Finally! Owen has had his for years and once I had Katie I kept checking but Pottery Barn never had them again! Until this year!
I’ll get better (more seasonal) pics later. 🙂
Category Archives: Holidays
Christmas treat fail.Â
I’m guessing you shouldn’t use old chocolate. (Of course, there were some new chocolates mixed in as well…but only two pieces melted correctly.)
I’ve since learned from others that Rolos work much better than Kisses.
Another shot at Santa
Our community clubhouse had cookies and activities with Santa this morning, so we thought we’d try with the kids again—just in case we got a better picture (since I could dress the kids up).
But first, the at-home pictures:
And then while waiting for Santa, they did some crafts and coloring:
Katie wanted NOTHING to do with Santa, so it was just Owen!
But she did make more rings to put on the tree!
Katie singing Jingle Bells
Morning Dancing
They were eating breakfast when this song came on and both of them had to get up and dance!
Cookies with Santa
The local high school hosted a huge craft fair that I wanted to check out (we missed it last year) and they also had a “Cookies with Santa” portion that we wanted to take the kids to. We got to the North Pole shortly after it opened so we didn’t have to wait too long. While daddy held our place in line, the kids worked on bead candy canes:
Can you guess which was Owen’s and which was Katie’s? 🙂
Santa! (They had someone taking pictures, but it wasn’t anything really posed or official—she was just off to the side snapping so we had NO idea what we would get. I was taking pics the whole time.) Katie wasn’t eager to sit with Santa, but she didn’t turn away…and she talked to him but didn’t get excited about the hug.
Owen’s turn! He’s too big for Santa’s lap!
At the end we had Katie go back up. I snapped about six quick pics and this one actually turned out great!
This was one of the ones the student elf took—I was impressed that it turned out as well:
On the way out, Katie decided she wanted to make antlers:
Yep. It’s just a big, new bed.
When I came downstairs this morning, Katie excitedly told me that Charlie had been sleeping under the tree.
Nutcracker!
I saw a link on Facebook for VetTix so went to check it out—and ended up getting free tickets for the Nutcracker! (If you are Currently Serving or a Veteran use my link to sign up and earn 15 coins!)
I had never seen the Nutcracker before, so it was going to be a new experience for me, as well (Tom had seen it many, many years ago). Once we told the kids and told Katie she was going to see ballerinas, she was ALL IN. Of course, she wanted to wear a ballerina-esque dress. I didn’t bring out any of her actual ballerina outfits because I am 100% sure she would have chosen that. As it was, this was a brand new dress so she was VERY excited.
I’m thankful I read the synopsis beforehand because otherwise I would have been completely lost. As it was, I was still a little confused, and was surprised there wasn’t more actual ballet. Both kids did very, very well considering the first act was an hour long. After Katie took a bathroom break, she said she wanted to dance, so I told her to go right ahead…and then daddy and Owen came back from their bathroom break and she danced in the aisle!
The second half had MUCH more ballet than the first and was more impressive…and Katie was entranced, sitting on the edge of her seat for almost the whole thing. I, on the other hand, learned that ballet is really not my thing. But overall it was a nice afternoon out yet away from any hustle and bustle of Black Friday!
Time to decorate!
The kids were super excited about putting the tree up (since the bag had been sitting in the living room for a whole day)!
Owen was excited when I handed him two bags of Christmas Legos! He had forgotten about them!
Katie’s placement of her first three ornaments:
They were both really good helpers and I didn’t even have to help them much! Yay! And my OCD-tendencies don’t bother me at all—I don’t much care where the ornaments end up!
I don’t think this is nearly enough food.
We were invited to a friends’ house for Thanksgiving. She and her other guests cook in quantity like we do…so there wasn’t quite enough food for six adults and nine kids. 🙂
Katie’s dinner? A roll, crackers, and cheese. For dessert she tried pumpkin pie, said she liked it, then proceeded to eat just the whipped cream.
Owen’s dinner? A roll, ham, mashed potatoes, and pumpkin pie with whipped cream.
