The Countdown to Christmas

I was a little worried this year, we didn't have the ability to do much in the way of early Christmas shopping, so I waited until December 16th and believe it or not, I pretty much knocked it out in one 8-hour day!  There were a few highly coveted items that had to be ordered from the internet, and all but one are here and wrapped and under the tree!  So considering that 6 days ago I was stressed beyond belief about Christmas, I am now fairly relaxed, doing some housework, working on some handmade Christmas gifts, baking and waiting for my mom to arrive.  A Christmas dinner menu has been planned, groceries have been bought, the ham is thawing in the fridge and life is good!  I do have to run out tomorrow to grab a few stocking stuffers for the kids and the dogs, but Daddy's home tomorrow so he can stay with the kiddos while I go knock that out.  Then tomorrow evening... WE BAKE!  I love baking and decorating gingerbread cookies (it's one of my favorite holiday traditions), but I love eating them even more!!!  Christmas Eve we will be heading to Linda and Woody's house for "Christmas Eve chili" (yet another holiday tradition I'm a fan of!)  The kids will get to open one gift then it will be time to head home, check the NORAD site to see what Santa is up to, read the The Night Before Christmas, set out some of our AWESOME gingerbread (we're sure he likes ours the best) and milk for Santa, carrots and oats for the reindeer, and tuck little children into bed so they'll be sound asleep when Santa comes!  I am thankful that this year I'm calm.  It is so much easier to slip into the magic of the holiday when you're not freaking out!  I look forward to spending some quality time with my children and my family and enjoying all that this holiday season has to offer!  Here's wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday!  Cheers!

The 2011 Gingerbread House Edition

Gingerbread house construction has become quite the tradition around here!  And why not, it's FUN!  This year's experience was a little easier for me, all I had to do was construct the houses and let them have at it!  I helped Ainsley a little bit with some of the decorative frosting, but I only put it where she wanted it and she was in charge of candy.  Of course, she wanted to eat the candy more than decorate with it!  Ian, on the other hand, took full charge of his house this year.  He wanted to do the frosting and the candy and he did a GREAT job!  He was so proud of his house when he was finished!  They both did a wonderful job and I feel like next year, Ian will probably be able to construct his as well and Ainsley will be completely in charge of decorating hers.  It's wonderful to see them create!  And without further ado, this year's gingerbread houses!

Close-up!

Bravo kids!  BRAVO!

Impulse Control is a Bitch!

So, for no apparent reason whatsoever, Ian decided to hack a chunk of Ainsley's hair off today.  Really?  Right before Christmas?  He swears she asked him to, but even if she did, was he not able to establish that cutting his sister's hair might be a bad idea?  I mean he's almost 10 years-old for Pete's sake!  Now in all fairness, it wasn't a HUGE chunk and wasn't horribly detrimental to her hairstyle, but still.  What the hell was he thinking?!?!  Oh yeah, he WASN'T thinking.  And about halfway through my tirade (while I was holding a bawling 5 y.o.) he had the nerve to ask, "Don't you think you MIGHT be over-reacting?"  At which point I put down the sobbing child and grabbed the scissors and headed straight upstairs and he ran for his life and locked himself in his room.  At that time, I pointed out that I thought he just might be over-reacting a bit, after all it's just hair!

I don't know, call me crazy, but I would have expected this kind of behavior when he was 6, but not at almost 10!  I swear, boys!  The cycle of events usually goes a little something like this... Idea.  Immediate action.  Consequences.  Remorse.  Wouldn't it just be easier to take that extra second or two to think about the consequences BEFORE the action to avoid the remorse altogether?!?!  I keep hoping that's gonna sink in someday.  I'm not holding my breath though.

A trip to the Pumpkin Farm

It turns out I have sick kiddos today, so while they are lounging around the house, I figured I could do a little catch-up on the ol' Blog-a-rino!  I can't believe how far behind I am!  It's almost Christmas and I'm still posting about stuff we did in October!!

In mid-October on a very blustery day, Linda and I packed up the kids and headed out to the Pumpkin Farm in Marble Falls.  We stopped and had a nice lunch and Schlotzsky's (we love that place)!  At first I was a little disappointed, the farm seemed way smaller than before and they hardly had any critters.  Then we found out that they had opened up another farm across the road and that you were able to visit them both for the entry fee!  So off we headed to enjoy ourselves.  There were pumpkins and gourds galore!

