11!

Micah turned 11 this week!  At his request I made egg casserole for breakfast and then he opened most of his presents by the Christmas tree.

Grammy and I went in together to get Micah this just released Lego set, which was delivered mid day by our friendly UPS man :)

We rounded out the day with friend chicken and Oreo ice cream pie (yum!)

Happy Birthday, Micah!

When I woke up the other morning, surprisingly Tommy was still sitting on the shelf!  But when I came home from dropping Addie off at preschool this is how I found him, silly elf!

new purse

Tommy decided to do something productive last night instead of getting into mischief.  He's helping me finish up a stack of aprons - this one is itty bitty toddler sized, as in it fits Emmy who is 16 months. Super cute!

Here is the new purse I made last week.  I drew my own pattern, but it was inspired by this, this (from this book) and this (phoebe bag) and for the most part I followed the instructions for the phoebe bag when making it.

I did not take pictures of the inside, but it has 3 large pockets on each side.

Here is the back.  I love, love, love this fabric line.  I am pretty sure I will be buying more of it :)

great wolf lodge

Before Thanksgiving we met up with the kid's cousins (and aunt and uncle) at the Great Wolf Lodge for a few days of water slide fun :)

Everyone had a great time.  The big kids went down the Tornado something like 36 times!

There was much debate over weather it was more fun in the dark (at night) or when you could see where you were going.  I think it was a 50/50 split, but between you and me, it was MUCH more exciting in the dark :)

It wouldn't be vacation (for me) if I didn't get a little sewing in... yes, I brought my sewing machine and this new stack of fat quarters.  I started a new purse for myself, sewing and watching HGTV while Emmaline napped.  I finished up the purse the other night.  I'll post picture of it soon!

Adelaide got hurt while we were at GWL (don't worry, nothing major) and they gave her this stuffed wolf at the first aid station.  Her brother bought her the tiny hedge hog in the gift shop and she's been sleeping with them both every night since we got home. 

Here's the motley crew all together just before we left to come home.

Can't wait til next time :)

*I had this post all written yesterday, but somehow forgot to post it!  Anyway- this is where we found Tommy yesterday morning- scaling the advent calendar!

tommy's been framed and more wreath making

Looks like Tommy's been framed... but between me and you, I think he's guilty!

I did another wreath making event with my church before thanksgiving.  We had 18 ladies come out and made a total of 19 wreaths.  Everyone had a great time and they all made beautiful wreaths!

christmas tree time!

We went to Home Depot yesterday to get our Christmas tree.

I was having a hard time getting everyone to participate in this photo op... That's Micah hiding behind the tree and Addie is pretending like she's not a part of our family at all! 

Right after I took this picture, Max ripped the butt of his shorts open (from hem to waist!) on a nail while climbing down from the fence he was on!  Luckily it wasn't too cold outside so he tied his jacket around his waist to cover the unfortunate mishap! lol.

We were actually able to get the tree up and decorated before dinner.  It is a bit top heavy on the ornaments due to one very curious toddler who can't seem to keep her hand to herself.  We will see how well those ornaments that are in her reach fair over the next few weeks!

The kids found Tommy joy riding in Addie's shopping cart this morning.  I wonder what kind of trouble he will get into tonight!?

found

I peeked into Addie's room the other evening, thinking she was playing quietly with her toys, but instead found this...

all tuckered out!

christmas craft night

Last weekend a few mom's from CC came over for a craft night.  We made fabric wrapped wreaths.  (They are super fun and easy to make, here is a great tutorial.)

It was a wonderful evening of fellowship and every one's wreaths turned out so nice!

I'll be doing this again with a larger group from our church this weekend - If you're local and want to come, message me and I will send you the details!

never again

Somehow, my son who HATES to get his hair cut decided he wanted a buzz cut.  I resisted for awhile but tonight I finally caved...

With his hair short like this he looks SO much like his dad as a kid!  I am sure the hubby's family will agree- I think especially in this second photo.

And in case you had forgotten what he looked like before (and why I hate to cut off that gorgeous hair) here is a recent pre-buzz photo.

I've already told him I won't ever buzz it again.  Don't get me wrong, he is as handsome as ever, I just think it is a shame to cut all that awesome red hair off, especially when he wears it so well :)

bummer

I just got back from the fabric store a little bit ago.  I bought something like 26 yards of Christmas fabric for two craft parties I am trowing this month.  We will be making fabric covered wreaths (a quick search on Pinterest will give you all sorts of inspiration for these wreaths).  Next I get to cut all this fabric into 2 inch strips and press them in half :)

So, here is the bummer... over the weekend I made up a sample wreath and was planning to sit down tonight and make some more flowers to put on it, but, long story short, the wreath got dropped one to many times pre-decorating and when is slipped out of my hands this afternoon and hit the wood floors this happened :(

So,  now I've got to get another wreath and start all over.  Well, at least I am getting some good practice at wreath wrapping :)

reformation day

Last night some friends invited us over for a Reformation Day celebration.  Even though we didn't trick or treat, the kids still dressed up (you've already seen Tallulah and the boy's costumes and somehow I didn't get any pictures of Addie in her costume :(  she wore this)...  All except for Emmy, but she did wear Tallulah's Rapunzel wig just long enough for me to snap this picture :)

Between the 3 families represented last night their were 15 kids.  Our host read the kids a story by the fire about Martin Luther...

And we even had games to go along with the story.  Here the kids are crawling up the stairs and finding pieces to the bible verse (Ephesians 2:8) that was the beginning if Luther's understanding of grace.

When they had all the pieces, they put the verse puzzle together. 

Not the exact order, but the idea is the same :)

They pinned the 95 theses to the church doors...

and kidnapped Luther after Pope Leo X declared him an outlaw .

They also looked for Luther's wife in fish barrels (that is how she escaped from the nunnery before she met Luther).

To keep with the reformation theme we even had German food for dinner!  bratwurst, sauerkraut, potatoes and spaetzle.  I tried to get pictures of the (non-German) desserts I made, but it was too dark and they didn't turn out well.  Anyway, I made candy corn jello cups (layered lemon and orange jello with whipped cream on top in small ball jars) and a cookies and cream trifle with purple whipped cream and Halloween Oreos.
This was our first time actually celebrating Reformation Day and we had a blast! Thanks so much to our friends who invited us to join in their celebration!