Holiday Recap 2011

Whew!  It's been a while!  I don't have many excuses friends, other than sheer exhaustion this holiday season.  I've been feeling a little off lately I guess you could say.  The holiday season has been packed with preschool recitals, shopping trips, family gatherings, decorating and all sorts of fun stuff.  The only down-side to all those festivities was that by 7:30 every night, I was exhausted.  I couldn't even hold my head up.  So I apologize for my break.  I will try to fill you in on everything you missed (a few posts at a time)....

Up first - Will's preschool recital.  Oh my goodness at the cuteness.  Will attends a rather small school here in our hometown and he loves it!  I really like it too.  He gets lots of one-on-one attention and he surprises me every day with all of the new things he's learning.  Here are a few of my favorites photos from his Christmas Recital -

(They were showing a slideshow of the children on the screen above the stage.  Will decided that was more interesting!)

Skip a few weeks to Christmas.  I'm terrible about not taking pictures at family events, so forgive me.  I usually take my camera, but I never get it out because I spend most of my time chasing children and feeding little hungry mouths.  So I only have a few pictures of Christmas morning, and a few of them were taken right after Santa arrived, before the kiddos were up.  

Santa wraps each boys presents in a different paper.  This is an easy way to keep each kiddo occupied with their OWN stuff and not deal with tags.  Will had the blue Mickey paper and Brooks had the red Thomas paper.

Santa had a hard time getting the teepee under the tree.

Brooks is checking out Will's presents here.

Santa left both boys an umbrella in their stocking, and fittingly enough, it was raining on Christmas morning so Will got to go out and try it out.  

We had a wonderful Christmas.  Unfortunately, I just couldn't find my Christmas spirit this year. Chalk it up to my feeling "off" and us rushing to get the basement completed before the holiday.  I just didn't want to shop.  I didn't want to wrap.  A week before Christmas, I had to pull it together and finish shopping, start wrapping and finish decorating.  The boys' excitement was cute enough to pull me through however.  Will's favorite gifts included his scooter, his Mobigo (a gift from my parents), a remote-control crane (a gift from Brandon's parents) and his umbrella (but he has truly played with every single thing he received and loves them all.  These are just the ones he wakes up talking about.)  Brooks' favorites include Will's scooter, Will's Mobigo and Will's crane.  Go figure.  

I leave you with a couple of cute Buzz Lightyears, doing what Buzz does best :)  

I promise not to keep you waiting on more posts.  Maybe I'll get another one in this weekend :)

Holiday Gift Guide

Gifts for Her

The next installment of the holiday gift guide is for us girls.  There are actually only a few men (that will admit to it) that read this blog, so I will also include gifts for mom, sister, daughter and mother-in-law.  Let's review here ladies - if your husband doesn't read this blog and needs a little assistance in the gift-giving department, be sure to remember: print, circle, leave in the bathroom.  I say bathroom because I know that my husband isn't the only one who spends too long in the bathroom.  Up first -

Snuggly Warm Ugg Mocs via Ugg ($100)

ahhhh - who wouldn't want a pair of these babies?? If the Uggs are a little out of your price range (or you have a dog that chews shoes) - LL Bean offers a more affordable alternative.  Rather than the shearling lined Uggs, the LL Bean version is lined with fleece.  

Le Creuset Classic Wide Dutch Oven via Williams-Sonoma ($130)

I know what you're thinking.  Who wants cookware for Christmas!? Well, Le Creuset changes the ballgame girls.  Their products are awesome.  They will outlive even the most adventurous cooks and extra bonus points because everyone else will be jealous ;)

Smashbox Snap You're Fab Lipgloss Set via Sephora ($30)

Excellent gift for your daughter, BFF or a little stocking stuffer for yourself.  Their lip products are great and this little baby boasts a $90 value.  Not bad!!

Sweater Robe via Victoria's Secret ($45)

Every mother needs a robe.  You just never know when you're going to need to get up and dash through the house.  Fresh out of the shower and hear a giant CRASH!!  or maybe a middle of the night "moooommmmmmyyyy".  This stylish robe will get you there and you won't be naked - and you won't be cold.  Awesome.

PB Classic Apothecary Jars via Pottery Barn ($39-69)

I don't know one single woman who couldn't find a use for these bad boys.  Soooo pretty.  And you can even have them monogrammed (Crystal!)

Frye "Cameron Flap" Satchel via Nordstrom ($448)

If you have been an extra good girl this year, or maybe you held your husband's hand as he underwent chemo (was that subtle enough?) this bag is for you.  Have I mentioned how I love the smell of leather???

