Better Late than Never!

I know I know...Christmas is SO OVER! But I took my little blog sabbatical over the Christmas holiday and didn't get to post pictures of my own Christmas decor to be recorded for posterity. So! I will now rewind time and pretend it is Christmas again because well, it's my blog and I can do that. Without further adieu....

This was our Family Room tree. I was fortunate enough this year to be able to buy a new tree and new ornaments and decided that I wanted something really fun for the kids. I went with a sweets theme and really liked how it turned out. The Baker Santa was my favorite find! He was perfect and I was sad to see him go when we packed everything up until next year...

I was ridiculously excited about my cute wrapping paper this year! It coordinated perfectly with my decorations and made me happy every time I looked at it. I am such. a. dork.

The mantel...

Above the entertainment center...

(P.S. I hate using my flash! Someday I will have a camera with a higher ISO and life will be good....)

I have to say that one of my other very favorite aspects of my sweets theme were the cupcake ornaments that I made. I had tried to find some that were already made but they were all either too expensive or not very cute. I took matters into my own hands and was pleasantly surprised by my results! They look good enough to eat right? RIGHT?!

I have to say, I loved my brightly colored sweets themed decor so much that I was sad to take it down. It felt so dreary to go back to my normal everyday decorations after having looked at bright sparkly ornaments everyday for so long.

We also have a tree in our Living Room. It's a giant 12 footer and to be completely honest...it's STILL UP! We painted Madison's room (as I mentioned in my last post) I've had some back issues (TWICE) and it's not lookin' like it's coming down anytime soon unless the hubster takes matters into his own hands or I get a back transplant STAT! **Please see apology at bottom** Anyway, back to the living room...

Not the best picture but you get the idea....

We got this nativity a couple of years ago at Costco and we get so many compliments on it! I always wanted a big beautiful nativity that my kids would grow up seeing each year. Hopefully they think of the true meaning of Christmas at least a couple of times each year when they look at it.

I also have a smaller skinnier tree up in the hallway that the kids got to decorate on their own this year and forgot to take a picture of it....darn! The each have a smaller tree in their rooms that they bought with their own money last year. We take Christmas very seriously around here...can you tell?! 

**I would also like to take this opportunity to apologize for any embarrassment I may have caused to my neighbors and or husband due to my rogue tree still being visible through my front window. Please except my humblest of apologies regarding this matter and know that as soon as I am physically (...and mentally? Don't hold your breath!) able, I will see to it that said tree is removed and stored away. I do however think that it might be cute to just add some shiny red heart ornaments and leave it up until Valentine's Day! The hubster however did not share my enthusiasm for the idea:( Anyway, until the day I finally do dis-assemble our 12 foot lighted monstrosity, please enjoy my efforts to keep the holidays alive! You're welcome. **

4th of July Weekend...

This past weekend we were busy busy busy! The weekend started on Friday with the last day of school (more on that later). Later that afternoon we went swimming with Matt's sister and her kids. The kids all had so much fun splashing around with each other. Even Emilia enjoyed it which surprised me because she is not a fan of cold water (remember the fountain?) but after getting over the initial shock of it and figuring out that Matt had a secure hold on her she LOVED it!

The kids ran back and forth from the pool to the hot tub for quite a while before we hauled their pruney little bodies back to the cars so that we could meet back at Matt's sister's house for a BBQ and fireworks. We ate way too much, played games, talked and waited for darkness to descend. When it did we lit a fire in the fire pit and watched a fantastic firework display put on by The Hubster, who was assisted by Thomas and his cousin Jordan, after which we roasted 'shmallows to a golden brown and sandwiched them between cookies to make gooey s'mores...YUM! After a while the kids got bored and went in to watch a movie and us adults talked around the fire until Madison informed us, around midnight, that they were tired and ready to go home. Nothin' like your kid calling curfew!

The next morning we slept in and got a slow start to the day. Matt went out to mow the lawn and the next thing I know I go outside and this is what I see...

We've had a problem with water pooling in our yard up top and he decided he had had enough and needed to put in a french drain! It turned into an all day project that expanded to multiple trips to Home Depot and planting flowers in our various front yard gardens. Madison helped plant flowers and it was so fun to watch Matt patiently teach her how to get the plants safely out of the pots and into the ground.

