Cosmic Event...

Yesterday the planets must have been aligned in some strange way because the boys were really well behaved all day long! It was an early Christmas miracle....

Here are some of the fun things we did :)

Miss Peep's leg fall off (again) a week or so ago, and we finally got around to bandaging her back up. Poor Baby! Jack is saying "I didn't do it!"

:)

Yesterday after nap/ quiet time the boys played Play-Doh. And they played nicely for an entire hour! I had to sit right next to Jayden the whole time, but still. A complete hour of peace. Jack uses Play-Doh all the time, but usually only when Jayden is sleeping, since it says "ages 2+". But Jayden loved it and played really well, and only tried to lick it a few times!

And then Jack made himself this drum and started his own marching band (he saw it on "Caillou")!

Downtown Christmas!

Jackson had a rough morning (behavior-wise) today. So instead of putting him in his room for "quiet-time" this afternoon while Jayden was napping, I decided to take him to some Christmas activities going on "downtown".

(And honestly, he'd already had a lot of time in his room today)

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After I put Jayden to sleep, Jack and I bundled up and off we went!

Our first stop was to see Santa. Jack said he wanted to do it, even though I was a little apprehensive (I never was a "sit-on-Santa's-lap" fan myself). We got their and signed in and stood in line. Jack was very well behaved - We talked about what he was going to ask for (a truck) and we watched the kids in front of us...

And when he was Jack's turn, he walked right up, got on Santa's lap, and told him he wanted a truck for Christmas. Jack talked really soft and off to the side a bit, so it was hard for Santa to hear him, but overall he did very well and I was very proud of him.

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Santa gave Jack a candy cane and a picture of one of his reindeer and then Mrs. Clause gave him a small bag of candy. Jack also got a little pack of crayons, a coloring book and a balloon and they printed a picture of him with Santa before we left.

Then we headed back down Main Street to see what else we could find to do.


And as we were walking we found a free train ride! (the horse & buggy rides were $2). I think the train rides had just started, and there was only one other kid there, so we hopped on a took a nice ride! Then some more kids came, but the conductor said we could stay on as long as we wanted, on the next ride the train was full of kids (and me and one other mom) I think Jack & I rode that rain for 20 minutes! I could tell Jack was really tired, a little longer and he would have been sleeping on the train ride :)

After the train ride we walked down the street to Associated Bank where there were some snacks and the "Meno-HAR-monee" singers. We sat and listened to one song and then headed back to the car.

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We had a very fun hour and a half of mommy & Jack time :)

Christmas Tree!

We bought an artificial Christmas tree. I never thought I'd do it. But I did. And now I would like to apologize to everyone who has or has had one in the past, I won't think bad or less of you ever again. Sure, there is no real-tree-smell... But the whole thing was put up and decorated in about an hour, with NO MESS! And I won't need to vacume pine needles every since day... :) :) :) And we got a nice piney-smelling candle to put in the kitchen.

The box, it's not even very big! Fit perfectly in the back of the car.

Three pieces plus a base... simple!

The instruction said to expect to spend 30 minutes "shaping" each of the three sections... it took me (mostly just me, Jeff helped some on that part too) 30 minutes total. I could go back and "shape" a few more spots differently, or better, but this year... I just don't really care!

The finished tree! Looks real enough for me, from a distance..... We put a small collection of important ornaments on the top half and then the bottom half is mostly shatter-proof shiny, colorful balls from Menards and other unbreakable ones we had. Plenty of ornaments for me (although only a fraction of what we own, but we have too many).

Jack is pretty good about not touching the tree... unless he just wants to be a snot, but he knows it's wrong... Jayden on the other hand is a Christmas-tree-terror..... maybe we should have just put a small fake one on top of the wine cabinet. Hopefull the tree survive the next month....

Thanksgiving!

Chicken-Hand-Party-Day finally came!!!!

We had a very full day and two tired boys at the end of it :)

And Jack woke up the next morning and said "Is it Christmas today?"

Thanksgiving Break - Wednesday

YAY! Daddy is home today! And it's time to make Turkey Cupcakes :)
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We got started bright and early... the boys were trying to steal some of my candy....

Jayden with a mouthful of Candy Corn

First Step was to add the tail feathers to the first Oreo. It was pretty easy, but the most time- consuming part.

Don't they look pretty!

Next, line the feather cookies up on the base cookie - against the wall so the frosting can harden and not fall over!

This mornings baking was done with Jayden under foot (while Jack and Daddy were out doing a few errands.... my kitchen was completely destroyed by the time I was finished (2 hours later) but at least Jayden was happy, most of the time!)

Next step, flatten one side of the peanut butter cups (bodies). Luckily I had the perfect amount of peanut butter cups, I thought I'd have a few spare (to eat!), but no such luck. I ate the part I cut off though.... Good thing I didn't make any mistakes!

Next step, add the bodies....

And Jayden.... does anyone else know a kid who likes to play with garbage bags, all the time!?!?!

Now, unfortunately when I added my peanut butter cup "bodies" I failed to realize in my picture instructions that the feather cookie part had been flipped over, so I had to flip all my cup over. Luckily I realized right away and the frosting wasn't hardened yet.

Final step was to add the face... the tip of a candy corn for a nose, some sprinkles and frosting for eyes, and then putting them on the frosted cupcake Jack helped me make last night!

TA-DA! 27 Turkey Cupcakes all set for Thanksgiving :)

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I hope they travel well.

After cupcakes, we all went outside to decorate for Christmas. The boys helped Daddy put some ornaments on a tree in the front yard. They were both very good helpers!

Nice Work Boys!

Then Jack helped put the big lights next to the sidewalk.

And then we just played in the back yard for a while before and then again after lunch. It was a beautiful day!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Thanksgiving Break - Tuesday

This mornings' baking adventure was sprinkled sugar cookies! They turned out beautiful and delicious. Jack did lots of the work himself, once again :)

All set to get started with his cookie sheet, dough, sprinkles and M&M's!
Rolling...
and coating in colored sprinkles (we did christmas red & green or packer green & gold)!

Flattening them out with the cup.

"I made those!"

While the cookies were in the oven, the sat down nice together to enjoy some pretzels, juice and The Little Mermaid (again).

"That looks yummy"

I think Jack & Jayden like them :)

After cookie eating we played blocks again. Today Jack made a tunnel/wall type thing all by himself!

Thanksgiving Break - Monday

I have tried to plan something fun to do (ok, I admit it, something fun to bake!) with the boys each day morning this week since I am off school - something they, or at least Jack, can help with. This morning we made a quick trip in the cold to Pick n Save to get all our missing ingredients and then we started baking!

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Today's dish was Peanut Butter Rice Krispies with Chocolate-Peanut Butter Frosting :)

Jack is all set with his apron and ingredients!
Measuring (and eating) the marshmallows! Jack helped me count and pour :)

Spreading the hot gooey peanut butter rice krispies in the pan.

Jack helped me pour all the ingredients in a bowl for the frosting and then after I melted it and spread it on, he added the sprinkles!

Jayden enjoyed licking the frosting bowl!

All finished! They look yummy :)

While our treat was cooling we watched The Little Mermaid and made block towers.

Jack made one taller than him all my himself!

Jayden made his own too!

Then both boys were working on this really big one so nice, but just as a snapped the picture it went "Ka-Boom!!!"

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What a fun morning we had!