A Little Christmas Preview...

So, I am doing Christmas this year almost completely homemade. I'm not much of a seamstress, but I have been having a lot of fun sewing things the last few weeks. I think that I am going to do more sewing from now on. If I get better at it, I will be able to do more things with it. I can practice all year, and next Christmas will be Awesome!!!
Anyway, this particular Christmas preview doesn't really have anything to do with sewing. I didn't sew very much of it. I made cute little tutu's and fairy wands for my cousin's little girls. I had a lot of fun making them (they were super easy). Now I just need to get me a little girl so I can make some for my own house. Steven asked me if he could have a tutu today (you'll see why in a minute...) but Matt would never stand for it so the answer had to be "no".

Here is a picture of both of the tutus with both of the wands.

Here is a close up of the wands. We went super girly here with the pink and purple color scheme. Both wands have a light purple side and a dark purple side. The dark purple felt is glittery felt and I painted silver glitter on the wand handles. There are also sparkly pink beads sewn onto the edges of the stars.

Here is a close up of one of the tutus. They are really fun, and I really like how the colors worked together. I also tied the leftover ribbon from the wands in with the tulle on the tutus. I like the variety that it adds.

And here is my little model showing off the finished product! I actually was only using him to make sure that they were that right size, and he liked wearing the tutu. He also loved using the wands to "spell every word". ( I think that he gets the spelling thing from "Super Why" on PBS kids. They have a fairy girl that spells things with a wand.)

So, he tried on the tutu and even twirled a little. As cute as he is, I would rather he play with his cars and trains like he usually does. So it was fun while it lasted, and now he will just have to wait until he can wear his little sister's tutu. (No, I don't plan on him having a little sister any time soon...)

I will have more Christmas projects to post, but probably not until after Christmas so that I don't ruin anyone's surprise!

We are ready for Christmas!

SEASON'S GREETINGS AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

We are ready at least as far as the decorating is concerned. As for gift giving, I'm not even close. Not even a little bit.
The boys are excited by the decorations, and I have them doing a couple of advent calendars to count down to Christmas. My favorite of these is a fun one that Matt's Grandma helped everyone make a few years ago. Her kids all had one like it, so Matt used one almost exactly like this when he was growing up. In my opinion, that makes it even more special. Here is a pic of it:
There is a little ornament made out of felt and pom pom's for every pocket except for the 24th. There is a little baby Jesus for that pocket and he goes in the manger on Christmas eve. Grandma's version used pins to hook the ornaments on, but I got a little overzealous with the glue when I made mine, making the use of pins impossible. I improvised with magnets, and I am really glad I did. The boys don't need my help to put the ornaments on and it's safer.

This tree is Matt's mom's tree. She keeps it in her nicer front room with only the white lights so it looks really elegant. I love it's look, but thought it was a little plain in the daytime without the lights on. So I had my awesome grandma crochet (the one craft method I DON"T do) me a bunch of pretty snowflakes to put on it. I really like how it turned out.

This is just another shot of that tree in the daytime without the lights.


Truth be told, this is my mother-in-law's tree too, but the ornaments are mine. Her tree is bigger than mine and looks better in the bigger house. It's also her tree skirt. I have put one on my list of things to make for next year. Matt was excited when I put it under the tree. He said to me, "Do you know how many of my greatest presents were stacked on this tree skirt growing up?" I am glad he is getting to soak in a little of his childhood again. And in this picture you can also see our exciting train!
So we at least look like we are ready for Christmas, even if it only took us a week to get it all up. Two boys can be so distracting when you are trying to get anything done. I love it though. We are having a blast watching them discover the excitement of the holiday season. We took the boys to one of FM100's christmas concerts in the mall. Steven was so excited to see the decorations and the guys playing guitars. He also got some hot chocolate. I think the hot chocolate was his favorite part. He drank all of his and then he was nice enough to help me finish mine! Sammy liked the hot chocolate too, although, he only got a tiny taste.

