Web Class...

I am taking an online class to learn Photoshop and experiment a bit with digital scrapbooking. Thought this was a good page to finish on the last day of the year..shows how time sure does fly! The last part of my assignment was to "put it out there" for viewing...so here it is...

(I know I would ever go full digital...I like paper too much and the layer of embellishments and the shopping and the buying!)

It is a picture of Sam the week Jack was born...he had just turned three.  The picture on the right was taken this Christmas eve...i can't believe how fast he has grown up!  I am really enjoying the class and will share further successes and unsuccesses!!

Oh - Happy New Year's Eve!!

More Photoshop Assignments...

Finished my other assignment from my photohsop class...we turned color photos to black and white!

Used the same template for Sam's photo and Jack's....

Now I just have to print them off!

Christmas Review Day 1

Of course I took tons of pictures during Xmas, so I thought I would share them during the week. Too many to share at one time...:)


Jack's Christmas was mostly monkeys....He made ME a ceramic monkey!! It's the cutest thing I am am surprised that he actually gave it up!  I am thinking of enrolling him into a 70s ceramic class after this little master piece!

He loves the movie Despicable Me and Santa brought it for him. He got some minion goggles in his movie pack.
He thought about wearing them as snow goggles when he went sledding, but I thought they would probably freeze and explode!

Here is Jack watching Despicable Me and wearing the goggles and sitting with his new monkey pillow pet...which later wore the minion goggles. He still has his long socks on from sledding.

And some monkey slippers to keep his feet warm....which are now little beds for his little monkeys!
A successful Christmas for Jack.

Merry Christmas!!

A traditional view of the Christmas tree...

and one after a few beverages!!

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family!!

Why Not?

This is seriously some of the best advice I have gotten and one should really take this into consideration with young kids:
A very wise woman told me today that she and her husband (they now have gown kids) talked about what was the big deal about waiting to open every Christmas present on Christmas (or in our case, Christmas Eve.) Their kids got so much, that they were overwhelmed and didn't seem to be able to appreciate their gifts (or even remember or consider who they were from.)

So, after some thought (about 10 minutes) Jason and I decided to let the boys open a Christmas gift last night. They were about beside themselves and finally (about three seconds of thinking) decided on opening a "small' package - because as Sam stated, "Sometimes good things come in small packages."

Jack opened a little Lego set - which he played with all night. And Sam opened up a Wii game...which was definitely played all night (don't worry, we had family dinner together and read before bed, so the TV didn't babysit the kids ALL night.) But, I must say, that the evening was pretty quiet and opening a gift took the edge of the boys' anxiousness. So, they will also be opening one tomorrow morning, tomorrow at snack time, tomorrow at lunch.....

(The boys were actually playing the new Wii game in the dark ~ which you cannot tell because I used my flash to drown out and ambiance)

I Swear By It...

A friend of mine told me that to stop a nighttime cough, rub Vicks onto your FEET, not the chest.  Well, I laughed and thought, "yea right."  Well, Sam had a cough awhile ago and we couldn't get it to stop, so I rubbed Vicks on his feet and to my amazement, plus my happiness, he stopped coughing - for the rest of the night!  I tried it on Jack who had a persistent cough, and cure enough, it worked on him too!

Last night I kept coughing through the night (annoying drainage) and decided to put some Vicks on my feet and WHA LA...

no more cough for the night. 

I don't know what it is, but it does work.

So next time you have an annoying cough (or someone in the house does) rub Vicks on their feet and sleep the night away!!

(Or if you have left over codeine cough medicine take some and you won't hear a thing!)

Cousin Christmas..

On Saturday, we had Cousin Christmas...I thought 4:00 would never get here!
The boys were just beside themselves about the entire get together!


My sister-in-law and i took about 40 pictures of the kids, just to get that one photo that everyone was looking at the camera or had their eyes opened! This picture reflects the kiddos personalities to a tee! C and Sam are laid back first borns...L. would rather be hunting, M and Jack are the cheese balls of the group!


Jack wrapped L's gift...Jack pulled a "Holiday Joke" by putting a tiny bow on a HUGE present.
"Who would EVER put a tiny bow on such a HUGE present?" laughed Jack.
Jack thought it was the best joke ever!!

Loads of playing with the toys after the unwrapping....

and lots of texting for the bigger boys!!

