Our First Gingerbread House

The girls and I spent the night making our very first gingerbread house! The girls respected my slight case of OCD and agreed to holding off on this project until right before bath time. Our neighbors gave the girls a reusable plastic gingerbread house for Christmas this year, which made my job super easy. Just snap the sides into place, pop on a roof and we were good to go. We headed to Publix, picked out some "snow" frosting, and made some good use of our old Easter, Halloween, and- I'm embarrassed to admit- last year Christmas candy. Yum! Check out the girls' sugary creation! (Video after pictures)

Kaylee, desperately trying to make her house look like the picture on the box.

Ooo, what's this stuff?

It's yummy! 

The finished product!

Click here to see the video.

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Love,
Christina

Portable North Pole

Here is the video Santa sent Kaylee this Christmas season.

Kaylee was thrilled to receive this message from Santa. Her face completely lit up and she was shaking with excitement. I was in tears. She has seen it at least 10 times in the last 24 hours, so now when she plays it on the computer, she stages sharing scenes with her sister right in front of my laptop just so Santa can see she is being a good girl. So funny! Either way, it's cute and it has brought a little more Christmas magic to her this season.

Madison gets a kick out of it too and screams "Santa!" every time she sees him.

Tonight we are taking the girls to Land O' Lights in Land O' Lakes. It is a drive-though computerized show where the lights are synchronized to music you listen to on your car's radio. Should be fun!

Did I Make the Grade?

Today I had my first ever parent teacher conference for my preschooler. And while parent teacher conferences are about the child, in reality we all know the parents (particularly the stay-at-home parent) are really the ones being reviewed. After all, this is your child. They are the direct product of you and your child rearing skills. Our children talk like us, act like us, make up crazy games like us, and from the moment they walk through that classroom door, everything they know and learn from you becomes casual conversation/play amongst a handful of other students and two teachers.

For the last two weeks I have been anticipating this day. While I was also nervous about my Kaylee's first evaluation, I knew it was the only way we could help develop our child into a more well-rounded 'little' person.

I prepared myself for the absolute worst. "Your daughter talks too much. She doesn't share. She cuts the snack line." I had considered every possible negative that could have been thrown my way and, like any other parent, had carefully thought of excuses to bail my daughter out of them. "Yes, I know Kaylee talks too much, but she is very inquisitive and I encourage her to ask any questions she may have... I know she doesn't always share, but we are making progress on this at home. Just yesterday she voluntarily shared all her window gel clings with her sister... Maybe Kaylee was really hungry that day?"

The previous conference had commenced and it was now my turn to sit in that little blue chair across from Mrs. Sisco. "Let's talk about Kaylee." I could feel all the blood rushing to my face. And then she said it. "Your daughter is amazing.... She is smart, independent, and well liked by her peers.... We love having Kaylee in our classroom."

There it was. In two seconds all my fears had been erased. The teacher- who is required by law to tell me the truth- had told me my child is amazing and smart! I knew I had succeeded (so far) as a parent. My daughter IS amazing! Actually, both of them are :)

Before I went to go pick up the girls, I made a quick stop at Panera and bought them a giant m&m cookie. They deserved it. After all, they do have to deal with me all day, every day. And while I work hard to disciple and teach them good morals, I also believe children should always be rewarded for good behavior.

A Time to Give Thanks

I am in love with Thanksgiving. It is by far my favorite of all holidays. After all, I do have a lot to be thankful for. And I love playing the role of holiday hostess for this one particular holiday.

I remember Thanksgiving day with my family each year as a child. We never had to travel far to get to Nana & Papa's house. Papa would let us play with his cool gadgets (e.g. calculators and clock pens), they always had an adequate stock of pink or multicolor marshmallows for my sister and I, and there was always a mountain of delicious food (even if the picky eater in me didn't agree at the time). We would say our prayers before dinner was served, and most importantly- I knew as a child that Thanksgiving was a day for giving thanks.

Today, it seems like we, as a society, are missing the mark on Thanksgiving. And that is not the lesson I hope my children learn. The commercials I remember of joyful families gathered around a perfectly set table showcasing a succulent turkey are being taken over by ads of Black Friday specials and stores opening early- on Thanksgiving day no less- to beat the Black Friday rush. How sad!!! Is Thanksgiving a day we should be thankful for material items we can score at Black Friday prices?? No! It is a day we should spend with family and friends to be thankful for the ones we love and to cherish the blessings in our lives.

Black Friday has simply gone too far. I never particularly 'enjoyed' waking up early to score a few deals on the big ticket items Jon and I wanted for Christmas, but somehow I set my alarm to 5 a.m., bit the bullet, and did it for a few years. This year I will not be participating. I would like to spend the day enjoying my children, then having them pushed and shoved by shoppers hoping to score the cheapest BluRay players or the latest toys. Saving a couple of dollars is not worth my sanity.

