It doesn't take much to cause excitement around here

The other day I ordered Creed some monster boots to keep his toes cosy this winter (Actually, I ordered them way too big so they'll hopefully keep his toes cosy next winter too. Do you do that?).

He loved them the moment he laid eyes on them

 But the real excitement was the box.  The perfect size for a baby brother to hide in.

Oh wait, make that the perfect size for a big brother to hide in!

They Say Clothes Make The Man . . .

When I picked what he's wearing.

When HE picked what he's wearing.

When I picked what he's wearing.

When HE picked what he's wearing.

When I picked what he's wearing.

When HE picked what he's wearing.

When I picked what he's wearing.

When HE picked what he's wearing.

When I picked what he's wearing.

When HE picked what he's wearing.

When I picked what he's wearing.

When HE picked what he's wearing.

When I picked what he's wearing.

When HE picked what he's wearing.

February Favorites- 2011

This month's favorites list is of full of things that are making me smile during this gray weather.

Old Movie of the Month: Father Goose.  Cary Grant is even charming when he plays a drunk.

Picture Book of the Month: Press Here by Herve Tullet.  It's not out yet, but watch the trailer and you'll want to own it too.


Middle-Grade Fiction of the Month: The Strange Case of Origami Yoda by Tom Angleberger.  It was so great that I might have squealed when I heard there will be a sequel.  It starts off slow, bu tyou will love it in the end.

Grown-up Book of the Month: 84 Charring Cross Road by Helene Hanff.  A completely true, charming story that will make you believe there are good people out there.

Song of the Month: This Mashup by Neon Trees - You had me at Stand By Me and cause they're from Provo and so am I (sort of)

Music Video of the Month: Sesame Street, Celebrity Lullabies.  I promise it will make you smile.

The Post about the Stuff

I like to do a quick post every year about what we got for Christmas so we can remember years down the road.  This year there were no requests for big ticket items, in fact, I couldn't think of anything that I really wanted at all.  Since my whole family was in town, we got to spend Christmas all together which hasn't happened in ages.  I guess I was so excited that I forgot to take pictures, but my dad took this picture of the lineup on Christmas morning before we said a prayer and headed down to open presents.

 Since Oliver is more prone to have seizures when he is short on sleep, we decided not to wake him up early.  We told everyone else they could go on without us and we would join them when our kids woke up on their own (they are not early rizers), but they all waited.  Creed and Logan were bursting with excitement.

I don't think Oliver opened a single present, but he really loved the Wheelie Bug Santa brought him. On a sidenote- this is the ONLY picture I took of Ollie Christmas morning and I only took two of Creed because I was determined to enjoy the moment, but now I need to see if I can snag some pictures from my dad.

Each year, in addition to fulfilling the boys requests, I try to get them each at least one item that I love and want to have around forever.  Something cool/beautiful that they probably wouldn't request on their own, but I think they will enjoy so it's worth the splurge.  I found an amazing deal on Hanno the Gorilla, a wooden posable toy that is supposed to be practically indestructable so that's what we got Ollie.

As you know, all of Creed's dreams came true when he got Belle and Tinkerbelle so he didn't start opening presents until much later, but it didn't take him long to catch up with everyone else.

He got a lot of fun, small gifts like more automoblox (which are beloved around here) and a Fisher Price record player (which is not as cool as the real vintage version because it doesn't have bumps on the records that make the music box work, it just has an electronic MP3 player in it that recognizes the records.)

Scaredy Squirrel is one of his favorite book characters so the Scaredy Squirrel puppet was a big hit.

He also really likes playing with this stacking Cactus from PlanToys.  No one can resist playing with it when they walk by.

Larry got a bunch of boring stuff like clothes that he picked out himself, but he did get a nice leather man-bag since he finished his fellowship and has a real job.

I got a few more of the clothbound penguin classics that I've been collecting.  They are so very pretty.

Larry totally surprised me with an Instax mini, which takes instant pictures like a polaroid, but the pictures are credit card size and the camera is nice and light compared to my polaroids and the film is a lot less expensive.

He also got me a zoku popsicle maker.  It makes popsicles in minutes, and I can't wait to put it to good use this summer.