My Boys And Their Train

When we got back home from Logan after Thanksgiving, we got out all of our Christmas Decorations. Matt and I bought a train for under the Christmas Tree clear back when we were first married. I think we paid ten dollars for it at Maceys. We have only used it a couple of times, but we thought that the boys would have fun with it, so we got it out and put it under the tree. We put it out after the boys had gone to bed so the next morning it was a surprise. Steven was especially excited because he has been all about the trains lately. Everything is a train with him. His chair at dinner is a train, if we go in the car we are going in the train, any toy becomes a train and drives on the track. Since he talks about them all the time we knew he would be extra excited. Matt fired it up and they watched it for at least a half hour. This is impressive because it only goes in a little circle under the tree and doesn't do anything very amazing except whistle. I got out the camera and took a bunch of pictures of their fun faces. I have a LOT of them in this post, but I wanted to share how cute my boys are and couldn't decide which ones to leave out.

Getting the train on the track and under way. I love how patiently they are waiting.

Daddy sitting back and enjoying his guy-time with the boys.

The excitement is nail-biting!

Two super cute pajama boys, happy to see the train in action!

I love Steven's furrowed brow!

Sammy was a little taken in by it all...

Happy Face. Steven's face is a lot of fun in this one too.

Sad Face

I love Sam's little crawling bum with his little feet tucked under him. I also love that Steven is plugging his ears ( he isn't the biggest fan of loud in general).

Who knew a little Train could be such BIG BIG fun!

Thanksgiving 2009 style...

Our Thanksgiving was a lot of fun. For family night a few weeks before Thanksgiving, we made a paper turkey with feathers for the things we are thankful for. The feathers are our hands and feet traced on construction paper. The name in black is whose hand it is, the colored marker is what that person is thankful for. (It gets a little confusing because we all seem to be thankful for each other)




These fun cookies were my contribution to the Thanksgiving feast. They weren't all that hard to make, I just need stickier frosting next time that will actually harden so they stay together better.
We went up to Logan to stay with my parents and have dinner at my Grandma's house. I don't have any pictures of the food because truthfully, I am little indifferent about Thanksgiving food. I am not a huge fan of turkey and the rest is good but for me the holiday is more about being with family. We had a LOT of fun hanging out with family. The day after Thanksgiving we helped my parents put up their Christmas decorations. My parents go ALL OUT when it comes to holiday lights. They have a really good system set up, so it doesn't take too long to put them all up either. This year it took a little longer, but that was because they were tweaking their setup a little to make it faster. Next year it will be a snap. Here are a few more pictures from our weekend:

We played with Uncle Brian's afro wig

We tried out our new boots in Grandmas skiff of snow

And we helped Grandma decorate inside her house too!

Probably one of the highlights for me personally was Friday morning. Yes, that's right folks, I Melissa Brown went black Friday shopping. Before you all pass out from shock, let me just clarify: I went alone. I only went to Joann's (which is surprising looking back to my experience a couple of years ago with my sis-in-law where we were there for like five hours and finally left without our fabric because we were tired of waiting in line). I was home only 2 hours later.

I was there when the doors opened, but I only waited out in the cold for about 10 minutes. Then I picked my number for the cutting table first thing (this little action is key, the cutting table takes the longest). I did my shopping while I waited for them to call my number. I finished my shopping and waited at the cutting table for about 15 minutes. Then I got right in the checkout line (about a 30 minute wait). I was out of there by 8am (the doors opened at 6am)! I probably wouldn't have braved it, but they were having a KILLER sale on polar fleece, and I needed it for Christmas presents I was making. And, another deciding factor was that Matt willingly watched the boys while I was gone. He is my HERO!!!

It was a fun weekend and we were sorry to see it end. But we are excited for Christmas to come!

Sweet Sammy

Samuel has been learning and growing so fast! He finally started sitting up on his own. He is still a little tipsy, but he is doing better and better! He just tends to get a little excited, and forgets to hold himself up! Here is a little video of him sitting.



He is pretty good at feeding himself. He loves the little cereal puffs, and ritz crackers. We haven't found anything yet that he won't eat, but he isn't a huge fan of beets or green beans. (please note Matt in the background of the picture below...I LOVE that guy!)
He has started to try and crawl, but hasn't quite got it figured out! He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth, but there isn't any actual traveling yet. I am thinking soon! He is so much different than Steven. Sam is a lot more content to figure out little small motor things rather than work on the big motor stuff. Steven is going to be my outdoor enthusiast/sport player. Sam will be my little artist or my little reader. He likes to try to figure out how things work.

