did you have a merry little christmas?

It felt like Christmas was taking for.eve.r to get here, and then BOOM - it was two days before Christmas and I was completely unprepared.  I had the presents bought and wrapped, and the cookie dough chilling in the fridge, but I wasn't ready for something I had waited on for weeks to be upon me.  Because once the wrapping paper goes flying, Christmas is gone for another whole year.  Ugh, I'm so ridiculously nostalgic that it hurts my heart for Christmas to be over.  But I guess I get to relive it here, remembering how much fun we had!

Britton and her friend Lola made Christmas cookies.  We made sugar cookies, and also gingerbread cookies (from the recipe in the back of "Ninjabread Man," a kid's book!).  

Santa must have believed these kids when they swore they were good all year because he delivered!  Britton got the Shoppies Bride doll, a frog squishamal, a bucket of slime, and a scooter. Barrett got a remote control Rocky, My Little Ponies, and a go-kart.  Smiles all around!

It's getting to be more fun watching the kids open gifts than it is to focus on our own gifts!  But the hubs and I got some great things too, and even surprised each other with unique finds.

A view of us on Christmas morning, next to the Disney tree!  I hope you had a Merry Christmas too!

barrett: 67 months old

What a fun month December is shaping up to be!  Barrett had his last soccer game last weekend, and we celebrated with the team at Chuck E. Cheese.  The kids all got their trophies and team photos, and Barrett was so excited that he has been sleeping with his trophy in his bed every night!  

Tomorrow we are having breakfast at the school, then hitting up the bookstore and seeing Santa Clause.  The school puts on this Santa breakfast every year, and it's a great opportunity to avoid the mall for a Santa photo, plus I get to check out the goodies at the bookstore.  Barrett has his list ready and wants to bring his tooth fairy money to buy some books.  

Likes:  Rainbow Dash - he picked her out at Build-A-Bear at Thanksgiving!

 Dislikes:  not getting to open up his Christmas presents yet

112 months old

We had a great Thanksgiving!  The hubs' parents, and aunt and uncle, came over to eat, hang out and spin yarns.  Britton helped make the pies, and loved hanging out with us while we cooked dinner.  

Mostly, Britton loved having the entire week off of school!  She read a ton of books, slept in, rode her bike around the neighborhood, and went out with Memaw and PawPaw to the trampoline park and Build-A-Bear.  Britton just performed in her play in mid-November, so practices have stopped, but she has a piano recital coming up for Christmas.  Always something coming up, it seems!

Britton decorated the family tree this year - on her own!  She took out the ornaments, put hooks on, and decided where they would go.  Super Hero Barrett (yes, that's a tree skirt as a cape!) was her assistant.  

Likes:  apple cider, hot chocolate (even when it's hot outside), decorating for Christmas

Dislikes:  having to be patient, practicing piano

the jessica quilt

Jessica and I recently had our 40th birthday (ugh, is 40 really the new 30, because seriously, 40 feels old) and I wanted to commemorate the occasion with a quilt!  Jessica loves reading as much as I do, probably more, and spent many a lunch hour with a "Sweet Valley Twins" or "Babysitters Club" book under the table.  Those books were published monthly, so we'd race to Walden Books in Pembroke Mall as kids, and get to take turns being the first to read the book we bought.  Even now, we'll mail each other books we've read and loved!  And, of course, Jessica is a librarian, which made this quilt all the more fitting.

                                         

I made pillows for Jessica's library in this pattern (Tall Tale Quilt by Kate Basti), and knew an entire quilt would be time-consuming.  The blocks are paper pieced, and so individual that much thought needed to be given to each book cover.  I wanted the covers to be something about Jessica or her life or kids or job, and make her smile when she looked at each one.

The background colors were mostly solid (I think I threw in a blue polka dot too), in greens, blues, tans, and whites.  The binding was a cross-hatch grey, and the backing was smokey blue cuddly minky.

I used "writing" in some of the page parts of the books - newpaper print, encyclopedia print, and a rare book print that is now out of print.

