Giveaway!

And now it is time for . . . Christmas leftovers!

So here's the story.  I made a couple more Lickety Split bags to give as Christmas gifts.  With all of the chaos in my house, they were barely getting finished the week of Christmas, so I figured that when the girls I intended to give them for called I would just finish them up really quick.  But . . . they never called.  So I guess we aren't really exchanging gifts this year.  Which is probably just as well, because I wasn't sure if one of them would like it at all.

SOO . . .

Now I have a bag and nothing to do with it.  I had two, but I already found a new home for the other one.  While I suppose I could try and sell it, I didn't buy the "liscense to sell" pattern - just the one for making them for myself.  Plus, I have never sold anything I made.  Somehow that ruins something for me. 

And with no better purpose for the remaining one, I figured I would just see if anyone who reads my blog wants it!  'Cause, I figure, if you are reading this, you are my friend.  And I just want to see the bag go to a happy home with someone who really likes it.  So if you want it, say so in a comment.  If more than one person writes in, then I'll pick someone at random in a couple of days.

So without further ado, here she is!

This bag is made from pink quilter's fabric and purple snuggly fleece.  There is also a strip of burgundy leather sewn on the bottom for extra durability.  The bag is technically reversible, though the leather is only on the pink side.  There are two pockets on the outside, and the inside has the "rack" of pockets just like mine did.  Here's the inside:

What I like about these bags is that they hold an amazing amount of stuff without being big and bulky.  Since the fabric is relatively thin, they collapse down quite a bit.  And what's not to love about 6 pockets on the inside to stash everything?  I also appreciate that the knot keeps the bag on my shoulder better.  The leather straps on my usual purses slip right off my sloped shoulders, but this baby stays put when I lean down to help my kids.

Let me know in a comment if you want it!

Oh, and by the way, here is the one that already found a new home, just in case you were curious.  I thought this fabric was really fun!



The rest of Christmas

Before I put up pictures of Christmas Day, I realized I never put these beauties up.  Beware: iPhone pictures ahead.  I forgot my camera the day that we went up to my Aunt and Uncle's house.  We were supposed to bring a Gingerbread house kit for our kids, but my husband requested we make Gingerbread cookies instead.  Just as much fun to decorate, but we can eat them afterward.  Suprisingly, the kids didn't really eat much of them at all - but we did.  Yum.

They had very interesting techniques.  Tyler went for the methodical approach, and once you squeezed out some frosting for him he would very carefully put little yellow and green mints on every available spot.  Not the pink ones, for whatever reason.  Or any other kind of candy.

Whereas Kaitlyn went for pure production.  She would put one glob of frosting on a cookie, push one object onto that spot, and declare it done.  Next!  She ate one head, and that was all.

Well, back to Christmas.  When the kids woke up (at about 8:30) we brought them down to see the dollhouse that Santa had brought.  I thought this would be the hit of the universe, but actually they haven't played with it much at all.  Given how HUGE it is, we'll see how long it lasts.  Anyway, handed them presents to open, and Kaitlyn told us we weren't allowed until Santa came.  I'm not sure what she was expecting to happen that didn't, but bless her for keeping the rules.

Once we got them going, though, they liked this very much. Tyler would play with each one for quite some time, and Kaitlyn did too at first. Until she figured out that the more she unwrapped, the more cool things there were. So she ended up unwrapping all of their shared gifts while Tyler admired his own presents.

Let's see, they got the waterbottles you see in the picture (Tink and Buzz make them awesome), and Tyler is holding an owl puppet and his green truck too.

They love their flashlights a lot.  What kid doesn't?

The suprise hit of the day was the ZhuZhu pets.  My mom sent those on a whim, and lo and behold my kids thought they were a riot.  They just run around in little circles on the floor making silly chirpy noises, and it makes Tyler giggle.

He also decided they might like the car ramp he got.

Kaitlyn loved the dolly clothes.  None of her "baby dollies" had any clothes, and she spent a good 15 minutes sitting there and taking each piece on and off.  Nothing stayed on for more than three seconds - I guess it was all about the process.

