Me trying to be crafty

I have become addicted to craft blogs since I got my first sewing machine a few months ago.  One of my favorites is Makeitandloveit.blogspot.com.  I made a felt Mrs. Potato Head from that site for Lorelei for christmas.  Unfortunately I finished it last night, so it's in the mail now.  I made teeth and a mustache too, but she didn't get the mustache because I didn't get a Mr. Potato Head hat made in time.  Maybe for her birthday she can get the extra attachments.

I got this idea for a skirt made of my old scarf from the same site, and a fleece scarf for Reagan with big felt bows on it.  Super cute, and Reagan loves it, but the only pictures I have of it are on my cell phone.

I can't find the site where I got this idea, but I made this for Kenzie for christmas.  I hope she likes it.  I also made a scarf for Jordan.  It was obviously my first attempt at anything, so it's not very good.  SORRY JORDAN!!!  When I have my own craft show I'm sure it will be worth millions!  I've made a cover for my sewing machine too.  Next up will be some baby stuff for Stacey.  I am getting much much better, so hopefully Stacey's will be usable stuff!  It always looks so good in my head, hopefully that will start translating in real life.

Santa Cruise

For Nick's work party this year we went on the SANTA CRUISE!  The kids were so excited!  We were greeted by Frosty, Rudolph & a moose.  Frosty insisted on hugs for everyone and they passed out candy canes.  Reagan thought it was great!  Coen allowed them to give him a high five.

Here's the only good picture we got of the North Pole.  Santa was there and he read off the nice list.  Reagan was pretty nervous, but she made it!  So did Coen.  Coen was very quick to point out that Ike didn't.  He must have been added later.

It was a really fun little cruise.  It only took about an hour.  Mrs. Clause was our hostess.  They took us around the resort where they have huge light displays and then on over to the north pole.

It was a little rainy, but not bad, and it didn't stop the kids from wanting to be outside to see all the lights and be close to Santa.  We helped him make it snow- which was really cool!  And then they lit up the christmas tree and had a light show.  Good times!

Merry Christmas!

If I had received the christmas cards I thought I ordered, many of you would be getting this picture in the mail.  But I didn't so you won't.  I am not going to post a letter here, because if you're seeing this, you know what we've been doing all year.  I was, however, very impressed with myself for getting this picture taken- it only took 4 pictures and there was NO screaming involved.  It was awesome.  So feast your eyes on my masterpieces! 

Here is our annual popcorn ball picture!  Ike really didn't like it at first, but as you can see he warmed up nicely!  We made almost 200 this year and hopefully our friends and neighbors will get some!

As sad as this may sound, this is our first ever Santa picture.  The last time Reagan saw Santa she wouldn't get within 10 feet of him, but she had no problems this year and Coen just walked right up to him so that was nice!  We didn't try Ike, he was busy terrorizing another baby.  (The next day he actually drew blood, SORRY Thian!)

This is our 1st Christmas just by ourselves and we're very sad to not be with our families, but have really enjoyed taking things easy and not having to pack!  We're taking the kids on the Santa Cruise this year and are having another family over for Christmas Eve dinner, so we won't feel so alone.

  Merry Christmas to you all!  We love you and wish you joy and health this, and every, year!

Kids Playing

Coen gets way too much girl time!  He has started saying beautiful a lot like "look at that beautiful shadow."  The other day he said "we're going to have a picnic and then get married."H  He does play with his cars constantly though and pretty much has the entire CARS movie memorized.  He comes up with stuff like "focus, speed" and "that I'm talking about" and "he knows my name" randomly.   Reagan is loving playing with him though.  She told me "I have the best brother ever!  He's going to dance with me!"

They love to be the ones to wake Ike up from his morning nap.  I found them like this the other day.  Reagan was reading him a story.  They have been playing so nicely together lately.  It's been very nice!

Our HUGE Failure

SO...   Here is our sugar cookie house.  Someone told me you could make them out of sugar cookies, but obviously WE couldn't.  After about 20 minutes of trying to hold it together, Ike screaming and the kids fighting we gave up.  My frosting was too runny, so I made it thicker, but it was too late.  Also, I think we made them too big.  Anyway, here are the results...

The kids had fun eating the candy and we learned a valuable lesson.  Next year we'll buy the kit!

Early Christmas Present

Here's our happy little guy.  He cut his first 2 teeth over Thanksgiving.  Thanks Matt, Lisa & Kids for not killing us for keeping you up all night crying!  He's feeling much better now.  Crawling everywhere, pulling himself up and walking along things, but this is his favorite thing to do...

Ike found his Christmas present early.  He LOVES chewing on the kitchen cabinet knobs.  Thank goodness I didn't buy him any toys, he would have been so disappointed!  He'll chew on them while I do the dishes and look up at me and laugh and laugh.  He's such a cutie!

A Visit With Mel & @ GG's AND Halloween

As previously discussed, I am the worlds worst blogger, so here is my post, which should be two, another month late!  

We went to Papa & Gigi's house to visit Mel and the kids.  It was a blast!  The kids played in the leaves with GiGi forEVER!  They had so much fun!

Mel is one of those super moms and she brought the stuff to make haunted houses.  The kids had so much fun!  They loved bringing them home to show Nick.  I was pleasantly surprised by how much candy actually made it on the houses.

Reagan loves this hat, and follows Ike around putting it on him every time he takes it off.

We took the kids Trick or Treating down Sherman Ave. this year.  All the stores stay open and pass out candy.  The fireman and police are there too.  Coen couldn't figure out trick or treating for the life of him.  He'd stand there looking at them with his bag behind his back and his mouth hanging open and then turn around in circles when they tried to put the candy in his bag.  It was funny.  You'd think this would be an easy holiday to pick up.  Maybe next year.  Reagan really wanted her face painted, but I am not cool and have no face painting skills, so she just got dots.  Sorry sweetie!

We had our friend Lauren come over and help us carve our pumpkins.  She was a HUGE help, since I am not such a great carver of pumpkins and she brought dinner.  She's the best!  She went trick or treating with us too.  And later, she didn't even tell us when we made her sick.  Sorry Lauren!  We love you!