This is My Forties

We made the dough late last night and this afternoon we got to baking and decorating our gingerbread cookies. We made snowmen and the classic gingerbread men and women. Brennan mostly ate all the candy pieces. He would put them on first, but promptly remove them and pop them in his mouth. The only mess to speak of was sticky hands so HOORAY! Tristan mostly dictated to Daddy what colors to use and watched with glee as he did all the work for him. He did stick a few jellybeans and shake some sprinkles on top though. Noah didn't want to stop decorating. If would have let him go there would be 20 layers of icing and candy buttons on these cookies. They turned out pretty darn cute. Josh and I decorated some too :) The red icing was really runny for some reason... like sweet ginger blood. Fun fun fun... in a dark kind of way lol. As promised here's the pictures of our packed tree and our homemade wrapping paper!

It's almost here!! AHHHHH!!! :D :D :D EXCITED!!! We've been playing a daily game of "PUT THAT DOWN" with the Christmas presents. The living room is officially off limits now since we really have no room to hide gifts. Brennan has already torn a few boxes open a bit. The ones from Aunt Michelle and Alex were gnarled so the other day we let them peel off the few shards of paper that were left. Joyous family time ensued. Noah won't stop coloring in his new book... it appeals to his obsessive compulsive side. Tristan and Brennan are balling up and slapping bendaroos all over the playroom cabinets. Some have regrettably been chewed to oblivion. If he's not chewing them he's tossing them around in a huge sticky ball. They are also fun for big kids like myself and my dear husband :) Under our tree is completely packed. The grandparents really spoiled the boys this year (and us)!! Josh and I already gave each other nearly all our presents..

I had somewhat of a Mommy epiphany yesterday. After telling Brennan for the 4 billionth time to not get out games, touch the buttons on the TV, or rip decorations off of the tree. It hit me. I don't remember anything from my childhood until I was maybe 4 years old. So... suddenly I understood why I have to tell my babies over and over and over to do (or not to do) something... they have goldfish memories. They are ruled by their brains and their brains are in "learning mode". So while I see a kid reaching for Boggle and visualize the mess and get flustered because I have to tell him AGAIN not to touch my games, his little brain only sees a cool little grid that dice fit into if he can master the use of his fingers, and a very fun loud noise to make if he can manage to get the lid on tight and keep it on while he shakes it. When he goes for the tree he sees a shiny thing, maybe out of reach, and his brain tells him to see what it feels like, to see if his arms can r

Here's the day we put it up. And here it is now. Brennan loves him some decorations!

We had a fabulous long weekend. We hit a few snafoo's along the way, but nothing too horribly awful. Friday was Noah's holiday concert so we got all snazzed up and headed out to cheer on the "man of the house" for the time being :) Noah did a fantastic job! He was so focused and serious. He had been practicing his songs all week and really wanted to get all the words and motions right. He was kind enough to wave at me and smile for a few pictures, though. Saturday was a chill day. We spent the day lounging around, made some Christmas ornaments (thanks V, Al & Shell!!). Noah and I worked on our puzzle a bit, Brennan destroyed it again. We cleaned the playroom for 2 hours... it was pretty bad. We watched movies (Tangled was really cute). AFN was playing a "Santa Clause" marathon! Sunday was a big day for us! I finished cleaning the house. We played a lot, and then after dinner we made lemon sugar cookies, hot chocolate, and pop