Oliver's Back!

We were all supposed to go on a road trip to Utah to visit my brother-in-law's family. We were supposed to leave last Saturday, the 29th. At the last minute, plans fell through. My mother-in-law, Colleen, ended up flying into Utah. Oliver had been looking forward to vacation and had his bag packed, so Colleen volunteered to take him with. We agreed, and Andrew, Joanna, and I stayed behind.

Having one child in the house felt like a vacation in some ways. When Jo napped, I got to lounge. Oliver tends to leave a continuous trail of mess where he plays, and so I had nearly a week in which I didn't have to bend over and pick up toys nonstop.

After the second day, I started to miss my little man. By day 5, I was going bonkers. We could talk over Facetime, which helped, but I just wanted him home! It started to get to me that he was hundreds of miles away. Of course, he had a great time with his grandma, cousins, aunt, and uncle. They went sledding and even went on sleigh ride. They all watched the Broncos game together, and Oliver thoroughly enjoyed playing with the baby and mixing his bottles (he keeps talking about the baby, even now that he's home).

He finally came home yesterday in the early afternoon. I feel a lot better having my family home, together! I think even Jo is happy to have her brother home. Oliver is happy to be with us and also happy to have his toy appliances.

Here he is with his cousins:

Need Shades

Joanna is quite the talker. Her new favorite phrase is "Need shades." We play with her sunglasses: I put them on her, she pulls them off, and then tells me, "Need shades," for me to put them back on. Now, she says her new phrase whenever she wants anything we have. She'll point to Oliver's yogurt and say, "Need shades!" She'll point to the freezer for a waffle and say, "Need shades!"

We're still waiting for her first steps! Here she is with her shades:

Simple Holiday Craft: Ornament Magnets

This post is a little late for Christmas and most of the holiday season, but perhaps some of you will be inspired to get crafty as you take your decorations down.

Months ago, I found this easy-to-do project on Pinterest. On her Young House Love blog, she recommends using liquid nails to securely attach magnets to basic ornaments to festively decorate your fridge. I'm a big fan of using what I have around the house, I so used my hot glue gun. I had some round magnets leftover from my picture frame project. I think I got them from a hardware store, but I can't recall exactly. Please remember to keep small magnets away from little kids! If they swallow them, the magnets can cause serious internal damage.

I used my magnets to hold up all of our Christmas cards and greeting cards. I think I need to make more! I had to use every magnet in the house.

Here are my magnet ornaments up close:

Christmas 2012

I woke up at 5am on Christmas morning and couldn't go back to sleep. I felt like I was a little kid, jumping out of my skin because it was Christmas. The kids couldn't get up soon enough!

Oliver and Jo both got up at about 6am. I ran into their room and told them, "Santa came!" Oliver's eyes lit up because we'd been discussing Santa Claus all week. He said, "Santa came and ate the cookies!"

We hurried downstairs. Oliver's eyes grew wide when he spotted the gifts under the tree. He started to walk to them but then stopped. He was more interested to see if Santa ate the cookies he'd set out for him the night before. He ran over to the fireplace and announced, "He ate them!" Oliver was so excited that Santa ate the cookies. Let me tell you, that's the best Christmas gift I've ever received. All I've ever wanted since getting pregnant for the first time was to experience Christmas as Santa. This is the first year I really got to do it!

Oliver wasn't very interested in the stockings at first.

Here he is, helping Jo with her gifts. Every time Oliver started to open play with one of his gifts, he'd change his mind and go back to Jo's. Oh, and isn't this a very attractive picture of me on Christmas morning? Ha! I was actually really into it, though, and definitely not as tired as I looked...

Joanna's favorite gifts were the jingle bells and the box of Kleenex. Here she is in action!

When all of the presents were opened and examined, Andrew made our Christmas breakfast tradition: donuts. We use a recipe from a childhood friend of mine (well, from her mom). All you do is heat oil (enough for frying) to about 350 degrees. Then, you pop open a package of Pillsbury (or generic, of course) biscuit dough. Poke a hole in the center to make it a donut, and then fry it.  After a couple minutes, you flip it over and fry it on the other side. We let them drain on paper towels and then dunk them in cinnamon and sugar. They are so good, but we limit ourselves to once a year ;-)

After breakfast,  Oliver figured out the stockings. He made sure we all opened ours.

As a Christmas treat, I lit some candles and let him blow them out. He really loves blowing out candles. I even sang, "Merry Christmas to you!" so he could blow them out like a birthday cake.

