Ev's Big Day

We have had SO much fun celebrating Everett's Birthday. On the 7th we went to petco to visit his favorite kitty friends and to the McDonalds play area where Ev LOVES to play. After his favorite dinner of spaghetti and meatballs, we made muffins and sang.






What a super sweet sissy!



And a super sweet Ev to share his muffin with me!




Then on Saturday we had a camping party with all of our family and friends.



It was difficult to keep Ev off of the treats until our guests arrived.



We had a camera issue and someone (Not me) thought he was recording the singing, but wasn't. So here are the after shots.






Even Santa made an appearance




and left a basket of candy canes and a sweet message for Everett. (Big thanks to Uncle Mike and Aunt Courtney)




The tent in the middle of the dark living room paired with the flashlights was big entertainment!



His mouth was stuffed with chocolate covered pretzels pretty much the whole night!



Everett FINALLY really started talking a few months ago. Some of his cutest phrases:

bappa duce= apple juice
moan=more
pime= climb
pum=come
hontas=Pocahontas (a fave movie)

He will not say yes...ever. Just "mmm hmmm." It is so stinkin cute.

He counted to eight the other night too! Much to our shock and amazement. I haven't heard him count at all before.

At his well check he weighed in at 28 pounds and 3 feet tall. That is the 90% for height and 70% for weight. Who does this kid belong to?



Everett is a whirlwind of excitement, laughter, screams, and roughhousing. He is a total boy and if anyone gets in his way he just runs them over. Everyone we meet says, "Wow, you have your hands full!" Yes, yes I do but boy is it fun!

Happy Birthday, Everett!

My beautiful, cuddly, smiley baby is now a full on toddler. How fast two years have flown by. I can so vividly remember the day you were born!



After that it gets a little fuzzy in a blur of sleepless nights, feedings, and chasing a 20 month Holden.



You are such a sweet and energetic piece of our family and we wouldn't be complete without you.



You are an angel and we all love you so very much!

The 2010 Christmas Tree

We kept far away from the mall on Black Friday. We hopped in the car and headed up to Evergreen for our annual Christmas Tree shopping at Lucky Lure. This is our third time getting our tree from them and the experience is awesome. Our kids are still a little too little to trek out into the forrest to cut our own tree (hopefully next year). For the little ones, this is the best place ever. There are tons of trees



a fire for roasting marshmallows



an old fashioned sleigh



and a visit from Santa himself! First we watched Santa from a safe distance



Then I tried to trick the kids into sitting with him (and saving me a trip to the mall)



Everett would not let go of me and Holden hid behind Ian the entire time.



Holden had fun decorating the tree. The star ornaments "make me SO happy!" However, Everett was not into the tree or Ian taunting him with ornaments.



Here is the link to all of the Christmas Tree pictures
http://picasaweb.google.com/KimHanou/20101126#

Best Dog Ever

AAAHHHH Scout! She is so cooperative when Holden dresses her up. Ev hugs her so tightly he turns red and shakes and she just stands there, and takes it. She is quiet as a mouse, doesn't shed, and doesn't complain if/when I forget to feed her (it's only happened a few times... promise). She goes to bed early and sleeps late. We can take her anywhere off leash and she usually listens great and comes when we call. Scout is enriching my kids lives in numerous ways and showing us all unconditional love every day.

Just one more thing for us to be thankful for!

Quote of the Day

"The dog was created specially for children. He is the God of frolic."
-Henry Ward Beecher

Quitter

I know, I know, I know....

I am weak! I just couldn't do the thrity day challenge. It started with a few cold days and a snowstorm (I did not have appropriate clothes for the weather). Then I went to the gym and, embarrassingly, never changed for the rest of the day. Then I went hiking the next day and never dressed in "real" clothes. The next day I went to the gym in the morning again, and well, you get the idea.

However, I did learn a a few things in the past two weeks...