I would like my children to have similar Thanksgiving memories that I had years ago. It scares me a bit that my kids are growing up in a generation where Thanksgiving seems to be more of an afterthought then an actual holiday. But I know as long as we keep on with our family traditions, we will instill wonderful memories for them to recollect upon (and hopefully continue) when they have families of their own.

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday filled with love, laughter, and lots of food :)

xoxo
Christina

Kaylee's performing at her Pre-School Thanksgiving Pow-Wow

Tee-Pee

Kaylee and her classmates in front of the wonderful (and multi-cultural) Thanksgiving feast the parents and teachers prepared.

Kaylee's contribution- homemade German apple strudel.

The children enjoying their Thanksgiving meals.

Halloween 2011

After two years experience of trick-or-treating, Jon and I have learned a thing or two about Halloween with children. First, you must come prepared for potential toddlers meltdowns. Secondly, you must come prepared to enjoy it yourself. I decided that to keep the kids happy, we should bring the green wagon (and a few toys) in case one (or both) became tired from all that walking. To keep myself in the game, I decided upon flats and a comfy sweater. And Jon decided to keep his spirits up by raiding the beer fridge on his way out.

The kids both took solid 3 hour naps, so I knew we were in for a successful night. The girls had the best time trick-or-treating, and Madison, who was dressed as a fairy, surprisingly walked majority of our neighborhood in her cute little fairy booties. Kaylee, of course, went as the princess of her choice, Sleeping Beauty.

    Kaylee told Madison she could fly now that she was equipped with fairy wings.

The headband didn't make it past this picture. But how cute is that?!

Princess Kaylee

Headed out to meet up with our neighbors

3 Princesses and a Frog :)

The girls eagerly set out on their candy conquering mission. Madison got her technique down early on- she would linger in each doorway after the older girls ran off with their fun size candy bars, prompting each homeowner to give her up to five times as much candy as the older ones. And if a particular candy distributor didn't voluntarily offer up more goods, she would just take it upon herself and pick a few more pieces from their stash. Smart girl- using that 1 year old charm.

As for the homes that didn't answer, Madison left her own treat of smudges and fingerprints, while the older girls carefully thought of specific reasons (taking a nap, still at work making money, taking a bubble bath, etc) for the lack of acknowledgement. It was all very amusing!

Madi is determined to get an answer.

All in all, we had an enjoyable Halloween. The girls were so wiped out from trick-or-treating, they went to sleep without even asking for a piece of candy. Five days later, Kaylee still hasn't asked for a single piece. And just like all the other parents out there, Jon and I rewarded ourselves with several items from the kids' candy baskets, and because we let Kaylee be the official "candy giver-outer," we were able to get rid of all 500 pieces of candy we purchased to less than 100 trick-or-treaters.

We hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!!





My Beautiful New Pantry

A few weeks ago, Jon called me up at night, eager to tell me about this 'new' website, Pinterest. Well, it turns out it's been around for a while, but being that I'm a stay-at-home mom and my communication skills are generally limited to that of a 1 to 3 yr old range, I'm thankful that I finally found out about this glorious website. And Jon couldn't be more happy that he told me about it. Our home (or really any place we have lived prior) has never been cleaner or more organized (even prior to having children).

If you are unfamiliar, Pinterest is a wonderful website to get 'inspired' and the concept is so simple. It's merely pictures. (And really, who doesn't love pictures?!) What you can do is 'pin' any picture you see on the website (or on the web) to a self created virtual pinboard. There are so many creative people out there who pin their ideas, style, crafts, DIYs, baking tips, etc. Basically, you can pin your personality on your pinboard through everyday photographed moments. It's quite fun.

Moving on...

While browsing Pinterest one night I saw this picture of the most wonderful kitchen pantry I had ever laid eyes on. I couldn't stop staring at it. I would be hanging out in my pantry all day long if only it were as colorful and organized!

The next week, Jon was itching to do a home project on his day off, and I was still longing for my future beautiful kitchen pantry. Together (I won't take all the credit) we combined forces and within 24 hours, we had ourselves a brand new gorgeous and organized pantry.

Jon- who is turning out to be quite the handyman- built me this amazing customized spice rack:

Here it is up close and personal:

Oooo la la

To get a better view of this transformation, here are some before and afters:

Before:

What a mess!! And that support bar in the middle made it impossible to get items located in the corners.

Now:

The middle bar is gone! Baking items, tea, and snacks have their own bins. And even though you can't tell in this picture, it is painted! The color is called Banana Cream. How fitting for a kitchen pantry! :)

Finally, here is the picture that started it all:

This pantry is by far more organized, but I love mine more because of my new spice rack. Thanks Jonny :)

And if you were wondering what the kids were doing while we accomplished this, here is a photo:

I bet she was dreaming about her new snack bin. 