My aunt sent Tyler this slinky.  He thought it was really cool!  We tried to send it down the stairs, but I guess ours are too wide.  I thought it was a good present.

Kaitlyn thought it was fun too.  You know, to play tug of war with Tyler, and then wrap around herself and tie in a knot.  And thus died the slinky.

Good thing she read the directions for the Lincoln Logs though.

That evening, we went over to my in-laws again, to have dinner and visit with "Grape Grandma".  And to get one more Christmas present from my brother-in-law - a haircut for Kaitlyn.  It is strange, because I normally love long hair on little girls.  But Kaitlyn's blonde and curly hair just became a bigger mess the further it grew out.  And the ends were thin, fluffly baby hair.  So it was time to go back to the bob.

My brother-in-law is great!  He just finished hair school, and is gaining quite the clientell on the side, going around and cutting people's hair in their homes.  And he is working at a really nice salon up in Salt Lake as well.

Ta-da!  I love all the curl!

And here she is, on our way to church the next morning.

We had a great Christmas!

Christmas Eve

We stayed at the cabin until Christmas Eve this year.  I never would have thought it, but we did end up having a Christopher's two sisters come up with their families, without a hitch!  So, here are some more pictures of us playing in the snow.

I love this pair of pictures.  This is the shot I wanted to get:

And then this is what happened next:

As Kaitlyn reminds me often, "snow is slippery."

They loved hanging out with their cousins.  And Kaitlyn loved making snow angels all day, despite the fact that her puny weight had no impact on the frozen snow.

So beautiful!  You know, when you don't have to deal with traveling in it too much.  Thankfully our neighbors were making trips up and down all day, and so the road was well packed down.  They just bought a cabin near us, and he owns 4 snowmobiles.  So we watched all day as they got everything up for their family party that night - presents and instruments and not one, but two Christmas trees! 

Well, as for us, once we finally got down, we headed to the annual party at Grandma's house.  This year, my sister-in-law Betsy came well equipped.  She had made about 20 costumes for all the little kids to wear in a nativity scene!  I was amazed when the little bags, each labeled with a part, kept coming and coming out of her box.  They were all simple - but that made it easier for them to fit on any size child that picked it out that year. 

So after everyone got a part, then all the kids got to act each scene out . . .

. . . while my brother-in-law read the story.  Perfect!

Everybody especially liked when Mary had to ride on the donkey.

After the nativity scene, it was time for the annual concert.  My husband and all of his siblings played horns quite seriously growing up, so usually a couple of them end up playing some songs for everybody.  It gets funnier each year as we get further away from high school, when most of them stopped playing.

But it is still a hit!

And then Santa comes!  Amazingly, Tyler was the one that ran up and got really excited to see him. 

"Tyler, are you excited for Christmas?"
"Yeah."
"Have you been a good boy?"
"Yeah."
"Tyler, do you ever push your sister?"
"Yeah."
Yup, totally true.

Kaitlyn was pretty excited too.  Especially when he gave her candy.



What a busy day! 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Ever since we got the cabin, we have been daydreaming about coming up here for Christmas.  Last year we flew to Ohio instead, though we did get to come here for New Years.  But getting here last night was truly an adventure.  In retrospect, we should have seen it coming.  But who ever sees problems coming?

See, we get up to the cabin by snowmobile.  Snowmobiles are very good at going across hard, icy snow.  They sink in powder or slush, and they weigh 800 pounds or so.  That makes picking them up and out of their obstacle hard.

And earlier this week, we got a foot of snow in the valley.  That's about 3 feet up here.

Then, the day we came up, it warmed up and rained.  It was still pouring rain when we got up here.

That makes 3 feet of fresh, slushy snow, if you are counting.

