Christmas 2010

Allison and Mom before the chaos! HA!

The 4 of us :)

Let it begin!

Last gift...what did Santa bring?

WOW!!  An LGB train set!!

One happy boy!!

Best Christmas ever...so far!

Cookie Exchange 2010

My annual cookie exchange was amazing as usual.  We missed a few of the regulars, but gained a few new faces!!  I made a ton of goodies and the others brought yummy treats too!!  I made sugar cookies which I vowed never to do again since the 1st cookie exchange, but it ended up not being as time intensive as I had thought it would be and everyone loves a sugar cookie (and no one ever makes them!)  Thanks to little Emma for taking this cute picture just in time!!! Everyone totally forgot to take them until the last minute! Opps! 

Friends

Every girl should have friends this amazing!

Inspired Post...What I didnt do

I read a blog tonight that made me smile. It summed up exactly the way I felt this holiday season. Its about all the things that the person DIDN'T do this holiday season. I was feeling the same way and guilty about it, but after I read this I remembered that sometimes most of my stress comes from doing things that I think I NEED to do versus the things I have TIME to do. I get this picture in my head about how things should look, how much I should bake, what I should cook for who, what to buy who and then the fiasco of planning who's house we go to on what day/time is enough to make me want to cancel the celebrations altogether! So here is my list of things I didn't do:

I didn't make sugar cookies from scratch for Santa. But I did let the kids roll pre-packaged dough out and cut out any shape they wanted without my help. And they didn't know the difference and Santa loved them!

I didn't write a long letter for each child to Santa, and no-one knew better or complained and Santa still came through!

We didn't buy $15.99 matching Christmas pajamas for each kid this year and drive across town just to pay another $15 to drive through the parade of lights. And yet we still had fun driving around town every night and looking at all the decorated homes.

I didn't wrap one present until Christmas Eve. Not one. And I got Jeff to help wrap and it wasn't overwhelming!

I used a Sharpie instead of fancy sticker'ed name tags to write to and from on. And it was fine.

I let the kids stay in pajamas all day Christmas day and only re-dressed them in clean ones before putting them to bed.

I didn't take a million pictures on Christmas, I may regret it, but I was enjoying the moment and trying not to get so caught up in "recording" it.

I didn't buy every single gift brand-new out of the box and the kids enjoyed them the same.

I didn't put up every single box of decorations in the garage and I have already taken the tree down. I have to say: it's nice.

I hope to be more organized about Christmas next year. But, if I'm not, I hope that I don't feel guilty for not doing the picture-perfect Christmas I see in my head. Life happens.

Holiday Pictures 2010

My Mom wanted Christmas pictures of all three Grandkids. I have been watching Brett (a.k.a "Little Mister") on Monday's while Krista is in school so I got all three kids bathed and dressed and toted them all to Sears to get pictures. It was horrible. The photographer was a male, so Allison shied away the entire session, Hunter mis-behaved and that Little Mister cried every single time I set him down!!! I finally gave up, called it quiets and scheduled another session for the next week with a woman photographer. The next week I bathed, dresses, and hauled kids to Sears again and still didnt get very good pictures, but decided it was good enough. Sometimes you dont win...I needed to accept that! Ha! Anyway, I snapped this picture the very first day and I have to say that its defiantly the best shot of the three of them!

Coffee Break!

I love this picture of us. Enjoying a cup of coffee on the way home from Cedar City, kids fast asleep in the back :) Life is good!!

Reece's go to Cedar

We took off and drove up to Cedar City the 2nd week in November. Jeff and I decided it would be a perfect time to go since he still isnt working and we needed a break. We had fun, and even got caught in a snow storm on the way there. When we woke up the next morning my car was covered in snow and the kids were really excited! They played in the snow forever...its crazy how long kids will play in the cold!!

Markers+Allison=BIG MESS!!

When we were at Talias for Halloween, Allie started coloring with markers. I said to Talia; "I wonder what she is up too, she is being way to quite"! Boy was I surprised to see her like this!! It took quite a long soak in the bath tub and I had to google how to remove marker from skin, but I got it all off before she got into her costume later that night. Note to self: Allie's not ready for markers! HA!

Halloween 2010

The kids in front of my Grandpa Antoninos house

We went to Utah again for Halloween.  The kids just love to hang out with all those cousins that they dont get to see very often.  We have a ton of fun.  The Moms get together and bake all day while the kids play, I usually get my hair and toes done, and we eat pumpkin shaped pizza!!  On Halloween night we usually hit up about 3 trunk-or-treats and visit all the Grandparents.  Then we go back to Talias, eat something warm and hit her neighborhood for at a couple of hours!! The kids totally score and its sooo much fun!  Hunter was Batman this year and Allison was a 50's poodle skirt girl! They were adorable, and I love watching them run from door to door screaming "trick-or treat"!

Washington 2010

It was fun :)

Mommy Tip #22

Random question of the day from Hunter.  We were waiting for the school bus and this is what he asked me out of the blue:
Hunter: "Mom, do you think God has snails in heaven"?
Me: "Hmmmm........"

