Just for Sam!!

Auntie Sam and Uncle Brendan in Montreal sent these cool Walkie Talkies to Carter for Christmas! They are a BIG hit - thanks guys!

He opened up the box, and pulled it out and yelled "Toy Story Walkie Talkies!! Oh WOW!". I wasn't too surprised he recognized the Toy Story aspect of it - he reallllly loves that movie. I had no idea he knew what Walkie Talkies were though. Lots of fun!!

Here's a little tidbit story from my childhood for you. Be warned...it's evil, but in a funny way! ;)

My sister Nancy is 4 yrs younger than me. My cousin Heather and I used to like to torment her, in a (cough cough) friendly big sisterly way.

Nancy and I had Walkie Talkies when were younger, and Heather and I concoted a plan. Leave one on in her room one night, and then make scary noises through it, and scare the pants off her.

Ahhh...the plan was even more brilliant when it worked! Nancy still remembers when we did this to her. Poor Spud! :)

Merry Un-Christmas!

Since we're headed away from home for Christmas (and we didn't want to drag alllll the gifts along), we decided to have a little un-Christmas opening this morning and open gifts from each other. Grammie and Bubby also sent a few heavier items with Nancy, so we opened those too! Opening a present to Daddy and Carter from Mommy....

Oooh! It's "Make your own Rootbeer" kit. Carter looooooves rootbeer!

Oooh, some Thomas accessories from his grandparents - COOL!

and a playmobile car from them too!

Daddy got a cool Olympics Shirt from Auntie Nancy! GOOOOO CANADA!

No one took photos of me (boo), but I got a pretty cool present from Steve - a new pink Kate Spade bag! Love it!!

Christmas Decor!

Carter has been coming home from preschool with some pretty cute Christmas decorations! Thought I'd share a few pics!

And lastly...he insisted on posing in front of the tree with this little lamb! So...here he is!

Mom's night out!

Last night, some friends and I decided to take a little pre-holiday Mommy's Night Out! We went to Benihana and enjoyed some yummy food and fun conversation! Can't wait to do it again! Here we are - photo, compliments of the restaurant! LOL!
Susie, Gina, Gabby, and me!

Preschool Christmas Concert!

Tonight, Dec 17th, was Calvary Preschool Christmas concert night. When you have a three year old, you don't expect too much from them as far as concerts go! ;)

That being said, Carter was pretty pumped for the concert. He knew the songs and had been singing them to us at home for the last week or so. When we got there tonight, he was jazzed to go up and sing.

What happened? He danced his way up on stage, found his spot quite well on his own, looked out at the crowd (the church was full) and blanched! You could see the look on his face - YIKES!

It was quite cute actually. He did do a decent job though. Stayed in his place, sang a little more than most of the kids in his class, threw in a few actions...and stared...and stared...and stared.
Guess Mommy's performace training didn't rub off in the womb! ;) Here he is waiting for things to being - with his girlfriend Brooke!

Do actions to "Go Tell It On the Mountain"

Got a little rhythm going here...

Twinkle Twinkle...and the blank stare :)

More staring, although Brooke (who also held the stare look for most of the concert) cracks a smile!

The best group photo we got! LOL

All in all, it was lots of fun, and I'm really grateful Carter has such kind and caring teachers. He really loves to go to school each day!

Getting Big!

We got Carter's preschool pics back yesterday. He looks so big! I loooove the expression in the second one - I call that his monkey-face. He's thinking about being sneaky! :)

My boys!!

Aren't they the cutest??! xoxo

Christmas Party

On the weekend, the San Bruno Mother's Club had their annual Christmas party. It's always fun! This year, Santa's Elf came to visit, and the kids had a LOT of fun with her. Carter and Brooke watching the show...

When there's no snow in California...you substitute with BUBBLES! This was FUN!

Carter and his bubble!

Catching "Christmas magic" in his hands

...and another California subsitute for snow...

when there are no snowballs...use bath puffs! A massive puff fight started up! So cute!

Build A Bear!

