Surprise Road Trip

 Sunday we planned a major surprise for the boys!  My folks had talked about going to see my sister and her family in Minnesota for a few days over break and wondered if the boys wouldn't want to go with them. 

 I had to work a few days so sadly it wasn't possible for me to make the trip.  As the weather looked like it would be favorable, we cemented the plans but didn't tell the boys until the day they left. 

 Actually....we didn't tell them until my folks came to pick them up!  Here is a link to a video of the reveal of the surprise.

While they are gone for a few days....I get the other part of my Christmas Present....our 3rd and final bathroom remodeled!!

Here are some before shots.  This half bath off our master bedroom is completely original to the house.  Right down to the floor to ceiling frosted glass mirrored wall.

Chad has gutted our other two bathrooms as well.  I am so glad he is handy and I am ready to say good-bye to this 1960 funk.

Demo is complete and the frosted glass wall is no more and most of the rest of the room is gutted.  Having the boys not under foot for a few days so Chad can work on this project (after working during the day as the new Senior Planner for the City of Manhattan of course) is a huge bonus.

I will be sure to post some "after" pictures later.  Slowly but surely, we continue to update our fixer-upper home.....almost four years and counting!  It's funny what you start to just live with when life comes along and remodel plans get put on the back of the way-back burner.  :)

More on Christmas 2013

It was just a great holiday season for our family and I wanted to include more pictures of our family Christmas on Christmas morning...

Our family Christmas started Christmas morning at 0-dark-thirty.  We held them off until just after 6 a.m. to check out what Santa had brought each of them, but we were all really up around 5:40 a.m. when the first boy jumped into our bed asking when they could get up.

There was lots of Christmas Excitement and only a few minor meltdowns by Mitchell at all the clothes he got!  According to him, he has TONS of perfectly good clothes in his closet....sure he does, if you count the shirts that are still from the start of 2nd grade and don't fit any more.

We also spent Christmas Eve with my parents and Grandma Craney.  Chad had to work until after lunch so we played games and tried to hold off the hyper energy as both boys anticipated more presents!

Great Grandma Craney enjoyed the boys and spending Christmas with us!  Can you believe she will turn 99 next week????

Time for more presents!  More sharks for Collin.  Isn't there another picture in the post where he's making the same face?  Lots of dinosaurs and sharks for this guy this year and he is in heaven with them all.

A suitcase?!?!??!  Both boys learned that sometimes the biggest gift doesn't always mean it will be the coolest gift to them.....

But both boys thought it was hilarious when someone else got socks as a gift. :)  Lots of Christmas memories.  I told Chad I felt like this was one of our best holiday seasons yet.  Much to be thankful for and lots of great times with all our families. 

Christmas Break

The boys and I are enjoying our time off and today it was warm enough to spend some good quality time sledding.

Collin loved it this year and even started going down the hill by himself after a few trips down with Mommy (thankfully).

And after an extended snow ball fight we even built our first snowman of the season!

The roads are cleared and it was warm enough to finally run outside again these past few days. Time to run off those Christmas Calories!!!

Farewell to Bobby

Today we bid farewell to our Elf on a Shelf for another year.

He had a rough last week as the villan toys took over one day...

But Bobby was triumphant in the end!

And today he left us a special farewell message as we prepared to celebrate the birth of our Savior.

Both boys love Bobby and will miss him very much!

And Mitchell wrote his note all on his own tonight during Christmas Eve services.

More time with family and rejoicing in the holiday season to follow tomorrow!

First Christmas 2013

We had our first Christmas celebration in Nebraska over the weekend with Chad's family and had a wonderful time together!

Grandma and Grandpa had been telling the boys they were getting them socks after the boys (especially Collin was pestering them about presents and what could be in them....
This picture above sums up their reaction the first present they both open. :)

Sunday we were honored to be a part of our nephew Aiden's baptism.
We are also now his sponsors as well as his favorite Aunt and Uncle!

Collin also enjoyed the children's moment a great deal where they got to play bells...and he showed off his improv dance skills.

And we made it back after the roads had been cleared from the KS snowstorm over the weekend. It will be a White Christms in Manhattan and Leo is already enjoying the extra empty boxes in the house.

Bobby Takes Over

It's been an active week for Bobby.  Bring treats to the boys while counting down the days until Christmas....

and getting in touch with his feminine side by raiding my jewelry box!  He even found this old Christmas Pin that was made for me my first year of teaching while we lived in Minden, NE.

One morning we found that he and a reindeer made their own indoor snowmen....Bathroom humor is always greatly appreciated in our house.

Streamers and tape?!

Oh, now I see.  And he was even able to keep Leo from destroying his streamers overnight!

But that didn't last............

Scratch

We squeezed in our annual assembly of sugar cookies made from my Great Grandma Ammeter's recipe last week.  It is a process!  And it reminds me why I don't bake (or at least bake things from scratch) that often....

Thursday night we made the batter. I have to say, store bought sugar cookie dough doesn't compare to my Great Grandma's recipe! However,  I bake from scratch so little that last year I learned a very valuable (and basic) lesson.  Cookie dough must CHILL first before baking.  I guess this shows how often I buy that all too easy store bought Pilsbury Cookie Dough instead of making my own when I make any other type of cookies....

Friday night we cut out and baked all the cookies.  We did this in two shifts.  Collin took the first shift with me and we waited to finish the rest until Mitchell got home from basketball practice later.  I think we are still cleaning up powdered sugar from this.

And Saturday I made frosting from scratch!  Last year, I didn't make enough frosting.  This year I made enough for our family and the entire block to frost cookies!!!  So we had a great assortment of colors.  And yes....more mess!  Leo is still playing with/eating sprinkles off the floor no matter how many times I attempt to sweep them all up.

It's definitely a labor of love, but worth it in the end!  They are decorated with love (and with sprinkles applied liberally to many by Collin) and taste great!