Christmas Time

Traditions! I love traditions! Last year I took Dylan to the Hallmark store to pick out his own ornament. He picked out the Fisher Price Barn ornament. I was excited to take him again this year to see what he would pick out. I am not surprised that he picked out something to do with cars. Helping daddy hang up the decorations. Decorating the tree is something I always remember doing when I was growing up so it is something I look forward to doing every year with my family.

Dylan's first 4 Christmas ornaments. I find it hard to believe that this is going to be his 4th Christmas. Every year it gets more exciting and he starts to understand more and more!

He found a Santa hat ornament, he thought it was pretty funny!

And finally putting the star on the top!

I love our house when it is all decorated for Christmas!! I am also excited when December 26th comes around and we can take it all down and get our family pictures back up! This year I was very lucky to have my mom come up one day and decorate with me. She is so helpful and it is just fun to spend the day together!!

The tree...it's done! This year Dylan wanted to use the big lights on the tree. I love these lights, they remind me of my childhood. Dylan wanted to put all the ornaments in one spot so we had to make a few tweeks! You will notice all of my Hallmark singing snowman on the bottom. Seth gets them for me every year. This is year it is a Snoopy one, Dylan is excited to buy it and add it to our collection. Outside! This year we decided not to put lights on the house. We have so much going on and just didn't want to add that to our list. We put up some lights, but not to the extent that we usually do! I think Seth was OK with this, I am the one that loves the lights on the house!


The fireplace! I can't believe next year we will add another stocking to our mantle.


Our entertainment center. My mom got me the Willow Tree Angel Nativity Scene a couple years ago, and it is always one of my favorite things to put up. We also have Dylan's past 3 Christmases and his Cookies for Santa plate that we made last year.

And our family of snowmen. We won't be able to put these up next year unless I find the lady that made them and have her make a little girl!

For his sister

Dylan and I visited one of his favorite places last week...Potwin Pottery. He loves going there, picking something out to paint, and of course painting! It was the perfect Sunday afternoon activity while daddy and grandpa were working on the room remodel.
The plan was to paint something for himself and something for his sister, Saylor!
He picked out a guitar box. Very random, but it's what he wanted. After painting his guitar he painted Saylor a heart box. He picked out the colors and got to work. Of course, I painted her name but he did everything else. He kept saying this is for my baby sister Saylor! When he was done I asked him if we should write something on the inside and this is what he came up with...

How sweet is that!

When we were leaving he looked up at me and said; "I love going to the painting store with you mommy." And trust me, I love it too.

One Thankful Turkey

This morning Dylan and I did a little art project. Daddy was at work and we were just waiting on Grandma to get here, so why not get out the glue and scissors!!
Last year with my class we made some turkeys out of our feet and hand prints. I thought Dylan and I would do the same and then we could write about what he is thankful for!
The first step was to trace feet. Dylan thought it was pretty silly to be sitting on the table to trace feet!

Next he attempted to cut out his feet. He is left handed and I don't think I have the right scissors for him.

Next up...hand prints. I traced and cut these!

And finally the glue stick! I think this is the part he was looking forward to the most! Glue sticks are awesome, so much better than glue when it comes to kids.

And our finished turkey! Dylan told me things he was thankful for. The list is quite random. I promise if you didn't make the list he still loves you very much!!!

Dylan is thankful for...

mommy

daddy

Tobers (the dog)

glue sticks

coins

Cars poster (Disney Cars)

Aunt Sheryl

A lot of other people

Those are his words exactly. Well, except for the first one. He actually said, "I'm thankful for you mommy." That boy melts my heart about a million times a day!

When we were done he came up to me and said can we go make meat now. I guess his paper turkey isn't what he had in mind when I asked him if he wanted to make a turkey. So, I hope Grandpa Shaver is ready for a helper in the kitchen Thursday!!

Advice and cuteness

This week one of my lovely students gave me some advice for baby Saylor. It included a visual diagram as well. How thoughtful and helpful! When I asked him if it was a pacifier he said no it's one of those binkies!!! Dylan never liked his binkie, and I am hoping Saylor is the same!!

Now on to cuteness...my very talented sister made this for Saylor. How cool is that! I see these in the store and they are always kind of pricey! This one is just perfect and so special since it was made with so much love from Aunt Ashley!

And just 2 of the million outfits we have for bought so far! Lucky for us, my aunt works at Gymboree so when things go on clearance she puts them back for us!! We got 18 outfits for this summer for around $150. If you do the math it is a great deal! I promise. Well, I tell Seth that anyway!

New Room Part 1

Our upstairs is a huge open room. When we first moved in it was our "master bedroom" then Dylan came along and we moved downstairs and this became a play room! Usually it is just a big mess of way too many toys! With little Miss Saylor on her way we need another bedroom. Our plan at first was to make this 2 bedrooms--one for each! Then we decided to make one bedroom and the other half would still be a playroom/family room. Over the weekend Seth and his dad started part 1 of the new room.
Our plan is for Dylan to be up here in a new Lightning McQueen room. And if you know me well, you know that is a big stretch for me...I don't like characters themed things! But Dylan loves Cars right now and he already has a blue race car bed. I figure we can get some Lightning McQueen stuff and call it good! If that doesn't work then Seth and I will be up there!! No Lightning McQueen for us though!
The are that Seth is standing in is the new bedroom. The Big opening will be the doorway (they still have to finish the sides were the walls are slanted). There is a large window and the little door is a closet. Whoever ends up here will have the biggest room and the biggest closet! This is the stair way leading upstairs and it will open up to the playroom!

This side will be the playroom area. Still a big area for all of the big toys and our futon. Hopefully next weekend the rest of the wall can go up and Seth can work on electrical stuff. He is putting in some new can lights, new light switches and new fire alarms that will be wired with the ones downstairs. After that drywall and then figuring out who will be where! Once the drywall is up and it looks like a real wall we are going to test Dylan out. We will bring his bed up and have him try it out for a few nights! We will see how it goes.

Water

I just bought my first gift of the Christmas season. Read here to find out why you should also make this your first gift of the season.

Sprinkle!

Saturday I co-hosted a sprinkle for a fabulous friend of mine. She has an adorable 20 month old little guy and is being blessed with a baby girl at the end of December!

My sister and I made the cupcakes. I did the easy part...baking and Ash made the homemade pink frosting and then frosted them. I can never get my frosting to look like that, so thanks Ashley!! I used the other cupcake holder to hold some girly items Baby Girl will need!!

It was so much fun to throw!