I did really well overall. I splurged on two glasses of wine throughout the evening…and it was deeelicious. (I haven’t had a glass of wine in probably four months.) Foodwise:
- 1oz deep-fried pork loin
- 1/2oz smoked turkey
- about 3T each of Easter/funeral potatoes, cornbread stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and smoked corn casserole
- 2 deviled eggs
- 1 small Hawaiian roll
Dessert was cheesecake. I took a full slice intending to eat the whole thing dammit. And then about halfway through I said “This doesn’t even taste good anymore.” And that was that. Voodoo. 🙂
This is what she picked to wear. And she was damn cute. 🙂
The kids all had fun playing and the adults ended up watching Planes, Trains and Automobiles. 🙂
It’s about to get all Christmasy up in here this weekend.
And I’ve really wanted trees like this so I finally found some for a decent price…but they looked a bit nicer in the pictures. Meh. I may end up hanging a few small ornaments on them to distract from the wildly random lights and gaping spaces. 🙂
A turkey came home today!
Abe made Thanksgiving. (Well, technically, Thankging.) 🙂 I asked what Abe was. “It’s short for Abraham Lincoln.”
We celebrate Thanksgiving because it is special.
Thanksgiving is nice for people.
Anyone else hate doing art projects with their kids?
Owen’s pieces usually start out decent enough but then he keeps adding stuff and adding stuff and adding stuff and soon it’s unrecognizable. I realize a first grade project isn’t a big deal but my OCD can’t handle it.
This is disguising Tom Turkey so the farmer can’t find him for Thanksgiving dinner.
- There was one zig-zag string of lights and it was perfect…and then he just off and scribbles on another zig-zag strand on the side.
- I thought the yellow star on top was good…then he decided to color it green.
Maybe I need to start drinking wine again…
Gym Birthday Party
Of course we were there early, so we waited in the car for a few minutes.
They got to start playing before anyone else got there:
And then it got a little chaotic with 20 kids…but we got to stay out of the crazy and visit with the other parents (and I really hit it off with another mom—which was a bonus!). The end of the party had everyone zip lining which they all loved!
Veteran’s Day
We all went to the Veteran’s Day Assembly at Owen’s school. It was very nice, and each of the grades performed either a song or poem. During one of the songs, every child who had a military family member stood up and waved a sign that said “Thank you, Service Members!” (This is a photo from a random person on Facebook.)
We were a bit too far back to see well, so it wasn’t until afterwards we learned that Owen didn’t stand up…because he was shy. Poor kid. It wasn’t like he was the only one, either—there were probably (conservatively) 50 other kids standing up, too.
This was what he brought home from school:
I know she’d be thrilled.Â
So, while we were cleaning out Marsha’s apartment, I found two $50 QVC e-gift cards (from us and Tom’s brother, from maybe 2012 or so)—I took them with me to check if they’d been used. They hadn’t. So I had a $100 credit. The next day, I found a manila folder with three more QVC gift cards…dating back to—ARE YOU READY?!—2008!! I was sure they’d had to have been used because she LOVED the silver jewelry from QVC and had a lot of it…but grabbed them anyway just in case.
So fast forward to last night when I was putting away all the jewelry pieces of hers that I had chosen (for me and Katie) and I realized that my jewelry box just wasn’t big enough—I just didn’t have the space for mine plus hers (she had A LOT of jewelry and I had picked quite a bit, though it was still a fraction of what she actually had). I then realized that I have jewelry in a box, in a hanging case, in a drawer, and in random spots around the bedroom…and that that’s kinda silly and I’d actually get good use out of a standing armoire.
I ended up at QVC because I vaguely remembered wanting one from there years ago…and they had EXACTLY what I wanted…on clearance…with free shipping! It was more than I’d wanted to pay, but not bad considering what other ones cost and that it would last me the rest of my life. Tom agreed I could get it so I dug out the folder of QVC gift cards to check their balance. And none of the three had been used. NONE! So I had another $95 credit! So after almost $200 credit, I owed about $65.
So…Marsha unknowingly bought me the perfect Christmas gift—something I loved, wanted, and needed—that could house all the great jewelry I got from her…and I know she’d be thrilled.
Halloween in Grayling
The kids were super excited about treak-or-treating at Gramma’s house…and we were, too…until the Michigan weather happened. Yeah, it was 38° and rainy. Egads. If you look closely enough you can see Katie’s polka-dot long johns under her white tights (and she also had on pink tights!).
On the front porch where my Halloween picture was taken every year…
Everyone (including Uncle Rob) ready to head out!
There weren’t many houses lit up but the ones that were were handing out TONS of candy! You see how full their bags look? We had only hit maybe six houses at this point!
After about 15 minutes they gave up on the umbrellas and just ran from house to house while we waited at the road. Soon enough we were back at Gramma’s door!!
Home after an hour of being out in the rain—they were soaked but happy!!
Tom gave the kids a hot shower and put them in PJs while I made them hot cocoa!
Eating Mallow cups from daddy and Uncle Rob—they were Grandma Marsha’s favorite treat and someone brought a bag of them for the boys.
LOOKS AT THEIR HAUL!! The weather sure stunk but it was great for quick candy accumulation. They got 9# of candy from less than 20 houses!
Halloween starts tonight!
Owen’s school Fall Festival was tonight and we wanted some one-on-one time with him so asked friends to watch Katie. They were going to a Trunk or Treat event so she was excited! She was Rapunzel—with Pascal on her shoulder!
And then we had Harry Potter—SO stinkin’ cute!
With his fresh scar:
Getting his new shoes tied. I bought these shoes on clearance about four years ago and they’re finally the right size…and worked well with his costume!
Couldn’t you just eat him up?
We kept bouncing back and forth between the games in the gym and the music in the cafeteria. He didn’t want to dance but loved playing with the hula hoops! He was very shy because he didn’t know many of the kids.
And you’ll notice he’s missing the glasses. Yeah. He decided about 15 minutes in that he didn’t want to wear them. Or carry his broom. Kids. :/
Back to games!
And then since it was crazy crowded and he was pretty much done, we suggested frozen yogurt—and he wanted to leave immediately. 🙂
Katie actually got home later than us! They said she qas very well-behaved and had a BLAST! And she came home with a TON of candy!
The vampire teeth were the favorite thing.
And, lastly, pics from Katie’s night. Her friend Ainsley is Tinkerbell.
The kids’ pumpkins!
We went the dollar store route this year—plastic face pieces!
Apple-sliced sangria almost as big as my head!
Otherwise known as my birthday drink. 🙂
Welcome to my Labor Day!
We haven’t done laundry in awhile. It separated into seven loads. Yay?!
(We ended up only getting six of the seven done because we spent most of the afternoon at the pool!)
Old suit, new suit
These were on a real camera, so I forgot about them. This was back on August 23!
Off to the pool…Owen in an old suit and Katie in a new suit from a grandma (I forget which one). 🙂
Anniversary dinner…outside the box!
Tom and I were celebrating early since he will be out of town on our anniversary. Fourteen years. Holy wah.
First, my obligatory pre-dinner selfies since I’m dressed up (and wearing a dress I haven’t worn in who knows how many years!). 🙂
Love.
We didn’t take our traditional pre-event selfie because we were running late and then of course the traffic was horrible and it took 45 minutes (instead of 25) to get there so as it was, we were 15 minutes late for our reservation.
So, as you may remember, we have a tradition of eating Chinese on our anniversary. And I’m sure there are many über delicious Chinese places in the area, but we decided to go outside our box and have a Greek dinner at Mike Isabella’s (from Top Chef) Kapnos Taverna (recommended by a friend). Delish. Three “small plates” was too much food and we each left a few bites (we did technically eat too much but it was seriously a quarter of what we’d normally have eaten!). We splurged and shared a chocolate dessert, too. 🙂
Then we got back to the parking garage and saw this:
How funny is that? You know they saw this car and parked next to it on purpose!
