December 2011

It's a new year and all that, and one of my resolutions is to start blogging again.  I like having these memories recorded, and I'm going to really make an effort to stay dedicated.

With that said, here's a small recap of December 2011.

We started out the month by getting the boys the Lego Advent Calendar.  They were really organized and took turns opening a box each day.  I'd take a picture of the finished product, but the pieces are spread out among the boys' bedrooms now.

Rumor has it that my husband has already bought a Lego Star Wars advent calendar for himself for next year. ;)

Moving along, we also visited Wild Adventures.  I'll be honest, I wasn't as impressed with their Christmas program/display this year as in seasons past.  I'll chalk this one up to the economy and hope that next year is better.  Wild Adventures did have the s'mores station set up again...and of course, we had to stop.  I mean, who doesn't like overpriced chocolate-covered graham crackers and marshmallows?

We also baked.  And baked.  And baked some more.  And then we made candy.  Lots of chocolate went through my kitchen this year.  Unfortunately, the only pictures are of some snickerdoodles.  I think I was so traumatized by spending 8 hours (and I really wish that was an exaggeration) making chocolate covered pretzels and oreo truffles that I just couldn't stand the sight of chocolate.  Thankfully, that passed after a few hours, but I still forgot to take pictures.


Back to the snickerdoodles though.  We made about 5 batches of snickerdoodles last month.  Most of those were for a church event, but the boys still went through their fair share.  My family has a thing for cinnamon.  You should see my pantry.  Seriously.

Dad had back surgery to fix a nasty herniated disc.  After a couple weeks, he got the go-ahead from the doctor to make the trip to Georgia.  So Mom and Dad had two weeks at their house down here.  Mom, who attracts bees/wasps/yellow-jackets/anything-with-a-stinger got stung the first day down.  This is her about 10 minutes post-sting.  About 30 minutes post-sting, she called me to take her to the ER.  It's never boring in our family.

In between the sting and the ER trip, we took some pictures for our Christmas cards, which are still sitting on my kitchen counter.  One day...

Fast-forward a week, and Will left cookies and milk for Santa.  I find it amusing that Will chose the diabetic portion plate for Santa's cookies.  On a side-note, the entire mantle is full of snowmen (no, we haven't put our Christmas stuff away yet).  Snowmen make me smile...Max, not so much.  So they've been relegated to the mantle and hutch in the kitchen.  It's all about compromise.

Our tree Christmas morning.  We bought our tree to fit in our rental with 8-foot ceilings.  In the new house, we have 10-foot ceilings.  'Nuff said.  It's truly not so puny in person.  :)

Andrew's pile of gifts Christmas morning.  He got lots and lots of Trio sets.  We now have the entire Trio western town set up in our living room.  yee-haw.

 Will told us the only thing he wanted for Christmas was the K'nex Mario Kart set.  He got 3 sets plus the expansion between Max and me, my Mom, and my sister.  He was a happy camper.  The cars can be battery powered, and have quite a bit of go.  Just ask our cat.

Christian had an awesome Christmas.  He got a Nintendo ds.  He really, really, REALLY wanted a ds.  

Max and I had a good Christmas as well, we're just not captured on camera (except for a stray arm or leg).  I really need to work on that.

Next, up...our New Year's trip.