Here's Miss Poo geared up to drive the tractor and haul those pumpkins!

We made our way through the corn maze.  The kids led the way!

They did all their best karate moves on top of huge hay bales!

Ainsley got a much-needed piggyback ride from Nana.

We took our obligatory "pic with pumpkins"!

Nana treated Ian and I to homemade strawberry ice cream (this farm is a berry farm in the spring) and Ainsley partook in a homemade strawberry popsicle.

Then it was under the road through a storm drain to the other side of the farm!

This, as it turns out, was my favorite part of the farm!  We were amazed by the gourds...

and tickled by the hay bale pigs!

Ainsley got to ride the train...

And Ian made a new friend!

Did I mention the zinnias?!?!

They had fields of them and it totally reminded me of the tulip farms in Oregon.  It was lovely!

We were able to go out and pick our own, which Ainsley LOVED!

And I was lucky enough to spot this little bee hanging out in a pink zinnia.  I was SO happy with this shot!

By the time the afternoon was over, we were windblown beyond belief, but had a great time!  The ice cream, the pumpkins, the pick-your-own zinnias, the train and even a 9 day-old baby donkey!  You couldn't have asked for a better time!  I adore days like these!

Halloween 2011--Beetlejuice and Lydia

Oh my GOSH!  It is December 13th and I just realized that I haven't posted about HALLOWEEN!!!  Clearly I have TOO MUCH stuff going on!  I feel like I have been living in 3 alternate universes at one time.  As much as I think I'm dialed into my calendar, I'm still missing stuff, showing up to dance class late and all sorts of wonderful stuff.  Sometimes I really long for a much simpler life!  But alas... that is another subject entirely and I just want to share the Halloween AWESOMENESS with everyone!

This year, Ian and Ainsley decided to go as two of their favorite movie characters, Beetlejuice and Lydia!  I was excited about this as I LOVE Beetlejuice and I couldn't wait to make the red wedding dress!  Like last year, Brady and I tag-teamed costumes.  He was primarily responsible for Beetlejuice and his black & white striped suit, I was responsible for Lydia and the dress.

Brady managed to find a white, baptismal suit on eBay.  Here is a before photo...

It's important for it to be comfortable enough for ninja maneuvers!  He took masking tape and taped off the stripes and then we used black, fabric spray-paint.  It worked pretty well.  The lines weren't perfect, but then again, neither was Beetlejuice's suit.  He was dead and dirty and whatnot.

We also found Ainsley a dress on eBay.  And just an FYI, it is really hard to find blood red dresses for 5 year-olds!  We finally found a pageant dress that had spaghetti straps, which is nothing like the actual dress in the movie, but hey, we were desperate.  So I went out and bought like 15 yards of red net to fluff the dress out, make a shoulder wrap and fashion a veil.  I also had the chore of finding a black wig with bangs as I refused to cut her bangs or dye her real hair black!  With much hard work and a couple of "dress rehearsals" to test make-up, the kids were ready for their Halloween debut!  I think we rocked it, but you can judge for yourself!

I stylized this one a bit, just for fun!

And, for good measure, Brady and I dressed up as Barbara and Adam on Halloween night!

Nevermind the gray hair, it was strictly for theatrical effect!  ;)

We took the kids and Linda to our normal "haunt" in Hyde Park and had a blast!  The kids' costumes were well-received to say the least.  We had numerous people stop us and ask to take photos.  They got loads of candy and accolades and once we were all sufficiently pooped out, we packed up and headed to EZ's for our Halloween night burgers!  It's a great family tradition.  What can I say, Halloween is absolutely my favorite holiday of the year!!!

Ft. Worth/Wichita Falls--Part Two

After a nice visit with Max and Cheryl, we hopped in the car and headed back to downtown Ft. Worth to visit the Ft. Worth Botanical Garden.  I could tell from the quirky, little pond outside the visitor's center that we were in for a treat!

We opted to check out the "Rainforest Garden" first.  It was warm and misty and full of crazy, viney plants.  The kids LOVED this part!

We saw plants with amazing roots...

And vibrant colors!

