! The ability to schedule posts is so fun.)

Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

мεℓℓiε — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 00:49:03 +0000

We’ve finally arrived! The countdown on the mantel has come so close to its end. Olivia keeps announcing to her siblings, over and over, “TOMORROW is Christmas EEEEEVE!” How disappointed they’ll be when they find just coal in their stockings.

Just kidding!

We’re all excited for Christmas and can’t wait for its arrival. Since we have church first thing in the morning (just an hour for that Sunday) Daddy is even making his famous cinnamon rolls Saturday morning so they can rise all day Saturday, bake Saturday night, and be ready for right after presents!

From our house to yours, Merry Christmas.

Wait, the what?

мεℓℓiε — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:27:32 +0000

Funnies from the past: No idea why this popped up when I went to my Posts. Apparently it never made it past the “Draft” stage? It was dated March 8, 2011.

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Me: Time for lunch! What do we want? Noodles?

Rae: Yesh!

Dunc: Yeah, I’ll get the sauce.

I start dishing out cold noodles into bowls for the kids and alternating them in the microwave. Duncan climbs down from the chair next to the fridge holding Jalapeño Ranch dressing.

Me: Ohh, no no – Dunc, that’s Jalapeño Ranch, it’s way too spicy, honey. Grab the other sauce if that’s what you want.

Rae: ‘Picy. [Spicy]

What can I say? My kids are weird. They like dressing as “sauce” on their noodles. He gives me the dressing and grabs the other bottle of regular ranch dressing.

Me: Okay, Duncan – Rae’s noodles are done, can you get her a fork?

I spoon out some Ranch onto her noodles and stir them up.

Rae: Noooo! Mama, no, too ‘picy!

Me: No, Rach, it’s okay. This is regular sauce, it’s not spicy.

Rae: Yes, mama, ‘picy!

She covers her mouth and shakes her head. Big brother to the rescue…

Dunc: No, Rae, it’s okay. Mama’s putting on the good kind for ya. This is regular Ranch.

He spins the bottle around for her to read.

Dunc: See, Rachie? It’s not ‘picy because there are no jalaweños in it.

Gingerbread Jedi

мεℓℓiε — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 19:53:25 +0000

The kids and I sat together and scrolled through Pinterest links that I had pinned with this lovely break in mind. All in all, it hasn’t been horrible so far. Normally, I look forward to Winter Break with the kids. We get to sleep in – at least, past 6:40am… and there’s no rush in the morning, just your basic getting ready for the day, a few chores here and there, and then play for pretty much the rest of the day. Well, for them. But after experiencing INSANE sick day after sick day over the last four weeks, I was beginning to have my doubts about how easy this break was going to actually be. So, anyway, I started pinning ideas! Yesterday we actually sat down and looked through and found some great ones.

Duncan picked this craft off of this pin:

Source: sassysites.blogspot.com via Melissa on Pinterest

The real idea says to use foam, gives a free printable template, and then ideas for other crafty things to use while decorating your little man (or woman). But, who needs foam, right? I’ve got LOADS of scrapbook paper and good ol’ construction paper. This would be easy. Just a quick search through my stash for brown paper (one of my favorite colors) and we’d be on our way.

Can you believe that out of ALL of that paper I have NO, NONE! Not ONE sheet of plain brown paper?!

We made due. Rachael chose a mostly brown paper from one of my scrapbook pads that had a creamy white flower and dotted type pattern across it. Really, it looked like pre-iced gingerbread. Excellent choice. Olivia, of course, chose a very loud pattern with no brown in it at all. Her plain cut out looked like a gingerbread version of The Illustrated Man. Very Olivia! And Duncan’s looked like a red velvet cake version of gingerbread choosing a streaky bold red paper. Meh, who says gingerbread needs to be brown?

They set out to decorating while I assisted with some tricky cutting jobs and gluing occasionally. Rachael was thrilled over the idea of something to color on, Olivia began cutting everything in sight (including the ginger girl’s feet into high heels), and Duncan started to cover his in Jedi-boy colors as he likes to call them.

Click here to see the set – our finished Gingerbread and a few more shots of the kids!

The photos were taken with my iPod Touch and have an Amaro filter added from Instagr.am.

Wanna go get my iPod?

мεℓℓiε — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 06:37:48 +0000

So here I am, sitting here… I remembered that I had planned to post a collage of the kids and their gingerbread creations from this afternoon. Unfortunately, I’ve beached my whale-like pregnant self on the couch. And my iPod? In the kitchen. Totally not getting up and walking over there to get it. I play the miserable, sick, kill-meeee card. It’s my excuse for being lazy.

So instead! I’m going to post the photos I’ve been waiting to post… my brother got engaged! Dan and Laura, his now fiancé, asked me to take their engagement and wedding photos and so here is a selection from the first!

To see the album of engagement shots, click here!

Congratulations Dan & Laura!

Sick.

мεℓℓiε — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 23:43:38 +0000

I was going to post some cute little instagram-style photos of the kids’ craft today.

But then I fell asleep while the children watched Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol.

Now it’s after 3pm and I need to do dishes. And blow my nose 17,892,321 more times.

