Monday, December 27, 2010

happy 2nd birthday logan!


i cannot believe two years have gone by.  you have accomplished so much in the last year.  you started walking and talking and cut just about every tooth in your mouth.  the curls on your head never cease to make me smile.  your shyness in new situations is adorable. i will cherish these days when you cling to me and tuck your head under my chin in any new situation.  you take five to ten minutes to warm up to any new person and sometimes even to people you know.  you are my early bird in the morning.  too much going on for you to sleep in even if you were up late.  you love to eat breakfast right when you wake up.  you have been slow to talk but between you and me little man, who could get a word in edgewise around brady?  most of the year it was "unt that" for everything but now the words are flying out of your mouth. especially the word "no" recently.  you cannot go to sleep at night with out your special blanket. your one sided dimple can melt any ones heart.  your daddy and i are so lucky to have you and can't wait to see what this next year holds in the world of logey roo.  happy birthday little man.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

grandma's cutout cookies


my grandma loved christmas.  i remember how magical she always made it.  growing up i always knew her cookies never tasted like any of the other cutout cookies around.  they have a magic ingredient you see....   i have put the recipe below and also my recipe for icing.  i hope you enjoy them as much as i do.



CUT OUT COOKIES

1 cup shortening
3 cups sifted flour
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

mix flour and shortening.  add sugar, salt, soda, nutmeg, eggs, milk.
mix thoroughly.

bake at 390 degrees for 5-7 minutes

BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
3 3/4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
3 to 4 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Place butter in a large mixing bowl.  Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until fluffy, 30 seconds.  Stop the machine and add the confectioners sugar, 3 table spoons milk, and vanilla.  Blend with the mixer on low speed until the sugar is incorporated.  1 minute.  Increase the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy, 1 minute more.  Blend in up to 1 tablespoon of milk if the frosting seems too stiff.




Tuesday, December 21, 2010

wrapping with fabric scraps


wrapping gifts is a perfect time to get rid of fabric scraps you have lying around from old projects.  (for the record my burlap fabric is almost gone.)  i think it makes your gift look that much more thoughtful.  i also made my own tag with a "have yourself a merry little christmas" stamp i had laying around. so when wrapping this season use up what you have or go get some fabric and have fun wrapping!

Thursday, December 16, 2010

the boys room - almost complete


a little glimpse of the boys room.  i still have a few things to do but most of the major work is complete.  i got my inspiration from pottery barn.  we painted the walls a light blue (cloudburst) by behr.  My husband then put bead board halfway up the wall and topped it off with trim.  we painted that white.

the beds i bought at a garage sale for $50 for both of them.  they were solid mahogany wood.  they needed a lot of work but i absolutely loved the detailing on them and they were super sturdy.  i painted them super hero blue by behr as well.  we painted them with a paint sprayer on our compressor so we would not get any brush stroke marks.  we also painted the night stand in the middle super hero blue and we have a big dresser to paint that i tucked in the closet but that will have to wait until spring.  if you are running out of room in a bedroom remove the closet doors and tuck a dresser in the closet.  we painted our closet to match the room so it would blend.  i did not take a picture of it however since we have not painted that dresser yet.  but look for a follow up post.

the lamp i found at tj maxx.  i thought it looked like a train lantern and the little lantern has a night light in it.  it is perfect to leave on for the boys until they fall asleep.

i purchased the comforters from pottery barn.  i figured it was good to get something of quality for the boys as it will be washed a lot and i would like it to hold up.  the train sheets are from pottery barn as well and were a gift from grandma and grandpa.

the names on the wall were from the kids rooms before we merged them.  i did not change the theme on them because i wanted to keep a little touch of each boys room that they had before.  these letters are really easy to make.  all you need are wood letters from the hobby store and your favorite wrapping paper or scrap book paper.  glue it on, cut around the edges with an exacto knife and then file down the edges with a finger nail filer or sand paper.

to fill in the rest of the walls i printed pictures of the boys trip to the illinois railway museum this summer and put them in the frames.  some of trains and some of the boys on the trains.

we will be adding a shelf to the room and putting great grandpa howards's antique train that we were handed down as decoration above the closet.  it is a really old model railway metal train.  super cool!

the little red car used to be brian's when he was little it is made of wood and super cute.  we use it to hold all of our favorite dr. seuss books.

it was fun to put this room together and i tried to not get to themey this time.  the boys really love their big boy beds and always tell daddy and i what a good job we did on their room.  i am just glad we are finally sleeping through the night.  guess it is just what they needed.