Carter and his friend Geoffrey planned a Christmas playdate at Build-A-Bear! Slightly unfortunately, we quickly figured out that you should a) not go to BAB right before Christmas, or b) not get there right before a bday party starts. Oops. Nonetheless, we had a good time, and both boys (and baby Suzie) got their bears made! Here's Geoffrey picking out his bear

Carter with his puppy

Carter stuffing his toy!

Geoffrey's turn!

Puppy getting washed and combed...this took a LONG time. The air was VERY fun.

Carter chose a fireman outfit for his puppy. Geoffrey is a HUGE Star Wars fan, so his bear became a clone trooper!

Lots of cuddles!

Following this, we were off to Norma and Erics to celebrate Logan's first birthday party. Carter was VERY excited for this, and spent many hours contemplating the party. "What kind of cake would there be" "Would Logan have games or a bouncy house?" We bought Logan a pretty cool present, and spent over 30 minutes picking out just the right one!

Now...I should mention...Logan is a dog! :)

Carter was a little disappointed to find out (even though Mommy had told him over and over) that dogs don't eat cake, or have bouncy houses at their parties. The party was basically just a good excuse to get together and party! I think playing with Logan was good enough for Carter though...he had a great time! I'm sad I forgot to take a picture of them :(

Gingerbread Houses!

Last Thursday (Dec 10th), Carter's friend Bernard and his mom hosted a gingerbread house making party. We had tons of fun making our house with our friends!

Our finished house! :)

WeScrap December Reveal

The December kit over at WeScrap is awesome! Full of fun goodies from BG, Maya Road, Kaiser and more. To top it all off, it includes adorable BG woolies and a lace paper - got to love those! You even get an ink pad!

Here are a few of the many projects I made using the kit. More to come later!

I am a guest designer over there, and my term ends at the end of December. So sad! I've really enjoyed being on the team there. Definitely a great MB to check out - lots going on! :)

Friends!

Gina, Susie, and I had big plans yesterday to take the three kids - Joey, Carter, and Brooke, to go see Santa and *attempt* at a group photo of the three of them. In a nutshell...we should have known better!

We had to wait in line, and the boys...well, they were boys! Not too patient and wanted to run around. Then when the moment came to see Santa, Carter and Joey hopped up quite willingly, but poor Brooke was having NOTHING to do with him. We couldn't even convince her to stand on the floor in front of him! So cute!

So, we had the two boys taken. This shot didn't come so easy...this is about the 9th photo they took! LOL

Special Gift!

Yesterday, a Christmas card arrived from my aunt and uncle...inside was a special gift for Carter! My Auntie Valerie had found a piece of cross-stitch that her mom (my grandma) had made, and finished it up as an ornament for Carter to have! Such a sweet gift!

I really wish Carter had known my Nana. She died shortly before Steve and I got married. Everytime I talked to her in the weeks before her death she would go on and on about the wedding, and the plans, and what was new. I can only imagine how excited she would have been over Carter.

Little gifts like this keep her alive in our hearts - and that's especially precious at this time of year! Thanks so much Auntie Valerie!! We love it :)

Gifting

I made a lot of my gifts this year...actually, I'm still working on some for a few of my friends! The pressure is ON!

I made these (this set is mine) for Carter's preschool teachers for Christmas though. Hope they like them! A fun little kit made with MM's Mistletoe collection(sorry for the crap/crooked photo - I had someone hanging on my leg!)

Christmas Traditions

I remember a lot about Christmas growing up - the excitement of the season, the special things we did, the preparations...I want Carter to have those memories too! On the weekend, I decided we'd watch one of my favorite childhood Christmas shows - Rudolph, and have cookies and hot chocolate while we watched.

I got some premade gingerbread men, and Carter had lots of fun icing them! Verrrrrrry carefully. He's putting eyebrows on them. Carter is obsessed with eyebrows! LOL

Ah, perfect eyebrows at last!

Cookies and hot chocolate ready to go!

Daddy says - hey where's my bite??!

Carter says "hands off my cookies!"

All in all, a fun way to spend a Saturday night! :)