It's Cute...Even If It's Not!



We had a family fun night at Brady's school last Friday night.
I helped out with the hot chocolate bar.
I made tons of chocolate spoons for the hot chocolate.

This got me thinking that we should have our own hot chocolate goodies out on the counter while it's cold outside!
Brady and I especially have been drinking our share of  hot chocolate.
Having it out on the counter definately makes you want it more often!
And, I wonder why my pants are tight?  But I don't care!
I have plenty of time to deal with that after the holidays...for now, I'm going to enjoy the season!

Anyway, shortly after I put the goodies out on the counter...I walked into the kitchen and saw this:

Brady put his own stamp...or should I say "sign" on it!



He was excited for me to see what he had done...and very proud of himself.

I'm serious when I say proud.  We have to just laugh because he has zero artistic capabilities!

He tore a piece of paper out of a tablet and used a pencil for pete's sake!

So, the hot choclet sign is staying put.

Not the look I was going for...but cute nonetheless!

And, it makes me smile everytime I walk into the kitchen.

Have a great weekend!

I Love Shutterfly!



I received my Shutterfly photo book  in the mail the other day.   I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out.  I made this book for Brady for Christmas and I can't wait for him to open it.   I filled the book with pictures of our family spending time at my in-laws cabin.   A little over a year ago, Grandma and Grandpa sold their cabin.  Brady loved going there...and our last trip up was an emotional one.    He has asked me several times if I would make him a cabin book so that he will always remember our fun times there.  I know he is going to love this book.


I added 55 pages to the book.  You can't tell by my pictures because of the glare, but the quality is so awesome and the pictures are really clear.  Here are some of the pages:

It's a 12x12 hardback book...this is the front cover.













This is the back cover.



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Shutterfly is always running specials.  I saved 30% on this book when I ordered it.  I love getting a good deal, and that's why I'm really excited about Shutterfly's current blog offer.  They are offering bloggers 50 free holiday cards.  If you're interested, you can get the details here. 


I still haven't picked out my Christmas cards yet.  There are so many great ones to choose from.

#1 This card is different than one I would normally pick.

 Brady has a black and red sweater that I could get some pictures of him in.



#2  I think black and white pics would look great in this card.

I love the color of this card too.

#3  I thought this might be fun...especially since I have never sent a Christmas letter. Ever.

It would be much easier to decide on a card if I could just decide on what picture I was going to use!

I better get a move on it...time is running out!

Which card would you pick?

Christmas Tree Farm

(When I took this picture, I thought it was going to turn out really great...but it didn't.

So, I played around with it in Picasa.)



We went to a different tree farm this year to get our tree.  Every couple of years we find a new place to try.

This place was really nice...but I must admit that we probably would have enjoyed it more if it weren't for the fact that it was FREEZING out there!





















It never fails...every year after it's all said and done and we spend the entire day picking out a tree and decorating it, I suggest we buy a discounted artificial tree at the end of the season.  When I think of all the money we have spent the last fourteen years cutting down trees, we could have bought a beautiful tree with a whole lot less work!  Brady instantly said "no way...we have to cut down our tree".  I guess that's what happens when you start something!

It was a good day...no tears were shed this year over the saw.  We came home and decorated the tree, had hot chocolate and finished the evening watching "Elf". 

 

Christmas Traditions



The special moments that are remembered

by families tend to be those

created as a tradition.

I love having traditions.  I think as Moms, we all want our children to look back someday and remember wonderful family times together.  Maybe our children will even want to continue some of those favorite holiday traditions with their families someday.   I think having traditions help make the holidays even more special. 

I am really enjoying reading about eveyone's Christmas traditons.  It's so neat to get a glimpse of what makes Christmas special in everyone else's home.  With that being said, I have to remind myself that having too many traditions can also lose it's "specialness" too.  We have a handful of our own traditions...some that were started on purpose and a few that happened by accident.  Some of our traditions will have to change as Brady gets older I'm sure...but for now, we're still good to go! 