Hunter

Hunter has to be one of the sweetest, most tender-heart'ed kids I know.  He is thoughtful, mindful, and respectful.
Recently, Hunter has had the opportunity to show how much he listens to his momma! I always tell Hunter that telling the truth is ALWAYS the right thing to do; that when you tell the truth you will never get in trouble for it and no one will do anything to you. And, when someone else is making a bad decision, and they ask you to make a bad decision too, it like you are lying.
So, while on our road trip to WA, Jeff and I had a little "mis-communication"  issue and had to pull over on the highway cause we were about to run out of gas!!  The first thing Jeff says, (laughing) "whatever you do Hunter, dont tell Papa we ran out of gas"!  We were in Papas truck.  So, after the gas situation incident got resolved and we were back in town, my parents came over for dinner and Hunter sat down right next to them and without any warning at all proceeds to tell the both of them that "we had to pull over on the highway and Dad started walking to the gas station cause we ran out of gas"!  ahhhhh....good for you Hunter!  And thankfully Papa wasn't too mad!  So, as I am telling this story to my in-laws the next night, they start laughing and tell me about an incident where Debbie drove through some oil and got it all over the Hummer and told Hunter "Hurry, help me wipe this off before Papa gets home and gets mad about it".  So, he did, then again without any warning tell his Papa one night about it and then climbs on Debbie's lap and says "Tell the truth Grandma, it will make you feel better"!  Soooo funny!  Good for you Hunter your totally getting it!  Telling the truth will always make you feel better!!

Apple Crisp

One night when I was up late, watching t.v., I caught an episode of "the best thing I ever ate…" on Food Network (my favorite channel!). One of the chefs was going on and on about this apple crisp she had at a restaurant and the thing looked AMAZING!! They don't give out the recipe, but they do tell what they add and the process in which they do it in, yay! SO, I created it. And, in my opinion, it's more of an apple pie than a crisp…but whatever! It's delish!!

 

Phyllo dough

4T butter, melted

4-6 granny smith apples peeled, cored

1 ½ C. Cinnamon sugar

2 ½ C golden raisins soaked in spiced rum (optional)

2 C. sour cream

½ C. Rose water (regular water is o.k. too!)

Whip cream

 

*Defrost phyllo dough according to package directions. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9x13 baking dish. Butter both sides of phyllo dough with melted butter and lay down one by one in baking dish, repeat this four times. Peel, core and thinly slice apples then toss them with the cinnamon sugar so it is evenly coated. Place apples on top of phyllo dough, sprinkle raisins over apples. Combine sour cream and rose water and spread on top of apples. Bake @350* until bubbly. When apple mixture is hot and bubbly remove from the oven and layer phyllo dough with melted butter on both sides again times 4. Bake until golden brown. Serve with fresh whip cream or a side of vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!!!

JEFF!!!

Jeff: looking good, feeling good!

Hunter, the bus rider!

Hunter had a pretty traumatic experience the 3rd day of school.  I told him over and over that he was not to ride the school bus home from school, that for the 1st week I was going to pick him up.  I told him to tell the teacher that his mom was going to get him, that he was not to be put on the bus.  Poor Hunter...I forgot to write a note last Wednesday and the teacher told him since she didn't see a note, he had to ride the bus.  I guess he got pretty upset about it and kept telling her "NO, I'm not supposed to ride the bus"!!!  But, she didn't have anything in writing from me, so did what she thought she needed too and sent him with the teachers aide to get on the bus.  So, when the bell rang and Jeff went up to the door to retrieve him, I saw him walk away without Hunter...I immediately knew what happened; they had put him on the bus!!  Jeff came walking hand in hand with a very upset little Hunter a few minutes later.  His face was bright red and streaked with tears.  I tried talking to him, but he was pretty upset that he was almost forced to be on the bus, he told me he didn't want to talk!  Jeff told me that when he was walking up to the buses, he heard a big commotion and noticed a little boy fighting one of the teachers and screaming very loudly that he wasn't getting on that bus!!  He laughed and told me "Hunter was swinging his arms and trying to hit her and get away from her any way he could; I had to break it up"!!  That made me laugh that Hunter was fighting so hard to not get on the bus!!  He sure was listening to his Mama!!  Good BOY I told him!!

This week I taught him how to ride the bus and prepared him for it and he loves it!!  He told me "I'm riding the bus every day"!!!

First day of Kindergarten!!!

Hunter started Kindergarten this year and is having a blast!!  He was getting pretty restless around the 2nd week of August and both of us were ready for him to be back in school! 

Hunter and Brett

Hunter and Allie were at the hospital when Krista had Brett, but because they arent siblings, they werent allowed back in the L&D department.  Hunter was soooo upset after I came from seeing Brett and told him we were leaving, he yelled "leaving??? Without even seeing the baby?????!!!!"  I felt pretty bad he couldnt go back so the next day we took a road trip to Chads and visited with that cute new baby.  Allie wouldnt sit still long enough for me to grab a pic of her, but here is Hunter holding him.  He was pretty excited by all of it!

Brett is here!!!

My little nephew Brett finally came into the world 8/25/2010 and I couldnt be prouder!!  He is adorable and sweet and small and yummy smelling and perfect and I just love him so much already!!