First the truck got stuck.  We took the snowmobiles off the trailer and drove them up past the parking lot, then walked back down.  Then the empty trailer got stuck, so we took it off and left it by the side of the road.  Finally got the truck to the parking lot.  Then we loaded the kids and all our food and clothes in the snowmobiles and headed up.  Both snowmobiles got stuck about 15 feet from each other, 1/3 mile away from the cabin.  We sat the kids on mine, got his unstuck, and then he took off.  I thought we were going to switch the kids over to his and get mine out, and he thought he would just run the sled of stuff up to the cabin and come back to help. 

Well, he got stuck at the cabin and couldn't get out when he turned around.

When I realized he wasn't coming back, I knew I couldn't manuver the stuck snowmobile with both kids.  That meant we had to walk.  A third a mile, in 3 feet of snow, up the hill.  (I sound like an old geezer.)  The part that upset me the most is that their snow boots were at the cabin, and daddy had driven off with their gloves.  They had hats and thick coats with hoods, but they were wearing their fake cowboy boots and jeans. 

I gained a new appreciation for pioneers last night.  Or anyone in the vast history of the world before motorized vehicles.  Carrying and pulling those poor kids up the hill and knowing their fingers were bare made me cry more than once.  But we only had under a mile to go.  And there was a dry and relatively warm cabin at the end of the road.  With dry clothes to change into, and tons of firewood to make a fire.  How many of them could say that?

I tell you, though, Tyler is the trooper of the universe.  I have always said that he wouldn't complain if you locked him in a room with no objects or windows or anything for an hour, and I think last night was worse.  I mean, the kids sank up to their knees with almost every step.  And while I could carry Kaitlyn some of the time, I just didn't have the strength to carry Tyler.  Tyler cried exactly once, when he fell down more than halfway up.  It made me cry, too, that things had finally gotten to him (Kaitlyn had been beside herself most of the time, poor dear).  But then he stopped a minute later, and when I asked if he could keep walking he said "yeah."  So onward we trudged.  Kaitlyn made a valiant effort to keep going and sing Christmas songs with me, but who on earth wouldn't complain about that trip?  Only Tyler.

So I guess that's what I gained this Christmas.  Perspective.  Thankfully, we did make it up, and since it was warm enough, no one got frostbite or anything.  That was a wonderful blessing.  The kids were happy and watching a movie within an hour, so all's well.

 This morning, things were better, weather wise.  Christopher got everything unstuck, including the ditched snowmobile and trailer.  And the kids have had a blast, helping daddy shovel snow and staging a large snowball fight.  (I don't know who showed Kaitlyn to throw snow at people, but they think it is hilarious!)  So I'm looking forward to spending some time buried up here with our tiny, Charlie Brown Christmas tree.



Disneyland!

Brace yourselves, folks.  This will be picture heavy.  But that's the way I like things. :)

We went to Disneyland again this last weekend with DigiCert.  What an amazing company Christmas party, as always!  It is crowded this time of year, but the kids are loving it more and more as they get older.  One of my favorite things to do is to dress them up in Disney costumes.  They love it, and we honestly didn't make it more than five feet on the first day without someone saying "Look!  Woody and Jesse!  So cute!"  So, ya know, that was my ego stoke for the month. :)

Since it has been three years since our first trip, it was fun to compare pictures a bit.  That first year it was only Tyler, and I was due with Kaitlyn the next month.  What a cute little man!

By far, my favorite moment of the trip was on the carousel right here.  I took pictures, and then climbed onto my own horse.  And then, when the horses started moving, Kaitlyn took off her hat and started waving it around, rodeo style.  Let me tell you, I have never shown her how to do that in my life.  She either picked it up from watching a rodeo months ago, or watching Toy Story.  I have no idea.  But it was awesome.  Yee-ha!

There are some pictures you aren't allowed to leave Disneyland without taking.

And then we saw our first character.  I was a bit worried, because lately Kaitlyn has gotten really shy around new people.  We'll tell her we are going to meet someone, and then when we get there she will hide behind my legs in terror.  So when she told me she wanted to give Daisy Duck a hug, I figured it would be a good trial run.

