Christmas Recital

I forgot I haven't posted this yet.  Enjoy!

THE Gift

Derek and were talking over what we might want to give the girls for Christmas.  I just knew that Santa wanted to bring them some sort of rockstar microphone set.  I told him this and all of a sudden a great brainstorming session occurred.  The kind where you aren't exactly sure who had which idea first, but it all comes together...it was decided that we would build them a stage.  But not just any stage.  A stage painted with chalkboard paint on the top and a stage that was a Barbie house on the inside.  Awesome.  Derek had recently acquired a table saw that he was itching to use.  I was mentally reliving my glory days of decorating a mammoth Barbie house built of cast-off household items in my parents' basement.
So the next day we bought the wood.  (This was early in December).  Then, we stalled out.  But, finally we decided to have a friend with a wood shop help us do the cutting and then we got started.  We ended up having to buy a nail gun (no project is a good project in Derek's book unless you have to buy a new tool). I did most of the decor with paint, scrapbook paper and mod podge. And it came right down to the wire, but the mission was accomplished by Christmas Eve morning.  This meant that even uncle Davey got to help cut the carpet, but no one had to stay up late to finish!
Here are the pics of the finished interior.

This is the ballroom, complete with disco balls on the ceiling.   I also bought LED lights from Target, so each room has some actual lighting.  

I was particularly proud of the kitchen floor.  One of my fabulous Young Women from church helped me with the floor and also painted the red wall in the ballroom.  

Bedroom 1--the dresser pulls are made of beads. (Sarah's room Libby decided for her)  I told the girls we would shop for bedding and curtain material together.  

Bedroom 2.  Libby's room.  She picked it for the flowers and sparkles in the wall paper.

The bathroom (and yes, the view is the same from every window.  I couldn't find a window I liked, so I created this one in publisher.)

Living room.  The fireplace was Derek's idea.  It is one of my favorite parts.

Garage.  The car fit perfectly.  I got the garage door and storage system  off of the internet.  Printed and mod podged them on.  

  It has created a problem though, Ben wants to play with it too.  And they can't pick it up and move away from him.  It will be interesting to see how they work that out.  I have already had to reglue one disco ball and 2 dresser pulls.  Not sure how long those will last.  But they are having a blast!  Which is good, since I had to return the microphone karaoke machine because the cheap plastic microphone holder on the stand broke.  So, karaoke in a few days when Amazon delivers the new "Block Rocker" that I got instead.  Then we can go back into stage mode.  The chalkboard aspect of the stage has also been a huge hit.  I am so happy!

Merry Christmas!!!

We had an amazing Christmas season.  It was so busy.  I wanted to make some tasty treat for every single event we went to (and there were a lot).  Next year I am resolving to either start earlier making the treats, or just buy stuff for some of the events.  I made sugar cookies, caramels, pigs in a blanket, roasted nuts, peppermint bark popcorn  (from ourbestbites.com) and more caramels and more caramels.  (Again, thanks to ourbestbites I made my favorite caramels that Emily Weeks told me about last year--Apple Cider Caramels.)  I LOVE making all of it.  But then I don't have time to make meals or do anything else, so a change is in order for next year.  I should spend more money on store bought goodies to give away and less on McDonald's chicken nuggets for my kids.

Anyway, the best part of Christmas this year was that my brother Dave came to stay with us.  He is a great guest.  He played with the kids, took pics of them, played games with us, I JUST LOVE HIM.  I am feeling sad already that he is gone.

I was feeling overwhelmed about the task of blogging about all the Christmas festivities.  Here is a short rundown.  We had the amazing annual Christmas Eve at Maren's.  Delicious clam chowder & chewy rolls with donuts for dessert.  (This also means that in the morning we had a great trip to Krispy Kreme where I ate an undisclosed but very large number of donuts:)  Grandpa Brion read the Christmas nativity and we sang some songs at appropriate points.  My kids danced somewhat irreverently to each song.  (I did wonder--should I stop them?  But they were having a great time.)
Then after visions of sugarplums danced in my kids heads Sarah finally woke up.  Dave and I were already up in the kitchen waiting.  I have turned into my mom.  I can't sleep on Christmas Eve.  So when Sarah got up we woke up everyone else and had a great Christmas morning.  We had a google+ chat with Emily & Soren in Maine, Rachel & Brad in Orlando, Nick at his house, my parents and Bryn and Brian at their house.
But the best part of the morning was that the girls LOVED their big gift, which will get its own blog post.

