My Funny Valentines.

Happy Friday from my most favorite valentines!

{Let's not forget about Dr. Love!}

Too bad I realized I took this pictured BEFORE I took the tag off his shirt. Whoops! 

And, since we all know how hard it is to capture a picture of a 14 month old who's always on the go...I'm not retaking it. ;)

{14 months} 

Moon Dough Fun!

What do you do when 8 days have passed with no preschool due to snow and freezing cold temps and your cabin fever is out-of-control? You just keep adding to the mess by making moon dough! ;) Dawson loved it! Hudson loved eating attempting to play with it. :) 

Best part: it's super easy to make, which I love. Just two ingredients: flour & baby oil! 

<SOURCE>

As you can see, Daws was loving it. Hudson was planning his escape with a spoonful of dough!

Roller Skating

I have no clue why I ever doubted Dawson would love skating. His Dad can still shoot the duck and skate backwards like no one else's business. ;) In fact, Garry pretty much lived at the skating rink his entire childhood. He thought he was super hot shit since he worked there....just ask him about it. 

Are these not the cutest little skates you've ever seen?!

Last month I took Daws to the Honeywell Center for their "Winter Bash".  Best part: It was all free! I love our little city. They provide so many fun events for families. :) We roller skated [in the exact same skating rink that I skated in when I was a kid-talk about nostalgia!], crafted an adorable Birch Tree, then later in the day Garry took Daws to go see Despicable Me 2 which was also part of the bash! 

I was nervous {what? me? nervous?} to take him for the entire hour and a half just because he hadn't ever been. Boy, was I wrong! We went for about a half an hour and it went so fast that I was wishing I would've taken him for the entire time. He absolutely LOVED it and within 10 minutes he was skating without me. We can't wait to take him back and obviously now my husband has a reason to act like he's a 15 badass again. ;)

After skating art time!

That's legit art right there. 

Valentine Decisions...

Last week my Mom asked me what happened to the good ole Valentine cards in a box that we used to give out at school. Well Mom, that used to be acceptable in the 80's. Now that Pinterest has taken over, you can find me the night before Valentine's Day knee deep into my scrapbooking stuff with a glass of wine. ;) But really, I love to craft so stuff like this really isn't a chore. 

The real chore is trying to bribe Dawson to sign his name at least 12 different times!

Here are are my top five that I'm trying to choose between this year. Because I'm a child of the 90's, the  bag of chips (oh yeah, you know you're singing along) is probably my favorite followed closely by the glow stick. ;)

<ONE>

<TWO>

<THREE>

<FOUR>

<FIVE>

Holiday Hodgepodge (Better late than never!)

If you're like me, Christmas after Christmas makes me gag. I love this holiday more than life itself, but the minute we open presents I'm pretty much ready to take down the tree.  Anyway, since I'm so far behind on my blogging...I'm forcing myself to venture back into the land of red and green. Go ahead and gag your way through my pictures...you won't be the only one! ;)

Always the beginning to our holiday season is the arrival of our favorite elf, Eric! ;)

One of our favorite December traditions is driving around looking at lights! This year we added a trip out for ice cream after we were done :)

"Christmas in a Canal Town"

It was  a freezing cold morning, but we headed to Lagro for some ornament making, carriage rides, and a visit with Santa! No amount of cold can keep us away from our festive holiday activities. ;)

"Winter Craft Bash" at the Salamonie Reservoir

I am so excited that they have these preschool programs once a month! So excited in fact that I signed Dawson up every month until June. ;) I had just as much fun (if not more) as Daws...I mean they got to do a footprint holiday craft AND make an adorable ornament. Be still my crafting heart! 

 

My favorite picture of Daws from our first big December snow.

Dear Dawson: I love your eyelashes more than I love cupcakes. And, I love cupcakes more than life.


We always spend Christmas Eve with my Mom's side of the family. Every year we either do a gift exchange by drawing names or we all bring a gift card then draw numbers and play "Dirty Santa" style. We also brought "bundles" (something readable, edible, and hangable) that we also played the stealing game with. We played games and ate till we exploded, as usual-then headed home to get Santa's cookie plate ready! :)

Sprinkling some special reindeer food on the lawn so they will be able to find our house!

Mommy forgot to get some cookies, so we had to improvise with Danish. ;)

Scrabble with Gram :)

This kid is a nut!

So, if you've never heard of this, click here ----> "Christmas Crackers." Thanks to my British-obsessed sister, we added a new tradition to our Christmas this year. ;) It was so much fun and we are definitely making this a tradition! We started opening up gifts with my parents and sisters after the kids go to bed so Garry and I can actually focus for more than 3 seconds. ;) Plus, it gives up something to look forward to Christmas night! 

I love Christmas. I love my family. And, I love traditions. :) 

The ending to another holiday season of memories...

Clownin' Around!

Dawson started at his new school on Monday, and so far it is amazing. He has transitioned so well, and I am so proud of him! After being off school all last week due to the 16.5" (yes, I said 16.5!) of snow, they started this week with the letter "C" and a Circus theme. They had animal crackers, circus peanuts, and tried cotton candy for snack. Of course my child, the kid who only eats about 8 things, did not partake. What is wrong with this kid? Cotton Candy and Circus Peanuts AT school and he won't eat it. He obviously does not share my love for food. ;) 

They capped the week off today with wearing Crazy Clothes to dress like a Clown! Daws was so excited this morning. The first thing he told me when I picked him up was he played, "Pin the nose on the Clown." He also thought it was pretty cool that his teacher dressed up like a clown. :) 

Hudson lately.

This wild little 13 month old is walking all over the place now. He went from the world's fastest crawler, to basically running. He is ornery as all get out, but his sweet little smile along with his innocent eyes are most likely going to help him get out of all sorts of trouble. ;) 

He will pretty much repeat anything forming some sort of the word, usually the beginning or last syllable. Oh, and he has developed a love for screaming in the form of a loud "ehhhh" if he gets frustrated or if he's not getting his way. ;)

 Some of his favorite things to SAY now are: 

• "shh"-Fish
• "Nigh-Nigh"-As soon as he see his bottle he says this. If he's tired he will also sometimes say it while whining, and it's pretty much the cutest damn thing.
• "Gabba"-Yo Gabba Gabba
• "Nana"-Banana
• Ma-ma, Da-da, Papa, Ball, Shoe, Bye-Bye, Bubba (for Daws), Baba (bottle)

FAVORITE FOODS: All fruit...especially mandarin oranges and blueberries!

FAVORITE SONG: Mommy's silly goodnight song :)

LOVES: Looking out the window, Swiftering the kitchen floor, continuing to wake Mommy and Daddy up for a bottle around 4/5ish in the morning (thank the lord he goes right back to sleep and takes the bottle on his own), playing with any musical toy involving balls, finding something he shouldn't then running with it while wearing the biggest smile on his face, and last but not least "talking" or trying to get anyone and everyone's attention when we are in public--apparently I only breed social kids. ;)

This boy has not slowed down a bit! He continues to keep us on our toes and has already had his first black eye before Dawson. I told my husband that Hudson will land us a trip to the ER way before Daws ever will. ;) I love watching Hudson grow and am looking forward to starting him in story time and Kindermusik soon! 

I am also bracing myself for the amount of fits that I foresee is this boy's future, ;)