And then we finally took our anniversary selfie! 🙂
Another birthday present down…
Getting right into things!
Owen wanted to open his presents as soon as we got home…and Katie really wanted to help. She had a hard time accepting that these were OWEN’S PRESENTS and there were none for her. But he’s a nice brother so he let her help on a few.
Then we took a little break so I could go walk on the treadmill and they could play on the bounce house…and also so Owen wouldn’t blow through all his gifts in the first day!
Afterwards, I noticed Owen was wearing a new Minion #selfie shirt and I asked if he knew what a selfie was. He said no, so we took this picture:
And then he grabbed my phone and took this:
Back to the gifts! 🙂
Owen’s half birthday pool party!
The wait was finally over—the day for Owen’s postponed birthday pool party! And the weather was perfect!! We had 19 kids and 14 adults!
The timing was perfect: at the end of every hour, the lifeguards take a 15-minute break and all kids must exit the pool. So we used this time to have our pizza lunch!
The second break was time for cake! Of course, I had completely forgot to put the balloon in the cake…
So it went in the leftovers so I could take a picture. 🙂
Two of the kids from his Kindergarten class (who are about his size so he looks normal!).
Everyone had a great time! The kids LOVED the water shooters and, while a few got broken, each kid was able to take one home. We guessed pretty good on the pizza—we ordered five and ate about four. There was enough cake to leave out a few pieces and freeze a nice chunk for a later date. The best part was after 10 minutes of cleaning up and packing the car, we were DONE. 🙂
Katie’s last 3rd birthday party!
We celebrated Katie’s birthday at the Ramada again this year. She didn’t want to go in the pool, though—choosing the playground instead.
Of course Owen wanted to swim!
Caught mid-jump!
She finally decided she wanted to swim!
We FINALLY got her to jump in the pool again!
Owen also received a few gifts…Papa and Grannie gave him a roll of quarters to use in the hotel game room!
He shared his quarters with his sister!
A great time was had by all…
Post-Christmas Bratfest
The family came back for lunch today, and Timmy graced us with about 15 different varieties of brats from his store, Beson’s Market (Bay City). Talk about yum. 🙂
The leftovers after 15 people were in a meat coma:
Maggie getting some love from the cousins.
Gramma Jean got out the water balloons and BOY did the kids have fun!
Nick is 11 and Owen is 6—and Nick has maybe a half inch on Owen. This is what they did when we told them to stand next to each other. 🙂
Len Christmas in July, Year 2
This year the party was at my mom’s house! Katie “helped” with the party prep!
Katie loved her Anna dress from Grauntie Rose!
The cousins being silly!
If there’s water, the kids will come.
Bubble wands at the ready!
The annual by-age lineup: Katie (3), Owen (6), Aubrey (7), Gracie (9), and Nick (11). You’ll see a direct Owen/Nick comparison tomorrow. 🙂
Everyone always complains but I think they secretly enjoy the family photo! 🙂
Our little Santas.
Owen was GIDDY with the bazooka Grauntie Rose got him! It’s almost like she knows him exactly like I do. :p
Katie LOVES her Frozen magic music wand from Grauntie Marilyn.
No snow? Grass angels!
Ice cream face!
Overall it was a great day—the kids all had a blast together, the food was abundant and delicious, and everyone had fun relaxing and playing games. I think it was the right decision to move our Christmas to the middle of summer!
Katie and the Christmas Tree
We were getting the house ready for our Len Christmas in July and got out this ceramic tree. It’s old—my mom made it for my Grandma Katie (Len) in the ’70s and I’ve always loved it. Katie was enthralled with it, too…and one of the first things she said was “There’s no star!” My mom said that Grandma Len had said the very same thing and even attached a fake star to it. I don’t think I ever really noticed that it didn’t have a star—or I did, but didn’t think it was any big deal. Amazing how the original Katie AND her namesake both had the same thought. 🙂
