Our Day with Santa

Here comes Santa!  Gotta love the Bass Pro Shop.  They not only give you a free picture that they take, but allow you to take your own!  What a motivation to go into the store and but something.....which we did!

The boys did great this year.  They were a bit stand-offish at first, but did get right in there when the time came.

Random Pictures

Decorating

Our house is now decorated for Christmas.  The tree looks wonderful - the boys did a great job and are a fun age to help.  I was blessed this year with the ability to enjoy decorating individually with each child.  Luke and I started with his ornaments while Dominic was at school.  We were able to take our time and I could tell stories about why o rhow each ornament came to be with us.  That afternoon, while Luke was napping, I was able to cherish this time with Dominic.  Later that evening, that boys were sitting by the tree and I heard them each explaining their ornaments to each other.  I got teary eyed - our own little Hallmark commerical - listening to each one tell the stories of their own Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments.

Oh - I did watch the Hallmark movie that was on the other night.  I cried like a baby through the entire movie - including the commericals.

Our house elf, Gunner, has made his return from the North Pole this year.  The boys are so excited to have him back.  I need to take pictures of Gunner and the places he likes to hide.  The boys love trying to find him in the mornings - but I have had to talk with Gunner about  remembering to change places!

Awards and Such

In November I was nominated for Employee of the Quarter and won.  I was proud of my accomplishment!  A couple of weeks later, I was presented with the Employee of the Year award too!  While I appreciate all the recognition, I am not loving all the attention this has brought to me. 

This coming weekend, we have Mark's office Christmas party and the hospital's party on Saturday.  We will have a busy weekend but Grammy will be here to keep the boys occupied.

Time to Update....Again

Almost a month since my last entry.  I'm not very good at keeping up with this!  I have a new found respect (or envy) of those that can blog nearly every day because that is far from me.  Life gets in the way - especially when life is 2 very busy little boys.

Thanksgiving was great.  The boys love spending time with their cousins so they spent 3 nights at Grandma's house loving every minute of it.  On Monday, I noticed there is down side to spending so much time with 12-17 year olds.  Dominic said, "I have to re-write this sentence because it looks crappy."  I explained that "crappy" is word that is not appropriate for a 6 year to be using.  He realized it as soon as it was out of his mouth.  I secretly hope that in 10 years, "crappy" is the worst word that comes out of his mouth!

I spent "Black Friday" shopping with my Mom and sister.  We had a great time and managed to find some bargins.  I am happy to report that I'm done Christmas shopping!

Mark and I had a "minor" mishap over the weekend though.  As I was backing out of the garage to leave for work, Mark accidently hit the worng garage door opener.  He hit my door instead and it closed as I was backing out.  I hit the bottom panel of the garage door - denting the tailgate of the van and bowing the garage door out.  Mark had to kick and hammer the garage door back to somewhat normal before it would close again.  Needless to say, our nexy home project will be replacing the garage door.

Speaking of home projects, we are painting nearly the entire inside of the house.  We did manage to get the vast majority of the house painted before bringing out the Christmas decorations.  Our kitchen is now green and the main part of the house is a tan/gray.  At first, all the boys really hated it, but they are slowly coming around.  I have also installed curtain rods and the boys do not seem to like my decorating style at this moment.  I told all of them that when they get a decorating degree, I will listen to them - but for now I get to do what I want!

Luke Riding a Bike

Halloween, Birthday, and More

Getting ready to go trick or treating!

 We carved pumpkins the day before because the weather was perfect.  It was so warm, we were even bothered by some bees!  The boys are really starting to get into carving.  I think they like the sensory activity - the smell and the feel of the pumpkin.  They were even brave enough to taste it!

 Since Grammy and Sarah, TJ, and Addison were in town too, we celebrated Dominic's birthday at Colton's Steak House.  We had a great time with family and food!

 Dominic wanted a volcano dinosaur cake for his birthday.  This is what my limited cake making abilities made for him.  This was his first of 3 cakes!

This was Dominic's birthday morning!  He had pancakes shaped in stars and a number six with six candles.  He was excited and went to school with cupcakes for treats.

This was Dominic's dinosaur ice cream cake on his actual birthday.

This was cake number 3 at Grandma's house!