My favorite picture of the season

Because we are the Griswold family, Santa must have thought these shirts were just too perfect to pass up! And I love being married to Clark Griswold!

a few more

Not much better than watching a Christmas movie in your jammies laying on a snow tube.

Or being dressed like Tigger and a Ninja Turtle while decorating Christmas cookies. All the while eating homemade lefse and drinking eggnog. Mmmmmm...We decorated 3 dozen cookies that night. Bear was flooding the rink in the backyard and by the time he came in, I was at the table all by myself decorating. I had been totally ditched and left to finish up.They did enjoy decorating, eating, licking and sprinkling all those cookies.Our finished products. Many Bronco colored angels, bells and Santas. Lots and lots of sprinkles!The traditions have been fun this year. The boys are getting a little easier to do these projects with. Parker especially enjoys them!

I know I'm spoiled, but...

I know I'm spoiled, but...doesn't it count for something when I admit it?

My Milo and the hubs mounted my shelves for me in the basement. There is not much that I love more than these two guys...but organization comes a close second.

After the "shit-geyser" went off July 1st, my basement was totally trashed. The new carpet went down in August. Then the dehumidifier quick sucking moisture out of the air but continued to run day and night. Bear and I both always thought the other person was dumping it out, when in fact neither of us was. Then the day came that I went to move the furniture back into the newly carpeted area and realized it was all covered in a fine layer of moldy fuzz.
(insert freak out moment here)

So the craziness began. I tore everything out of my laundry area. Sprayed every crevice of it with mold resistant cleaner, scrubbed, scoured and removed all particles of dirt, debris and mildew. Then enlisted Regan to help me paint my floor, complete with speckles. That took us about 45 minutes. Then I made the guys move my deep chest freezer (totally full of meat), not once, twice, but three times! Then I realized that I totally needed to paint the walls a fresh coat of white complete with mildew resistant additive. Then I wondered why the heck I painted the floor first? 10 drop clothes later and I was on my way to painting. I painted the basement walls the month of November. The hubs was hunting so at nap time and bedtime. I would pour a glass of wine, change into my painting clothes and head down to the dungeon.

Then I drew a map, yes a map of where I wanted shelves to go. I needed to get things off the floor in case the city sewer decides to come into my house again. Then I took my little map (5 pages) to Menards with 2 kids and batted my eyes at some poor kid and made him help me load up my cart and then the car. I drove through town with my hatch open, the little red flag a waving out the back and told the kids to hang on to the shelves!

Then Milo and Barrett spent a weekend doing this for me...spoiled I know.2 shelves for all our canned goods. The empty jars will be replaced with food from next years garden. This may have been the easiest section to mount since it went into wood and not cinder block!
The deep chest finally ended up on the left side of this little area with all my totes of seasonal decoration on the right. The top shelves are full of games, puzzles, cards, etc...

The big sink is the only part left to go. Derek and Bear are going to saw this bad boy apart this winter, remove it and replace with a new nice white one. This old one is made of concrete! Regan has one just like it in her basement, so that one will go too, the same weekend.
My laundry shelf. Extra sheets, towels, toilet paper, big things that don't fit in my kitchen, like the bread machine and the giant mixer.
Another angle of the decorations and game shelves.
Now...if I could just get that label maker I want from Santa...

another one down...

Well...I have another tradition down. A new one actually. One my husband finally let me do. I haven't burned the house down yet with my fire hazard. I put a fake tree with twinkle lights on it, in my boys' room for their night light. They have their very own tree. You should have seen their faces when plugged it in! Priceless.

The 5th Birthday Party

A month after the kid turned 5, I realized I hadn't "documented" the whole experience! Forgive me...we've been a bit busy.

So the day of his birthday he of course had no school and enjoyed the 2nd of the 3 Alligator cupcake platters at daycare.

Then that evening all the family came over. We top 30 if all show up. It gets busy and chaotic, but it's always been that way, and we love it.

I bought these, Ahem dinosaur, Alligator hats at the Dollar Tree for each of the kids to wear. Then I bagged up all the extra Runt candy (minus the banana pieces) and gave those to the kids too! They all ate them and nobody complained about the leftovers.

A wonderful addition we would have missed at the party was Nicker! He came and made himself comfortable in the chair and talked a bit about the accident/back surgery. The cutest was when Jillian pulled on her momma and asked Is that Parker's cousin Nick that we pray for mom? She was so surprised to see him in person, yet too shy to go up and talk to him.
Parker is still in love with puppy anything. Derek had drawn his name and got him 2 new puppies and Spiderman socks and slippers! A HUGE hit with a 5 year old!
Guns. Guns. Guns. Bullets. Bullets. Bullets. EVERYWHERE IN MY HOUSE! And he loves them all. Papa taught him to set up various toys around the house and see if he can "dead-eye" them. He can.Grandma Janet and Papa Don went to Florida back in the 60s. Yes the 60s. They bought a stuffed and real at one time Alligator. Laying in bed one night he shouts out that he actually thinks he knows where a 50 year old Alligator is?! Guess what? He found it and they wrapped it up and gave it to my kid! It was a huge highlight of the party!My mom typed up an "All About A" card for Parker and on the back was a song called "Along Came Mr. Alligator"...I read the card to him the day after his birthday and he knew all the words and actions to the song. We made sure to invite Grandma Audrey over one night to watch the performance and teach her the actions.We served cupcakes and mint & chip ice cream to the family. Every time I asked Parker what piece of the gator he picked, he told me it was the one with the toenails! Mmmmm.Emmitt really enjoys the parties just as much as the next kid. While reorganizing my basement I came across all the 3rd Birthday/Hat Trick party supplies and figured a hockey party would be just great for Emmitt too! And I have basically run out of ideas...
Happy 5th Birthday to my Little Man!
And because I know you just can't wait to hear "what am I going to do next year?"...my mom (the least creative person I know) came up with the marvelous idea of Parker's next Birthday: 6. Yes 6. His birthday next year is 11-11-11. Or should I type 1+1+1+1+1+1 add up to ???? You guessed it 6!

Take me for a ride...

Enjoy the show!