Lucky Brand "Pave Clover" Ring via Piperlime ($35)

Sooooo cute.  This is an awesome stocking stuffer or gift for your BFF.  Because everyone has a girlfriend who likes a lot of bling ;)

Buddy The Elf

As a parent, I have really really looked forward to this holiday season.  Why?  Not because I'm so overjoyed to see my children's smiling faces as they rip into their gifts.  Not because I love to shop in overcrowded and GREATLY overheated malls until my feet hurt.  Not because I want to fight with that grossly obese rude woman over the last LeapPad at ToysRUs.  Not because I love to hear the same 50 Christmas songs take over the radio.  Nope.  I have looked forward to this holiday season for one reason and one reason alone - the good behavior bribe.  The you better behave 'cause Santa is watching you bribe.  Don't pretend you don't do this to your kids.  If you don't - quit reading this now.  You won't like where this is going.

So a couple of weeks ago, I jumped on my first opportunity to use this line with the Willster.  Although I don't remember the specific incident now, it is assured that he was misbehaving and/or sassing.  Nonetheless, I said "Will!  You better watch your behavior!  Santa is always watching you and he won't bring you the present you really want if you're not being a good boy."  Well, by now most of you know my child.  So can imagine where this went...  

Will:  where is Santa now?

Me:  in the North Pole

Will:  where is that?

Me: in the sky.  He can see everything you do.

Will:  No he can't Mom.  He's NOT Jesus!

Okay fine.  So I stood there with my mouth open looking like an idiot who was just schooled by a preschooler for a few minutes until I finally wandered off muttering something about Santa is really good friends with Jesus so na na na na boo boo.  

So on Thanksgiving Day, I told Will that his special elf friend, Buddy was coming to see him the next day.  I explained the whole elf story - Buddy watches their behavior and flies back to the North Pole at night to report to Santa.  Well, low and behold, I sit straight up in the bed at 6:00 AM on the day after Thanksgiving and remember that I didn't get Buddy the Elf out.  So I tiptoe into the living room, dig through the boxes of Christmas decorations and find the elf.  I tiptoe over to the dining room table and decide to put Buddy in a glass vase full of ornaments.  He's really a cool elf and he was nose-diving into the ornaments.  Then I got even MORE clever and decided to put a couple of the ornaments on the table, to make it look like Buddy made a mess.  Well - next thing you know ornaments are rolling all over the table and crashing onto the floor - shattering in the process.  Great.  So at 6 AM on the day after Thanksgiving, I am under the dining room table with a broom and a dust pan.  Dang Elf.

Will was really into Buddy for one whole day.  The next day, Will starts to misbehave again and I start with the threats - Buddy is watching! Oops!  You don't want Buddy to tell Santa about this!  On day three, I tell Will, Buddy will tell Santa all about this tantrum tonight at the North Pole! and this is how the rest of that story goes down:

Will:  no he won't

Me:  sure he will. He'll fly to Santa and tell him tonight.

Will:  no he won't because he can't fly.

Me:  why can't he fly?

Will:  because the book said if I touched him he would lose his magic and he wouldn't be able to fly.

Me:  well did you touch him???

Will:  Yep.  Sure did.  I had to show him my Christmas tree.

Me: (I'm stressin' here because Buddy is my last threat opportunity) Ummmmmm...... Well Buddy won't be back then.  Tonight Santa will be coming to pick Buddy up.

So Buddy got crammed in a drawer with chip clips and bottle openers while I decided what the HECK I was going to do now.  I mean - how is my 3 year-old out-smarting all my genius briberies??!!

The next day, as we were all mourning Buddy's sudden departure, I looked at Will very sadly and said Well now I'm the only one who gets to decide about your presents from Santa, since Buddy can't tell him. You better be on your BEST behavior.  

Will just shrugged and said " Well if Santa doesn't bring me any presents, I can just go get the money out of my Disney jar and buy my own presents Mom."  

Tired, defeated and desperate, this is what happened next -

I am officially HORRIBLE at bribing my kids :(

Holiday Gift Guide 2011

Gifts Under $100

We all need help picking that perfect gift from time to time.  This holiday season, I'm hoping to give you a few ideas for those who are hard-to-please hard to buy for ;)  My first installment in this little series is for those big ticket items - those really special gifts for your mother, father, or significant other.  I can assure you that each of these gifts would make that special person happy, or if you're like me and want a few of these for yourself - a printed version of this post with the specific item SUBTLY circled and left on the bathroom counter would be a great hint for those looking to buy for you.  First up (in no particular order):

The Chloe throw via West Elm ($79)

I love this throw!  This is such a glamorous throw for your wife, mother, grandmother or sister.  This is one of those you leave out even guests are on their way!

The Mason Jar Drink Dispenser via Pottery Barn ($69)

This would make a great gift for those newlyweds or your friends that are always looking for an excuse to throw a party.  I love the southern feel of this dispenser and I can't think of one single occasion for which you couldn't use this.

