This is what I'm going to be working on this weekend...

I'm anticipating that the one I make, I'll actually like better than the one they sell at PB Kids for $179.00. So far mine has cost $12. I'll take pictures and hopefully post some directions later on for this one!

Wish me luck, okay?

Catchin up on the weekend...

The kids are really getting excited about Santa's big visit. They've been keeping track of his arrival with a little countdown calendar on the fridge as well as by removing paper chains from an advent calendar Olivia made at school.


Thursday night was a cookie exchange with these girls:



Woke up to almost a foot of snow on Friday morning and had a snow day. Did lots of shoveling, snow plowing and even had a little fun starting to make a snow fort with Aidan. As you can see in the photo it was still snowing just a little bit.




Saturday, we had a VIP arrive in the mail!



After visiting my cousin Brenda in Minneapolis last month, we realized that we had left Aidan's favorite blue teddy there. He finally made his way back home via Priority Mail. Hope you had a good vacation teddy!





Here's a quick e-mail exchange between Aidan and Brenda:

-----Original Message-----
From: Erin
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2008 1:10 PM
To: Brenda
Subject: note from Aidan

daer breda did you have a grat time with my tete bare did you play with tete aftr shcool and did you play dresop with tete he likes dresop and1 thing that you sod alwase sod do is wos him rite nou he is cold so i am going to snogl him with the tete from dads wrck prte i cant wat entel we visit you in minasota mare chritstmas love aidan



Merry Christmas Aidan,
Thank you for the note!! I am so glad that your bear found his way back to you. I am glad that you are going to snuggle with him -- he sure missed you.
See you soon!!
Love, Brenda

a little on-line fun

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Our week looks like this:

Sunday we celebrated Ryan's birthday. We went out for dinner and Ryan ate 32 oz. (that's 2 lbs) of ribs all in one sitting!!!
Shared a Chocolate Zuccotto cake from Maggianos.




Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday--
Enjoyed 3 BEAUTIFUL fall days. Highs in the lower 70's--which for November is near record-breaking! On Tuesday we voted. (Olivia wanted to know if Barack Obama was going to be there!!)
Olivia also got to play outside in a giant leaf pile with her best buddy from preschool.


I can't believe that I still have flowers blooming--so cool!


Thursday--
Being lazy. It's suppose to rain today. So a good excuse to stay inside, watch cartoons and eat a ton of candy. Yes--this is Olivia's breakfast. She did, thankfully, eat her Cheerios before consuming the mass quantities of sugar. (I counted at least 7 candy wrappers)

So what did you have for breakfast?????

My morning so far...

and of course a few pics. Pictures aren't from this morning...but their cute & I'd like to share!

THIS BOY:



--woke up with a sore neck this morning
He actually sat on my lap this morning and let me rub his neck for a little while. Not sure how much longer he'll want to sit on my lap. Need to soak in these moments while they last.
--is getting so big (so quickly!) Last night he asked how tall he'll be when he's 8. He's planning ahead for a trip to Disney. I'm sure he's concerned if he'll get to go on all the rides!
--pretty self-sufficient in getting himself ready for school



THIS GIRL:



--wanted to dress herself this morning. She would have been fine, if we'd had an extra 5 minutes to spare. Threw a little fit when I tried to help her. Needed to rush out the door to get to school on time.
--had organic honey puffs for breakfast. She picked them out at the store by herself. I guess I can't complain about paying a dollar more for cereal (compared to Fruit Loops!!!) for something WAY healthier!
--actually wore pants today!!!
This may not seem that noteworthy, but even her preschool teacher mentioned "pants today" as we walked in the door. She is definitely a dress-wearing kind of girl.

Steal of the Day!

Look what I found (ahem, stole) today.





So I was dropping off massive amounts of rummage sale items at our church today, when I happened to peek inside one of the other bags at the drop off area. To my surprise, I found a bunch of "vintage" embroidered items. In total there were 2 small tablecloths (end table size), 2 pillowcases, and a couple of small table runners that have crocheting(?) around the outside.
However, the problem being that the church rummage sale isn't for another 2 weeks, and the likelihood of actually obtaining said items once they reach the sale is probably nil.........
I "traded" them for my mounds of unwanted items. Now, if you do go to my church, please know that I will make my donation to pay for these items. Really, I can't have "stealing from Church" on my list of bad things I've done in my life! So God, please be reassured that this was done only with the best intentions in mind.


But really---could you have passed up this little cutie?

What she says...

So last night, we went to Kohl's for our first post-new-job shopping adventure.

Ryan and Olivia were testing out the massage chairs that they had, and Olivia was saying "ooowwww. ooooww."
Followed by... "this is the woestest chay-ah evah." (worstest chair ever)
Ryan said he laughed out loud it was so funny.
I was with Aidan at the time, but I so wish I could have seen this first hand!
She's definitely not a fan!

p.s. the pic, of course, is not at Kohls.
(actually at home making banana muffins)
p.p.s. I think Olivia is developing a Boston accent.