Jessica went to Gifted and Talented Art School for years

Who doesn't love mermaids?  A nod to growing up at the beach

Jessica was a science teacher before becoming a librarian

 Some of my favorites blocks:  the dogs, foxes for her school mascot, a cupcake because it's our birthday, mac and cheese because we both love it, Halloween because it's near our birthday and so many parties growing up were costume parties, coffee because Jessica introduced me to yummy sugary coffee drinks, and yarn because she crochets!

I added this tag on the back, and I found the quote after I made the quilt - it was fate to use it!

"Life is a book and your forties are the chapter where it all starts making sense."

It's one of my favorite quilts I've made, and it's already in use!

barrett: 66 months old

Barrett got his hair cut!!  It's been forever since Barrett wanted his hair cut, and he got to the point where he was chewing on it, so I had enough.  It's still long-ish and it really makes him look so much older, that I got a bit sad upon seeing him with short hair - my baby with the long curls has left the building.  He now has shorter hair and no front bottom teeth and is growing up so fast before my eyes that I am often surprised how different he is from even months ago.

And Barrett is reading now too!  We're working on sounding out words he doesn't know, but he's doing so well on his sight words and reading easy books, that reading is exciting for him.  I hope he loves books as much as Britton does.

Barrett has a couple of soccer games left this season, and he's not nearly as enamored with the sport as Britton was.  But that's ok, because we're going to try baseball in the spring!  

Likes:  Paw Patrol, the color green, Lunchables for a lunchtime treat, Sam from school

Dislikes:  the color red, soggy food, and mean people (a kid pushed him on the playground at school, so we had a talk about telling the teacher and not letting people touch you in a way you don't like, and all that stuff you fear when your kids leave the warm hug of home)

ugh, turning 40

Last week I turned the dreaded 4-0.  It wasn't nearly as traumatic as I thought it would be (or movies have led me to believe), but that might be because I really just avoided even thinking about the actual number!  Cammy came to visit and we celebrated with a spa day - massage, mani, and pedi.  Then, on recommendation of the nail tech, we went next door to the French bakery for lunch, and it was so good!  Cammy and I really classed the joint up by wearing our pedi flip flops over to the restaurant, and showed off our massage glows.

On Saturday night, we all went to Lupe Tortilla for birthday dinner, and sadly no one thought to tip off the waiter so that the hubs would have to cringe through a waiter-led round of "Happy Birthday!" The kids played in the sand box outside while we enjoyed some incredible fajitas.  Then, we went home for a Nothing Bundt Cakes carrot cake with extra cream cheese icing, and it was incredibly moist and delicious.

A milestone birthday,  good times had by all, and I'll ignore the whole 4-0 part!  ;)

111 months old (and the 1000th post!)

We've had a fun-packed month!  Britton is busy with school-related activities, including her GEMS Club (Girls Engineering, Math, and Science), she's playing the teacher in the fourth grade play in two weeks, and she's a student council representative.  Whew!  And somedays, she's doing more than one activity per day, so we have to keep the fridge calendar up-to-date so we know where she is.  

Yesterday, the hubs and I got to chaperone her field trip to the Outdoor Learning Center, where the kids went through science/nature stations, and also toured a pioneer school house.  As much as the hubs and I were gunning for the school house, they needed volunteers for the science center, so we helped out over there.  

Likes:  Halloween candy, ragdoll cats, playing with friends

Dislikes:  waiting for Daylight Savings time

cheetahs soccer!

Barrett is playing his first season of soccer this fall!  The season runs for eight weeks, and they practice once per week, then have a game on Saturdays.  It's been a slow warm-up for Barrett, as he loves the running and kicking the ball, but he isn't quite sure how this whole game works.  Luckily, no one is expecting the kids to do much more than have fun!

We had a parade for the first game!

Yay for #7!

barrett: 65 months old

Oh, this kid!  Barrett had his first soccer game yesterday, and it would definitely be an overstatement to say that he is loving soccer.  Granted, it's new and Barrett is still learning what he is supposed to be doing during the game, so he's holding back and not getting into the mix of youngsters all fighting it out over the ball.  It's adorable to watch kids this young play soccer, and maddening at the same time.  You know what I mean?

We're gearing up for Halloween around here!  Barrett likes playing dress up anyways (he's usually a police officer or a fire fighter), so we ordered his costume early.  He originally wanted to be a planet, but that's kind of a hard costume to pull off, so I suggested an astronaut.  Barrett loves his astronaut costume and helmet, and wears them both multiple times per week.  I hope the costume is still his top choice once Halloween comes around!

