Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

That much candy makes working together a breeze.

Finished house. Gingerbread man got
stuck on the roof putting up lights.

 Christmas Eve we finished up the Gingerbread house we started the day before and I am happy to say my first adventure in homemade ginger bread houses was very positive... not hard at all and tasted much better.

We had a family friends over and roasted marshmallows, watch movies and ate entirely too much candy.  Getting everyone to bed wasn't too hard though and luckily all the presents were wrapped and ready to go.

The Big Show.

Realizing how cool This gift is...

Really Cool ...

To which he said, "Really guys this is just too much..."

Help with a package...

Snowballs anytime.  Pretty safe in the house unless GMan pegs you... or the dog gets involved.

Christmas is Nearly Here

We would like to wish you all a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday Season. May the light of a thousand cultures shine this winter season and shed light on all our lives.

2012 Christmas Cards

These photos were taken about 9 months ago.  I just realized they were never posted and they ought to have been.

Boxing Day Reflections

Yesterday we had such a blast with ALL the kids together, it was a total blast for them and all of us.  So blessed to be so near to each other.

I would like to thanks Bernie Botts Everyflavor Beans for the best entertainment of all:

C: these are yummy...

10 minutes Later

G: (looking extremely unsure, tries his first...) Uggh! (runs and spits half out, hands me the other half) You try it. (Shoves it in my face.)

Me:Uh... you found ear wax...(wrong turns out it was rotten egg.)
(split second later.)

C: IT Tastes Like BUGS!!! (runs for trash can, starts spitting).

Me: (reading back of the box) You found Earthworm! (great big, maybe wicked laugh.)

Our Christmas

Our Holiday In Brief

Our Christmas Season in 5 pictures. Next year I'll have to remember to get a few pictures of Solstice evening.

How come tree pictures never look good?
This cookie recipie was perfect. Worked just like playdough, no icing to fuss with. We never took a picture of our Gingerbread house, whoops again.

Our camera died just as present openning began. Once we got over to Erics house all the kids had a blast, except maybe Cora.

Aunty Christmas

Christmas was celebrated in many stages this year. This first round of gifts were opened Sunday night while G's Aunts Jennifer and Lindsey were in town visiting.Wooden Stacking bowls. He gets many creative uses out of these already.
Harry Potter books, a full collection for the family in our very own trunk for traveling to Hogwarts.
His new jacket from Grandma... he loves the pocket.
A Chrismas eve snuggle with momma...
and a goodbye dance with his aunts the night before they drove up to Maryland.

Shameless - a link resource

Hey everybody - its that time of year where I fantasize about what toys I might buy for G the coming holidays. For those of you with kids of your own I suggest you check out some of the links I will provide in todays message. I have been collecting online toy store links for about a year now and some of them are pretty cool. One I was visiting today sells pretend cracked eggs and catagorizes toys by which country they are made in.

For those of thinking about what to get G this year I'd like to share some of his preferences here. In light of recently learning how to sign "book" he is discovering story time which has taken some effort. Until two days ago the only story he would sit through was "There is a Monster at the End of this Book - Staring lovable furry old Grover". Two nights ago he sat spell bound while I read to him From Richard Scary's "What Do People Do All Day" from the section about taking a plane trip (very interesting).

As his mommy I'm obviously concerned about "Made in China" toys, but I also feel that a lot of these smaller toy companies are able to better monitor the quality of the product coming from China. Most people I know don't seem to realize for example that although Melissa and Doug toys are really cool they are made in China. So how do we decided where to draw the line. Perhaps Melissa and Doug is becoming a mass produced product line, maybe there is room for concern. Personally I want to believe their pledge, which I've seen on their toys before this lead thing came to light. They promise a high standard of safety checks on all their toys.

Ok here are all the cool toy companies I have collected.
Oompa Toys
Willow Tree Toys My new favorite
Rosie Hippos
Earth Easy Toy list
One Step Ahead
Gummy Lump

Also I wanted to mention that my boy is wearing clothes sizes 18mo - 2T and he has big feet, I think they are as big as his lower leg!
Here are some cool kids clothing companies.
Garden Kids
EcoBaby
Sckoon
Organic Consumers Listing

For those who haven't heard, I just want to let you know that we will be spending Christmas and Bodhi Season here in Pooler.