The photos will have to wait until tonight. If I live that long.

ta-ta.

Christmas is coming!

мεℓℓiε — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 22:54:34 +0000

ETA: The lists are still attached to the little questionnaires for each child. You can find these by going up to “THE LITTLES” drop down menu on the upper left and then selecting each child’s name for their individual lists.

A real post is coming soon but I wanted to push this update to let all wondering grandparents and loved ones know that the kiddos have officially updated their Christmas lists. Most of the things on their lists are available in store through your normal and typical toy chain stores. So, for those of you who have requested, here are some links – click below!

Olivia’s List

Duncan’s List

Rachael’s List

Still alive! [The Playroom]

мεℓℓiε — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 15:46:56 +0000

Or trying, ha. Unpacking while 6 months pregnant is slightly less than fun… but! It does show results eventually. The downstairs has been done for a while now though I haven’t taken any photos yet. (Plus, our new appliances are coming the day after Thanksgiving!) There are still a few things to be hung, some things that need to find their spots, and the lovely issue getting myself to stop being so anal about how things look and to just take a photo of what we’ve got so far. Have to document the before and after, right? Those photos will be coming soon.

For now I do have some photos of a room that has been “completed” for now. Part of owning a home, right? The constant work and change. Kind of exciting! Okay, who am I kidding – really exciting! Without further adieu…

The Playroom

This is our long-awaited playroom. Home to all the toys we own and savior of mommy’s sanity. When I ask them to tidy their rooms or check if their room is clean and beds are made… the children actually – GUFFAW – respond! Without toys and baby dolls crowding every corner, the kids’ rooms are generally clean by default and if they’ve been messed, it’s a simple fix. Hallelujah!

A view of the main “toy” area.

To the left of the main masses we have the closet. How did we get THIS many toys? Good heavens, spoiled children. Costumes and dress-up items are hung up in the closet (along with the broken Tink who hasn’t been hung up yet). Swords, light sabers, wands, and a princess crowns are all in the large tote and out of sight. And our family’s favorite – all our games and puzzles are safely stowed out of [Rae's] reach on the closet shelf. The best part about this area?

It closes! Ha, the greatest storage solution.

Our one full bookshelf is in here too, and this is sort of the “reading corner”. We have another bookshelf in Duncan’s room, as well as books in other areas, but this is the one that has the majority of the kid books. Originally the bookshelf was going to be in the girls’ room, but after Rachael decided it would be fun to empty the top shelf on to the floor numerous times… let’s just say mommy decided that it would be a mess better contained in here.

Our bouncer is also prematurely out. The girls have deemed it to be for the baby, but they’ve also decided that they’re going to practice with their babies for now.

Please ignore the plastic bag of bags that I didn’t realize was sitting there and in all the photos… grr.

The big toy shelves. These toys have already changed spots a bazillion times. I’ve decided that as long as they’re ON the shelves and look nice, I’m okay with this. It’s working! The doll house is tucked on the side and the Lego boxes are under the Dora table (not pictured here). After Christmas I have a feeling that we’ll need to rearrange a few things to make some more of those boxes fit… Rae’s Duplos are under the window in her table.

The kids’ computer is also scootin’ on in here, though it’s not hooked up yet. Their map of the United States and Olivia’s Pretty Pony calendar are up, and both shelves of the desk are filled with more books. Our nets (from Jennifer, thanks!) are up on each side of the window as well. Super handy for keeping piles of well-loved animals OFF the floor!

And finally, the cars area! A lot of the kids’ toys that needed to be “set up” were constantly being set up and then taken down, not only obnoxious but not great for toy-grade plastic. We were worried about things snapping or vital pieces getting lost – but now! We’ve got more than enough space to leave the racetracks, the Zhu Zhu Pets stations, and the Dora table and chairs all up, all the time. The kids love it. Duncan’s guy and car buckets stay in this area so that he can always have access to more cars, guys to crash into, and whatever else he needs.

All in all, this room is one more fun area that we’re loving in our home! A place for the kids to play and have their things out – a place where we can shut the door… gotta love it.

More to come!

More Zoo

мεℓℓiε — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 16:56:08 +0000

Not that you can really tell by the photos, but these are more Zoo photos. The more we go to the Zoo, the less photos I seem to take that are “typical”. No more smiling by our favorite animal signs or candid shots of pointing to a Zebra or putting the key into the little key box – when you go every or every other weekend like we were the end of this summer, the photos get a little repetitive! I do take the same photos when we visit the same spots summer to summer, and probably always will, but week to week… even the kids get tired of it!

This trip was fun and we visited generally the same areas as we always do but as usual, we (Cameron and I) sat to let the kids run and play on the grass by the elephants. We brought a picnic lunch to this trip and the kids had just picked out toys from the gift shop. So it was a good time to sit back and enjoy the oddly hot sunshine.

Now school’s back in session and our big move is creeping closer but I know we’ll still find time to take our fun family trips to the Zoo. We wouldn’t be true Zoo-faring Oregonians if we didn’t visit the Zoo at least once in the rain, right?

Click here to see the rest of the photos from this trip! Enjoy.