When it was all done the yard looked beautiful with it's newly planted red, white and purple flowers and Matt coordinated well with it...sporting a bright red sunburn!

Sunday was perhaps the longest day of Thomas's life as he was SO excited for our annual 4th of July cul-de-sac BBQ to get underway! He starts asking around December when the 4th of July is and by June he's counting days and then gets down to counting hours. We always get together with our neighbors and everyone brings their own meat and drinks, something to share and we combine our fireworks for a two-hour long show. This year was fun because almost everyone in the circle came. Of course, I was too busy chatting and eating to remember to take pictures but I did get one of Em and Thomas chillin' down in front and one of Madison as she ran with a smoke bomb hissing behind her.

It really was such a fun weekend and I'm a little sad that it is over. Of course, the worst part about the festivities coming to an end is that soon I will have to start answering the question, "When will it be the 4th of July again?" over....and over....and over....again!

Valentine's Day...

I thought I'd post some pics from Valentine's Day, ya know, for journaling purposes and all. It's funny how when you are dating it's all about romance and fancy dates. Then you grow up. We still have fun with Valentine's but it's more low key now. I did some cheap decorating this year which really didn't turn out how I wanted it but really it's for the kids anyway! On the Friday before V-Day the kids had their school parties and The Princess requested a heart in her hair for the occasion.

 Then on Saturday morning The Hubster made Crepes with powdered sugar (his own recipe-YUM!) and surprised me with breakfast in bed. I actually forgot to give my kids their V-Day gifts until Monday and  I forgot to take pics. They are obsessed with WebKinz right now so Cupid brought them each a little one and some cookies. The Pea got a Dora book. I also forgot to take pictures of the sugar cookies I decorated with the two older kids. I really got into it this year and tried my hand at outlining and then float filling them. Think Bakerella style, but not as perfect! The Hubster and I had decided not to worry about gifts this year so I just got him a card. Do you think he honored our agreement? Of course not! Beautiful tulips arrived on Saturday!

 
 He sends me flowers all the time (which I LOVE) and he even pays attention to the fact that I HATE carnations and I like flowers other than roses. One time he even sent me flowers twice in one day! Anyway, we also had my mom over for Valentine's Day dinner since my dad was stuck out of town. It was a lot of fun! We had marinated chicken cooked on the grill, baked potatoes, edemame, and corn bread. Delish! All in all, it was a fun weekend!

The Love Tree

I loved Shawni's Valentine's Tradition so I copied it! The other night for Family Night we made our hearts and thought of what we loved about each other. Then we decided we would hang them all on our Ficus tree in the Family Room. The kids loved it! The Pirate said it was the best Family Night ever (thanks Shawni)! It was really fun to see what they wrote. The Pirate is still learning to spell and write well so his were pretty short and sweet. I love you because...."You're nice", or "You play with me", that kind of stuff. It was so fun to watch how hard he worked on those hearts. His favorite was stamping them all over. The Princess's were cute to. For The Pirate she wrote, "Yes I fight with him, but he is kind and loving and fun and most of the time, honest." Too cute! I loved what they wrote about The Pea though. Without conspiring about it they both wrote something along the lines of, "Even though you're whiney, I love you and am glad you are my sister." Can you tell it was a whiney night with the baby? I loved writing things that I loved about them and seeing how happy they were to hear them, although when I read mine for The Pirate he had me add something that "I" love about him. Too funny! Unfortunately The Hubster didn't get home until we were done, but the kids were sure excited to show him when he did! Honestly, it had been a long day with a "whiney" baby and a cold so I really wasn't fully prepared for a full FHE but we made the hearts, threw in some songs and scriptures about love and it turned out pretty good!  I love to see my kids have fun and be creative and I especially love it when they are forced to think of what they love about each other. They really do get along pretty well and are good friends. I just hope they really know how much I love them and how proud of them I am every day. They are so good about telling me that they love me and giving my hugs and things and sometimes I think I forget to do those things back amidst all the chaos that takes place everyday. I love it when they bring home notes or cards from school telling me how much they love me! The Princess's valentine to me said something like, "You are the best mom ever! Even though you don't think you are fun you are and I love you!" How sweet is that? I told them the other day that I didn't think I was a very fun mom because I'm not real good at playing imaginary things and I forget a lot to do crafts and things with them on a regular basis. They love me anyway! What would I do without my incredibly cool kids?