#1 I have way more clothing than I need and plan to donate about 30% of it.
#2 I will only buy things when I really LOVE them. Not just because they are on sale or kinda cute, etc..
#3 It isn't that hard to NOT spend money on junk I don't need (Well, except when I go on a shopping trip with my sisters and mother-in-law, which never usually happens). When I had an urge to buy something, and I said no, I usually forgot about it fairly quickly and by the next day had no desire for it (Well, except for that beautiful candelabra at the thrift store which will look amazing after my makeover- and I went back for two days after the first spotting).

So, while I did not succeed in my mission, I feel I have come away with a new outlook. SO all is well.

Give Thanks

I have seen a few of these thankful boards, blessing boards, gratitude trees, etc.

But this one was my favorite, and the one I tried to duplicate.

I found a $2 frame at the thrift store and painted it. made some flowers out of burlap and twine, hot glued the twine across the inside of the frame, and found some free printable cards for us to write our blessings.

I tried to explain to Holden what it means to be thankful. She got it...a little bit. We decided she is thankful for her purple baby.

And of course we are thankful for Opa and Grandma who are visiting this weekend

and taking an old fashioned beating from the kids!

The Strangers....and Holden

I feel like I am living this movie with Holden.

Ok, have you seen this movie? It is scary and ridiculous and frightening beyond belief. Ian watched from under the blanket while I cowered at the end of the couch. Anyway, these three psychopaths break into a secluded house while a young couple is home. They sneak beyond their backs, just watching and doing spooky things like opening doors and moving cell phones around the house. Like this...

I think Holden secretly watched it from the stairs and took pointers about how to be sneaky. Last Wednesday, while the kids were napping I was playing around on the computer, which is in the middle of the kitchen/family room and next to the stairs. I heard Everett crying and jumped up to run upstairs and noticed a flash of something out of the corner of my eye. I thought it was nothing and when I got upstairs I noticed H's door was open and she was not in her bed. I grabbed Ev, came downstairs, and found her camping out behind the couch, very awake and with a family of stuffed animals keeping her company.

I can't figure out how she got down the stairs past me once, let alone the two or three times it must have taken her to haul all of her "friends" down here to join her slumber party. She has been wandering into our room at night and breathing into my sleeping face. I wake up screaming at least twice a week. We will put her to bed and find her peering downstairs at us through the spindles of the railing.

She is FREAKING ME OUT! I feel like I need to be watching behind my back every minute. I have trouble sleeping because I am waiting for her three a.m. wake up call. I guess it could be worse, while she is always sneaking around and watching me, at least she isn't wearing a scary mask and carrying an ax.

Oh right....Halloween!

A year later...here are some of our Halloween pictures. The kids had fun and of course have been candy hounds ever since. I have been doing my part to eat through their candy and I believe today during nap time I will accomplish my goal!

First, on Saturday, we hit Boo at the Zoo. It was crazy with millions of kids on major candy quests. Holden just kept screaming, "I want treats! More treats!" If we hadn't parked 3 miles away I would have taken her back to the car for a time out, but I didn't have the energy. So we pressed on and ended up having fun with the elephants, giraffes, and zebras despite the sugar insanity.

For trick or treat Everett was "Thunderbolt Kid" and he looked like he was hit by lightning. He had a lightning bolt on the back of his shirt.

Holden was a butterfly. As long as her costume included a tutu she would have been anything.

And this is pretty much sums up what we are working with lately where H is concerned.

They ended up running around the neighborhood with their friends and Ian. I stayed here to hand out candy to the mobs and the kids would check in every so often. I would evaluate the contents of their buckets and then send them out to find more snickers bars. Mostly Ev wanted to run around with his bucket on his head, hmmmm, I wonder sometimes.

Then all the excitement calmed down and they cuddled up with lollipops and a movie. Love it!

Holden's Fashion Show

You may think these are funny pictures that I captured over the past few months, but no! These are just some of the clothing highlights from last week. She is unique, independent, and opinionated. She doesn't care what the world thinks, just how her clothing makes her feel. Mostly, I love her free spirit, sometimes, I want to strangle that spirit, hold it down, and force it to wear some jeans and a t-shirt.