This Artisan Leather iPad2 Cover via Restoration Hardware ($99)

For your techie husband, brother or father.  I can just smell that expensive leather now...

The Half-Mass Messenger Bag via Patagonia ($89)

I have wanted one of these for soooo long.  Offered in several colors, this bag holds your laptop (up to 15"), books, journals, and pretty much everything in between.  This would be an awesome gift for that person in your life that is attached to their laptop, your teenager (or college kid), or even that new mom or dad.  You couldn't ask for a better diaper bag! It's big brother holds larger laptops for a little more $$.

The Family Tree via Red Envelope ($80)

This would make an excellent gift for the expanding family, or maybe even your parents who are empty-nesters now.  This can be personalized in many ways and even framed for an additional cost.

I hope this gives you (or my husband) a few ideas.  I've got several more categories of gift ideas to share with you.  Because we're getting so close to Christmas already (HELLLLLOOOO - this day took for stinkin' ever to come as a child and now I am begging Santa to slow down his sleigh!!) I will try to do a few of these each week.  Good night y'all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving means so much to us this year because we have truly been blessed beyond measure.  This year, more than any other before, I have made a concentrated effort to be truly thankful for our blessings every single day, but Thanksgiving always gives it a more nostalgic feel.  So what am I thankful for?

I am thankful for our health.  My husband's life was saved this year and that is no exaggeration.  I am grateful for his instincts that made him go to a specialist when maybe his symptoms didn't warrant it, I am thankful for his doctors, for great medicines and for a God that lined every.single.thing up as it needed to be.  This Thanksgiving could have been so different for us this year had all of these things not come together.  Six months ago, I could never imagined that our lives would return to normal status so quickly, but here we are and I am sooooo grateful.

I am thankful for my family.  Those two little boys keep me on my toes.  They make me laugh (sometimes when I'm not supposed to), smile, and even cry too.  I cannot even remember what my life was like without them.  Not just one child either - the both of them.  I only vaguely remember life with just one child.  The only things I remember before children was eating out more and sleeping in a little later.  Sometimes when I see how calm and adult-like an only-child is, I try to remember if Will was like that before Brooks, but I truly cannot remember life before TWO children.  They are my world - my sunshine (and a lot of times my moonlight).

I am thankful for our bigger family.  My parents, his parents.  My brother and his family, and Brandon's sister too.  We really are blessed in this department.  They really are the best.  My friends are included in my extended family too.  I don't have a ton of "friends" - I have a HUGE family.  My true friends are my family.

I am thankful for our home.  Our home has seen a lot of growth this year with the renovations in the basement.  We are just a few weeks from completion and I cannot wait to show you guys.  We have nearly doubled our square-footage.  This is a project that we have only dreamed about for five years.  It really has been a dream come true to work in our home and make it our own even more.

I am thankful for our jobs.  We both have great jobs with even better bosses.  I have seen what a bad job/boss can do for you, and let's just say that I am beyond grateful for where God has me right now :)

I hope everyone had a great day filled with fun, food, and family.  I'm off to catch a short nap before braving the sales at midnight.  The boys are spending the night with Gram, so I'm dragging the husband out with me.  Hey - a girl can't go out alone in the middle of the night, right?

Q & A Time

From time to time, I'll run into someone who'll say "I love your blog!"  or maybe they don't actually love it and they say "I read your blog!"  Haha.  And then they usually follow it up with a question.  Sometimes those questions are specific post related and some are more general.  So I've decided to do a little Q & A session.  I'll answer the most frequented questions here in this post.  I'm sure I'll do more of these in the future, so if you have a question that I didn't address here, please feel free to ask me.  You may not be the only person wondering :) So let's get on with it...

The most frequent question is:

Have you ever thought about being a writer/journalist?

The answer is YES :)  In fact, when I was in college at UT, I met with an advisor each semester in business school to select my next courses.  I was having a hard time deciding which area of business school I wanted to specialize in.  He looked at my transcript and said "Your best grades are in literature or English-based courses.  Are you sure you want to do business?"  But I was three years in and determined to go with an "all-purpose" degree like Marketing.  There's no money in English-based careers, I thought.  Goofy.  I know.  

But - I do love to write.  It's a way of decompressing for me.  I would love to get paid to write though.  People have said "oh you need to write a book!"  That's so flattering, but I'm not sure that I could be a novelist at this point in my life.  Most of the stories floating around in my head are more like episodes than novels.  I would actually LOVE to write in a weekly column for a newspaper or magazine (and I have a pretty awesome idea for a column too).  Here's a confession - I googled the editor of our local newspaper and wrote her name and email down.  It's tucked safely in my wallet because I haven't gotten up the nerve to email her yet.  Maybe someday I'll work up the nerve.

Where do you find the time to blog?