Likes:  drawing pictures of everything, painting, stealing Britton's slime

Dislikes:  when I yell too much during the soccer game (seriously, how will they know they are running to the wrong goal if no one tells them?)

110 months old

These kids keep me busy, so it seems I never get around to updating my posts until their monthly posts are due!  Britton has gotten busy this school year too, with her dance classes and piano lessons. But she also got into GEMS (Girls in Engineering, Math, and Science) Club, which meets monthly, and she also won her election for student council!  She's also auditioning for the fourth grade play - fingers crossed, because she learns if she made it next week.

We're gearing up for Halloween!  Britton is going to be a black cat this year, with her ballet leotard, a black tutu, cat ear headband, and a fake fur tail.  We are going to make the tail together this weekend - some fun sewing time!  

Likes:  painting with acrylic paints, anything crafting, riding her bike around the neighborhood, reading every book she can get her hands on

Dislikes:  only playing Yahtzee - Britton would love if we would play more Scattergories!

barrett: 64 months old

Barrett is fully engulfed in kindergarten now, and he seems to be enjoying himself.  Having been in preschool, he's a bit ahead of where they expect the kids to be, but that's giving him a chance to really understand the sight words and practice his reading.  He gets a kick out of me reading "Dick and Jane" books with my finger on each word, pointing out his sight words for him to read.  It's like "Mad Libs" bedtime reading!

I'm excited for Barrett to start soccer at the end of the month!  He enjoys having an activity, and I enjoy something tiring him out regularly!  The heat has been unbearable lately, and it seems that we spend all our time indoors, unless we are sprinting to the car or swimming in the pool.  

Likes:  playing with play doh, drawing anything and everything he loves - planets, soccer matches, people

Dislikes:  running out of tape when taping all his pictures on the walls because it makes him a "real artist"

109 months old

The new school year has hit us hard, and fourth grade is no joke!  I went to "Curriculum Night," and another mom and I discussed how this year just felt more "real" - the stakes seem higher somehow, and the handholding of younger grades is now gone.  This is the real deal, and the expectations are high.  Britton hasn't seemed to notice - she's still excited to go to school every day and loves homework.  

And Britton is reading more than ever, as her English/reading teacher encourages the kids to read upwards of 30-40 minutes per day in class.  She's made her way through tons of books this year, and especially enjoys ones that feature mermaids, unicorns, fairies, spirit animals, magical beings that live in the forest, sprites, witches, and fantasy.  We still read together every night, and I've found myself looking forward to the books and enjoying the stories as much as she does!

I feel like Britton is busier than ever this year, between the extra school work, plus continuing her piano lessons.  She's also doing dance class (ballet, tap, and jazz) weekly with two friends from the neighborhood.

Likes:  jumping in the pool in her clothes, cake pops

Dislikes:  the never-ending summer heat, practicing piano

school's back in session!

These two munchkins went back to school last week!  They went back earlier this year, and have an earlier start time, so going back to school kind of crept up on all of us.  Last week we had the "Kindergarten Curriculum Night" and "Meet the Teacher" so the kids knew what was coming.  Then the first day and it was all smiles and new backpacks and excitement!

The kids have their first full week starting tomorrow, so hopefully the smiles and excitement keep up!

barrett: 63 months old

Barrett is ready for kindergarten, that much is certain!  He has his backpack filled (with library books and a travel pillow),  he has a plan to take naps at his desk, and he is certain that recess will be the best part of his day.  I love his enthusiasm for this new step in his life!  

We had a kindergarten playdate at the school this week, "Curriculum Night" on Thursday, "Meet the Teacher" night next week, then the first day of school in a week.  There might be some sadness that my baby is growing up, but I'm also excited to see what changes await him this year.

Barrett is very into drawing right now - so much so that he has taped his pictures all over his bedroom  walls!  I finally broke down and bought a roll of paper from IKEA and a couple of rolls of cheap tape, and just let me go to his heart's content.  There's a good chance his entire room will be covered, but it makes him happy to show his art gallery to us.

Likes:  lollipops, picking out his own clothes every morning, running

Dislikes:  waiting until next week to go to school