And it is never a successful cousin get together without a little dressing up!
It was a great night for all!!

Jack's Christmas Program...

 
Last Friday, jack had his PS Xmas program.  He picked out this fancy outfit...which is actually his Albert Einstein top and tie from Halloween...good planning on my part - huh! (wish I could really plan that far in advance!)  I told him i would like to take some pictures of him before he went to PS...went to get my camera, turned around and this is the pose I was given....

Then we tried a bit more of a...close up shot...

At the program, Rudolf (the girl in the picture) lead out all the reindeer...

Do I say, jack had a starring role in the performance.  He was the "Jack in the Box.'  The teacher carefully placed him in the box...

The girls then shut the box...

And jack jumped out with all his might! He was pretty proud of himself!

 

He was also the "C" for Christmas...which stands for Christ our child.

Notice there is also a "t" for the three kings...even though jack did not think there was a "t" in Christmas!! 

And a bow at the end of the performance.

Grandpa was there to cheer Jack on during the show.

Then Santa came into the room and picture taking was over....

"What do you want for Christmas, Jack?"
"A monkey," replied Jack.
WHAT?? Where did that come from?  What about the batman trios...the imaginex police robot station....the leapster....
there was NEVER any mention of a MONKEY!!! (like he would get one anyway!)

Complete Randomness...

The beautiful cookie tray we received last week isn't so pretty any more...someone "chopped" the head off the "rat" cookie. Notice it is wrapped up in cling-wrap, on the right...either Jason watched the Godfather again and was trying to act out the horse head scene or one of the boys is trying out for the mob.

The boys played out in the snow the other afternoon. Now I have snow art in my freezer. If I ask if it is ok to put out the snow art, you know the answer will be "NO!" and if i put it out without asking first...then that will be the day that the snow art, for some unknown reason, will be needed or missed. You can't win with snow art. (Maybe i will tell them the rat cookie ran away with it.

 (Like Mr. Frog in the background? He is our ice pack for the boys! Nothing funnier then when one of the boys is hurt, in tears and asks in that sobbing voice, "Can I have Mr. Frog, please." )

Went shopping the other night (by myself!!) and picked up a shirt for Sam at Abercrombie (first time I have bought something there in loads of years). They put the purchase in this bag. Nothing looks more odd, strange or weird then a 40 year old woman carrying a naked man bag around! An beside the naked man it says "kids." I HAD to buy something else just to hide my naked man in the other bag!!

Oh, no...either I have become too old or I have become my mother...

Seriously...

Jason made corn bread to go with the chili for dinner....

Jason: "Boys you need to try the corn bread.  Just one bite won't hurt you." (words of death)

Jack: "I'm not doing it."

Sam:  "Just one bite?"

Me thinking: Great. Someone is going to throw-up, Jason will get upset, I'll gag and dinner will be ruined.  SERIOUSLY...don't go there, Mr. Jason. Remember when you made Jack try carrots??? (barf-o-ramma)

My internal trauma thinking:  NO DON"T DO THAT JASON!  My mom and dad made me sit for over an hour sometimes to eat one pea....and I still don't like them...the peas.  The average person waits in line for 6 months of their life...that doesn't include waiting at a stop light, waiting at the Dr. office or on the phone.  So basically, my parents just added onto my life waitng time.  Plus I got to practice my stubbornness.

Sam after trying one bite:  "I don't really like this. "

Me: "Not a problem, Sam.  Thanks for trying a bite."

Jack:" I'm not doing it."

Jason: "One bite. That's all."

Me thinking: Do I step in and save my child or do I team work with my husband?

Jack takes one bite and the GAG-O-RAMMA begins.

Sam: "OH NO!!"

Jason: "Jack, swallow it and take a drink."

Me thinking: Too late, Mr. College Boy.

Jack throws up on his napkin.

Me thinking: (Wish you didn't eat that fabulous Santa cookie, Jack...what a waste)

Me: "Jason, seriously?"

Jason: "Seriously, Jack!"

Sam....Sam....Oh, he bolted upstairs.

Me:  "Have fun cleaning that up."

Sam (standing at the top of the stairs): "Dad, that just goes to show you that not all people like the same things...and that is OK!"

Me thinking:  Score points for me for teaching Sam that little speech!