I decided to add something new this year that I saw on Cherie and Melissa's blog.  It's called a "Countdown to Christmas" with books.  You wrap 24 Christmas books and read one every night starting on December 1st through to Christmas Eve.   I LOVE this idea and Brady has so many Christmas books that we often forget about.   So, I wrapped 22 books ( I still need to find 2 more) and suprised Brady yesterday with the basket.

I wrapped  fun Christmas books along with books that will
 remind us of the real reason we celebrate Christmas.

I found this book at a re-uzit store for 50 cents.

If you don't have 25 books, you can always do the 12 days before Christmas.

Brady was so excited about this countdown!   And like Melissa says, it's also an extra incentive at bedtime to get pajamas on and teeth brushed to open a present!  And we need all the help we can get around here at bedtime!

Who knows if this will become a tradition in our house or not...but I already have a feeling Brady is not going to let me forget about this book countdown next year! 

How about you?  Have you done something NEW this year because of

something you've seen out there in blog land?

Please tell me I'm not the only one!

~Kerri

A New Ornament

When I was pregnant with Brady, we started the tradition of buying him one new ornament each Christmas. 

We try to find an ornament that will signify something from that year that was important or special to him.

When we're decorating our Christmas tree we give him his new ornament.

I'm really excited about the one I found this year.

It came in the mail the other day....it's so cute!
I think he's going to like it!

Someday I will package up all his ornaments...

to give to him when he leaves home.

Hopefully there will be around 25-30 of them!

(You get what I'm saying, right?!)

Have a great day!
~Kerri

Our Mixed Up Crazy Good Day!

I woke up really tired this morning.

Brady had a hard time getting up too.

Our sleep schedule is a little off from our holiday travels and driving through the night. Twice.

I let him sleep in an extra 20 minutes before I woke him up for school.

This caused us to rush around a little more than usual.

Homework in backpack-yes.

Lunch packed-yes.

Form filled out-yes.

Pick up note written-yes.

Library books-yes.

Teeth brushed-yes.

Brady and I drove up to the bus stop because it's COLD out there!

The bus is usually a few minutes behind on Mondays for some reason.

We waited and waited and waited.......

Why is the bus so late?

We waited some more.

Did we miss the bus?

Brady said jokingly, "maybe there's no school today!"

Could it be?  We were the only ones at the bus stop.



We came back to the house and checked the school calendar.

Sure enough....no school today.

Or tomorrow!

How did I not know this?!

Imagine thinking you have school...and then you don't!

It was almost like a snow day!

I had my list of things "to do" waiting for me.

You know how it is when you've been out of town...you have catching up to do!

I decided to put my list aside...those things can wait.

I have missed this guy this past week...

he forgets all about me when his cousins are around!

We played a few games of Yahtzee....



made cookies....



 watched the movie Prancer and had hot chocolate.



We had a really good day.

It was nice to just hangout and relax after the busy holiday week.

Tomorrow we are not getting up early for school!

 

Oh, Christmas Tree!



It's only Monday...but I'm already looking forward to the weekend!
We're getting our Christmas tree on Saturday.  Woo hooo!
We usually get our tree the first Saturday in December...it's one of our traditions!
We tend to make an entire day of this...and it's one of the days I look forward to most all year!
We cut down our tree and then spend the rest of the day getting it all set up and decorating the house.
Hopefully this year we will do a better job of picking a tree!
Last year our tree was a little big..and wouldn't fit in the spot in our livingroom where we usually have it.
This was a little hard for Brady and I....as we like things to be just like they always are.
We eventually got used to the tree being in a different spot...but we will try and do better this year.
Maybe this year, Dad we won't forget the tape measure!

Okay, so this was a few years ago...and this wasn't the tree we picked!

Brady always thinks he's in charge....







Someone isn't happy about the saw being taken away!





It's funny, Brady always believes he is the one that ultimately picks the tree.
It's so easy...if you walk around long enough, all the trees start to look the same!
We just say that we'll keep his tree in mind and then go back to it after we've looked at them all.
Once we find the tree that we like, we tell him it was the "one" he picked out that we decided to get!
He falls for it everytime!

This is one of my favorite pictures. 

I'm sure the lighting is all wrong according to professional picture people...

but I just love the look on Brady's face.

It was also our Christmas card picture a few years back.