We took his new shovel for a spin!

It was the best Christmas morning I've ever had. I'm already looking forward to next year! After lunch and nap time, we went over to my in-laws'. It was warm and cozy, and Oliver got to brew coffee. For dinner, Paul and Colleen made some lasagnas and pasta. It was delicious.

Oliver got to open gifts, of course. He got a suitcase (with his name on it!) and his very own mixer from Grandma Colleen and Grandpa Paul.

The mixer actually doesn't work, so it's perfect for a kid obsessed with small appliances. It's staying at Grandma Colleen's house, and he's going to look forward to playing with it every time he goes over. 

Joanna got some stuffed animals and some stacking blocks. She was mostly interested in the Play-doh Oliver got from Uncle Scott. Actually, to be more specific, Oliver got a Play-doh ice cream maker. He calls it a blender and has a lot of fun cranking out "ice cream" with it and pretending to eat it.

Aunt Bonnie, Uncle George, and Cliff brought a Christmas cake. Every year, they bring the most beautiful cakes from some bakery up in Arvada. Last year, it was a yule log cake!

Family relaxing and opening gifts on Christmas. Uncle George, Aunt Bonnie, and Cliff gave Oliver his own headlamp, and Jo received some two-piece puzzles!

We had a very merry Christmas. I hope all of my family, friends, and readers got to enjoy their Christmas (or their favorite winter holiday). Happy Holidays to you all!

The $3 Christmas Present Piles

Santa pulled it off again this year!

We managed to create a pile of gifts for each of our kids for less than $3 each.

Up first is Oliver's. He got a new child's snow shovel from Home Depot. This past fall, Home Depot had a Facebook game in which you mowed down zombies with a wood chip mulcher to get free certificates. We used a $5 off of $5 purchase to get Oliver a free snow shovel. On Small Business Saturday, we went to a toy store called Timbuk Toys. As I posted before, we got a "Honeybee Tree" board game for Oliver and some jingle bells for Jo. After the $25 Small Business Saturday discount, they came to $2.28. I took Jo's summer clothes into a consignment shop and got enough credit to pick out the baseball mitt for Oliver. On Black Friday, I scored two baseballs for less than 50 cents. A fellow mom in MOMS Club was cleaning out her daughters' bookshelf, and she gave me a pile of Clifford books. They were in great condition, so they went into Oliver's Christmas pile. Finally, I went to JCPenney every day between Black Friday and Christmas Eve to get free buttons that they were giving away. Each button came with a code I entered online. One in four buttons was a winner. I won a substantial quantity of free $5 and $10 vouchers. I worked hard to make purchases of their exact amount to get items for free. Below, you can see Oliver got a toy birthday cake because he loves candles. It was on sale for $10, so I got it for free with one of my $10 vouchers. The Melissa & Doug stamp set was on clearance for $8. I picked up a $2 pair of socks and got the stamp set for free!

Here is Jo's pile. The mailbox was actually once Oliver's. A few months ago, I cleaned it up and replaced the batteries. I stowed it away in the closet so it would be fresh and new for Jo. I got the basketball game from a gift exchange from MOMS Club. We brought in some toys we no longer used and got this in return. The wrapped gift was a bathtub coloring set that I got for free with my Pampers rewards points. I posted previously about good rewards programs, but I ended up saving the bumble bee flashlight and the Dumbo puzzle to give to the kids next year instead. The bathtub fishing net was also free. We ordered a Christmas present on Amazon that came to $20. We were going to have to pay $5 in shipping, or we would get free shipping if we spent $25. So, I searched the website for a $5-$6 toy, since I would pay that much for shipping anyway. Jo loves taking baths, so I chose that for her. The book was saved from Oliver. I paid for the box of Kleenex (which she loved). You can also see the jingle bells poking out from behind the wrapped gift, which, as I mentioned from Oliver's pile, came from Timbuk Toys on Small Business Saturday.

And, so, once again, Santa pulled off a good but affordable Christmas. All told, we spent about $7 in our piles of presents from Santa. In addition, we got a number of gifts using the JCPenney vouchers for next year. Santa plans ahead!

Christmas Eve 2012

Merry Christmas Eve!