Ainsley found a plant that had leaves bigger than her head!!!

We made our way out into the main garden, it was lovely!  However, it seemed to me that the loveliest things in the garden were my children!

Well, I suppose this water lily was pretty nice too!  ;)

Once we had our fill of the traditional garden, we headed over to the Japanese Garden which was HUGE!  Japanese gardens definitely aren't as colorful as the more traditional garden, but they are SO peaceful.  I love them!

The koi pond was a BIG hit!

They, of course, had to master the stepping stones!  Ainsley was pretty scared at first (and technically so was I with her wearing that sweet , white, ruffle-y shirt) but she did great and didn't even fall in once!

We had to get the obligatory pic on a bridge!

And then I managed to get a really nice one of the kids!  I know... more kid pics, but what can I say?  They are just SO cute!

And leave it my kids to completely disrupt the calm, peaceful vibe of this beautiful garden!  ;)

After we explored every bit of the Japanese Garden, we headed to the little cafe and had a nice lunch, well, as nice as a lunch can be with a picky, whiny girl!  At least the boy was happy with his Reuben!

There was still a lot of garden to see, but we had to move along as I had promised to take the kids to the Museum of Science and History and we needed to get through it before rush hour!  Thankfully, the museum was just down the road and was easy to find.

Ian was not entirely enthused with this particular museum, and I have to agree with him, it was definitely geared toward the younger crowd (not to mention the fact that it was overrun with hordes of school kids).

Ian spent most of his time in a room where they had blowers and vacuums and books and books on how to make paper airplanes and hovercrafts made out of plastic cups.  Ainsley, on the other hand, opted for more artsy fartsy stuff.  She made a giant Lite-Brite picture.

And doodled under a black light!

Then she discovered a room with infinite amounts of paper, crayons, chalk, pastels, you name it.  And she was happy.

I would show you a picture of the boy, but as it turns out, 9 year-old boys are quite elusive!  We enjoyed the 4-D theater, at least until the part that it sprayed water in my face and all over my camera!  They should warn people to stow them away!  Luckily the lens cap was on, so no harm, no foul, but it WAS a surprise!

The dino room was pretty lame except for one thing.  Their main dinosaur on display was something called a Pawpawsaurus campbelli. 

It made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside as "Paw Paw" is what I called my dear grandfather!  It was just one of those unexpected, little things that made me think of him and smile.  I sure miss him!

After we had our fill of the museum, it was time to pack up and head to Wichita Falls to see my mom.  It was a mellow drive, traffic wasn't too bad getting out of Ft. Worth and the scenery was pleasant.  Wish I could say the same for Wichita Falls!!  Stay tuned for our adventures there!

The Annual Trimming of the Tree

The Sunday after Thanksgiving is a BIG deal in the Woodall household!  We drag that tree in from the garage, set it up, string it with lights and let the kids have at it!  This year, the kids and I were able to talk Daddy into letting us do colorful lights.  He prefers crisp white lights, and last year we tried blue lights but it made the tree have this strange, ominous glow and you could hardly see the ornaments.  The colorful lights are lovely though and I'm so happy!

So we invited the folks over, had some soup, then let the kiddos go!  Trimming the tree is almost as suspenseful as Christmas because I individually wrap most of the ornaments.  So they have to unwrap each little ornament "gift" and it is always a surprise to see what's in there!  Is it the frog with the candy cane or the pig in the Luftwaffe, or the drum kit?  Seeing their eyes light up with every ornament just makes me smile!

And it's always better to work as a team!

No tree is complete without Jack Skellington!

Or an Appalachian opossum.

Of course there has to be a flying pig!

And yes, if you live in Texas, it is mandatory to have a flying armadillo on your tree!

Ian got the honor of topping the tree this year and he did a GREAT job!

Once the tree was fully trimmed, we made the kids stand in front of it for the mandatory "Kids in Front of the Tree" pics!

And yes, those are without a doubt, the cutest footie jammies in the world!  Not to mention the cutest little girl in the world!

Can you tell how enthused he is about this part?

Seriously.  Could I love them any more?!?!?  It was a great night with family, one of the many that I will treasure forever!  They are getting so big and I know that I don't have that many of these special "little kid" times left.  So you better believe I am enjoying every one of them to the fullest!