We had a great brunch at the Nortons exchanging gifts with the Norton/Rathburn clan.  The highlight of that exchange was when Clark opened his gift.  We had Paige hand him the wrapped nerf gun while we all hid outside the front door with our new guns (including Libby and Sarah).  When he started unwrapping we charged in and unloaded all our ammo on him.  A great nerf battle ensued.  Epic.
I made a collage of each kid and of the parents enjoying some Christmas Magic!  (These include some fun events in December before and after.)

I Saw Mommy doing WHAT?

Libby has been very concerned by the song, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus."  When she was first listening to it she asked me if I had any duties on Christmas Eve...(this is what she calls the work I do after she goes to bed, "my duties") and told me I couldn't do any!  I had to go right to bed so that I wouldn't end up kissing or tickling Santa.  I have since told her that it is the daddy dressed up as Santa.  But that hasn't really helped.  I guess she can't picture Derek dressing up as Santa, and neither can I for that matter.
It is so cute how worried she is.

Gingerbread Palooza!

Libby has been begging to have a new friend from school over for a playdate.  I thought it would be perfect occasion to invite her and her mom for a gingerbread playdate.  We made trees, houses, and gingerbread girls.  It was a great time (once I got the icing to the right consistency to hold up the houses.)  The only problem is that I really want to make one myself.  But anyway, I had fun helping them and getting to know Libby's friend and her mom.   Sarah also invited a friend.  Each pair decorated a house.

I did decorate this ice skating Pope character.  It was supposed to look like Santa hat, but definitely looks papist to me. I was also experimenting with my camera a bit here.  Hmmm...

Santa Pics

I think this is the first time my kids have had pictures with Santa.  They had varying reactions...

Libby:  This is awesome!

Add caption

Ben:  This is horrible..

Ben:  Oh, there is candy involved?  Well then, I'll take that!

Sarah:  I refuse to go anywhere near him.  (Even on my lap she wouldn't look up. She is shy at interesting moments.)

Benism

We were delivering Christmas gifts to our neighbors.  One of them is a trucker. We told him how Ben loves to look at his truck.  Derek asked, "Ben what does a truck say?" (We were expecting some good truck sound effects).  Ben said, "GO!"  So cute!

Benisms

A couple of days ago we were saying the blessing on a meal.  I glanced over at Ben (because what good parent doesn't occasionally check out their kids during prayers) and Ben was folding his arms.  Then after the prayer he said, "men" (like amen)!  It was AWESOME.  I have been paying closer attention and he says lots of words:  bubble, pop, ball, please (I think), thanks (if you know what  you are listening too), car, truck (car and truck sound similar), amen, Ben (if you ask him what his name is), ow, uh-oh, and probably more, it is getting too late for me to think clearly...but it is true, he is finally starting to talk (oh yeah, and AFLAC if you ask Libby).  Despite his binkie obsession.  

He is also shoe obsessed.  He wants to be wearing at least one pair of shoes at all times.  (And he wants the running shoes tied.  If they come untied, he immediately finds the nearest adult to tie them for him.)

I am also proud of his animal sounds.  He has lots now.  Many sound like a mutation of quack, but I can tell a bock from a quack from a meow (most of the time).

He is getting better at identifying body parts too.  He can do eyes and mouth.  Nose and ears are a bit tricky.  He point in the general viscinity of nose for nose and ears.  He does know toes though!

Just wondering when he will stop squirming and screaming during diaper changes.  I feel like he should have grown out of that by now.  But I guess it will make him a good wrestler that he doesn't like to be on his back.

I WANT MY...

Thank you very much!

