Silly Christmas stuff

These are just a few pictures I've taken over the last few days.

Yesterday we finally decorated our gingerbread house. We do one every year. It's fun and this year's was the best. The kids are older and can do more. This kit was different from one's we done in the past. I liked it a lot. It has the big tree, gingerbread men and had green icing. It's from Costco.

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This morning we made pumpkin pancakes. It's a mix I got from Target and it's yummy. Ellie asked me if I could make her one in the shape of a Gingerbread man. It was at the end or I would have made more shapes. (snowmen, Christmas trees, etc.) Logan's turned out like a little muscle-gingerbread man. I was scraping the bowl for this one!I just had to take a picture of this freaky thing. We were at DQ yesterday and I saw it. Crazy is the only word I can think of!! (maybe ugly too!)

Merry Christmas everyone!!

School Christmas Parties

Thursday the kids both had their Christmas parties at school. Stuart had taken the day off, so we both went to both.

I just realized now, that I only took one pic at Logan's. Ooops! I didn't want to embarrass him though. He is in 3rd grade! They played a math bingo game. Big fun!

Ellie didn't mind however!

Her Teacher read the night before Christmas to them while we got their plates ready. She's been teaching Kindergarten for 28 years! I wish I had a better picture of her, she's a little scary looking! At the beginning of the year Ellie used to come home from school and say, "My teacher smiles in the morning, but by the afternoon she looks pretty mad." Funny, huh?

Ellie looks enthralled, doesn't she?

I'm glad we were able to go up there and see their teachers and their classmates. That's the thing about elementary school that you don't realize until you get there. You're so used to preschool where you're in the classroom and with the teacher everyday, twice a day. Then they go to Kindergarten and you drop them off and pick them up and almost never see their classroom or their teacher. It's weird!

Christmas portraits

Every year at Christmas time, the kids have their portraits professionally done. It's the only time of year we do it now. It's a little expensive, but I love having nice pictures to put up around the house and give away. Since Logan was about 2 we've been going to Kiddie Kandids. I was always happy with their work.

This year a friend told me about Portrait Innovations. I decided to try it. They did a great job. The photographer has a hand-held camera instead of the usual stationary one. They also take a ton of pictures (72 to be exact). I wound up spending less than at Kiddie Kandids and I got 24 sheets, plus 2 10x13's and 6 photo cards. Waaaaay more than I usually got from KK. Also, they gave me the pictures on a disc. ALL 72 of them!! It was great!! Here are a few of my faves.

That was Stuart's arm in the Santa suit and glove!

We actually bought some of the one above with the tongue out!

Not too shabby, huh? Now I can finally mail out my Christmas cards with some pictures from the shoot in there as well!

Bad Guys!

Here's the way my kids start their day. Logan's class went to see the Nutcracker a few weeks ago (yes the real ballet at the Long Center) and now he's dressing up like Godfather Drosselmeyer. But then he decided they were bad guys. Ellie's dressed like Pink Lady Bad Guy.
Where do they get this propensity to be "bad". The kids in my class are always being "bad guys" too. No matter how you slice it, I guess "bad" is cool. Even to kids. Scary, huh?


I love the way they pose for the pictures when they're being "bad guys".

They definitely keep me entertained!

Redoing the play room

I have been utterly disgusted with my playroom for a LONG time now. It used to be my dining room and is the first thing you see when you open the door. The fact that it was always a mess was just horrifying. I lived in fear of someone coming to the door and seeing it! It was just unorganized. I needed something to help with that, still do actually. But, we're making progress. A while ago we added a TV with DVD player and an old computer (no Internet, but their games worked on it). Still, it was just a bunch of toys lining the wall. I should have taken a before picture, but it was too embarrassing!

The kids are getting older now and so I wanted to start transitioning it from a play room full of toys to more of a media room for the kids to grow into. I've been looking off and on for a futon on craigslist. I had found a few, but nothing materialized. Yesterday I just couldn't take it anymore. I went in there and started tearing it apart. I threw away a LOT and am giving away (or taking to my classroom) even more! It's awesome. I also decided to get rid of some little kid furniture.

These are still in great shape. I got them at Target and I checked yesterday, they're still selling them for $69. I'll sell mine if anyone wants them for the low, low price of $40!! I'll even throw in the toy box for FREE! (It's older but there's nothing wrong with it.

So I went online to craigslist to see how much I should sell the toy shelves for and while I was there I checked the futons. I happened to see the one I bought on there at the top. It was only $100 and was in P'ville. So I called right away. I decided to go right over and get it!! It's in great shape. I'm really happy with it. I already had the tables (one had the computer on it, the other the TV). I did a little rearranging and voila! A whole new room, as Stuart put it. He complained at first, but now I think he sees the potential. I still want to get a storage system for that room, but we're definitely on the right track!

Elf Yourself

We had a lot of fun with this!! The kid's picked the pictures we used.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards