November 30, 2011

Thanksgiving Craftiness

Thanks to Pinterest, I'm finally starting to express that tiny little crafty bone in my body.  I've always wanted to be crafty, but just never had the patience, skill or creativity to do things on my own.  Not to mention that I am totally scatterbrained half the time and can't ever finish what I start.  Lucky for me, Pinterest has tons of cute ideas all in one place and often links to step by step instructions.  It really is a lot of fun to make cute things that you know your kids can help with and will enjoy!

For Thanksgiving I decided to make an array of themed goodies:

The Fudge Stripe Cookie and Reese's Cup Pilgram Hats

The Oreo Turkey

...and the Hershey Kiss and Nutter Butter Acorns.


I also used the acorns to decorate my homemade caramel cake!

Yum!!

(For tutorials on how to make these fun treats, find me on Pinterest and check out my Thanksgiving board pins.)

Thanksgiving 2011

We journeyed down to Columbia for Thanksgiving this year at Mimi and Papa's house.  It was a whirlwind of a day that ended far too quickly.  Uncle Nick earned his gold star for actively entertaining Austin outside almost the entire afternoon.  Papa then earned his platinum star for keeping up with both kids outside while Ryan and I chatted with our good friends Whitney and Travis who were in town visiting from Virginia.  The kids were so exhausted that they were completely sacked out before we even left the neighborhood!

The day after, Austin kept telling me he wanted to go back to Mimi and Papa's house in "Combia."  I asked him why and he replied, "...because I get to play outside ALL day!"  :)

Ready for the feast!

Being a typical boy, lounging around and hogging the remote.

Playing with Papa

Playing drums in the bed of Papa's truck.

Tissue paper....cheap and endless entertainment!


"Hey Aunt Caca, smell this paper!"  
SMASH!

Giving Miss Whitney a big hug!

And here comes the cuteness....

Ta-Da!

November 29, 2011

Where a Kid Can Be a Kid!

Yep, we broke down and took the boys to Chuck E. Cheese for the first time a couple weeks ago.  Honestly the thought had never crossed my mind until we passed the place on the interstate and Austin said he wanted to go there.  In actuality he though it was a Monkey Joes, but we decided to check it out anyway.

First of all, I had no idea this place was so cheap.  Every game was 1 token and we got about 50 tokens for only $10 which lasted us for almost 2 hours.  There was a toddler room for Owen to play in and tons of rides and games for the boys to enjoy.  We also discovered Austin's new love for air hockey...and he's actually pretty good!  Owen was in heaven because there were gobs and gobs of buttons to "pish" and he became infatuated with the mouse ride and this duck game where you try to knock the ducks in the water.

I don't know why I had such a negative view of Chuck E. Cheese in my head, but that's been wiped clean as of now.  It's definitely a cheap and entertaining way to spend a cold and rainy afternoon!  Maybe next time we'll try the pizza.  :)







Santa Arrives!

A couple weekends ago, Santa Claus himself arrived in NC.  And where do you think he made his first stop?  Why Birkdale Village Shopping Center, of course!  We had nothing better to do on a Saturday evening and I was really anxious to see how Austin would react to seeing Santa for the first time this season.  The whole holiday celebration was a little lame and the parade was downright pathetic....but as soon as Santa turned that corner riding on the back of a pick-up truck....it became magical!!  Owen was amused just watching the cars drive by, but Austin was downright smitten with Santa and after he passed us we had to hurriedly cross the road and stake out a place on the other side so we could see him drive by again.  We then followed him to the Christmas tree and shouted "1-2-3, Santa light that tree" and watched as Santa "magically" lit the giant tree.

We had to promise Austin that we'd see Santa again soon just to get him to leave and then we went to IHOP down the road for a pancake supper.  I have never been a big IHOP fan until realizing that it's the ONLY sit down restaurant where both boys will eat and behave relatively well.  Austin kept waiting for Santa to join us at IHOP but then got distracted when he saw a girl dressed as a pirate walk in and sit at a table nearby.  So distracted in fact that when we were walking out he walked face first into a table because he was so busy looking at this pirate girl that he wasn't watching where he was going.

We've been talking about Santa ever since and even made a visit to mall Santa just to chat one morning.  When we lit up our Christmas tree this past weekend, Austin said to himself before he stepped on the button the turns the tree lights on, "1-2-3, Austin light that tree!"  Oh, it's going to be a FUN holiday season!!!

 Waiting for the parade to start.  Owen obviously not pleased about stopping to pose for a picture.

Santa!!
(Austin had just finished eating a Reeses cup that was thrown to him in the parade, hence the peanut butter in his teeth.)

Oh the joy! 

Waving as Santa goes by... 

...in the bed of a truck. 

An attempt to pose in front of the big tree.  Austin was upset that his shoe had fallen off and Owen was busy watching the fake snow blow around.

November 28, 2011

Zzzzzzzzz

Tell tale signs that we've been keeping pretty busy around here lately...



Believe it or not, these pictures document the very first times both kids have fallen asleep in someplace other than a bed, crib, or car seat....and they happened within a week of each other!  Guess we need to tone down the holiday festivities a little bit and focus on catching up on a few more zzzz's!

Stay tuned to hear about all the fun we've been having!  I foresee some wonderfully long nap times in my near future which means time to catch up on the blogging.  :-)

November 11, 2011

Owen is 18 Months!



Owen is officially 1.5 years old now!  Here are a few fun facts about my sweet little 18 month old boy.

-Owen had his 2nd haircut this month.  You can observe the before and after pictures above.

-FINALLY starting to enjoy a little variety in his diet!  After a couple months of almost nothing but yogurt, applesauce, crackers and baby food pouches....this is by far the most exciting achievement right now!

-Loves Lightning McQueen ("Ly-ing") and Mater ("Mare") and points out everything with either of their pictures on it.

-Enjoys watching football (in moderation) and says "Uh oh!" every time there's a big tackle.

-Wants to "pish" (push) any button or flip any switch he can see.

-Will take a juice box over a piece of candy any day!

-Takes one 2-3 hour nap every afternoon.

-Can not be trusted to walk anywhere in public on his own!  He refuses to hold my hand and often runs off.  He's really starting to gain a new sense of independence!

-Loves to climb and walk up stairs and has no fear whatsoever.

-Saying new words everyday and putting several words together now.  The other day he got breakfast all over his hands and said "I'm a mess!"

-Likes to stand at the window and look out at the squirrels and birds.

-Loves to dance and shake his booty!

-Says "Please" and "Thank You" some of the times.  :)

-Currently dealing with (and not so well I might add) his first ear infection.

-Weighs 24 lbs. and measures 32.5 inches tall.  Our new ped. office doesn't do percentiles, but I looked online and it says he's in the 25th for weight and 56th for height.

-Loves to sing Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom, Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, 5 Little Monkeys, She'll be Coming Round the Mountain, If You're Happy and You Know It, Wheels on the Bus, and Little Green Frog. Yes, Owen really likes music. :)

-Loves to put on socks and shoes...mainly because he thinks that means we're going outside.

-Still has a serious attachment to his "duck-duck."  Even Austin knows better than to mess with Owen's duck-duck!

-Barely sits still long enough to read unless it's Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Chicka Chicka 1-2-3, A Potty for Me, The Gruffalo, or any book that has to do with cars or monster trucks.

November 9, 2011

Days of Autumn

"Come, little leaves," said the wind one day,


"Come o'er the meadows with me and play:


Put on your dresses of red and gold -


For summer is gone and the days grow cold."


"Leaves in the autumn came tumbling down,


Scarlet and yellow, russet and brown,


Leaves in the garden were swept in a heap,


Trees were undressing ready for sleep."

November 4, 2011

Daddy's Office

The day after Austin's birthday party, him and I made a special trip to daddy's office while AmMa stayed home with Owen since he was napping.  Austin has been interested in skyscrapers lately and well, Ryan's office, is in one of the tallest buildings in the southeast!  It's an ordeal just to get up there, though.  I can't ever just pop in unannounced because you have to have clearance and show ID just to get to the elevators!

Austin loved everything about daddy's office.  From the parking garage and long elevator ride to just looking out the big windows at all the cars and buildings below.  He was especially excited that he could see the Panthers football stadium.  We walked around and visited some of Ryan's co-workers but Austin was completely uninterested unless their office had a view of the stadium...and was not shy at all about letting them know he wasn't impressed by their view!



 Hard at work!
View of the stadium

November 3, 2011

Happy Halloween!!

 We had a fun Halloween full of pumpkin carving, trick or treating and candy eating!  Austin, the train engineer, got really into the trick or treating this year and kept us busy heading for every house he could find with a light on, exclaiming "Trick or Treat, Thank You, Happy Halloween, Bye-Bye" at every door we went to.  Owen, the golfer, was content to hang on tight to his very first treat, a sucker, and let Ryan carry him around as Austin led the way.  An hour and a half later, the cold set in and a little of the excitement wore off so we headed home to examine our treats.  Not quite the excitement of last year, but my two little candy monsters were still very happy with their treats...especially anything on a stick!







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