My Mom & Dad actually printed a hardbound book of my blog which was such a fun surprise.  I love paging through it.  My mom also got me a rainbow of pre-wound bobbins.  Have you tried these?  You just tear off the paper and stick them in your bobbin case without winding them onto a bobbin.  I hate loading bobbins, and I never seem to have the right color on hand so I was really excited about it.  Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?

I love buying people gifts and pondering over what might make someone really happy, but this year, I'd have to say my family trumped me.  Everything I received was so very perfect and much appreciated!

Where There's a Will, There's a Way

Let's talk a little bit about this guy.

 I can't even begin to describe how much I adore him!  He is his own little person no matter what other people say to him and it makes me so happy.  His latest obsession with princesses cracks me up.  Almost all of his friend are girls so he gets a lot of princess playtime at their houses, but he's noticed that we don't have any princess things at our house.  As you know, he decided long ago that he wanted a Belle doll for Christmas, but he's been making do with what he has in the meantime.  He regularly brings me a blanket and straight pin and asks me to make him a princess skirt and I think he dresses up as a princess with his best friend Malan every day at preschool and he doesn't care what other boys think (although most of the other boys like to take turns in the princess dress-ups as well).  And if you notice I regularly have to fight him for my shoes.

Before Christmas he kept building this train (James from Thomas the Train, who he thinks is a girl train named Jane) and adding all the blocks on the back and calling it Rapunzel and asking if I like her beautiful hair (We saw Tangled and it was a big hit).

He was really nervous about Santa this year, but decided to be brave and sit on his lap because he really wanted to make sure Santa knew he wanted Belle and Rapunzel dolls (Sorry I'm too lazy to scan in the real picture. )

A few days later he was helping me pick out some Sub-for-Santa gifts for a four-year-old girl, when he spotted a Tinkerbell doll with wings that light up.  You should have seen his crocodile tears as he sobbed out the explanation that he made a really big mistake, and he told Santa that he wanted Belle and Rapunzel, but he really wants Belle and Tinkerbell.  I assured him that it wasn't too late to write Santa a note, and we headed home to do just that.  How could Santa say no to a great picture of Tinkerbell like that?

I wish you all could have seen Creed's joy Christmas morning.  While his cousins opened all of their presents, he sat and played with Belle and Tinkerbell and did not want to open anything else.  It was literally an hour before we could even get him to consider opening another gift.

Christmas Cards 2010

I love making our Christmas card every year, but this year I just wasn't feeling it.  I was just so busy with the move, but once friends' cards started arriving, I couldn't resist the urge to put something together.  The problem was it was mid-December and we didn't even have a family photo.  So what's a girl to do but pack up her family the very next morning and head to the photobooth.

 Oh yes, and antlers were a necessary part of the plan too.  

Creed was in a foul mood and had to be forced into the booth, thus the picture of him screaming, "No!" which we thought was hilarious and we decided to use it even though we got one of him smiling later.

I picked up some jewelry boxes that were the perfect size for our little photo and designed a label to wrap all the way around them to seal them closed.  

And yes, the postage was expensive.  They were really light so they wouldn't have cost much to mail except I met up with the grumpiest postal worker ever who told me that even if I put them in an envelope (which would have been much cheaper to mail) he would still know that it was in a box inside the envelope so he would still charge me parcel post.  Truthfully, I liked imagining my friends surprised by these little boxes arriving (who doesn't love getting a package) and we only send cards once a year so I didn't mind splurging a little on the postage (which cost way more than putting the whole things together.

I made the postal worker a little more angry when I told him that I didn't want him to print postage for these I wanted "pretty stamps" and he slapped some options on the counter and asked, "does this meet your standard for 'pretty'?" He gave me air quotes and a sarcastic tone and everything, which just made it  hard for me not to giggle, and it was totally worth it for "pretty stamps"

We tucked some mints in each box for our friends to enjoy. To be honest I selected them because of their light weight, but they were tasty too.

I was so happy with how they turned out, and I hope they made our friends smile.

Sinterklaas

I love that we're establishing our own family traditions.  Even though Creed is little, he has an amazing memory.  He remembered setting out shoes for Sinterklaas last year so we were sure to do it again this year, and we stuffed a few carrots in the boys shoes for Sinterklaas's horse.  You can read more about the tradition here.

 Sinterklaas came

 And he didn't forget the chocolate letters (what will I do next year when we don't live by the Dutch store?)

 Creed asked our neighbor that afternoon if Sinterklaas left chocolate in her shoe too.