And low and behold, she did!  She just walked right up to her and gave her a hug, and then smiled and posed for pictures with her.  Hooray! 
Next, we had a fun scavenger hunt with our friends in Toontown.

And then we actually managed to get fairly good seats for the parade.  Which, by the way, I'm fairly certain hasn't changed in three years. 

After a nap time, we went down to the hotel lobby to meet Santa.  Kaitlyn liked that a lot, too!

And they liked their candy canes that Santa gave them, too.

Daddy had some work to do that night, so we headed out with friends.  Yes, we went on a carousel again.  In fact, we rode on a carousel four seperate times before leaving.  My kids like carousels.

And the next morning, it was finally time.  Any time anyone asked Kaitlyn what she was going to do in Disneyland, she would say "meet Tinkerbell".  As if there is anything else to do there.

And Tinkerbell was adorable with her!  She asked if Kaitlyn had made her shoes out of flowers "just like me" . . .

. . . and if she made her skirt out of leaves too.  Kaitlyn thought that discussion was fascinating, and said "yes" every time.

And then Tink had Kaitlyn put her hand on her hip for this picture.  It wasn't the usual amount of attitude because Kaitlyn was just so dang happy.  That alone made her costume worth it.

Did I mention she likes carousels?

Another one of our traditions is the "Small World" ride.  My mother has a select number of things she hates with an absolute passion.  She will send plates back in a restaurant if they come with watermelon.  She won't touch camping with a thirty foot pole.  She is terrified of bridges.  And if you start humming "It's a Small World", she will shriek and cover her ears.

And so, every year, we call her from inside the ride and hand the phone off to one of our kids so she can't hang up on us.

We're so nice!  (Sorry mom, but it's hilarious.  I swear it is because we love you.)

Anyway, Daddy was thrilled to take Tyler on the bumper cars again.  It is the only ride that he is tall enough for that Kaitlyn isn't.

On the second bumper car ride, I watched a friend's litle girl so they could all do the cars together.  Kaitlyn loved rubbing her peach fuzz hair.

And this is what Jacie thought of that.  Also, notice that Kaitlyn stuck her beloved Boo toy in the grid while they watched the cars go around. 

That night, we had the big company dinner.  The kids got "makeovers" first - Kaitlyn had her hair done with green glitter, and Tyler got a cool Pirate hat and eyepatch.  This was Tyler's funniest moment that weekend right here.  He decided to use not one, but two forks to carry the chicken tender to his mouth to eat it.  You go, kid!

They had this show going on to entertain us, with these pirates that . . . took over this lady's wedding, best I could figure out.  I was a bit distracted, because Kaitlyn was absolutely terrified of the pirates.  When they first came out, she literally dove under the table and hid, crying.  And then they kept coming back.  But finally on their 4th or 5th trip out in the show, they came around and gave each of the kids some "loot" with fake jewels.

Suddenly, these pirates were okay guys. (The guy in the middle is actually the CEO, by the way, not one of the actors.)

On to the next day.  I can't tell if Tyler is happy to see Lightning or just squinting in the sun.

And then we had the breakfast with the Princesses.  Kaitlyn was in heaven!

She would give each one a hug, and then smile with this dazed look while they talked to her.

 Tyler showed no interest at all until Snow White came out.  And then he reached across to her until I got him out of his chair.  He didn't want to talk to her or look at her, really, just kinda grin and lean in towards her.  Such a funny guy.

I thought that was odd, and then looked through my old pictures of that first year at Disneyland.  And, lo and behold, the only Princess he paid any attention to was Snow White.  Apparently we have a crush going on here.

It was just about time to run off and catch our plane, but we did have time for one more character visit.  While we were in line, Kaitlyn looked at me and said "Mommy!  I need my costume."  Yeah, sorry little lady.  But at least she got to meet Jesse.

What a wonderful trip!

And you know what I decided was the most magical part?  In all three days, my kids did not soil a single peice of clothing.  Nobody puked on a plane, no one spilled their food.  No exploding diapers, not a single potty training accident.  I cannot tell you how happy that made me!