Sam hasn't really started talking yet, but he likes to make noise. He likes to blow spit bubbles, and growl. This week his favorite thing has been clicking his tongue. Here is a video of him doing it, but it is kind of hard to hear. We have a hard time getting video's without a rowdy older brother "helping"out. ;)



Sam has one little bottom tooth about to poke through any day, and another not far behind. He has been a much better teether than Steven was. He isn't really very grouchy at all.
We love our little Sam so much and love to watch him grow and discover!

Steven's Antics Lately

Lately Steven has been a little RAT. He is getting older, more opinionated, and more curious. He is a TON of fun still but he also has days where I just want to lock him away in his room for a couple hours. He is starting to sing a lot, and he sings almost all the time. He in starting to invent these imaginary stories and scenarios which he tells me about. It seems like he isn't ever quiet anymore! (not that he ever was quiet) He loves to play, has a hard time sharing toys with his brother and is getting to be more helpful around the house. With him turning three a couple of weeks ago, we made a little job chart for him to work on. He has a list of jobs which he "checks" off at the end of the day using stickers. Then if he fills all of his boxes for the day, he earns a dime for his bank. He struggles a little with it, but it seems to be working pretty well so far. For now the jobs are mostly things he has to do anyway, the stickers and dimes are just motivation to get him to do them with less fighting and arguing. Here are a few recent pictures of what he has been up to:

This is his "butterfly costume". He likes to "fly" around the house like this.

I got some easy mac for him so he could cook his own lunch. He really loves it. He always has to have his macaroni and cheese in the "big green teacup".

This is the box of packing peanuts from his birthday. He had a TON of fun playing in them (he was taking a bath in the bathtub with the bubbles), but after he had them strewn all over the floor, he wouldn't pick them back up so this was a one time party.

Here is another picture of him in the "bathtub". Everything to him is a bathtub lately, his toybox, a cardboard box, my clothesbaskets....
This time, I was in the basement putting away some groceries. He had been down there with me but he got bored and came backupstairs. I could still hear him, so I knew where he was. When I came back upstairs I found him playing with my reusable grocery sacks. He had pulled out the liners (those are the black plastic squares that are on the floor next to him) and was sitting in the bag.
What did I ever do for entertainment before I had children?

Steven's Birthday (so late... I know....)

For Steven's birthday this year I was feeling a little pressure (self induced really) to make it extra fun since he turned three and is finally old enough to know the difference. Matt and I have been a little lax up until now about holidays since the kids weren't old enough to care or remember. Anyway, Steven's actual birthday was on a Sunday, so the Friday before We had special pancakes to celebrate:

Then, on his actual birthday, My parents and Brian and Bonnie (Brian's fiance) came down from Logan. We all had dinner and cake and opened presents. It was a great time and I really enjoyed getting the opportunity to visit with family. Thanks for coming down guys!
Here are a few pictures of the festivities:

Steven opening presents

Checking out the "cooter" and helmet that he got. A big thank-you to Brian and Bonnie for the helmet, and to grandma and grandpa for the scooter.


Safety first...

The cake. Well actually this is Steven's own cake. The rest of us had cupcakes. I had grand plans to make a great layered cake with fun colors and all kinds of wonderful things... needless to say, round layered cakes and I aren't friends. I had hoped that we would be, but alas, we are NOT. so the official tally is now pretty layered cake: 2, Melissa: 0. Maybe next time...

This is Sammy helping Bonnie eat her cupcake.

So Steven had a great number Three birthday. Thanks so much to all of you who helped make it so fun!

You know you want one of these!

So Matt is thinking of making up some more of these boxes to sell but they're kind of expensive to make, so he wants to know how much interest there would be in them before he starts making them. He made this one to hold our Harry Potter collection, but he can't really advertise them as 'Harry Potter Boxes' 'cuz, well you know, copyright stuff.

He's thinking of selling them for around $150 each. That would cover the cost of making them and a little extra to keep him happy. If anyone would be interested in one of these as a Christmas gift for themselves of even someone else, please leave a comment and give me an idea of how interested you'd be, how much you think you'd be willing to pay for one, what you would use it for, etc. Just so we know.

Halloween 2009

We had a fantastic Halloween this year! There was a little disappointment when our Halloween party got canceled (darn Swine flu ) but we ended up having a lot of fun anyway.

We baked some fun Halloween sugar cookies...

