Holiday Season

Good Heavens we committed to way too much this year! We've had at least one thing on each day of the calendar for the past 3 weeks. Some days have 3 - 4 things… I decided we're committing to less next year. Ward/Family party? Yes. Women's holiday gathering? No. So don't be offended if I tell you no next year.

Saturday night it snowed about a half inch and as soon as Logan saw it he shouted "Dad! It snowed! Let's go play in it! Can we make a Snow Man?" So Dave gladly obliged. They snowball fought, they made snow angels, Logan danced around for joy of snow! But most important they made a snow man!

Logan wanted to help Dave with every step of the process. Dave got the balls started, and Logan pushed them around the yard.

And the cutest part, Logan couldn't help giving the snowman a hug!

Logan and his friend Abby decided to name the snowman Frosty. Every morning, Logan checks outside to see if his snowman "melted small, small, small yet". And at the grocery store yesterday Logan insisted we buy a real carrot for his nose. I guess a baby carrot wasn't sufficient.

Things have also been crazy because I've started up a little business on the side. My Dad has a friend that wanted to sell some of the arrowheads and spearheads he makes, so I've been listing them on Ebay for him. We have had a few busy days, but it's been good (busy means sales). Things are slowing down a bit, which is perfect, since this week is the busiest. It's been nice to make a little extra money for Christmas and to save for this summer!

Other than that it's been parties and Christmas events. Last night we went up to Temple Square and saw the lights. We picked up Dave from work, and walked over. Logan loved it! He kept telling us "LOOK AT THE TEMPLE! It's so pretty" the blue lights were his favorite. We're sure Dustin had a good time too. He kept singing to Dave (he was in a backpack for easy maneuvering). Both boys fell asleep on the way home and woke up ornery, but over all it was a successful night.

The Zoo & Thanksgiving

Last Wednesday was free day at the zoo, so Logan, Dustin and I invited Edison and his mom to join us! The boys had a blast and it was so nice to take a break from all the frantic preparing for Thanksgiving and really enjoy the 70 degree weather. Logan's favorite was the elephants, and Dustin loved the seals! They put on a crazy show "dancing" and jumping out of the water.

It was great to spend all of our long Thanksgiving weekend together! Logan was feeling friend deprived since he didn't get to play with Abby ALL WEEK LONG! We even had tears when she called in sick Monday.  But Thursday we went to my family's house for dinner and he got his fill of cousins!

They had a blast playing together. Max helped all the younger cousins make stop signs and Logan has been playing with his ever since. We had delicious food, and got home with enough time to watch a movie together as a family!

Friday Dave worked like crazy creating a bench for our entry way. He was able to finish it Saturday, and I love it! It has 4 bins, a place for our shoes and goes below the coat rack. He did a great job, as always! Our old coat rack only had 3 hooks. This one has 12! 

It's perfect for our million coats, plus any friends that come over. I also love that each bin has each person's hats, gloves, snow pants, etc. and our most frequently worn pair of shoes fit below the bind. Having such a fabulous entry way makes me want to paint the yellow wall though. I've been looking for an excuse to paint it since we moved in. I don't like yellow (especially not any of the 7 different shades of yellow that was in our house when we moved in).

Saturday we also went to the park and got to do some playing. I can't believe the weather has been so nice! We're down to our last 3 garden tomatoes in the fridge. Who would have thought we would have tomatoes in December? But hey, I'll take it!

Sunday we started decorating for Christmas. Logan was so excited he couldn't wait for breakfast to be over, so we decorated first. The boys had a blast putting the decorations up (and taking them down, sigh). 

Other than that, I've been working like crazy to get everything done for Christmas. I only have a few small sewing projects left, but time is just flying by! There's only one thing left that has to get done by Christmas, but other than that it can all really wait. 

Dustin's First Birthday

Wednesday was Dustin's first birthday! We had so much fun celebrating with him. Well, the celebration began on Tuesday. Dave has Scouts on Wednesdays, so even though Dave planned to skip scouts, we thought we'd make sure we got to celebrate, so we had cupcakes after dinner.

Dustin got "Mike Wizowski" cupcakes (from Monster's Inc.). Logan helped me mix the batter during nap time and I quickly frosted them after dinner.  At first Dustin just dipped his finger in the frosting and licked it off.