Me: smirk and Jason and shrug my shoulders

Jason:  "Sam, I really don't need your advice right now!"

I clean up Jack...

Sam comes down and sits on the complete other end of the island...but not before asking: "Did any of that stuff get on my plate?"

Jack: "See, dad, THAT is why you people should never try new foods."

Since then, Jack has lived on hot dogs, mac-n-cheese and chicken noodle soup. 

Now I am worried that he may be anemic.

Cookies, Cookies and Puttin' on the Weight...

The tradition of cookies has hit our house very well this year...


Our neighbor brought over a tray of cookies...they were amazing to look at and tasted just as amazing!  Check out this Santa cookie...it has rosy cheeks and a rosy nose and a button mouth!  Oh my!  Beats the cookie out of my Pillsbury cookies in a roll!

Sam took a look at these and stated, "Well, you don't have to worry about me eating those cookies with the rats on them!"

This weekend the boys somewhat helped me with making cookies. I did make four dozen (picture to come) mint chocolate chip cookies, that didn't turn out too well, so this was round two.  Easy pretzel with chocolate kisses to melt on top.

Take a look at Sam's tray...take a gander back at jack's tray.  You can tell which one is my free spirit and which one is my  little organizer! Notice the chocolates on top of Sam's tray...he made a pattern - makes the teacher in me very proud!

These are the two batches of cookies I made...I needed four dozen cookies for my work cookies exchange.  I made the green ones first...they sure DID NOT look like the picture on the recipe.  I really wanted to make festive cookies this year (in past years I have just bought them) so I was very disappointed in the results.  When Jason looked at them he said, "they do look like chocolate chips cookies...that molded."  "Ouch...that hurts my feelings.  I FOLLOWED the recipe exactly!  The picture doesn't look like this...and this mixing bowl is terrible to work with!"  (seriously - the mixing bowl!!)  So bless his heart, he went out and bought me pretzels and everything to make the batch on the left...which would YOU take to a cookie exchange?? The question is, what do I do with four dozen mint chocolate chip cookies that look moldy?

This picture cracks me up...I was photographing my fabulous pretzels and he popped up...with crossed eyes!

We also went to a cookie exchange.  The boys walk around with our good friend Nancy (Leeand Nancy who we bought our house from) and pointed to the cookies that they would like.  The cookies were gone in THREE DAYS!! They were awesome!

and a picture with our favorite cookie host...Nancy AKA: Leeand Nancy.

Christmas Lights..

We got the Christmas lights up on the house...Jas had a little help this year!

The boys were so excited to help Jason..and Jason is just SO excited to be up on the roof, let alone having the boys up there with him, which basically just stressed him out...actually the entire process stressed him out.
(he is not a fan of heights...understandably...ever since he got stuck on the roof one day...)


Of course, Safety Sam sat most of the time...

I think I heard Jack announce, "Someday mom, I WILL walk the tightrope between the tallest buildings in the world!"

How this picture came to be:
Jason, "Come here boys...your mom needs a picture....hurry up....come on Jack....ok, take it, Katie!"
Me, "ok, smile! Oh - I don't know if I...."
Jason, "Alright, boys, your mom will meet you at the ladder and you need to get down."

and that was the end of the time on the roof....

Christmas Chains...

The other day I couldn't take it any more..."Mom, when is my preschool program? When does Xmas break start? When do I go to the Nutcracker?" So I set the boys down to make a Christmas chain to answer their Christmas questions. Yes, it sounds festive and cheery and all that sugar, but honestly, i was tired of explaining how many days to what...

While making their chains, Sam made up Christmas songs...something about about getting run over by a sled and thinking he was dead...really a good ho ho ho Christmas spirit song. As you can see, Jack was totally offended with it!

Of course, I had to take pictures of the chains on the doors...and as you can see, the boys were SO excited!
Jack is showing us his best Tiny Tim facial expression, "Sir, do you have a penny to spare..."

At this point, Sam is actually giving jack "smiling lessons."
"A little less teeth, Jack.  No..don't open your eyes so wide!"

After the lesson we tried again...of course I messed up and asked Jack to put his chin down...

Finally!!!

and immediately after the above photo, Jack told me, "NO MORE!!"
Like I really wanted to spend 10 more minutes taking pictures of such a cooperative subject!!