Coordinated Christmas

I'll be back in January with some posts from our Christmas this year. For now here are some pictures for your enjoyment. Gramma Kath got the kids matching Christmas jammies this year. I love Christmas pajamas but hate that they only get a month of wear. Next year we will pull out these same pajamas and see which kid fits into which size and then only buy 1 or maybe 2 new pairs. These are from Hanna Andersson, a favorite children's store of ours.

Henry's First Birthday Party

We celebrated Henry's first birthday the Saturday before Christmas with our family. Can't believe how quickly the past year has gone. And this Advent season absolutely flew by and Christmas just snuck up on my this year. Nothing will ever compare and beat last years Advent when were waiting for the birth of both our baby boy and the baby Jesus.

So from both Henry's birthday and Christmas presents for Henry, we are beginning to have more boy things around. Cars, books about trains and trucks, balls, balls and more balls, dinosaurs, etc. Just a couple weeks ago our house was void of most of these wonderful boy toys.

This is our 3rd celebration of a first birthday in our family. Henry by far wins the award for the best smash cake performance. Cake and icing were flying through the air. At one point he lifted the whole cake up and dropped it back down upside down. My mom found a chunk of icing in her purse the next day. What a boy!

Our little guy at 1 year old is a climber (get-on-top-of-the-kitchen-table-climber), loves balls, loves being outside, loves dogs, and has a sweet tooth that is troublesome. I can't have anything sweet in view when he is eating or he wants nothing to do with his food. He is quick to smile and easy to make laugh. His 1 year doctors appointment is tomorrow and I'm sure he'll weigh close to 27 pounds. The girls didn't even weigh that much at 2! He is walking around but is still in that between crawling and walking stage. I can't wait to see him grow and change in the next year!

Little Miss Smarty Pants

Magnolia is following in my foot steps and had to get glasses. She is a little nearsighted and was having trouble seeing things clearly across the room. I called our eye doctor after I noticed her having difficulty reading words from a distance but once she got closer she could read them just fine. At her appointment she did great and he was able to write her prescription and sent us off to pick out frames. She went with purple ones that have flowers on the sides. So far she has been very responsible with them, keeping them in the case when she isn't wearing them, cleaning them, and taking them off when her and Boothe are playing rough. We will see how she does once the novelty wears off!

Now our little smart girl looks even smarter!

Newspaper Modge Podge Signs

I saw this tutorial on Pinterest awhile back and thought the signs were so cute and sounded easy enough to make.  They turned out good enough but I think I need a little more practice with modge podge.  I had some issues with the newspaper getting soggy from the modge podge and wrinkling.  I'm sure there is a solution to this but I never have figured it out.

Here are some basic instructions for making one but you may want to search around Pinterest for more a more detailed how-to.   

Rip or cut piece of newspaper out and modge podge to a piece of canvas.  Once that is dry, place re-stickable letter stickers on top spelling out whatever it is you want to spell out.  Now paint over the whole thing and once that is dry peel off the letters.  And you're done!

Leftovers

Here are some left over pictures from the past 4 months that didn't fit into any blog post.  They were cute none the less so here they are grouped together in a modge podge of a post.

Beautiful Boothie

Crazy Boothie

Silly Boothie

My rascals

Playing Dress-up

Loved this...she sat down to read a book while still wearing her dress up gloves.

Brooke had us over to her house after finding out that she is going to be having a girl in March.  We didn't know if she was having a boy or girl until after dinner when we bit into a cupcake with pink icing hidden inside.  Before dinner we all were speculating on the gender.  Brooke had these sticker mustaches and pink bows for fun.

We had such a mild fall that we rarely even needed a jacket outside.  It also gets dark so early that Dan was doing some last minute raking before the city scheduled leaf pick up.  The girls went out to play in the leaves while dressed up as fairies.



The Studebaker Museum had a free admission night with kiddie crafts, cookies and lots of Christmas decorations.  We took the kids since Dan has become a Studebaker enthusiast this past year after working almost non-stop on a case involving Studebaker.  The kids are sitting in the back of a Studebaker in this picture.

November Cousins

Finally we got one of both with smiles on their face.  This one may have been taken just slightly into December, but we will count it as November and I'll post a good one from Christmas of the boys together for the official December Cousins post.

This one is just hilarious of Raife so I had to post!

Merry Christmas from our Family to Yours

¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ 

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

    and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

Luke 2:10-14

Christmas Spirit

IT'S CHRISTMAS EVE!!!  YIPPEEEEEEE!!!!

Love these two!

The Firm Christmas Party

We traveled down to Indy on December 14th for Dan's firm's Christmas party.  It was very fun for the kids and nice to socialize with the people that work in the Indy office.  I hadn't been able to go since Boothe was born for different reasons every year.

  There were 2 horse drawn carriages giving rides around the Indy neighborhood where the firm offices are located.  The girls got a kick out of that and Henry was dancing and bobbing to the beat of the horse's hooves on the pavement.  There were princess crowns for the girls to wear while on the carriage ride.

Great family picture.  Boothe is still in this not-wanting-to-take-pictures phase.

After the ride there was a magic show for the kids.  They loved it.  The show and the magician was very kid oriented and had the kids yelling and laughing the whole time.

Magnolia and Boothe were picked to help out with a trick.

We drove back home that night after the party.  We left Indy at about 8:30 and the kids slept the whole way.  We carried them in, put them in bed and Dan and I got to bed by midnight.  It was a whirlwind day!

Homemade Christmas Treats

We had a lot of reasons to bake this Christmas season.  I like to give gifts of sweets to teachers and neighbors.  Everyone likes baked goods and I like having a reason to do some mass baking.  This is the only time of year that I get to use butter and sugar by the pound!  We have dance teachers, a piano teachers, several teachers for Boothe's BSF class, several teachers for Magnolia's preschool, some neighbors and we had a cookie exchange at our church's annual Christmas brunch.

Here are the wonderful goodies that came out of my kitchen this year.

Snickerdoodle Bread 

Picture from lilluna.com

Peanut Butter Cups

Picture by sixsistersstuff.com

Gingerbread Cookies 

Picture by culinaryconcoctionsbypeabody.com

Fannie Mae Fudge (My mom's recipe)

4 cups of Sugar
1 cup of Butter
1 teaspoon of Vanilla
1 cup of Milk
12 ounces of Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
12 ounces Milk Chocolate Chips
25 large Marshmallows
1/4 cup of Cocoa
1/2 cup of Walnuts (optional)

Bring sugar, butter, vanilla and milk to a slow boil.  Continue to boil for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and add chocolate chips, marshmallows, cocoa and walnuts.  Stir until creamy and pour on a large cookie sheet.