christmas musical at pre-school 2010


today was the annual kingdom kritters christmas program. i always admire how all the teachers and staff here manage to get all these kiddos ages 12 months to 5 years to stand in the same area and sing for a short period of time.  we started out with jingle bells and as you can imagine, brady knew all the words and motions.


we then went on to away in the manger.  all the kiddos were so cute, especially doing the hand signs along with the music.


then they brought out the little guys 2 and under.  you can see logan in the front row six kids over from the left of the picture.  he looked stunned seeing all these people looking at him and for the most part sat there.  i was proud of him he didn't cry and i thought for sure he would.  note what is going on with brady 2nd row right hand side of the picture.  he had a little friend of whom i don't know i don't even think the kid is in his class.  however this little boy was very lovey and kept touching brady and trying to hold his hand even hugging him.  every once in a while when the music got quiet you would hear brady yelling... stop it!  it was pretty funny to watch and it continued on throughout the whole program.

at the end of the program they wheeled out the little guys back to their class.  i love that they take logans class everywhere in wagons.  how else would you get a bunch of 18 to 24 month olds from one place to another?

sorry no video this year to my family.  but brady would probably do a private concert for you if you just ask.

merry christmas!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

and the stockings were hung....

i have been struggling to come up with something to hang my stockings from.  our mantel has rounded corners and does not like the stocking hangers that you set on the ledge.

then i read amanda joy's blog.  she had a lovely idea for a mantel.  so i copied it and made a few changes in color.  the end result is below.


it was fairly simple i took some twine rope and cute red, green and white linen fabric.  i used about a half a yard of each.  you then cut a little into the fabric and rip the strips off.  then start tying.!  i then used clothes pins to hang the stockings with.


the stockings are now just waiting for santa to come.  thanks amanda joy!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

today i took a breath


today i sat at my sticky kitchen table.  caught up on blogs, talked to friends and maybe even stared into space a few times.  this time of year can be so fast paced it is nice to just sit, take a moment and breathe and remember what this season is truly all about.

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

my new favorite cleaner


first of all let me give a shout out to my favorite blogger the nester for talking about this cleaner so much that i decided to try it.  i bought the dish soap (lavender scent) and the counter top spray, which works on more than counters, in (basil scent.)  oh my....... i love these products.  they smell fantastic and the smell lingers in your home for hours.  in a home of three boys a dog and two cats you can use all the help you can get in the smell department!  if you go to her blog on this page you can print out a coupon and read her reviews on the product.  thank you nester and thank you mrs. meyers for making my home cleaner and smelling awesome!

Monday, December 6, 2010

diy - wall art


two old wood frames - painted black.

post board for backing and burlap fabric for matting (yes i still have some).

8 X 10 photos for the big frames from our napa trip and my favorite winery.

another multi picture frame ( i did not make this one.) and more photos from our favorite trip.

instant wall art.  one of kind and just what this room needed.  i love that i can walk by here and dream of the porch of frogs leap winery in napa every day.




Sunday, December 5, 2010

visit with santa and grammy's birthday


yesterday we visited santa.  brady sat on his lap and told him all that he wanted for christmas.  logan is noticeably absent.  he wanted nothing to do with santa and i mean nothing.


we then went to white fence farm for grammy's big 6-0!  happy birthday grammy!


brady fed the goat by hand and when the goat was done he said, "good job lamb!"  we will have to work on our animals.


this little guy peered through the fence, never said much but "wow" and waived goodbye as we left.

Thursday, December 2, 2010

learning new things with old things

before i start in about our day today, i have to tell you.... my grandparents house is a house of many treasures....

we learned how they capped bottles back in the day.  no fancy machine, just a simple piece of metal with a few moving parts and some good old fashioned elbow grease.  this bottle capper is a little rusted but after papa and great grammy showed brady how to oil it ( and he really did ).  it was back to working in no time.

logan spent his time popping some corn on the back deck in the warm sun.  side note: can you believe it is december?  it was 60 degrees this afternoon, no coats needed.  did i ever tell you how much i love colorado?

p.s. the imaginary popcorn was fantastic.... tasted just like air.


here is the special magic about thursdays.  my boys get to play in the dirt and rocks and discover all kinds of treasures at papa and great grammy's.  they get to eat as many oranges and hot dogs as they want and when they are done they get as much ice cream as their little bellies can hold.  my grandparents slow down with them and show them how to fry french fries and oil bottle capping machines. the things as a busy mother that i forget to do. when we visit them i watch my boys relish in the fun experiences that i did as a child growing up on the side of this mountain.  thank you papa and great grammy for all you do for us on thursdays.  we love you so much.