2014 Resolutions

I have a few resolutions for 2014, and one of them is to really learn about my fancy pants camera.  I figure its about time I moved away from using it as a glorified point and shoot camera.  I had NO idea that you could make different changes for the white balance depending on what light you were in...blew my mind.  now, my sometimes willing and sometimes annoyed subjects are forced to pose several times a day, so I can play with ISO settings, white balance and crazy things like f stops, shutter speeds and all kinds of other unknowns on the fancy pants camera. 

 this is evan when he figures he will pose (or at least stand still for a few seconds) but he is going to make the face he wants to

 he's game for a smile or two...depending on how much effort i'm willing to put forth in helping him laugh and/or smile

 grace is almost ALWAYS game for posing...she LOVES having her picture taken (most of the time...i have plenty of pictures of her clearly saying NO MOMMY.  NO PICTURES)

 evan is so over this moment

he is willing to have gracie put him in a headlock for a picture as long as he can making his super cheesy face

Hello 13" of Snow and -18 degrees

It never made it to blizzard conditions, but it was a wild weekend!  We already had some snow on the ground, so after mother nature dumped another 13" in one day, we had our fill of shoveling!  Unfortunately, we didn't get much of  a chance to play in the snow because only a day after it fell, the weather turned bitter cold.  -18 with a -40 wind chill!  I wasn't even willing to step outside to door to get a piece of wood for the fire!

 doing her part!

 ahhh!  snow in the eyes!!!

evan is always up to go out and help shovel.  the best part, he actually helps!  the kids and i have had to shovel several times in the morning or during the day, and evan usually does the sidewalk nearly all on his own.  its awesome because gracie typically tries to bail after a few minutes. 

 working hard!  unfortunately, bret had to shovel another 4 times before it was all done!

 gracie making attempts to see through the falling snow!

Christmas Aftermath

Despite the lack of pictures, we had a wonderful Christmas.  The kids opened their presents in 5 minutes instead of 15 seconds this year : ).  After we spent some time playing at our house, we got packed up and spent the afternoon and evening at Grammy and Packaw's house.

 Sammy has always been pretty aggressive at trying to get food out of the kids' hands and off their plates.  I always assumed it was a dog thing.  Turns out she learned how to do it from her owner.

christmas can really wear a girl out....

Christmas Eve

Gracie is getting more and more interested in all things girlie.  If i'm putting make up on, she wants to have a little on too.  After watching me put on a little deodorant, she decided she wanted to have a little bit of that as well....

 working hard on that lid!  she stopped buying the line that i was putting in on with the lid on.

 going in!

 and no day isn't complete without a little mandatory photo shoot 

a christmas tradition...making and decorating christmas cookies on christmas eve.  can you see sammy trying to be stealth and sneak a bite or two from gracie?

 time for the decorations!  or, for gracie, time to consume as much icing as i can before my mom yanks the bowl from me.

 uncle phil was a huge fan of christmas cookie decorating as well...he worked very hard on his ugly sweater cookie!

Christmas Program and Christmas Crafts

Evan's preschool put on a Christmas Concert to celebrate.  Evan maybe didn't do a whole lot of the singing, but he was super pumped to see us in the audience!  After their songs, we had cake and punch and listened to a story in his classroom.

 gracie acts like she cannot WAIT to go to school, but i have a feeling she might be all talk.  i have visions (or nightmares) of her going ballistic when she is dropped off in the fall.

 santa and snowmen crafts!  gracie spent most of her time eating her snack, but evan was super excited for another project.  he went to town cutting yarn for santa's beard.

santa might want to do some grooming before his big night....it might be a little hard to drive a sleigh when you can't see through your hair.

DIY Snow (or glitter) Globes

This activity was maybe a little more fun and a little more worthwhile in theory rather than action!  Both kids LOVED adding their glitter to the jars, and they really enjoyed scavenging around the house to find a figure for their snow globes.  BUT, the globes are glass, and its REALLY hard not to throw them.  AND, it took several attempts (read lots of time for kids with limited patience supplies) to get them to not leak.

gracie couldn't resist sticking her fingers in.  she was crazy messy with this project which means glitter was turning up EVERYWHERE for days and days and days after the snow globes were finished.

a little bit of science learning...evan was enthralled with how big the figures looked in the water!

Grinch Slime

This one was a kid favorite...even if i didn't exactly make it right!  It wasn't exactly slime, but it was gooey, slippery and lots of fun!  Gracie was with me when I purchased the supplies, and she insisted that I buy the pink glue as well, so I doubt it will be too long before we have a repeat.  Hopefully I can iron on the kinks in the process to actually make it slime this time around instead of slime chunks : )!

 Evan thought it was quite possibly one of the coolest things ever...it didn't hurt that it was his favorite color!

  i was a little worried that my wild card child would make a mess to top all messes with the slime, but she enjoyed it so much that she actually wanted the majority of the goop to stay in her container and wasn't interested in tossing it around the room like i had anticipated!

Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments

Some of our activities a day were things that we may or may not do every year.  This activity was a definite have to do every year activity!  Instead of doing salt dough ornaments like we made last year, I discovered a recipe for salt dough ornaments with a heavy dose of cinnamon.  They were even of the no bake variety, so after mixing, rolling, cutting with cookie cutters and drying, the ornaments were done!  They continue to smell like cinnamon too!