Gutted some pumpkins

Carved our gutted pumpkins


The finished product above in the daylight and below all lit up. The extra marker on the big teethed one is where Steven used the sharpie to "help" me draw the face on.

And last but not least, we went Trick-or-Treating. We dressed up as "The Zoo". Samuel is a lion, Steven is a gorilla and I am the zookeeper. I have a name tag, but it is hiding behind Steven. I originally wasn't going to take the boys out because the last thing we need is more candy around here. In the end I decided to though. After about three houses Steven turns to me and says "I think I have enough candy. I'm ready to go home." OK buddy, fine with me. Let's remember this mentality for next year.
Another nice thing is that he seems to have totally forgotten about the existence of his candy bucket. This makes it a lot easier to use it for good behavior rewards.

"Cake" recipe AKA Beef And Bean Tamale Bake

It has been requested that I post the recipe for Steven's "cake". I am happy to do so, however, I cannot take credit for this recipe in any way. I found it on one of my blog stalking excursions. It is from Bethany over at "A Wednesday Afternoon" .



Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1 can Hatch Green Chile enchilada sauce

1 pouch (or two, if you would like- just double the milk, butter, and egg) Corn bread mix

1/3 cup milk

2 T butter, melted

1 egg

1 cup shredded cheese (Fiesta blend is yummy, or whatever you have on hand)

1 can chopped green chiles

Sour cream (optional)

Brown ground beef and drain. Put ground beef in crock pot or 9x13 baking dish. Add beans and enchilada sauce to meat and stir together. Mix corn bread mix, milk, butter, and egg together. Stir in cheese and green chiles. Pour the cornbread mixture over the beef mixture. If cooking in crock pot, cook on low for 5 to 6 hours. If baking in oven, bake at 400 degrees for about 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Garnish with sour cream if desired.

I love it because it is super simple and super yummy! Enjoy!

Updates And Antics

Steven has been quite a handful lately. He has a really fun personality and we have loved watching him learn new things and start to really learn how to communicate with us.


We got a free carton of orange juice from the grocery store, and Steven really liked to drink it. One day I was in the office talking to Matt, and Steven came in with a glass and the carton of juice from the refrigerator telling me that he wanted some of it. What made this especially funny is that the carton was pretty heavy, and this was the first time Steven had helped himself to anything in the fridge. Also, the office is all the way upstairs.


He has started to wake up and leave his room very quietly in the mornings. One morning I woke up and came downstairs to Steven helping himself to a few cookies.


We keep all of our books from the library in this box that I made. Steven really loves books and will just sit in the corner sometimes and empty the entire box, reading one book at a time.


This little incident was after we had visited my mother for the weekend. Steven watches the Disney channel at Grandma's house (we don't have it). He had watched a show called "Special Agent OSO". In this particular episode, OSO taught the kids how to pick strawberries (twist and pull) and how to pick wildflowers (pull towards you). The next morning I woke up to him talking about picking strawberris in his room. Then later that day, I was rearranging some of the plants in the house, and I set this plant on the floor for a minute and went into the next room. Pretty soon from the other room I heard, "Twist and pull, twist and pull." I went back into the other room to see what was going on, and saw my poor plant on it's side with half of the dirt out on the floor. Steven had been picking it. Needless to say, we don't watch "Special Agent OSO" anymore.

I make a casserole that has beans and taco meat on the bottom, and cornbread on the top. It is really good and Steven loves it. He calls it "cake". I had made this recipe for dinner and put the leftovers in the fridge with plastic wrap over it. The next morning Matt awoke to Steven in the middle of the living room floor having "cake" for breakfast. He had gotten it out of the fridge and helped himself.


This is Steven listenening to his MP3 player. I have done other posts on this little toy, and we still love it. Steven uses it with the headphones a lot more now because they actually stay on his head.


And because we don't want to totally leave Sammy out, here is a picture of him on his first ever shopping trip where he sat in the cart instead of in his carseat. I melt whenever I look at it.


Sammy is making great progress. He won't sit up on his own. He tries to straighten his legs and lean back whenever I try to sit him up. He loves to stand in his exersaucer and his Johhny-jumper. He rolls really well and is starting to get up on his hands and knees and wiggle forward and back. He is eating baby food now and LOVES it. He is still bigger than Steven was, and I fully expect that it is only a matter of time before he passes Steven by, size wise.


We love our special boys!