Friday, December 25, 2015

Merry Christmas!

We have had a lot of Christmas adventures this month!  Of course we had to pick out our tree, and it's so nice that the kids are getting big enough to help me out more with it!



We also made Christmas cookies for their teachers:



Over break we watched holiday movies and played games:


The new obsession with both of the kids is Pokemon, so they wanted to play that... but Mom just did not get it...


...which the kids found a little frustrating (but hilarious!):


They also had fun making some handmade gifts for their dad and grandparents:



The kids weren't quite sure if they were on the nice or naughty list this year...


...but Santa delivered!  It was a close call, though.  The morning of December 23rd Chloe changed her mind about what she wanted to ask Santa for and I told her it might be too late in the game for Santa to change it. That night after I put the kids to bed Chloe came downstairs and said she couldn't sleep because she had a bad feeling about her Christmas present. She was close to tears so I sat her down next to me to talk about it and I reminded her that Christmas was more about what you give vs. what you get, and we talked about the things she got her brother, her dad, her grandparents... and how happy they were going to be when they opened them. She got the biggest smile on her face and then it was my turn to cry! She went back to bed happy and left me sitting there proud. That's what it's all about, y'all.

She didn't get exactly what she asked for, but she took it in stride.  And Pokemon took over both houses!



Gift opening came to a halt several times so they could look through every single Pokemon card they got...


...which was a lot:


See how they are sorted into piles?  And see that binder of sheet protectors?  Yup....  That was all Mom's doing.  I spent a good amount of time organizing and putting all those cards in that pretty little binder because I Just. Couldn't. TAKE IT!!!!

But I feel better now.

Cue: The aftermath!


Merry Christmas, everyone!

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Happy 9th Birthday, Chase!

My baby boy is NINE!  How is this possible??

Chase celebrated his birthday at Gattiland again this year, and every gift he received got a similar reaction to this:


I was so proud of how special he made each kid feel about the gifts he opened.  He showed genuine excitement for each and every gift, and made sure to thank each kid personally.  We didn't even tell him to do that!  I guess he really is growing up!

He had lots of fun playing games with his friends and family:



He had another Minecraft themed party, and this time for his cake he had a very specific character in mind:


I decided to attempt one of the heads, and I have to say I am incredibly embarrassed at how terribly it turned out.  I really don't want to post a picture of it at all, but in the spirit of my kitchen adventures I have always posted the good, the bad and the ugly.  So here it is (but disclaimer: I have a really good reason why it didn't turn out so great, so stayed tuned!):


Ugh.  It makes me shudder!

But I told you I had a good reason for this cake failure.  I was trying to be Super Mom.  I directed a show that went up 4 days before his birthday, so I was crazy busy with that.  But on top of that, I also promised him I would redecorate his room for his birthday, so I was on a time crunch to get that done.  And I have to say....  Where I failed in the cake area, I more than made up for in the redecorating area.  Look what I painted (in the spirit of his Minecraft obsession):


Yes, I did it all by hand.  Measured and leveled every square, drew them all out by hand, taped it off, painted the squares individually, removed the tape, and filled in the rest by hand.  This is what Chase's room looked like before.  Yes, you are looking at gray trim (and what you don't see is that all the doors were painted gray, too!), and a lovely purple wall:



And here are the after pics:




Pretty proud....  Not gonna lie.

Oh, and Chloe helped (which she was incredibly proud of, too)!


Happy Birthday, Chase-ma-face!

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Conversations With a 5-Year-Old: Meaning of Christmas

Just had a "Hallmark Christmas movie moment" with my daughter.

This morning she changed her mind about what she wanted to ask Santa for and I told her it might be too late in the game for Santa to change it.  I had just put the kids to bed and was sitting here on the couch when Chloe came downstairs and said she couldn't sleep because she had a bad feeling about her Christmas present. She was close to tears so I sat her down next to me to talk about it and I reminded her that Christmas was more about what you give than what you get, and we talked about the things she got her brother, her dad, her grandparents... and how happy they were going to be when they opened them. She got the biggest smile on her face and then it was my turn to cry! She went back to bed happy and left me sitting here proud. That's what it's all about, y'all.

(Oh, and I have a feeling Santa will come through for her, too...)

Thursday, November 26, 2015

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had our 2nd annual "Favorite Foods" Thanksgiving. Since my kids don't care for turkey or any of the other traditional sides, we sit down and create our own menu of foods we love (while still covering the major food groups).  The menu this year consisted of:

  • Lasagna
  • Salad (for me)
  • Mashed potatoes
  • Strawberries
  • Cream corn
  • Pumpkin Cheesecake

We also continued our new tradition of writing down the things we are thankful for and hanging them over the table!


Chase was thankful for me, his dad, Chloe, God, heaven and life. Chloe was thankful for Chase, her dog and birds.

Geesh.... BIRDS?? I lost to BIRDS?!?!?

When I asked her about it she just giggled and said, "Next time, Mom."

Nice.


Over the week-long break we decided to head downtown for a one-night "mini vacation," where we spent most of the time at the hotel pool:


The next morning we got up to check out Voodoo Donuts.  Oh, my....  Deliciousness!


Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

 

Thursday, November 12, 2015

School Pictures!

Here are the kids' school pictures this year.  Please respect copyright!



Friday, October 30, 2015

Happy (Almost) Halloween!

The kids are at their dad's for Halloween this year, but I made their costumes, as is tradition.  Chloe's was fairly simple this year.  She wanted to be Shamu!


Chase, however, had a much more complicated request.  When I asked him what he wanted to be he said, "Golden Freddy" (from the Five Nights at Freddy's video game... or so I'm told).  I had NO idea what that was, so I had to Google it.  And this is what I found:


Ummmmmm.... First of all, that was a terrifying discovery!  Second of all, how in the world was I going to make it??

I did some searching for ideas online and then hit the stores.  I started with the head, and Chase was very skeptical, to say the least:


I was slightly terrified as well:


Chloe loved it, though, and decided to wear it to jam out at the piano:


Makes perfect sense to me!

I was absolutely terrified to reveal the mask to him.  I thought for sure he was going to hate it. But when I showed him the almost-finished product before bed last night he got so excited at the sight of it, I literally teared up. There's a heart of gold in that wild and crazy exterior, I swear. The costume isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but he knew how hard I worked on it and told me how much he loved it. Such a sweetheart.

Anyway, here they are!


Happy Halloween!

Monday, September 14, 2015

Girl Time

Chase has a best friend in the neighborhood and they do sleepovers whenever they can.  These opportunities give Chloe and I a chance to have some girl time!  When Chase's friend comes here, they do a pretty good job of including the little sister...


...but when they dive into their video game worlds it's our time!


Last weekend Chase spent the night at his friend's house, so Chloe and I had the house to ourselves.  We decided to go out to dinner and then the mall, where we bought some clothes, and had fun trying on some new glasses:


Chloe decided she wanted to get "Sealy" instead of the cool USA glasses...


...which worked out well because the next day she won some shades with an Instant Winner sticker at the HEB Buddy Bucks machine (which Sealy rocks, too)!


And of course no girls nite is complete without a follow-up girls morning at Dunkin Donuts!


Girl Time ROCKS!!!!

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