We spend every Christmas Eve with my parents. From the time I was a small child, we spent Christmas Eve with my dad's family. We spent Christmas morning at home, and then we'd go over to my mom's sister's condo for Christmas dinner. We've continued that kind of tradition for our kids. Christmas Eve  dinner is spent with my family. Christmas morning is spent at home, and then we go over to my in-laws' home for Christmas dinner.  It works well!

Julie made chicken salad and vegetarian chicken salad for sandwiches. She cooked some Swedish meatballs in the Crock Pot, which Oliver enjoyed watching. She made fixings for grilled cheeses and just pulled off an amazing spread.

Oliver got really excited for presents this year. He enjoyed "reading" the tags to figure out which present went to whom, and then he put them in piles. 

He opened a book from Aunt Julie that he gets to fill out about himself. We'll work on reading and writing, and then he'll be ready to go! She also gave him new undies! Oliver gets the best undies every Christmas from Aunt Julie. Every time he opened a gift, he was immediately ready to move on to the next one.

Joanna was very deliberate in opening her gifts. She'd examine the packages and then tear off the paper in strips.

Oliver got a rolling pin and spatula baking set from Uncle Andy and Aunt Erin. They couldn't make it into town this year, but they sent packages with love! Oliver also got a bubble set that he's been begging to play with. It's hidden in the closet for warmer weather, but I think it'll make an appearance when we go on vacation!

Joanna got a new French bulldog sweater from Aunt Julie. She loved crinkling the package.

Oliver got a French bulldog hoodie from Grandma Judy and Grandpa Larry. He also got a drill set that he loves!

Here are Oliver, Julie, and Joanna all in their French bulldog tops. There's Arthur (Julie's French bulldog), posing handsomely for this Christmas photo.

Andrew got a new tall-person tie as part of his Secret Santa gift. He was thrilled to tie a double Windsor and still have it be long enough for him.

Joanna got an elephant ball popper from Grandma Judy & Grandpa Larry. Both she and Oliver love it!

Loved ones also gave a sticker set, some Smarty Pants flash cards, and a practice pad to learn how to write letters. Oliver had enough presents, so he opened those at home from Santa the next morning.

Thank you, Family! We had a lovely Christmas Eve. It even ended with some snow for a white Christmas.

Denver Zoo Lights

Andrew and I took the kids to the Denver Zoo Lights tonight. It could have easily been a disaster, and my review of this seasonal treat would have been quite different. As it stands, we really lucked out.

The zoo was transformed into a wonderland. The Zoo Lights were stunning. Everything was lit up and beautiful. The kids, who had been so crabby during the drive, instantly perked up. Oliver oohed and ahhed, and Joanna was lit up with smiles!

I'm not exaggerating when I say I didn't anticipate the kids having as much fun as they did. I'd hoped they'd like it, but they loved it!

 

Honestly, I thought the light displays were just as good (if not better) as Blossoms of Light at the Denver Botanic Gardens.

Here are some photos of the kids having a good time:

Jo was all smiles:

We absolutely want to go back next year. This was one of the highlights of the season! I think we might go a couple of weeks before Christmas, perhaps on a week night, in order to avoid the parking problem and the insane lines. And, of course, we'll make sure to buy our tickets in advance online!

Untitled (JibJab Card)

I made this holiday card on a whim, and Oliver can't get enough of it. His character on the drums cracks me up! Here's so we can enjoy it always:

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Happy Holidays 2012

We selected a tri-fold Christmas card this year in order to include this series of images:

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

100 (Attempted) Ways to Entertain a Young Toddler, Day 87: Tape

This might be a good activity for some stay-at-home parents this week. If you need to get wrapping done, give your toddler some tape to play with! Just be sure to supervise your child at all times with the tape so your child doesn't stick it in his/her mouth. If it gets caught in the back of the mouth or throat, they might not be able to get air. So, close supervision for this activity, please!

I was wrapping some packages, and both of my kids were being cranky. I didn't want to stop in the middle of a gift, so I stuck a long piece of tape on each of their hands. It did the trick!

Jo kept herself happily occupied with the tape for about five minutes--not an eternity, but enough time for me to finish wrapping. I think Oliver was mostly interested in the tape because Jo was. He stuck it to her jammies a few times to see what would happen. Jo crinkled it and stuck pieces to various toys.

It was so simple! I think it was fun because of the novelty. It's a trick I'll certainly use whenever I happen to be wrapping a gift. I give it a B grade.
Also, if your child is old enough to enjoy coloring and stickers, check out this old activity to get your child involved in wrapping with you.