Christmas Season in the Hills

Okay - not so sure on what days we did what. We have not done something every single day; with Rivermen hockey, Mommy taking classes at the Riverplex and Justin hockey we don't always have time...but we've been doing as much as we can! Here are some pictures from our week.

Frosting our cookies! We tried last weekend, but I messed up the frosing. Don't melt the butter - it will look like floam. After doing it right it tasted great!





Eat Justin's cookies if you dare :)



We didn't make too many, but we had fun! Rob always had to "one up" my designs, so I made a special one for him.......



....... :)






This didn't turn out very good, the lights look much better than they look here! They would look better with a foot or two of snow, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen :(










My big boy!!!




















Justin helping me with our chocolate peanut butter chip cookies



Me and my little buddy feeding Santa's reindeer babies. They are really just normal deer, but he thought they were reindeer! They were only 6 months old and were so cute!




4 MORE DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rivemen Christmas Party

Tonight was the Rivermen Christmas party. I took both boys by myself....it went as good as can be expected :) We sat with Davis Payne and his family. He is the Rivermen head coach and he also went to MTU. It was fun; always good stories when you have Tech in common! Justin does not always do too well with sitting still for a more formal dinner, but he was not too bad! He started to get out of hand so we went to the bathroom to "talk" and when we came out and were walking back from the bathroom, Santa came through the front door - he totally reinforced the "Santa's watching" warning! Thanks Santa!!!

I love the pics of the boys with Santa! When she had the microphone and Santa asked what he wants he was very sure that he wanted and air hockey table. Most of the other kids were shy and quiet, but not him :) Then the last couple pictures just amazed me. In an attempt to keep him entertained until dinner (we were almost the last table to go up to the buffet), Coach Payne's wife asked him what he wanted from Santa. He said air hockey of course and she asked him if he can draw it....and the picture is below. I could not believe it! I was so proud!! Then she asked if he saw his name on our table tent - of course he did; that's too easy! I told him to see if he could write his name and he did SO GOOD! He makes me such a happy mommy :) Ms. Ericka & Ms. Stephy have them practice writing their names every day and it's paying off! He also likes doing it on the dry erase board at night.


Enjoy the pics!

Rivermen Game!

Saturday we met Katie & Josh and Sarrah & Nick at Old Chicago for dinner and then went to the Rivermen game. We had a great time and they won! Santa was there too - I was not sure how Justin would be, but he loved him! And as you'll see in the pics he's friends with the Captain now too! At the beginning of the season, he would have a meltdown if the Captain was even within eyesight. Then he found out that it's just a costume and that he plays hockey with Rob. He got to meet him without the costume on and now he likes him :)

The last couple of pics are Justin's new Christmas gifts he got from Katie & Josh. He still has his coat and hat on because he had to have it opened the SECOND we walked into the door! He loves them!

Naughty....not really, but cute PJ's!!!

Day 11/12/13 - Christmas Cookies!

Since we slacked Friday and Saturday (we did see Santa at the hockey game!), we made up for it on Sunday! Rob had a coaching clinic ALL DAY and then his hockey game, so it was me and the boys! We went to the grocery store at 8am and started baking at 9:30am! Justin made the pretzel rings with chocolate kisses and M&M's in them (from Alanna's blog!) Yummy!!! Love them! Justin unwrapped almost the whole bag of kisses for me! We also made our cut outs and will frost them tomorrow! Here are a few pics of Justin and also of Mason supervising!

Day 10

Well, Day 10 was a failure. I tried taking the easy way out and making Betty Crocker cut-outs....they didn't turn out so well. With the consistency I couldn't even get them to transfer from the table to the pan. Not good. But we tried :)

Day 9

Our Gingerbread Christmas Tree :)

So proud!

As I said, Justin loves doing his letters. Ms. Ericka & Ms. Stephy are SO good at helping him with this every day during school, too! Here is his name sheet from earlier this week. He still has a ways to go, but for being a young 3 and writing something that resembles his name is pretty good we think!!! He makes us so proud!

Day 8

Tonight we mixed in a little learning with our activity :) Justin loves "doing my letters" - so we did some letters Christmas style!

Day 7

Okay - so this is sort of cheating again....Monday Justin was not feeling very well, we ate dinner late and then I ran out the door to the Riverplex. Uncle Mikey sent the boys ornaments from Bronners and a chocolate Advent calendar for Justin. Since it was already the 7th, we had some catching up to do so we just searched for the numbered days that have already gone by (they are not in order) and ate the chocolate :) He's a little bummed now when he only gets one per day!

Day 6

Here are some pictures from Day 6 - Santa's sleigh. Justin painting and Mason supervising :)

Days 4 & 5

Well, Day 4 we went to the Rivermen game right after work and didn't get home until after 10pm and we had to be up by 7am for Justin's hockey game...so we didn't do a project. We did sing Christmas carols in the car - that totally counts, right? Work wth me here :)

Day 5 Mommy went out for girls night out with Katie, Sandy, Sarrah & Jen. Daddy and Justin made Peanut Butter cookies with sprinkles, but Daddy didn't take any pictures. Slacker. J/K honey!!! Love you :)

At the Rivermen game, Rob did the Arby's shootout (3 chances to get free Arby's). He didn't win, but he didn't miss by *too* much so he didn't embarrass himself! Justin loved being out on the ice with him; here are a few pictures!

Day 3 - Spongebob Chia Pet :)

Okay - so tonight wasn't really a "Christmas" project, but Gramma & Papa sent it in the mail and he was dying to do it. Maybe when (if) he gets his Chia hair we could paint the pot and make him Santa Spongebob :)

Justin's First Hockey Game! 11-21-09

Here are 9 videos - yes it's a lot, but I know my family wanted to see them! They play in 3 minute shifts, so I didn't tape continuously. On the video where he is goalie, he did not pee his pants despite how it looks :)

Hope you enjoy! Rob and I are really, really proud of him and how far he has come! He is the youngest on our team by 15 months!

Day 2 - Red Velvet Cupcakes

Tonight we made red velvet cupcakes and decorated them....let's just say it's a good thing we have 25 days - hopefully my baking skills improve :) It's been a while! He still had fun decorating them though!!!


They have LOTS of sprinkles on them!




Good thing we have a big jar of sprinkles!




Such concentration....



...right after this he put his tongue in the tub of frosting, but I had the camera put away :(





With the finished products!




Our dogs are so well behaved. J kept trying to share and they would not take it! I did let them share one after that was not frosted :)






Mason and Daddy doing some tummy time! Mason rolled over today and I missed it....Rob was at skating with Justin and I was in the kitchen. He started fussing and I went in and he was on his belly!




My little ham before shower time!