Inspiration

I'm changing things up! What do you think of the new blog name? I thought it was fitting after our Lego collection multiplied greatly on Christmas!

A few more

The Family

The Boys

Arch & his favorite present

B peeking out from behind the tree

Preston posing

So, now that Christmas is behind us, we have the following to look forward to: my parents coming to visit in a few days, our anniversary (9 years!), and Preston's 5th birthday! All within less than a week from now! Yikes.

Christmas

Well, we made it through Christmas. Mostly recovered from the first illness, but Preston and I came down with another sort of stomach bug (milder, thankfully) on Christmas which is still lingering.

Despite the sickness, we had a pretty spectacular Christmas. Archer was old enough to enjoy the chaos this year, and P & B were giddy about everything.

I asked the boys what their favorite presents were. Preston said that his favorite was "Storm Cloud" (what he named his zhu zhu pet) and Bryton's favorite was his new pair of Crocs. Seriously? Both were stocking stuffers that cost about $5. Who needs expensive lego sets?! :) I'll remember that for next year. (Although they have been playing with those expensive lego sets for 2 days straight so maybe not...)

Archer's favorite part of Christmas...the boxes!

Faceless Care Bears. This was all I managed to get finished by Christmas. No faces, and only 2 out of 3 of them. Luckily Archer doesn't realize that he was slighted, and the faceless bears don't seem to bother the other 2! I think I'll wait for my mom to get here to help me with the faces (and the rest of Archie's bear) since I'm still feeling a bit drained.

Only 2 Days

2 days until 3 Care Bears are supposed to be finished. Grumpy Bear, Tenderheart Bear, and Birthday Bear. The odds of them being finished by Christmas? Less than 10%. Well, realistically, probably less than 1%.

We all got sick Tuesday, except for Archer. Bryton actually started Monday night with a low fever, but he was acting fine for the most part, just complaining that he was cold (and he was really whiny, but that was attributed to the nap-less day and lots of excitement of spending the day with grandparents). Tuesday, John called and said he was probably canceling his afternoon patients because he wasn't feeling well. John NEVER takes a sick day. Bad sign. I was also feeling a little queasy, but nothing major.

John came home and started puking (among other things!). Preston started shortly after. And I started in the middle of the night. Oh man, it was AWFUL. I won't go into details, but I can't remember EVER having felt like that! By the middle of the day Wednesday, we were no longer frequenting the bathroom, but just completely exhausted. And I lost 5+ lbs. Wow.

We thought maybe B would escape, but no. Last night he started puking. I am holding out hope that Archer won't get sick. (Antibodies from breastfeeding? I can only hope...)

Now I'm spending the day doing insane amounts of laundry. So much laundry that I have actually lost count of the # of loads, but I'd say it's going to be more than 10. The house is a complete disaster. And my limbs feel like I've just run a marathon (not that I've ever run a marathon, but I'd imagine this would be what it would feel like). The boys have bounced back surprisingly well and seem to be back to normal today, while I feel like I've been hit by a truck.

Now do you see why the Care Bears probably will not be finished by Christmas? (My mom has promised to help if they aren't finished by the time she comes to visit...maybe I should just leave them for her to sew!)

The Weekend

1. Got really excited because I won a coupon for 90% off a KitchenAid mixer at Lowe's!
2. Went to go get mixer...paid $15+tax.
3. Stopped to get some food on the way home because hey, it was the weekend and we were enjoying a "leisurely" day together as a family.
4. Preston gets smacked in the head by the handle of the door because some guy coming OUT of the restaurant couldn't see out of a glass door, apparently, and he felt the need to slam the door open with all his strength.
5. Eat food. Preston ices his head. We get free cookies.
6. Start the drive home, enjoying the beautiful snow that has fallen while we were eating.
7. Get hit by an uninsured driver who has a suspended license while we were sitting at the light waiting to turn. He just slid right into us. Ugh.
8. The police officer (who we insisted on calling despite the guy's protests) makes us stay at the scene for an obscene amount of time because she's dealing with the other guy. Did I mention that it was F-R-I-G-I-D?!
9. Leave my poor van in the parking lot.
10. Archer gets bitten by a bird. A tame one, but still! Really, a lot of blood. Blech. But no need for an ER visit, thankfully.
11. Jasper ate some dryer lint. :) That dog is out of control!
12. Find out that Idaho doesn't have uninsured motorist's property damage coverage like we had in Oregon, so we will have to pay our deductible. GRRRRRR. AND our rental coverage is only $20/day...definitely not enough to rent a minivan.
13. Realized that I only have a few days left until Christmas, and I still have 3 Care Bears to make (stuffed ones, obviously). Hmmm...this isn't likely to happen, although I don't have a vehicle to go anywhere so I'll be spending lots of time at home!

QOTD:

QOTD: (holding up a piece of candy that he got from Santa) "I'm going to be good all year so I can eat this candy!" - Bryton

Silly Boys

Lemon Glazed Chocolate Biscotti

I needed a dessert to take to a Christmas party tonight, so I started trying to figure out what I could make that was festive, yummy, and a finger-food. BISCOTTI! But I had never made biscotti before, so I thought I should start with a recipe that was clearly marked "BEGINNER." Thank you, Google: Easy Chocolate Biscotti for Beginners. I have no idea how people managed to cook or bake ANYTHING before the internet. Luckily I didn't have to fend for myself in pre-internet days. I had used up our last eggs earlier in the day making some yummy bread and cinnamon rolls (gave most of them away, thankfully, otherwise I'd be gaining way too much weight), and no way was I going out in the cold just for EGGS! So I thought I'd give it a shot using flax seed meal and water as a substitute for eggs.

SUCCESS!