Sarahisms

Sarah isn't nearly as into dramatic posing for pictures.  And, it turns out it is kind of hard to tell a kid how to pose.  Guess I am definitely going to have to order the ebook about getting natural poses that I thought I wouldn't need.  Anyway, she loved dressing up as Cinderella, but mostly she was just excited to have her turn taking the pictures.

What she is into is Christmas songs.  Whenever we get into the car she demands to listen to Christmas songs.  But, she is VERY picky.  We have been listening to the Muppets and John Denver Christmas and her favorites are the "Goose Fat" song ("Christmas is Coming"), and the song where Animal says "sorry" ("Little Saint Nick") and the Figgy "Pudding Song"

I finally put a compilation disc in the van (after spending some time figuring out the new iTunes--was the change really necessary?) and she has expanded her reproitore.  Now she also like the "Blue Song" (Elvis, "Blue Christmas".  

I need to get her the Neil Diamond "White Christmas" version my dad used to torture us--I mean delight us with each year.  

Libbyisms

The other night Libby came up and asked me to play her the "candycorn misery song..."  I was totally baffled by this.  I had her sing it to me.  She got all embarrassed and hummed a few seconds.  I finally realized it was "Cowboy Casanova", a bodypump song we had been listening to earlier that day.  It is about a cowboy who seems awesome but is a heartbreaker.  It says, "candy coated misery" as a part of the chorus.  Her guess wasn't too far off.  Then she wanted to know if the "snake with blue eyes" in the song was real.  (She is really into being scared right now, so she was looking for something else to be scared of.)

She was feeding Ben something in his high chair today and trying to get him to talk (which he is saying much, much more lately).  All of a sudden she got super excited..."He said AFLAC!"  

Whew!  Glad he got that important word in his vocabulary...

Today I wanted to take a break from all the wrapping and cooking (I have already gone through a 10 lb. bag of sugar this month, yikes!) and play a little with my camera.  The girls were pretty happy to oblige when I said they could wear princess dresses.  Here are some of the best Libby shots.  

A note on the Wrestling Season thus far...

Prep wrestling: Mariner Double Dual

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EVERETT -- Shorewood came out swinging against the Scots, getting a huge boost when first year wrestler Abiel Tesfamarian edged out a one-point victory at 120 pounds. Shorewood went on to win four of the next five matches to build an insurmountable lead, winning 47-30. In their second match Shorewood held off Lynnwood 45-22. In a back and forth affair it was Shorewood's superior team depth that made the difference. Sophomore Braden Kalloway continued his strong start to the season by picking up two first round pins, improving his record to 6-0 overall, all by pin.

Shorewood 47, Shorecrest 30

Sarahisms

We watch lots of HGTV.  It is so calm, happy, interesting and perfect for folding laundry or prepping veggies for dinner.  Sarah has been infected with the idea that we need a bigger house (of course because I have mentioned this a few too many times when I am planning on hosting guests or a dinner or a meeting).
One of our favorite shows is LOVE IT OR LIST IT.  The other night Sarah told Derek, "Can we move tomorrow?  Because tomorrow I am going to LIST IT."  Derek thought it was hysterical.  I feel like I need to resolve not to critique our house when our children can hear anymore...Cause it is going to be awhile before we can move.  And, I love our house.  It has so many great features...

The New Toy

I have been wanting a digital SLR forEVER.  I mean at least 3 years.  And for someone who isn't very patient to wait 3 years to buy anything is a pretty big accomplishment right?  I am learning lots about all the options and fun things I can do.  It is one of my new year's resolutions to learn more about photography because I think my kids are adorable and worth the best photography ever.  Here are some of my favorites so far.

Ben was super happy wearing Libby's backpack.  

Libby admiring the tree.

Ben's choice of shoes.

Love this Ben face.

Two of the amazing women I work with.

Two more wonderful women from church.

Cheer Camp

Yesterday Libby and Sarah did a one day cheer camp at a local high school.  They had a good time.  I enjoyed the excuse to watch them and take pics with my new camera!  I still have a lot to learn, but it was fun.  They get to cheer at a basketball game on Wednesday...if we have time.