Gingerbread houses

A few days before Christmas, I watched Ryan and Ethan, (my nephews from Cali.) I figured it was the perfect time to do a little gingerbread house making. (Actually I used graham cracker, but kind of the same thing.)
It kept them busy for awhile, but mostly they just ate candy. Poor Rylee was in the highchair, because she couldn't keep her hands off the candy either. Who can blame her?

For the record the grahams worked really good, I cut two grahams to have a triangle on top for each house with a serrated knife. They didn't look that cute, but it was a tasty activity.

Hadley and Kennedy's Birthday!

It was my nieces' birthday, a few weeks ago. Heather wanted them to have an Incredibles cake. As I was trying to post this I'm not sure why I have only two not very great pictures of it. The "i" in the cake is crooked, and I know I fixed it after taking the picture. Plus my messy table is a nice background for the pic. :)

Here are the birthday girls in their Buzz and Jessie costumes.
I made a few of the characters with Fondant, although for that you really need modeling chocolate, or even gum paste would be better, but that's what I had, so that's what I used.
There's Jack Jack, it probably would have been better without them. But the kids liked it. Plus, at least they taste good, like a marshmallow. The kids like to pick the things off and eat them. I'll have to make sure I take better pictures next time.

Christmas Morning:

I was nervous Reese would wake up early on Christmas, so I put the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs. Little did I know that can't stop a 3 year old who wants presents. At about 6 am, I heard some noises and she was up looking at everything. Luckily she knew she shouldn't, and she hadn't unwrapped anything.
(Above) She had a very specific list of things she wanted, I guess she had seen the commercials. A Baby all Gone. A puppy that walks. A lady but pillow pet, that I can't believe I don't have a picture of her with. (She'd been asking for one since April.)
I found an awesome dollhouse, I think she loves it.
Yes, Rylee did open presents, but she wanted breakfast more than toys, so she ate happily while Reese opened hers.
Most people I know don't let their kids have toys that make noise, but I know that's what they like, so I say why not? Almost all of Rylee's toys were musical.
Next door at Jeremy's Grandpa's house.

This is all the kids. (If you're wondering who the red-headed step child is on the couch, that is Hadley in her Little Mermaid wig, that she never took off all day.) I took about 15 pics and this is the best one, I know that's not saying much. It's hard to get 1 kid to look let alone 6.
Jeremy in his Gordon Hayward shirt. I make fun of Jeremy that he's obsessed with him so I got him the shirt. (For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, he's a rookie for the Utah Jazz.) I don't know if he'll make it past this year, but oh well. He can still wear it.
Our Christmas was so great. I'm so thankful that we were able to do anything let alone, I feel like I was able to get Reese everything she wanted. Also I got a pasta machine that I can't wait to use, and a food processor that I've wanted for forever, and had no idea Jeremy even knew about.
I hope everyone's holiday was just a nice! Merry Christmas!

Trimming the Tree!

This is obviously a few weeks behind, but we got out the tree and had a family decorating day. Reese wanted her own tree in her room. It was only about a foot tall.

We borrowed a little tree from Jeremy's sister and put it up on the table so it would be more out of reach from Rylee.


This is Reese with her ornament.

Earlier that day we went to Bicentennial park (by Lee's) The santa there is the best! I had a feeling Rylee would react this way, she doesn't really like going to strangers lately, let alone one that looks like Santa.
Reese went straight in and snuggled down, it was so cute, Santa loved it. He said Reese was the sweetest and he felt like taking a nap.


This is Rylee helping me put up the tree.


Just trying to get into the holiday spirit. It worked, then we watched Muppet Christmas Carol, (my fav) Which we watched about 5 times this season. Hope you all had a good season as well.

One small step for baby, one giant leap for mommykind.

I know you want your babies to stay small. But inevitably they don't. And since Rylee is getting so big, I find myself wanting her to be able to do more things, that older kids can. #1 - Feed herself. Now I know it's a little early but I started her on milk in a cup, and took her off bottles.

It's been the best, right there you save about 20 min, each feeding, which means I can clean up the dishes, (or actually eat myself, I know, novel idea.) Anyways she's getting better and better at feeding herself and I love it, for me it's a big milestone we've reached.

The rest of these are random pictures, Rylee on Reese's rocking horse that she's obsessed with.
I never have them in matching clothes because Rylee has so many hand me downs and they're never the same as what Reese has. But I had to get a pic of them in their matching jammies, even though it's not halloween.

Car accident!

A couple of weeks ago, the girls and I set out for the craft fair. We were going to stop at my neighbor's house (about two blocks away) and go with her. Well we didn't make it. Luckily it was in no way my fault, and even more luckily we were perfectly fine. I can't say the same for my Acura.

This doesn't show how bad it really looks. We got hit on the side, (right where Rylee sits basically.) They had to completely replace both doors, the running board, and paint the fender. The bummer is we have to get new car seats, and that is turning out to be a pain. Also we're lucky she had insurance, and we've been able to have a rental car for about a month now. I'll be excited when we get our Acura back hopefully good as new.

Cabin fever.

I know that winter is just started, but it's ben so cold that we haven't been going outside at all. I am aware that there is still months of cold left to go. We are missing the park, and I feel like we were getting on each others nerves a little bit, so last week I was trying to think of something fun and different to do.

So we stripped the girls down and did some pudding painting. I think it worked, it gave us something to do, and definitely entertained them. I had one of those plastic table cloths that cost about $1, and put out bowls of different colored puddings and jams, and some paper.
Reese obviously was more interested in painting herself, (which I had thought would be coming). And Rylee was more interested in eating it.
Afterward I just scooped up the whole tablecloth and chucked it, so cleanup wasn't bad at all. I was lucky my husband didn't see it though, I think he would have been less optimistic about the mess.
Of course after covering your body in pudding, it's time for a bath.

If anyone has any more ideas let me know........ there's a lot of winter left!