candy cane Twain

My little candy cane Twain is now 20 months old. I bought his striped shirt a few months ago

and could not wait til Christmas so he could wear it.

Every time I see his little toddling tush walk by I smile ear-to-ear and call to John, "Do you seeeeeee what Twain is dooooing? Isn't it cuuuuuuuuute??"(Basically all the kid has to do is walk by with his little flipper feet floppin on the ground and I'm a puddle).

Twain is just funny because he tries to talk and be big...but he's small and has an adorable little squeaky nasally voice.

This baby(and by baby I mean youngest...the youngest is always baby regardless of age) is such a little know it all.

Everything is prefaced by "No thank you"...such as "no thank you diaper" if I try to change his diaper. And sometimes he's extra polite and will tag a please on the end. "no thank you diaper please".

He's an instigator. He and "Ayya"(Ollie) bicker and fight all day. Like they have full on arguments.

Ollie: "we're home

Twain: "NO. Not home".

Ollie, flipping out. "We're home!!!!"

Twain: "No, no home"

and on and on they go.

Or Ollie will push Twain and Twain will scream and shake his finger saying "Naughty Ayya push!" He is too much.

But they are also best of buds.

Twain likes to sit at the dinner table and blend in with his brothers. "Hi mommy!" or "Hi dada" he declares nonchalantly from his chair, as we walk in, as if he was just one of the boys.

Or sometimes he says "Hi dadas", when he's on a pluralizing kick.

Still loves his kitties and walks around carrying as many as his arms can hold.

He is so happy-go-lucky. Easy and smiley most of the day. But determined and will tell me what he wants.

Every day I thank God for Twain...he's such an amazing little blessing that makes me smile nonstop. Even if I am feeling frazzled, all I have to do is glance his way and I am instantly cheered.

I love this little munchkin from the bottom of my heart.

Christmas Card 2010

Well, what have we here...one, two, three...

...four and five little gnomes! (well, one big gnome)




Way back when dinosaurs roamed the earth(and I thought I was on the ball, ha!), I mentioned that I would post our Halloween pictures, after I sent out my Christmas card.

Better late than never, right?

For Halloween this year, we were 5 gnomes and a fairy.

We brought our tripod along on this venture thinking it would be a great way to get a family photo. I hired Finn as our photographer for $1. He was in charge of pushing the timer button. I SO wish I had a picture of him behind the camera with his little grey gnome hat peeking out.

As I was thumbing through these photos a few days ago, I sighed happily. We really had the best time ever being gnomes and a fairy.

Just roaming the woods, as is our custom.

I made the boys' costumes first...didn't really even think I'd have time to dress up this year. But I found the dress at Target for around $20. I thought, "I can always wear it again"(And I do! Just wore it two days ago with my black boots).

It had been years and YEARS since I have dressed up for Halloween. I am so glad that I did. So much fun.

Finn was doing some sort of dance. I loved it.

"I'm the king of the castle, and not a dirty rascal."

And yes, I had ridiculous amounts of fun making little felt gnome hats, suspenders and belts.

Do not mess with this gnome.


And now, presenting, the front of our Christmas card for 2010.

The middle of the card:

The back of the card.

Here is Finn's little drawing of our costumes. Love his rendition of the fairy:)

Calvin also drew his version. Precious to me.

I wish to go back to the woods.

Merry Christmas!!!

p.s. John got me photoshop for my birthday this year and I've been playing around a little.

first flocked tree!

This year my heart was dead set on getting a flocked Christmas tree.

Did you know they charge per foot of tree to flock it? Yah, I had no idea...

Years ago, I would have thought flocked trees were cheaper, LOL.

I saw the MOST beautiful tree ever this year. It's called the Silvertip. They are VERY sparse. I was drooling all over it. But the cheapest one there was around $75 and to flock it would have been pricey. Too costly to throw away in 2 weeks.

And I really wanted a flocked tree this year. So we just ended up flocking a smaller noble tree.

And even though it's not a Silvertip, I really do love our little ole flocked tree!

I love how the white flocking goes with my ornaments:)

My yellow chair got temporarily relocated because the Christmas tree took its corner.

Same stockings this year again. But did you notice anything new on my mantle?

Look really close.

And squint your eyes.

It's my little mousy. He is one of the teensy tiny glass figurines that your Grandma used to collect. I've had this mouse since I was a young girl and I LOVE it.

I could not decide which picture of my mouse flattered him more, so in the interest of saving time I included both for your viewing.

Something else occupies the mantle this year too. It's the 3 wise men from my nativity scene.
I got the idea from MOPS yesterday--they are traveling around the house because it's not Christmas yet and Jesus was not yet born(Though the wise men came when Jesus was a bit older and not on Christmas day when he was a newborn, according to my understanding). But you get the point.

Ok I guess they will be traveling another year or 2 before they reach Jesus.

The boys always decorate the little tree. We moved the little tree smack dab in the middle of our front window this year. Don't know why we did not think of this sooner.

So much more symmetrical!

And here is a little secret I have. That's not gonna be a secret anymore.

Yes, these singing Christmas cowboy dogs are allowed in my house. We got them as white elephant gifts at a Festivus party 3 years ago. And the boys love them. So they stay.

And here are some Christmas cookies I attempted to make this year out of almond flour. Ollie is allergic or intolerant(we think) to wheat so we use almond flour all the time around here. Normally I sing it's praises all day long...it's so yummy in muffins and biscuits etc...but for rolled out Christmas cookies???

Um. You be the judge.

Not so bad, right?

Well, the camera lies.

Here's what it really looks like.

You may want to avert your eyes at the massacre of the gingerbread man. Notice the arm starting to fall off?

Well by the end of it's little photo shoot, the arm fell through the baking rack, LOL. Poor lil gingerbead man.

Finn taped up this little label by our light switch so everyone would know which switch turns our Christmas lights on and off.



Well, that's our attempt at decorating our house for Christmas this year.

John keeps saying I need more Christmas decorations. Don't know why he tells me this. I'm like "I know how to remedy that, LOL!"

Maybe next year.