Pumpkin Patch 2011

Since today was such a beautiful day, after morning mass we took the kids to the pumpkin patch at St. Paul's.

Madison was intrigued by every large pumpkin she saw. She would try to pick each one up, but being that the pumpkins probably weigh as much as she does, she would just end up 'hugging' them. The girls each got to pick out a pumpkin of their own (they both opted for ones they could carry themselves), and we got a large pumpkin for outside our front door.

While uploading these pictures I came across our 2010 pumpkin patch photos...

My, how things have changed. It feels like those newborn days were a lifetime ago, and as I look at these photos I realize time goes by too fast. Nonetheless, I'm a very lucky to have two awesome kids. We are truly blessed.

Arts and Crafts

Jon and I have a list of projects things we really, really want that we would both like to see completed acquired in the near future. Currently, mine is an arts and crafts room. Jon wants a giant fish tank. He thinks the kids would get a kick out of it and that if he goes fresh water, it will be a lot less maintenance for himself. I'm not completely sold on the idea, therefore I do not plan on partaking in any maintenance of this future fish tank. He also wants to put this giant fish tank against the first wall you see walking in through our entrance way. I don't know why he insists our home look like an all-you-can-eat Chinese buffet.

I don't know who will get there 'wish' first, but in the meantime the girls are I have started crafting together. The girls LOVE to craft, and they love to make a mess doing it :) Here are a few of our projects:

 Fall Leaf Garland

Kaylee's Halloween masterpiece...

and of course, Madi's. (It did say Madison at one point.)

Now that I look at it, I bet Kaylee had something to do with that floating 'K' at the bottom.

  and finally, a leafy letter 'R'. This one is my favorite.

Here is what I hope my future craft room will resemble:

 Scraproom 

Isn't it beautifully organized?!!?



Taking Our Kids to Church

There is no doubt, motherhood has certainly changed me.

Over the last few years I went from being an avid Catholic and involved parishioner to more of the unfamiliar face sitting next to you at Christmas Eve mass, Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday, etc. (One might refer to them as the twice-a-year Catholic.)

However, my world has turned since we now have two children and our 3 yr old is a preschooler at our Catholic church's childhood enrichment program.

I know many people who regularly do not attend weekly mass, or belong to any church community, or believe in 'organized religion' and I understand. I had my doubts too. Maybe church isn't for everyone. And yes, some kids will lose faith, but in order for them to actually 'lose' their faith, they have to learn their faith first. You simply cannot be a lapsed Catholic without first becoming Catholic. Same goes for any other religion.

I hope my children never lose their faith, but I do know that by taking them to church week after week, they will learn what our faith really is about and know that if they ever did drift away, the Church would welcome them back with open arms. And they would know what they are going back to.

Of course taking the kids to church is no easy task. I feel my children are programmed to constantly want to play and be loud, curious, and silly. And when the young ones really act up, you see the parents quickly escort their child to the back of the church. The 'old' me thought this defeated the purpose of actually going to church. Why show up if you can't even get to enjoy the homily? But if you look closely, you will notice that the little ones are learning about mass on a whole different level. Some parents might bring their child over to the stained glass windows, where they can become familiarized with the Stations of the Cross. Other parents might bring their children over to the baptismal fountain and talk about how they were once 'born' into the church. I personally take Madison over to the statues of Mary and Jesus, and introduce them to her as if they were my friends.

I know Jon and I have a long time before the kids actually 'get it', but I truly believe that as much of a hassle and prep work that goes into us attending mass as a family, our children will only benefit from it. And isn't that what parenting is about?

Not So Cute

"Time to wake up Kaylee! It's a school day!"

"Can I wear a super cute outfit, Mommy?"

"Of course."

And so I picked out what I thought was a super cute outfit. Cuffed cropped jeans from Gap Kids, her favorite pink shirt, and matching socks. All which would compliment her everyday non-negotiable, Disney princess light-up sneakers.

Later on my husband picks her up from school and comes home to tell me Kaylee can no longer wear her Gap jeans to school.

"Why?" I asked.

"Her teacher said they kept falling down on her."

"Oh." I thought for a second. How could these jeans be falling down on her? For starters, they are a 2T- a size below her age. I had carefully adjusted the elastic bands in the waistline that morning. My daughter is tall and skinny. Of course pants are naturally going to hang slightly lower on her. But 'falling off' her? That's a bit of an exaggeration and I wasn't buying it.

A few days later, I received the weekly newsletter from Kaylee's teacher. The weekly theme was 'Fire Safety.' Kaylee is the one demonstrating 'Stop, Drop, and Roll.'

For now, those Gap jeans will be worn exclusively at home.