Well it's probably easier for me because I do truly love to write, thus I MAKE time for it; but it's still tough to chisel in a time block.  The "save" button is my friend.  Just at this point in this post alone, I've been interrupted about 6 times.  I'll start a post just to get my thoughts down, and then I'll save it and come back to it later.  Most of the time that I'm in front of the computer is during my lunch (a plus for working so close to home!) or after the boys are in bed.  On days like today (Sunday) when everyone is at home, I'll steal away for a few minutes at a time while daddy is entertaining the boys to get a post in.  But let's just say this - there is no blogging when it's just me and the boys!  What is it about a shiny computer with lots of buttons that makes all of their toys look so boring??  If I get the computer out, the boys drop what they're doing and hover.  They fight for who's going to get in my lap first and then push every.single.button on the keyboard.  WHY??  HELLO!!  THIS COMPUTER COST MORE THAN YOU DID!!

(And yes, I realize I could simply teach them not to touch the computer, but crap... I have to teach them so much already....)

It's so hard to find cute boy clothes - where do you buy your boys' clothes?

I agree!!  It is very hard to find boy clothes that aren't covered in puppies and dump trucks.  We do own a few dump truck tees (thanks Target!), but I try to limit them.  The sad part is, when you do find handsome boy clothes, you have to pay crazy prices!  

For jeans or pants, I love The Gap.  They can be expensive, but they usually do a buy one, get one half off jeans sale that I try to take advantage of.  For matching or coordinating outfits, I like Gymboree or Crazy 8 (see pic above).  They offer several different shirts and sweaters in the same color combos, which make it a breeze to coordinate.  My very favorite lines for the ultimate stylish little dude are Crewcuts and Mini Boden.  Those lines are very pricey (at least for my small-town budget) so I sign up for their emails and try to take advantage of their deals.  Crewcuts especially makes it easy - they will mark their "sale" items down an additional 30%, making their items within the same price range as Gap or Gymboree.  The items are generally still in season too!  Another great thing about any of these brands are their wearability and resale values.  I tend to spend more $ on Will's clothes, because I hope to pass them on to Brooks.  These items will also bring more in when I resale them two years from now at consignment.
For shoes, we often visit our favorite mom-and-pop shoe store Coggins Shoes for Kids in Roswell.  But if I can't make the 40 minute drive work, I order online from Piperlime.  Great customer service, free shipping and free returns!

These are just a few of the questions that I get the most often.  There are plenty more that I will save for another post.  PLUS - I have Desperate Housewives to attend to ;)

The Mystery Mural Reveal

Remember the mural I told you I was doing in the boys' new playroom?  Well it's finally finished.  After lots of debating with my real artist friend, she convinced me to try it myself.  I didn't know if I had the time, patience, or ability to do something so permanent - I mean it's going on the stinkin' WALL for cryin' out loud!!!  But after wasting a LOT of time, I ultimately decided to give it the ol' college try.

I found this canvas on the internet a while back, and thought hmmm- that would be cute in a playroom.  Our new playroom is a big room.  So big in fact, that a small canvas wouldn't look right on such a big wall.  I decided that instead of paying close to $200 for a small canvas, I would just pay my friend Kimmie to paint it as a mural.  And, well, you know the rest of the story.  So let's take a look at my progress :)

This is what I wanted to the finished product to look like.

Artist Kimmie told me that because the wall or, "canvas" if you will, was so dark I would need to paint everything white first.  Otherwise, my color wouldn't show up over that dark wall.  I'm soooo glad she shared that little pointer with me, because I would NOT have thought of that myself.  Whew!  Crisis #1 averted...

(No - we have no ceiling or carpet yet - coming soon!)

I'll be honest and tell you that the wall stayed like that for a few days.  I had to work up my nerve to add color.  Once I finally decided that I was brave enough to add color, I picked Saturn to start with first. 

I figured out really quickly that once I picked a color to start with, I needed to stay with that color for a while.  So I just continued on with the "warm" planets...

This is how the mural looked at the end of my first night....

On the second night, I started with the sun...

After the sun, I went on to Jupiter, since it still had yellow and orange in it...

Next I added the asteroid belt, the stars, a rocket and comets...

I realize I'm no artist.  My artist friend is probably cringing right now.  I am really happy with it though.  Not because I think it's perfect, but because I think it's just what I wanted in the playroom - colorful, happy, child-like and educational (poor ol' Pluto didn't make the cut).  And I'm pretty proud that I took the chance on doing it myself.  I will always have a new appreciation for artists, and for people that have that crazy God-given talent for things like this.  I wish I had several hundred ounces more of that kind of talent.

So here is the finished product - two weeks, several hours and about $30 later - 

Feel free to give me your honest opinions!  And no, all of the walls in the playroom are not this dark:)  I will do a final playroom reveal in (hopefully) just a few more weeks when the ceiling and carpet are installed. We're waiting on three more rooms to be painted.