Given a spoon, he quickly destroyed enjoyed the cake, frosting, and toppings!

He thought he was getting away with murder feeding himself! And the floor was a MESS after we were done (and neon green crumbs show up a lot more than regular crumbs).

 Logan enjoyed his cupcake too! He thought the eye was a pretty funny thing to put on top of a cupcake, but he liked them.

Then Dave and Logan pleaded with me to just open gifts too. I gave in and we did! Logan picked out a toy to give Dustin. He picked two dinosaurs (because just one would be lonely Mom). So Dustin opened them and we played with Logan and Dustin's dinosaurs. Dustin makes a pretty convincing RRRROOOOAAAARRRR!

"email this picture to Papa! 3 boys, no girls aloud!"

Dustin opened and enjoyed all his gifts. We played and played until long past bedtime. For his actual birthday Dustin wanted cupcakes for breakfast, but I had to say no... It was so hard, but he settled on cereal, yogurt and grapes. He kept pointing to the cupcakes and making noise (good thing he doesn't know the word yet, or I would have caved).

Oh man it's been a busy few weeks! Well, self inflicted busy, but still crazy! I've been trying to get everything done for Christmas before December so I can just relax and enjoy the season. I have been sewing and creating like crazy! But it's never ending, every time I finish a project, I come up with two more I just "have to make" for someone. We'll see if I actually get done by Christmas. If not, it's been fun sewing.

The other day Logan asked me "so Mom, what did you sew today?" um, nothing. We had run errands and baked all day. He asked "are you sure? You didn't sew anything?" Funny kid! He knows what's up.

Other than that, I've been toying with the idea of starting a new Christmas tradition it's called the Kindness Elf. It's similar to the elf on a shelf (hide an elf toy different places in the house every day in Dec), but it focuses on doing kind things for others.

So you might find your elf in the mixing bowl in the kitchen with a note that says "help me make a treat for a neighbor today!" But I don't know if I want to commit to 25 days of planning things, so I might try out the 12 days before Christmas and see how that goes. If we like it, we can plan more activities for next year (and I can recycle this years too). If we hate it, at least we got an elf toy out of it (another item to add to my sewing list...).

Halloween & Christmas Sewing

Two crazy but fun weeks! Two weeks ago Friday we did a family movie night. For us, this involves picking a kids movie to watch, and going to the Dollar Tree. Everyone gets a dollar to spend on whatever they want. Logan got Curious George fruit snacks, Dustin got a bouncy ball, I got peach rings, and Dave got liquorish. Peach rings have become my substitute for liquorish since going gluten free. It was a fun night!

Saturday we had a casual morning, and went to the park in the afternoon. It was so windy we ended up going back to the Dollar Tree and bought two kites to fly! Logan had so much fun watching his kite flying around. I think it's the first time we've done this with him.

That night the boys headed out to the church for our ward's Father Son activity. They had a fire at the church with S'mores and 7 different cobblers. They ate chips and pizza and played in the gym with the other kids! They had a fun time. I had my friend Tenille over. We went to Zupas and worked on sewing projects until the boys got home.

That Monday for FHE we had a lesson on the Word of Wisdom. This has had a huge effect on the way Logan eats. Now when we start eating he will ask "Are carrots/sandwiches/candy healthy?" and if it isn't he will respond "then we should only eat a little". Glad he got the point of that lesson! Sometimes I wonder, and he surprises me with what he picks up. Man, since we had a lesson on dental hygiene and cavities (a few weeks ago) we have had less problems with not wanting to brush teeth.

Last week was crazy Halloween prep! I was finishing sewing a tie for Dave's costume and a belt and "mask" for my costume. They all turned out well, although Logan didn't want pictures! He's been against them since our family photo shoot.

So this is the best I could do. I probably tried to get pictures 8 times of these two. Since Logan's room is a super hero room, I thought it would be adorable to blow up a picture of these two and hang it on the wall. We'll see if I can get Dave to do some editing and make these blowup-able.

Dustin cooperated! He makes the cutest little side kick!

The lighting of this one is awful, but I love how Dustin looks like he has Logan's back!

