Falling Is NOT Funny!

Here's my funny story for the day...

Steve and I were in Garrett's room this evening hanging a shelf that we had just made...one of those projects that we've been wanting to do FOREVER and finally found the time to do...YEA Christmas Break! :) This is what we heard between our hammering...

Garrett and Ethan were in the toy room playing together. Garrett was doing something to make Ethan laugh...(it sounded like he was jumping or throwing a ball or something), but every time he would do it, Ethan would giggle harder and harder. Pretty soon we hear a pretty big crash followed by the hardest laughter yet. We peek our heads out of Garrett's door and see Garrett sitting halfway underneath the Christmas tree with ornaments strewn all around him...Ethan is meanwhile cooing away happily waiting for the next silly instance to start giggling about! Garrett has his embarrassed/mad/'I'm about to cry' look on his face and he just informs us - quite strongly- that "falling is not funny!" It was all I could do to make it back into the bedroom before I started laughing uncontrollably...and it just got worse as he continued to lecture Steve on the unfunny-ness of falling! Poor kid! Luckily, Steve got him to come around and see the humor in laughing at ourselves when we do silly thing! Good thing he has a compassionate father...sometimes I just can't seem to control my laughter long for those teaching moments!

Funny Face

So, I just don't think it gets much cuter than this! Granted, I am a mom, and we all think our kids are cute...but I am just so in love with Ethan's new little funny face! I love that his tongue is always poking out of the side of his mouth these days! So cute!

Santa eats lunch???

I took the boys to visit Santa at the mall. You know, trying to build those Christmas memories in spite of the 70 degree balmy day (which secretly I loved!!! We've had our week of cold weather, and I'm done with it!!!) This attempt came after a few weeks of trying to get Garrett to the point where he was willing to sit on the jolly guy's knee and tell him what he wanted for Christmas. Really, who are we fooling?!? All I wanted was him to sit there - he didn't even have to talk - all I was after was the classic Christmas photo op! So finally, I have Garrett willing to go...but only if his friends go too (he's always braver with his friends!!!) So we set it all up and arrange to meet at the mall - which has the best Santa Claus I've EVER seen! We get in the relatively short line and start waiting our turn...well the moms were waiting...the kids were running around like banshees and having the time of their lives! Funny how when they don't see each other for a few days there is always the most joyous (and loud!) reunion when they do finally get to play! So anyway, all of a sudden, we see Santa strolling off in the opposite direction...and the sad message makes its way back through the line...Santa is now on his lunch break! He'll be back in an hour and 15 minutes! AAAHHHHH! So much for the pic...but all-in-all, I got what I wanted! The kids had a great old time creating their own Christmas memories on the 'trip to see Santa where we didn't see Santa'! Who could ask for more than that!?!?!

What I do....

So, I wasn't trying to avoid the questions about my painting...and I'm sorry it took so long to post a few pics. I blame it on the fact that everytime the camera comes out, Garrett usually gets the itch to play photographer and I end up with pictures of random things all over the house...or pictures of his favorite pages in his books...hmmm, I wonder if that breaks any copyright laws!!!

But here's my best-kept secret...well for some it's a secret, others of you all have my stuff hanging in your houses, so I guess the cat has been out of the bag for a while now! :)

I paint boards...those random home-decor type boards. They're all hand-painted, although I'm starting to see the wisdom in the vinyl-lettering industry! :) I'll post a few that I've been working on this week so you can see what I'm even talking about! It's fun to try and create something that will totally fit someone's style or to try and come up with something new. I love it! I think it's fun and it's just nice to have something to work on besides dinner, laundry and yes, even something that doesn't involve legos!

Busy...but not much to report!

Sorry for my lapse in posting lately! We are just so busy...but when I think back about why or what we're so busy with, I really can't come up with much! :) Just livin' the regular day-to-day stuff and having a ball!
Hope everyone is doing well and getting ready for the busier times ahead!

Traditions???

I'm putting together an advent type calendar...but instead of opening it everyday and getting a candy or trinket...I'm wanting more of an holiday spirit countdown...maybe trying to focus on making memories instead of eating a tiny chocolate in the shape of a nutcracker or snowflake! But it's got me thinking...what traditions do we as a family have??? We have a few things that we do...but I guess I'm trying to focus on creating those family memories that my kids will remember forever.

Since it is already December 1st and I'm still trying to create my perfect memory-maker...I've decided to break it into weeks. This is what I have so far for my ideas for the week - I know some of them are random...but I was trying to think of things to keep Garrett interested and surprised!

• Learn to say “I love you” in five languages
• Write holiday cards to 5 friends you have lost touch with
• Gaze at the winter stars (yeah, we can do this in Texas...w/o freezing to death!!! I LOVE it here!!!)
• Have dinner by candlelight
• Have a holiday dance party (we do this anyway very frequently, but we might as well do it to Christmas music for extra holiday cheer!)
• Make breakfast food for dinner (also a family favorite!)
• Make a list of 100 things you are grateful for

What do you do??? What traditions did you grow up with...and what kinds of things do you do now?

Imagination!

So, I'm walking up the stairs this morning. I had heard Ethan cooing in his room...he'd been happily chatting and cooing and laughing away in his crib for a good 1/2 hour, so I figured it was time to go get him! On my way up though, Garrett shouts out for me to come into his room. I didn't even know that he was awake! I walk in and he's already directing me on what to do...yeah, we're going through a bossy phase...but he's telling me to come quickly and to not touch the door. So, I'm mentally gearing up for the HUGE spider that is lurking behind his door or something - or more likely the minuscule little gnat that Garrett seems to be more afraid of than actual scary-sized bugs! Seriously, who is afraid of spider webs, but not the actual spider??? Anyway, back to this morning...once I'm in the room, he motions me over to sit on his bed by him and tells me to look at the pterodactyl?!?!?! WHAT???? But low and behold, his baseball cap that was hanging on his doorknob was casting a shadow that looked like an amazing flying dinosaur! I love that he comes up with this stuff...but more importantly, that this time, I could actually see it! For some reason lately, he's been seeing random shapes in things, but silly ol' mom can't seem to see it...I wont even go into how frustrated that makes him! :) Oh well, you've either got it or you don't...I'm just glad I had it this morning! :)