I've had to restrain myself from eating them all today. I dipped the ends in chocolate, and then made a lemon glaze (just powdered sugar and juice from 1 lemon) to drizzle over them. They are delicious. Perfectly crunchy, sweet, and a little tart. Oh yum. It was time consuming from start to finish (mostly baking time), but not difficult at all. And I made them after the boys went to bed last night so I had purely uninterrupted baking time!

Journey to the North Pole

This was our second year taking the boys to Journey to the North Pole on the lake. Last year was fun, but this year the boys could really comprehend the whole Santa/North Pole story. Preston has actually been asking a lot about Santa, and wanting to know if Santa is real. I'm not one to try to convince my children to believe in fictional characters, so at the ripe old age of 4 years, 11 months, Preston is no longer a believer in Santa Claus. He enjoyed the cruise though, and was pretty excited to hear his name on the nice list, so the reality/fantasy line might be a little blurred for him! B bounced back and forth between watching the movie (Grinch), watching the water, drinking his hot chocolate, and trying to go out onto the deck (brrrrrrrrr). Arch was...well...Arch! Squirmy, cute, loud, trouble-maker. I attempted to contain him in my faithful DUO carrier but he was too excited and spent most of the time out of it.

Santa's sleigh

To the North Pole!

On our way across the lake...

Santa reading the "nice" list. P&B were enthralled. Thankfully all 3 boys made the list. :) Now they just need to stay there...preferably indefinitely!

Arch kept pointing to the lights and saying "ights, ights, ights!"

And when he wasn't pointing at the "ights" he was stealing John's hat and saying "my hat."

P&B were too engrossed in The Grinch movie & hot chocolate to care about being in any more pictures, despite me trying to distract them and convince them that the lights were so pretty. After they saw Santa, they zoned out.

New Neighbors

We had a couple of moose take up residence in our neighborhood this weekend!

Life...

...from the perspective of an almost 5 year old. (He must have gotten the "spare" camera at some point and went a little crazy taking pictures.)

Little Brother B.

The Nativity (notice Mary ON TOP of the manger, and Baby Jesus on a palm tree - they'll get it configured correctly some day!).

PJ's & Feet.

Oh look! B's hiding spot under the bookcase (I think he was reading about tiling? Maybe he's planning a home improvement project).

And the random assortment of books on the bookshelf. Very exciting.

Daddy sneaking in a mini-workout (most likely while he was supposed to be watching the older 2!)

Crazy dog.

View from the backseat.

QOTD

Preston: "Mommy, what if your hands didn't work?"
Me: "ummm...welllll-"
Preston: (interrupts) "Well, then you'd have to walk with your feet and someone would have to help you eat!"
(Pretty sure he didn't get enough sleep last night!)

QOTD

B: "Mommy, why did you call me Bryton?" (I had just asked him a question.)
Me: "Because that's your name, silly!"
B: "No, my name is B, or you can call me Mr. B!"

Say Cheese!

Archer is really starting to pose for the camera. He's such a ham. He does a fake smile and sits really still until he hears the click. Then he's off and running, although he occasionally turns and gives me a cute smile while he's retreating.

Really, he's gotta be the cutest 16 month old on the planet.

And in other "cheese" talk, look what I made!

Mozzarella cheese. Mostly gone already, and greatly enjoyed by the boys (okay, John and I might have eaten a little bit too). I also want to try cheddar, but it looks quite a bit more complicated and it has to age so I thought I'd start with this. I definitely liked the instant gratification of the mozz and it was yummmmmy!

not exactly sure how he got in the barn...or WHY...?

New Shoes

Snowshoes, that is.

Towards the end of last winter, we bought Preston his first pair of snowshoes. He didn't get a chance to use them last year, but today he tried them out! We actually didn't need snowshoes on the trail we were on, but it was good practice for Preston. He did pretty good...he got tangled up a couple of times when he crossed the snowshoes, but didn't really fall at all. Bryton got to be lazy and ride on John's back part of the time while I carted a sleeping Archer. I'm definitely glad that we have 2 good baby (ummm...toddler) carriers for days like today! It's a good investment when you have a carrier you can still use on a 3 year old. :)

The snowshoer! (Is that even a word?)

B on Daddy's back

The whole family (sleeping baby and crazy dog included)

Archer Cuteness!

Pretending it's raining (big brothers' idea of course)

And a picture courtesy of Preston (which is why I'm missing part of my head!)

"Snow" the Snowman

We have a lot of snow. It's been snowing for over a week straight now, and it's starting to get a little old for me. It seems like it's a little too early for so much snow...I am really hoping it doesn't continue like this all winter! It's funny...the first winter we spent "up North" in Montana, we had crazy snow. Like 3'-4' for an extended amount of time. People kept telling me it was a fluke and they *never* got that much snow. Then the next winter, we had just moved to Idaho and we got tons and tons of snow again. And people said the same thing...this just *never* happens!!! Total fluke. Hmmmm. I've heard that before. I hope this year isn't a fluke too.

We did get a year off from the snow last year, but this year is off to a bad start!

See that carrot sticking up out of the snow? Last night Preston built a snowman named "Snow" (creative huh?). The snowman was laying down in the snow sleeping. This morning, his nose was almost covered!

Thanksgiving

I'm so behind! But we're not quite a week past Thanksgiving yet, so it's still acceptable right?

We spent Thanksgiving this year with John's family. The boys loved helping make rolls to take along! They seriously love helping in the kitchen, and I'm working on having patience with them in the kitchen. :) It was much easier on Thanksgiving morning because John was there to run herd on Archer while the big boys helped. My patience is definitely better when I'm not trying to chase Archer and monitor the kitchen activities.

The helpers