The boys and their candy haul. We only went out for an hour, and a lot of that was spent chatting with people from the ward. So we didn't end up with too much. All three boys were feeling under the weather, although Logan was begging to go trick or treating again an hour after we got home.

I also started my Christmas sewing! I think we're done buying the boys gifts. We aren't doing a big gift year this year (we're saving up for a trip to the Outer Banks next summer), so I decided to supplement our purchased gifts with some home made ones. Everything from these gifts were out of my material stash, so "free"! Dustin will get Buzz Lightyear and Woody.

Logan will get these three Totoros. Every time he watches the movie he asks me to make him a Totoro toy. So I've been saving this idea for Christmas. And he will LOVE how they turned out! When he gets them. I was cutting out the pieces and he was in the room. He asked "Oh Mom, are you finally making me a Totoro?!?" Sigh... so much for surprise.

Other than that, we're hanging in there! The boys are pretty much over their sickness, and Dave is on the upturn. Fortunately I didn't get it, so we're good there!

Family Pictures and Projects

Every fall we do a family photo shoot. Usually I get inspired when the leaves start changing and I insist, but this year Dave took the initiative and insisted. We've done our own photos with a tripod for the past 4 years, but this year it really became a challenge! We got one where everyone was looking at the camera, but that was it!

I wish Dustin was smiling and I wish Logan's hand was down, but we'll go with it! I think we'd do better if we conned someone into taking them for us, but with these boys, it's hard to "schedule" a time for them to be happy. So we wait until a happy time, rush to get them dressed and take a few photos.

We got several cute pictures of Dustin, but this is the best of the bunch! He's such a happy little fellow.

This is the best we could get of Logan. He was in a silly mood, so we have a ton of weird faces. So we're going with one of these for the mantle for the next year. Unless I can get him outside in the same clothes in a more photo friendly mood.

Getting ready for this shot, I had everyone's outfit picked out. Then Dave came in and decided he didn't want to wear the shirt I picked out. And Logan followed his lead, insisting on a different shirt. So I gave Dave a color palette he could pick from, then I changed Logan and my shirts to match (Dustin's was close enough to keep the same). At least everyone was happy in the end!

I've been cleaning up my project bin lately. I have a ton of stuff I've started, but haven't finished. So I dove in this week and got some things done.

I saw this idea on Pinterest! It's a plank of wood with holes drilled into it and cross stitched with hemp. I love how it turned out! It's hanging above the fire place downstairs.

I did this on the back of the one I made for Spring. I just used paper I had on hand, and turned out ok.

This was a necessity! Logan loves to pull the towels down from the stove. So I added two button holes and a button to this so I can attach a few towels to the oven door (I made 4). I have to put them on backwards (so the button is hiding), but it has kept the towels on the stove for a week now! I love that the towel can still lay out flat if I need it to, but it can also be buttoned on!

I sewed two covers for our 3 inch foam camping mats. I had these 90 percent done, they just needed the buttons and top flap sewed on. I finished one and have it on Logan's top bunk! He loves climbing up there and playing. I've told him when he can climb up and down all by himself he can start sleeping up there. We have another year for him to figure it out and Dustin moves into the bottom bunk.

I started this pillow in May. I cut it out and surged it, but didn't finish it. So I sewed the edges and stuffed it! Dave and Logan have been loving relaxing on the hammock.

And this bad boy!!! Long story… a few months ago I approached my Mom and Grandma about starting a quilt. We're having a family reunion next summer, and I thought it would be fun for everyone that wants to to create a square for a quilt. We then make enough to give one to everyone participating and all trade at the reunion. So we all will end up with a Reunion quilt. The theme is the beach, and this is the square I've come up with. Only 10 more to make!

This weekend we got two date nights! Friday Dave's parents called and asked if they could babysit (YES! ALWAYS YES!). We decided to go out for Thai food and the Temple. Logan's had an ornery few weeks, so this was SO needed. We had a great time! Saturday we got to go to the Adult Session of Stake Conference and picked up some German Chocolate ice cream to enjoy later. It was great to have two nights off in a row.

Dave also got the shed re-organized this weekend and I got our winter and summer clothes switched out. Neither are fun, but both were good to get done. This weekend it starts getting busy again, but it was nice to have two weekends in a row with no plans!