...and one of my presents...

My sweet Cale got me this mug, purchased with his own money at the Santa Shop at his school.  I love coffee and tea, but I love this boy more!  Cale is one of my best presents!

It's my birthday!

My birthday happened in a busy week of basketball, work and the girls' preschool program.  Honestly, it didn't really feel like a birthday with all the business.  But, we did have cake-a requirement, of course. I got to attend a concert (preschool Christmas program-where my gift was that I didn't have a little one to watch and could focus on the performances-that's been a long time coming) And, I got a few pictures.  Selfies galore.  

The kids were all worn out anyway from the preschool Christmas program that night.  I know they got cookies there and then we came home and had cake.  My present to them-sugar and more sugar.

Me and my boys.

Kinley was a fan of the cake-had to sample the frosting to make sure it was good.  Made from scratch with homemade purple frosting.  Purple-my favorite color and the color of royalty.  Cale volunteered to frost the cake for me.  One candle-a lady never tells her age.  The kids sang happy birthday with energy and were happy to be up eating cake after bedtime.

Sweet moments for my birthday.  

My coats have a new home

I got a new closet last month.  I think Andy was tired of hearing me talk about how much I would love a coat closet re-no and he had time to work on the project.  I am thankful for how handy Andy is and that he knows how to do home projects like this.  I was ready for the coats not to all be hung by the door on the hooks we have there.  All the games we had in the closet had to be relocated to various areas around the house, but I was willing to sacrifice the game closet in order to have a new home for the coats.

Here is my inspiration.  Found this gem on Pinterest.  I loved the idea of hooks in the closet instead of the hangers for coats.  And, there were hooks low enough for the littles to reach.  

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/188588303119617718/

Ponyo-not a fan of the air compressor, we discovered

measuring the space

just some wainscot for the bottom part of the closet

the hard part is done-wainscot is up and a chair rail put up at the heights the hooks will go

a nice coat of white paint

then, the hooks and voila! a closet with plenty of hooks for this family.  I've even tried to convince the boys to keep their backpacks in there.  That's another work in progress.

the girlies' preschool pics

Preschool picture day was in November.  Dressing the girls is definitely more of a challenge than the boys, especially now, since Kella is Very Opinionated about what she wears.   Kella picked out her dress (a size 3T that she still fits into) after we devastated her by saying she could not wear her Elsa costume for picture day (any other day, yes, she wears Elsa, just not picture day).  She loves those pink, sparkly shoes and topped it off by putting a bow in her hair.  What style!  Trust me, she was the fanciest girl in her class.

Kinley did a great job!  She wanted to wear a princess costume, too, but had to be satisfied with this.  She was happy to wear her pink shoes, just like big sis.  I was thrilled to see that she smiled for the camera.

These boys.....

I had to take a picture of Cale and Marcus each the other day.  Cale because he was dressed up for his Biztown interview at school and Marcus because he was sporting his new basketball warm-ups.  

Please excuse the hole in the wall.  That is Andy's next project once he is done with my closet reno-which is in progress!  Cale sprung the need to dress up for school the night before at 6pm.  I was not inclined to go shopping for interview duds.  Lucky for us, Marcus's concert band-wear from last year kind-of fit.  (which means that Marcus needs new clothes for his concert on Sunday *sigh)

Sporting the basketball warm-ups.  Marcus was excited to get these to wear to school on game days. 

And, isn't fun that both the boys look like they don't have hands in these photos?

A few Saturdays past we learned to use our sewing machine

Grammy Pammy came to visit and taught us how to use my birthday/Christmas present sewing machine.  Really, she came to see the kids, but I like to think she was excited to give a hands-on lesson in sewing machine operating.

I started out with doing some pillow forms with fabric that I bought pre-cut since I needed practice sewing in straight lines.  I think I got the hang of it.  Then, the boys heard the sewing noise and came to investigate.  Everyone wanted a turn helping sew.  We ended up making 2 pillows and 2 rice heating pads.  We even had enough rice in the pantry to fill one of the heat pads.

These colors are cute.  Now I need to get some filling for them.  And, more fabric.  I'm thinking I could replace all my couch throw pillows with these.

Kella spend her time during the sewing lessons by creating a habitat for her frog.

Liam got a turn, too.

Marcus, modeling the heat pack. The pack heated up nicely in the microwave.  Guess what the kids fought over the rest of the day/night?  Right.

Glasses selfie.

Probably the sweetest thing I heard one of my kids say (Cale), was that he thought his teacher would really like one for Christmas.  Of course, we will be making more heat packs.

just a flashback to October

Here are some gems from the girls' preschool Miss Spider's Tea Party.  This year, both the girls wore pink skirts, black shirts and pink wings.  No too creative, but easy.  I think this is our 10th or 11th year for this and my creativity is waning.  Also, I forgot my camera, so I guess my motivation is waning, too.  

Kinley, front and center.  She did not want to stand in the back.  You go girl!  She knew all the songs.

Lot's of little bugs.  Kella is behind the ladybug on your right.

Post show pic with my ladies.

The best I could get of my little, pink butterflies.